Academic Year 2023-24

Unit: Conflict and sustainable peace.

Grade: MYP 5

Key concept: Change

Related concept: Causality, Power

Global context: Fairness and development

Students will explore: Justice, Peace and conflict management

Statement of Inquiry - Cooperation among nations to establish a peaceful world may

lead to conflict for power.

Connection to the topic: Students will know that the desires of each country going into
the negotiations were different. They each wanted most out of the negotiations that they
could get. The students will understand the specific negotiating points at the conference.
Further, they will know how the treaty actually ended up-the unfair treatment of Germany
and who won. Thus, they will understand that “Cooperation among nations to establish a
peaceful world may lead to conflict for power.”

Topic name: Treaty of Versailles

What was the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany?

The government that took Germany to war in 1914 had been overthrown
in a revolution and the new democratic government in Germany was
hoping for fair and equal treatment from the Allies. When the terms were
announced on 7 May the Germans were horrified. The new German
government refused to sign the Treaty and the German navy sank its own
ships in protest. At one point, it looked as though war might break out
again. But what could the German leader Friedrich Ebert do? Germany
would quickly be defeated if it tried to fight. Reluctantly, Ebert agreed to
accept the terms of the Treaty and it was signed on 28 June 1919.

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 German criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles

War guilt and reparations

-Germany had to accept the blame for starting the war and therefore had to pay
reparations

This ‘war guilt’ clause was particularly hated. Germans did not
feel they had started the war. They felt at the very least that blame
should be shared.
People of Germany were bitter that Germany was expected to pay
for all the damage caused by the war even though the German
economy was severely weakened

. German territories-

Germany certainly lost a lot of territory

10 per cent of its land in Europe

All of its overseas colony’s control of German territories in Africa
Germany lost 12.5 per cent of its population
Germany lost 16 per cent of its coalfields and almost half of its
iron and steel industry were taken away.
This was a major blow to German pride, and to its economy. Both
the Saar and Upper Silesia were important industrial areas.
Meanwhile, as Germany was losing colonies, the British and
French were increasing their empires by taking.

Disarmament

The German army was reduced to 100,000 men.

It could have no air force, and only a tiny navy.
Germans felt these terms were very unfair. An army of 100,000
was very small for a country of Germany’s size and the army was
a symbol of German pride.
Also, despite Wilson’s Fourteen Points calling for disarmament, none of
the Allies were being asked or forced to disarm in the same way.

The Fourteen Points and the League of Nations

To most Germans, the treatment of Germany was not in

keeping with Wilson’s Fourteen Points. For example, while self-
determination was given to countries such as Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania, German- speaking peoples were being hived off
into new countries such as Czechoslovakia to be ruled by non-
Germans.
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 Anschluss (union) with Austria was forbidden.
Germany felt further insulted by not being invited to join the
League of Nations.

Non-representation

Germans were angry that their government was not

represented at the peace talks and that they were being forced
to accept a harsh treaty without any choice or even comment.
Germans did not feel they had lost the war so they should not
have been treated as a defeated country.
Consequences of the Treaty for Germany

How was the Treaty seen at the time?

Some said the Treaty was unfair! None of the Big Three was happy
with the Treaty (although for different reasons) and some of the
diplomats who helped shape the Treaty were dissatisfied. Some
commentators at the time believed that the Treaty was unfair and
unjust.

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The artist, Will Dyson, thought that the peacemakers were blind and
selfish and as a result they produced a disastrous treaty that would
cause another terrible war. It is a powerful cartoon. Because history
proved it right (the cartoonist even gets the date of the Second World
War almost right) this cartoon has been reproduced many times ever
since, including in millions of school textbooks.

Others said the Treaty was fair! At the time German complaints about
the Treaty mostly fell on deaf ears. There were celebrations in Britain
and France. If ordinary people in Britain had any reservations about the
Treaty it was more likely to be that it was not harsh enough. Many people
felt that the Germans were themselves operating a double standard.
Their call for fairer treatment did not square with the harsh way they
had treated Russia in the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk in 1918. Versailles
was a much less harsh treaty than Brest-Litovsk.
There was also the fact that Germany’s economic problems, although
real, were partly self-inflicted. Other states had raised taxes to pay for
the war. The Kaiser’s government had not done this. It had simply
allowed debts to mount up because it had planned to pay Germany’s
war debts by extracting reparations from the defeated states.

What do historians think of the Treaty

Much criticism has been made of the Treaty because it was too harsh
on Germany. On the other hand, historians have pointed out that
Germany could have been treated a lot more harshly for several reasons:

Germany only accepted the Fourteen Points when it was clear

they were losing the war.
In the harsh Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Germans took away
34% of Russia's population and 50% of its industry and made
them pay 300 million gold roubles in reparations.

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 Clemenceau wanted the Treaty to be much harsher, with
Germany broken up into smaller states, but Wilson stopped
this happening.
The reparations payments cost Germany only 2% of its
annual production.
Germany's main economic problem was not reparations but war
debt, which it had planned to pay by winning the war and
making other countries pay reparations.
In 1924, Germany received huge loans from the USA to help its
economy recover.
The years 1924-29 were fairly prosperous for Germany. For
example, Germany produced twice as much steel as Britain in
1925.
Some historians believe that the peacemakers did the best job they
could, given the difficult circumstances they were in. Other historians
believe the Treaty was a disastrous half measure. It damaged Germany
enough to cause resentment. However, it left Germany strong enough to
seek revenge.
IN A NUTSHELL

World War I caused more damage than any other war before it. 9 million
soldiers and as many civilians died in the war. Germany and Russia
suffered most, both countries lost almost two million men in battle.

Large sections of land, especially in France and Belgium, were completely

destroyed. Fighting laid buildings, bridges and railroad lines in ruins.
Chemicals and gun shells made farming land unusable for years to
come.
Economic consequences

World War I cost the participating countries a lot of money. Germany

and Great Britain spent about 60% of the money their economy
produced.
Countries had to raise taxes and borrow money from their citizens.
They also printed money in order to buy weapons and other things they
needed for war. This led to inflation after the war.

The Allies wanted reparations from the Central Powers, because they were
responsible for starting the war.

Economy all across Europe broke down. Companies had to close

because men left thir jobs to fight in the army. When they came back
there were no jobs left for them. Other businesses specialized in
producing weapons. After the war they had nothing else to sell. During
the war governments controlled the economy more than before.
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 The United States entered the war very late. It did not suffer
destruction the way European countries did. Because they had played
a smaller part in the war, America remained economically stronger
than the others.

Political Consequences

World War I brought an end to four monarchies: Czar Nicholas II of

Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, Emperor Charles of Austria and the
sultan of the Ottoman Empire had to step down.

New countries were created out of old empires. Austria-Hungary was

carved up into a number of independent states. Russia and Germany
gave land to Poland. Countries in the Middle East were put under the
control of Great Britain and France. What was left of the Ottoman Empire
became Turkey.
In the course of the Russian Revolution the Soviet Union emerged,
together with a new ideology: Communism

Social Consequences

World War I changed society completely. Birth rates went down

because millions of young men died. Civilians lost their homes and
fled to other countries.

The role of women also changed. They played a major part in replacing
men in factories and offices. Many countries gave women more rights
after the war had ended, including the right to vote.

The upper classes lost their leading role in society. Young middle- and
lower-class men and women demanded a say in forming their country
after the war.
Further Inquiry:

To what extent Germany was responsible for the cause of WW2?

Walsh, Ben. History Option B: The 20th Century. Second edition ed., Cambridge
IGCSE.

“English Online.” Consequences of World War I, www.english-online.at/history/world-war-

1/consequences-of-the-war.htm. Accessed 12 Jul 2023.

Clemenceau, Georges, et al. “TREATY OF VERSAILLES Motivations/ Aims of Big Three - Ppt
Download.” SlidePlayer, slideplayer.com/slide/13491485/Accessed 12 Jul 2023.

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