Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Conflict and Tension: A road to war - Coggle Diagram
Conflict and Tension: A road to war
Treaty of Versailles
German Reaction
Article 231 hurt germany's pride.Also, they didn't think they were solely to blame. Surely, there were others to blame?
They hated their tiny army. They said they were helpless against other countries. It was also unfair because other countries didn't have to disarm as much
They were unhappy about the loss of land, they claimed that the treaty was simply an attempt to ruin their economy. Other countries were given self-determination, but the Treaty forced Germans to live in other countries.
The Germans hated reparations and said that France and Britain were trying to starve their children to death.
It was a 'Diktat', an imposed settlement- They had not been allowed to take part in the talks, they were just told to sign
Key Dates
Reperation amount (6.6 billion) set 1921
It was signed on 28 Jun 1919
It was effective on 10 Jan 1920
The Paris Peace Conference took place in January 18, 1919 – January 21, 1920
Consequences
Land
The Sudetenland was given to Czechoslovakia.
Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria.
The people of Danzig would be allowed to vote on whether they wanted to stay with Germany or re-join Poland.
Alsace & Lorraine were given to France
Possen and west Prussia went to Poland so that it could have access to the sea
All 11 colonies in Africa and the far east were given to victorious countries
Belgium got Eupen and Malmedy
Army
Germany was banned from developing tanks
Navy limited to 6 battleships
No Air force allowed
Army down to 100,00 men only
The Rhineland was demilitarised
Money
In 1921 the reparations were set at 6.6 billion pounds
They were never all fully paid
The last payment was made in 2010
Blame
Article 231: Germany had to take the blame for causing WWI and the losses within the war
The Big Three
USA (Woodrow Wilson)
Partly because the USA joined the war in 1917, it didn't suffer as much, which lead to the decision that Germany shouldn't be punished too severely, because Wilson was afraid that if Germany would be punished a lot, it could recover one day, and want revenge. He also wanted self-determination and the League of Nations to be formed
14 points
France (George Clemencau)
France lost over 1.3 million men in the war, and also had bad encounters with them before WWI, so he wanted to weaken Germany as much as possible so that it wouldn't be able to attack France again
Britain (David Loyd George)
Lloyd George was elected by the British public to "hang the Kaiser" and "make Germany pay". Wanted to keep Germany week, however, he also wanted to avoid humiliating them and to be able to continue trade with Germany. Wanted to end German threat to the British empire and navy
League of Nations 20’s-30’s
Problems faced
Corfu (1923)
Border dispute between Greece and Albania. An Italian general was told to supervise the situation. Tellini and his troops were ambushed and killed. The Italians blamed the Greek government and demanded compensation in reparations. In the end, the league ruled that Greece should apologise and pay compensation to Italy. Many in the league saw this as a failure because it was shown that even the weakest of great powers could get it's way when Britain and France agreed to sacrifice just for co-operation.
Bulgaria (1925)
Greek troops invaded Bulgaria after an incident on the border in which some Greek soldiers were killed. The League demanded that both sides stand down their forces and Greek forces withdraw from Bulgaria. Greece was told to pay £45,000 in compensation. Greece obeyed, however it seemed that there was one rule for the big powers and a different rule for everyone else.
Vilna (1920)
In 1920, Poland took control of the Lithuanian capital Vilna. Lithuania appealed to the league and protested to Poland but the Poles did not pull out. France and Britain were not prepared to act.
Upper Silesia (1921)
This was a dispute between Germany and Poland over the Upper Silesia region. In the end, the league oversaw a peaceful plebiscite and divided the region between Germany and Poland. Both countries accepted this decision.
Success of the League of Nations
Birth of the league
After WW1, everyone wanted to avoid another war on that scale. Most agreed that a League of Nations - an organisation that could solve the international problems without resorting to war. President Wilson wanted the league to be a "world parliament" where representatives of all nations could meet.
Aims
To encourage nations to disarm
To encourage countries to co-operate, especially in business and trade
To improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world
To disscourage aggression from any nation
Weakness within an inevitable failure
America could not join due to isolationist views despite it being Wilson's idea. In addition, the USSR could not join due diplomatic isolation and was not invited. This meant that the League did not have the support of 2 of the world's biggest powers
France was more concerned about receiving reparations owed to them rather than helping the league to preserve long-term peace.
As all decisions made had to be unanimous, it took the League an extended length of time to make a decision. This made the League appear slow.
The League were not able to keep order when large powers such as Italy or Japan disobeyed them. This was demonstrated in Corfu (1923) and the Manchurian Crisis.
Britain and France had adopted a change of policy in the 1930's. Their idea of carrying out the policy of appeasement as opposed to standard league regulations. This is an example of a non-organisational factor which could have resulted in the downfall of the league
What could they actually do?
Mitigation (Get countries to take though their problems)
Moral Condemnation (A good telling off)
Ecanomic Sanctions (Enforced if the above did not work and it affected both countries)
The league did not have its own army meaning, if necessary, it would have to ask its members to send their armed forces and no one wasnted to comply.
Plans on peace keeping
Disarmament, Arbitration, and collective security
If all countries worked together they could make sure peace was kept and nation’s interests looked after
Permanent Court of Justice set up to establish international laws
Appeasement…(to be continued)