1.4: Unrest after the war

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3

1.4: Unrest after the war 

1. The First World War

What is this lesson about?

After World War I, the leaders of 27 nations met at the Paris Peace Conference to decide on the fate of Europe and large parts of the world. They signed different treaties with the losing Central Powers. The former Ottoman Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire were divided. The Treaty of Versailles shaped the fate of Germany. The Germans felt humiliated because they were severely punished. It immediately led to new tensions.

The Big Three

Clemenceau

prime minister

France

Lloyd George

prime minister

Great Britain

Wilson

president

USA

Important date in this lesson:

1917: Russian revolution 

1918: Weimar republic 

1919: June 28th: Signing of Peace Treaty of Versailles

1919: January: Spartacus revolt 

1922: Mussolini takes power in Italy 

1923: France occupies the Ruhr area 

1924: Dawes plan 

What you will learn in 

this lesson

• that Germany was heavily punished by      the Treaty of Versailles
• how the map of Europe changed after the war
• recognise the impact of the Treaty of Versailles for Germany

Use these questions to make your own summary

Introduction

On 11th November 1918, an armistice was signed. With this it came an end to World War I and the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. In Russia, a revolution raged. While the victors celebrated, Eastern Europe seemed to balance on the edge of chaos. A heavy burden lay on shoulders of the Allied leaders: they had to reconstruct the world.

The signing of the treaty of peace at Versailles, 28 June 1919

The Paris Peace Conference

The people of Europe were relieved that the Great War was over. They looked with great expectation towards the future. Most of them hoped that Woodrow Wilson, the president of the USA, would bring freedom and democracy. Wilson put himself in the position of peacemaker and had put his ideas of a better world onto paper in his Fourteen Points. 

He predicted a new era: a time of freedom, peace and democracy. To reach his goals he had to negotiate with the other Allied victors.

American president Wilson was enthusiastically greeted by the people of Paris in 1919

1a. Wilson's "Fourteen Points" were his plan to punish Germany after the war.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

1b. Look at Wilson's "Fourteen Points". Which 2 points were likely to meet with disapproval from Britain?

1. 1 & 14
2. 2 & 5
3. 4 & 7
4. 5 & 13

1c. Explain the answer of question 1b.

On 18 January 1919, the Paris Peace Conference started. Wilson and delegates of 26 other countries met at the Palace of Versailles. Every nation had its own expectations and agenda, but although hundreds of representatives were invited, the real power lay with 

The Big Four: Wilson himself and the prime ministers of France, Britain and Italy. During the peace conference different treaties were signed, but the most difficult issue they faced was the future of Germany. The French felt that their long time rival Germany had to be punished severely, because it had been the first to declare war. Prime Minister of France Clemenceau fanatically tried to convince the conference to keep Germany weak to ensure that it would never rise again. With this, he went against Wilson’s Fourteen Points. The USA and Great Britain were not as radical as France. They predicted that harsh punishments would trigger another war, but still felt that Germany should take the blame.

The Big Four, 27th May, 1919. From left to right: Prime Minister David Lloyd George (Great Britain), Premier Vittorio Orlando (Italy), French Premier Georges Clemenceau, US President Wilson.

= attitude towards Germany

= reasons for this attitude

= main aim

Make a schematic overview in your notebook of the information in this task

Treat Germany harshly. Make the bastards pay for what they did. No mercy.

Treat Germany harshly, but don’t cripple it

Don't treat Germany too harshly. 

we suffered the least. A crippled Germany might be vengeful and start another war in the future. A crippled Germany is less likely to become democratic.

we want to trade again with Germany, so Germany’s economy must be rebuilt quickly.  

We suffered the most . We are closest to Germany, so we fear the most of a possible future aggressive Germany.

keep our colonies safe by taking away Germany’s fleet and colonies.

Turn Germany into a peaceful, democratic country. That’s the best way to preserve peace in the future.

Cripple Germany, make Germany pay reparations, get Alsace Lorraine back

1d. Upload a picture of the schematic overview you made

2a. Which Allied country sustained the most damage during the war?

1. France
2. Britain
3. Italy
4. USA

2b. Which country needed to fear a future powerful Germany the most?

1. France
2. Britain
3. Italy
4. USA

2c. Which country wanted the harshest treatment for Germany?

1. France
2. Britain
3. Italy
4. USA

Germany: the main culprit

On 28th June 1919, the Allies signed the Treaty of Versailles. In it was decided that Germany:

1. was not allowed to have an army bigger then a hundred thousand soldiers; its fleet had to be given to the Allies
   
2. had to give its colonies to France and Britain; Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France
   
3. had to give up ten percent of its territory
   
4. had to pay for the damage, caused by the war (War Reparations) (132 bilion gold marks)
   
5. had to accept the full blame for WW1 (Alleinschuld)

It was mostly out of an emotion and feelings of revenge that Germany was ordered to pay 132 billion gold marks (around 380 billion euros today) as war reparations, a huge amount. The Germans were astonished that they were not allowed to participate in the meeting. As expected they were outraged when they read the treaty. They felt humiliated and refused to sign it. Eventually they agreed, but only because the Allies threatened to continue the war.

signing of the Treaty on June 18th, 1919, exactly 5 years after the assassination of the archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo

4. Tom and Maggie are discussing this cartoon.
According to Tom, the artist agrees that Germany
should pay a lot of war reparations.
Maggie disagrees; she says that the artist
shows that Germany should pay an unreasonable
amount of money. Who is right?

 On the bag ‘Reparations $ 55,000,000,000’. Underneath ‘Germany’. American political cartoon about the German war reparations, c. 1921.

1. Tom
2. Maggie

5a. The Treaty of Versailles is often named as one of the causes of Hitler’s rise to power. How do you think the Treaty of Versailles played a role in Hitler’s rise of power?

5b. Hitler, and many Germans with him, referred to the Treaty of Versailles as "Das Diktat von Versailles". What did he mean by that? use internet to find out.

Germany: The Weimar Republic

After the war, Germany faced many problems. It had to deal with reparations, the fact that the emperor had fled to the Netherlands and that the country was on the brink of chaos. In 1919, an uprising was led by the Spartacus League. They were supported by Lenin and wanted to turn Germany into a communist state. Though the government broke up the rebellion using the Freikorps this uprising revealed Germany’s vulnerability.

In July 1919, Germany became a democracy with universal suffrage, a parliament and a president. The name of the State was still Deutsches Reich, but was unofficially called Weimar Republic. But the leaders of the young republic could not end the political unrest. The main cause for it was that many Germans, including politicians, hated the Treaty of Versailles. They felt humiliated because of the loss of territory, the high amount of reparations and the derogation of the army. Some believed that Germany should have continued to fight and that its politicians had betrayed the army. Many believed this stab-in-the-back myth. Among them was Adolf Hitler.

two cartoons about the so-called "Dolchstoss-legende", the 

"stab-in-the-back myth"

Crisis in Germany

The global impact of the Great Depression was huge. It spread all over the world because Americans did not buy foreign goods anymore and banks wanted their loans back. Europe was hit hard, especially Germany.

After World War I, the Germans not only had difficulties in governing their country, but also in restoring the economy. They were burdened by the punishments of the Treaty of Versailles. When in 1923 Germany was unable to pay for reparations, the French and Belgians invaded the Ruhr area, planning to get the money themselves. The German workers went on strike and their government paid them with extra printed money. This led to hyperinflation, which means that the German Mark lost its value. The USA helped Germany and ordered the French and Belgians to withdraw their armies to prevent an escalation of violence. 

1923 German children use bundles of banknotes as building blocks.

summarize

1. write down the title of this paragraph
   
2. write down 2 reasons why the depression spread across the world
   
3. write down why Germany's war reparations led to a hyper inflation
   

When Germany could not pay, the French occupied the Ruhr area to take resources as payment.

The Allies also helped with the Dawes Plan to solve the problem of Germany’s war reparations. The Dawes Plan led to economic growth in Germany

Title: Berlin, Amerikanisches Gold für die Reichsbank, Dezember 1924

The Russian Revolution (1917)

    

     effects: 

February revolution 

• the czar abdicated 
  
• a temporary (socialist) government took over
  
• but the war continued
  

October revolution 

• Lenin took power over Russia 
• Sovjet-Union was created 
• Peace with Germany was signed 

Fascism

• In 1922, Mussolini became the dictator of Italy.

• His set of ideas (ideology) is known as fascism.

• Today the term "fascist" is commonly used to for people who are racist and anti-democratic

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