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TREATY OF VERSAILLES.
Term Paper ID:30110
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Summarizes and analyzes the impact of the 1919 treaty on European history during the period between the two World Wars.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Summarizes and analyzes the impact of the 1919 treaty on European history during the period between the two World Wars. Issue of post-war vengeance. Inability of Allies to enforce the trety. Effect of political instability, economic decline & resurgence of German military power that led to World War II. Discusses terms of the treaty and its consequences.
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TREATY OF VERSAILLES AND EUROPEAN HISTORY (1919-1939)
This research paper summarizes and analyzes the impact of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 on European history during the interwar period. The territorial, financial and security framework and arrangements created by and under the Treaty of Versailles ultimately (by the late 1930s) failed to keep the peace in Europe. The tenuous equilibrium among the principal European powers prior to 1914 broke down and was shattered by World War I and its aftermath. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the manner it was imposed on Germany contributed to the continuing instability of Central and Eastern Europe and to revanchist sentiment in Germany. At the same time, the incomplete, inconsistent and later pusillanimous efforts of the Western Allies to enforce the Treaty undermined its
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. Britain in the 192 s was preoccupied with various revolts throughoutthe Empire (in Egypt, India, Iraq and Ireland) and with grievous internaleconomic and social problems. Prior to 1939, Western leaders displayedextraordinarily poor judgment in their dealings with Nazi Germany. Default thereon dried upAmerican investment in Germany and helped deepen the Depression. The Locarno Treaty of1925, which came about largely because of the efforts of three farsightedEuropean statesmen, German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann, British ForeignSecretary Austen Chamberlain and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand,provided for a joint German, British, French and Italian guarantee of theinviolability of Germany's western borders. . . Even into the late 193 s, successive British Prime Ministers cateredto pacifist sentiment and popular disillusionment with the results of theFirst World War. P. Consequences. Northern France and Belgium experienced devastatingcivilian suffering, physical destruction and economic destruction. Thetotal costs of the war were more than $2 billion (Mee 1 ). The spirit of Locarno did not,however, last very long due to weaknesses in the Locarno Treaty itself andworsening economic conditions. Trans. This finally led to the acquiescence of the British and French in theGerman occupation of the largely German-speaking Sudetenland under theMunich Agreement of October 1938 and Hitler's absorption of the rest ofCzechoslovakia the following spring.This in turn led to the British guarantee of Poland's independence, theNazi-Soviet pact and the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. The war guilt and reparations clauses helped the German General Staffand right-wing leaders propagate the myth that Germany had not really lostthe war but had been betrayed by a stab in the back from leftists, Jews,and other domestic traitors. Hitler 1889-1936 Hubris. Payments were finallyabandoned by Germany in 1932. they became breeding grounds for mutually conflictingirredentist claims" (44). He initiallyopposed reparations which exceeded compensation for civilian damages. Overall Assessment of the Treaty's Impact Kagan and Kagan suggested that a balanced view of the impact of theTreaty was that it was simultaneously "too hard and too soft," too hard"for it imposed harsh and humiliating conditions on Germany guaranteed togenerate hatred, resentments, and the determination to readjust the 'newworld order," and too soft because it was not accompanied by "effectivemeasures to deter, prevent, or defeat the reappearance of [the] Germanmenace" (14 ). . Nevertheless, Kagan and Kagan said that after1919, Britain slashed its armed forces, allowed its military modernizationprograms to stagnate and pinned its hopes for peace on the economicwonders to be performed by international trade and internationalorganizations and treaties that it did not have the military power tosupport and enforce (6).Britain and France refused to back up with force blatant violations of themandate of the League of Nations, such as Benito Mussolini's invasion ofCorfu in 1923, Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and Mussolini'sunprovoked and brutal conquest of Abyssinia in 1935-1936. In fact, the Alliedterms, while severe, were not as unjust as they appeared to be. 1984.Kershaw, Ian. The French only agreed to the final Treaty termsafter Britain and the United States agreed to guarantee France againstfuture German attacks, but that guarantee never came into force. They allowed their concerns about domestic economic andsocial problems to cloud their judgment concerning Hitler's intentions andto retard British rearmament. Whatever the Treaty'sdeficiencies, the Western powers failed to take consistently the measuresnecessary to ensure that another World War would not, as it did, finallyend Europe's primacy in international affairs. Lloyd George catered to British public opinionduring the khaki elections of late 1918 by campaigning under the sloganthat Britain would squeeze Germany like a lemon until you can hear the pipssqueak" (Klingaman xi). Italy had briefly joined with Britain andFrance in condemning Germany's occupation of the Rhineland in the StresaFront. The Versailles Treaty and the related treaty with Austria-Hungary wasorganized largely around the principle of national self-determination.Central and Eastern Europe were divided into relatively small, economicallynonviable and frequently quarreling and politically unstable states.Peukert said that the new states of Central Europe and the Balkans "weretoo weak . Dutton, 198 .Peukert, Detlev J. Germany's dire economic straits in the early 192 s inturn helped ruin much of Germany's middle class which later was to turn inlarge numbers in desperation to the Nazis and other right wing parties. The combined burden of theinitial reparations payments exacted from Germany in the early 192 s ($5billion in gold), the dislocation to the German economy caused by therevolutionary situation at home and the adverse effects of the Frenchoccupation of the Ruhr led to a devastating devaluation of the German markand hyperinflation. The Versailles Treaty dealt inadequately with the potential threat ofGermany aggression and expansion to the South and East. Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace. Germany was left with no submarines,armor, airforce or U-boats and an army of only 1 , men. Britainemerged from the war a debtor nation. Theterritorial, financial and security framework and arrangements created byand under the Treaty of Versailles ultimately (by the late 193 s) failed tokeep the peace in Europe. According toKennan, among the peoples of all the warring powers, "as hostilities rantheir course, hatreds congealed, one's own propaganda came to be believed,moderate people were shouted down and brought into disrepute, and war aimshardened and became more extreme" (62-63). Boston: Twayne, 1987.Kagan, Donald, and Frederick W. Neither Hitlernor Mussolini were much impressed with Allied timidity during theAbyssinian and Rhineland crises nor with their hypocritical non-intervention policies vis-a-vis the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939. Hesought to scale down and limit in time Germany's reparations obligations.He opposed France's initial seizure of the Saar coal fields andClemenceau's dismemberment demands, both of which conflicted with theprinciple of self-determination and his promises in his January 1918Fourteen Points which sought a Peace With Justice and without annexationsand punitive damages. It was negotiated amidst theprimal passions of postwar vengeance and retribution. The central decision making body of the ParisPeace Conference was the Council of Four consisting of Prime Minister LloydGeorge of Great Britain, Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, AmericanPresident Woodrow Wilson and Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1944.Birdsall, Paul. Britain in the 192 s was still the most powerful military andfinancial power in the world. The original amount of reparations demanded by theAllies ($2 billion by France) and ($12 billion by Britain) far exceededpostwar Germany's capacity to pay (Bailey 245). Martin's Press, 2 .Kennan, George F. Mee said the actual economic effect of reparation . It is easy, however, to engage in Monday morningquarterbacking. It deemed its own economic recovery to beheavily dependent on the recovery of trade with Germany and increasinglybecame convinced that overly strict enforcement of the Treaty wouldjeopardize the Germany's political stability or usher in Bolshevikrevolutions in Germany and elsewhere on the Continent. Thedepression severely damaged the economies of that region, leading to itseventual economic and political domination by Germany after 1933. Treaty Terms: Motivations and Consequences Peace Terms. The most immediate and a longlasting effect of theharsh peace terms imposed on Germany was that it created in the minds ofmost Germans and many others elsewhere a conviction that the Allies hadimposed a 'Carthaginian' peace on their fallen foes and dealt with Germanyunfairly after the Armistice of November 11, 1918. Martin's Press, 1987.Mee, Charles L., Jr. New York: St. Basic Facts The Treaty of Versailles was executed on June 28, 1919 by the AlliedPowers, the United States (an Associated Power) and Germany. A victor's terms imposed upon the vanquished [would] rest, notpermanently, but only as upon quicksand" (Clemens 165). It retreated into isolation, and except for the temporarilystabilizing effect in the 192 s of American private refinancing of Germanreparations obligations and investments in Germany, largely remained alooffrom European affairs. Kagan and Kagan said "it was not the knowledge ofGerman violations of the treaty that was lacking, but the will to doanything about it" (155). Kennan said "this was a peace which had the tragedies of thefuture written into it, as by the devil's own hand" (69). Even though many ofits substantive provisions were not as intrinsically unfair as they wereportrayed at the time, the Treaty, because of those provisions, lackedinternational credibility from the outset. Economicexperts have differed as to the overall economic impact of the reparationsprovisions. Motivating Factors. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the manner itwas imposed on Germany contributed to the continuing instability of Centraland Eastern Europe and to revanchist sentiment in Germany. K. In the end the total amount paid by Germanywas less than one third of the original $33 billion, mostly financed byAmerican bonds, many of which were never repaid. Birdsall said Lloyd George "committed himself tothe impossible task of satisfying the electorate by promise of [recoveringthrough German reparations payments] full war costs" (39). Britain, France and Italy combined toprevent the Germans under Chancellor Heinrich Bruning from installing acommon customs union with Austria in 193 . Conclusion The peace terms contained in the Treaty of Versailles departedsignificantly from sound principles of international relations and theAllied leaders own promises of a just peace. However, Bailey said "the Germans did not believe, have neverbelieved, and will never believe that they and their allies were solelyresponsible for the damages caused by the war" (25 ). . France entered the Paris Peace Conference in a vindictive mood. New York: E. According to Taylor,while the German army had been defeated in the field in 1918, it ". Birdsallpointed out that official 1917 German documents showed that a victoriousGermany planned to retain Alsace Lorraine, annex the French Longwy-Brieyore basin, retain economic and political control over Belgium, appropriatemost of France's prewar colonies, and "exact suitable indemnities from thevictims to compensate her for the tremendous financial costs" of the war(3). Itsprimary motivations were fear and insecurity. Impact of the Treaty's Economic Provisions The reparations clause of the Treaty helped to undermine thepolitical and economic stability of Germany and other nations in Centraland Eastern Europe. Whether any British orFrench statesman could realistically have disappointed their domesticpolitical constituencies by adopting a more reasonable stance duringGermany in 1919 is, however, questionable. The Weimar Republic The Crisis of Classical Modernity. Afterhis illness, Wilson became increasingly intransigent toward German requestsfor modification of the Treaty and more and more inclined to regard thecompromises the United States was induced to accept as justifiable so longas the League of Nations Covenant remained intact. Kagan and Kagan said Locarno "left the Germans free to pursuetheir fortunes in the East" (17 ). The peace terms reflected the strong anti-Germanantagonism which was aroused in the Western democracies by the catastrophicand traumatic effects of the First World War as well as the chaos,disorders and revolutions in Central Europe which followed in its wake. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1941.Chickering, Roger. Germanfears of the Bolshevik menace, its dependence on Romanian oil to fuel itsPanzer forces and the Luftwaffe and Hitler's decision to finance rearmamentthrough autarchical economic policies all contributed to its drang nachosten (drive to the East). The Germans in January 1918 had imposed even more severe peace termson Russia under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The net effect ofthe Treaty on most Germans was of bitter resentment which Peukert said "wasturned into a powerful weapon of agitation by German counter-propaganda"(11). Ironically, his refusalto compromise with the Senate was to contribute to its rejection of theTreaty and the League.In the end Wilson failed to live up to his own prophetic insight when hetold Congress on January 22, 1917 that "only a peace between equals canlast. Weakenedby economic problems, low birth rates, internal dissension and revolvingdoor governments, French resolve to prevent Germany's eventual resurgenceas an expansionary power rearmament steadily declined after the French wereforced to withdraw from their occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 by acombination of German passive resistance and British misgivings By the timeHitler came to power, it was clear that France alone and without Britishsupport could not or would not stand up to Germany, which was dramaticallyunderscored by French acquiescence in Hitler's daring reoccupation of theRhineland in 1936, which effectively destroyed the Versailles system. The tenuous equilibrium among the principalEuropean powers prior to 1914 broke down and was shattered by World War Iand its aftermath. TheAustro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian Empires collapsed. The Treaty was not self-enforcing. Neither Hitler's rise to power nor theinadequate response of Western statesmen to his blackmail, threats,outrageous but clever distortions and blandishments in the 193 s were aninevitable result of the Treaty. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998.Clemens, Hedrick. Germans resented the tightening of theAllied blockade between November 1918 and the spring of 1919. For a variety of reasons, the Treaty and the associated collectivesecurity arrangements thereunder, including the League of Nations, theAnglo-French alliance and French defense treaties with Czechoslovakia andother newly independent nations in Central and Eastern Europe, failed toprevent the resurgence of German power in the 193 s which in the hands ofHitler after 1933 posed an increasingly ominous and eventually mortalthreat to Germany's neighbors. J. The Locarno Treaty byforbidding any French invasion of Germany, even one designed to bring aidto France's allies in Eastern Europe, effectively eviscerated the abilityof the French to deter or respond militarily to German adventurism in theEast. Becausethe West lacked the will to enforce the Treaty, it had little influence onEuropean history after the mid-193 s. . hadnot been routed or destroyed" (21). Germany was required to pay the Allies reparationsoriginally set at $33 billion in 1921 and subsequently scaled backsubstantially. At the sametime, the incomplete, inconsistent and later pusillanimous efforts of theWestern Allies to enforce the Treaty undermined its effectiveness. Woodrow Wilson World Statesman. P. German reparations obligations were substantially reducedand their payment facilitated under the American sponsored DawesPlan in 1924 and the Young Plan of 1929. Lord Keynes predicted in 1922 that the Treatywould perpetuate a power vacuum in Central and Eastern Europe that wouldeventually be a source of serious tensions among the Great Powers. TREATY OF VERSAILLES AND EUROPEAN HISTORY (1919-1939) This research paper summarizes and analyzes the impact of the Treatyof Versailles of 1919 on European history during the interwar period. Germany waspresented with the Treaty on a take it or leave it basis. Works CitedBailey, Thomas A. New York: Norton, 1999.Klingaman, William K. 1919 The Year Our World Began. The Origins of the Second World War. was negligible.Nonetheless, because the Germans believed that reparations debts, whether paid or not, were the cause of their economic troubles, the effects of the reparations clauses of the Versailles Treaty was fiercely embittering to the Germans (261). The United States failed to ratify the Treaty and to join the Leagueof Nations. The Allied blockade which remained ineffect until the Treaty was signed produced mass starvation in Germany. Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918. Kagan. France was given the right to exploit the coal mines of theSaar for 15 years and the Rhineland was to be demilitarized, with theFrench having the right to occupy the west bank of the Rhine until 1935. New York: Atheneum, 1966.----------------------- 1 Among the European economies, Germany's was hit earliest and was mostadversely affected by the Depression, which was an important but by nomeans the only factor which led to the increasing polarization of Germanpolitics in the late 192 s and early 193 s between the parties of theextreme right and left and Hitler's eventual accession to power. It came intoeffect on January 1 , 192 . The most important territorial provisions werethe return of Alsace Lorraine to France, the stripping of Germany in favorof the newly constituted Polish state of the important economic region ofSilesia, the forced cession of other former Prussian territories to createthe Polish Corridor between Germany and East Prussia and the loss ofGermany's prewar colonial territories. . Thewar exacted a fearsome toll, including more than seven million men killedin action, over 16 million wounded and nearly 2.3 million civilian deaths(Chickering 195). Despite rocky Western-German relations in the early 192 s, itappeared in the middle years of that decade that the Treaty might stillprovide a stable basis for European cooperation. The Locarno Treatywas silent concerning the integrity of Germany's eastern and southernborders. The result was agradually widening and eventually fatal divergence of British and Frenchpolicies toward Germany. among the folks at homethat it had surrendered on the assumption that the terms of peace would bebased exclusively on Wilson's Fourteen Points" (3 8). American Diplomacy, 19 -195 . While theInter-Allied Control Commission did its best to enforce German disarmament,German military and civilian officials even in the 192 s clandestinelyobstructed its efforts, and kept in being through arrangements with Russiaand private firms in Holland and Scandinavia the nucleus of a modernmilitary force. . However,many other factors, especially political instability, economic decline andthe dynamic resurgence of Germany military power under Adolf Hitler weremore fundamental causes of the outbreak of World War II in Europe. Although the pre-armistice negotiations left some doubt on this score, Klingaman said "theGerman government had fostered the impression . While America Sleeps. Under the 'warguilt' clause Germany (and Austria) were stated to be responsible for theoutbreak of World War I. The most tragic failure at Versailles was Wilson's. However, western weakness in theface of Italy's conquest of Abyssinia (which the Royal Navy could haveeasily prevented by closing the Suez Canal to Italian naval and oiloperations), led to a reorientation of Italy's policy toward Nazi Germanyand the signing of the Axis Pact. Versailles Twenty Years After. Kagan and Kagan said theFrench in 1919 and thereafter "continued to be fixated on the Germanproblem, the fact that with its greater rate of population growth andindustrial capacity, Germany must inevitably eclipse France's militarypower, given time" (14).Although both Lloyd George and Wilson frustrated the French demand thatwestern Germany be dismembered, both of them were as determined as theFrench to make Germany bear responsibility, morally and financially, forthe consequences of the war. After Wilson fell ill, probably as a result of astroke, in April 1919, his closest advisor, Colonel Edward House, in effectcaved to the French and British demands for reparations which Americaneconomic experts predicted would far exceed Germany's capacity to pay; andhe acquiesced in the war guilt clause which Wilson initially opposed. Hitler, as a rising agitator in Munich in the192 s, struck a responsive chord among the Germans when he termed theTreaty "a peace of shame" and "the instrument of Germany's slavery"(Kershaw 136). The Treaty would have been perceived as a more just one andmuch of the later recriminations against the Treaty in Germany andelsewhere might have been reduced if the war guilt clause had been omitted.It is also questionable whether the reparations clauses in the long runserved any valid foreign policy or economic purpose. By 1936, however, Italy no longer opposed Hitler's plans to absorbAustria which was finally accomplished by his 1937 Anschluss. The End of Order Versailles 1918. New York: St. TheTreaty of Versailles was followed by separate treaties with what was leftof the former Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. Throughout the 193 s, leading British statesmen fairly consistentlydisplayed studied indifference to Germany's steady accretion of diplomatic,political and economic dominance in the Balkans. Chicago: U of Chicago P, expanded ed. Kagan and Kagan said the Treaty "deprived Germany ofterritory, imposed limitations on its armed forces, and subjected it toeconomic penalties" (141). New York: Hill & Wang, 1992.Taylor, A. Richard Deveson.
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