Results of the First World War

The First World War lasted for four years and three months. It began on August 4, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918. It involved sixty sovereign states, overthrew four Empires (German Empire, Hapsburg Empire, Turkish Empire, Russian Empire), gave birth to seven new nations, took ten million combatant lives (another 30 million were wounded), and cost about £ 35,000 million.

Paris Peace Conference 1919 •Although representatives of thirty-two

states attended the Peace Conference at Paris in January 1919 to write the peace treaties, three men stood out above others: ▫Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States▫Clemenceau, the Prime Minister of France▫Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Britain. These came to be known as the Big Three, for

they eventually made all the decisions of the Conference.

•The decisions of the Big Three were influenced by five factors:

Secret Treaties • While the war was being fought, there were a series of

agreements made among the Allies for dividing up the spoils.

• In March 1915, France was promised Alsace-Lorraine, control of the left bank of the Rhine and German colonies in Africa.

• Britain was allowed to take over German colonies in Africa and the Pacific.

• In April of the same year, Italy was tempted to join the war on the side of the Allies by promises of Austrian and Turkish territory.

• In August 1916, Rumania was promised territories in Transylvania and Bukovina.

• The Big Three had to respect these treaties when they were making the territorial settlement after the war.

New States • Before the Conference opened in January 1919,

the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian Empires had collapsed.

• There arose many new states▫ Yugoslavia▫ Czechoslovakia▫ Estonia▫ Latvia▫ Lithuania ▫ Poland.

• The Big Three had to accept the existence of these new states when they were making the territorial settlement after the war.

Communist Russia

•Since November 1917, there was a communist government in Russia.

•The Big Three wanted to strengthen the neighbouring states of Russia so that they could form a "cordon sanitaire" to protect Europe against the spread of Communism.

After-war bitterness •During the war, the Allied governments

had done their best to arouse the patriotism of their own people.

• Immediately after the war, the people of the Allied countries still had a fierce hatred against the enemy nations.

•Because they had suffered so much during the war, they brought pressure on their governments to exact heavy compensation from the losers.

Conflict between the objectives of the Big Three • Woodrow Wilson was an idealist, a theorist and a

pacifist. • As a pacifist (the horrors of the American Civil

War had made him a pacifist), he hoped that there would be no war for mankind.

• As a theorist (he was an ex-professor of history and political economy), he liked to apply his academic theory and knowledge to solve the problem of war.

• As an idealist (he was a man of good intentions), he was able to produce his blueprint for peace in the future in his Fourteen Points in January 1918.

Clemenceau Prime Minister of France

• Clemenceau was a man of completely different character and aim as Wilson.

• Known as 'Tiger‘, he was no idealist and pacifist. • His basic aims when he came to the Conference were to

give to France first of all, her two lost provinces—Alsace and Lorraine; secondly, security against any possible German aggression in the years to come.

• To realize his second aim, he wanted to weaken Germany permanently by confiscating all her colonies and her past conquests, by depriving her of armed forces, by exacting heavy reparations from her and by creating a buffer state between Germany and France.

• This might be regarded as a policy of 'realism'. French hatred of Germany was excusable. France had been defeated by Germany in 1871 and nearly defeated in the First World War. As France was next to Germany, she always feared another German aggression.

Lloyd George the Prime Minister of Britain• Lloyd George stood midway between these two extreme

personalities. • He was being pressured by the anti-German public opinion in

Great Britain that Germany must pay for the war and "Hang the Kaiser".

• He also understood that if excessively heavy reparations and exceedingly harsh political terms were imposed on Germany, Germany might think of a war of revenge in the future.

• Moreover, a poor and impoverished Germany would also render herself to be a poor customer of British goods.

• A settlement with moderate, terms on Germany suited Britain's long-term interests. As a result, this tactful politician tried his best to smooth over the differences between the extreme viewpoints of Wilson and Clemenceau.

• The outcome of the efforts of Lloyd George was that the Versailles settlement, taken as a whole, appeared to be a compromise between Wilson's pacifist ideals and Clemenceau's revengeful attitude.

The Peace Treaties• The Big Three, first of all, drew up the Covenant

of the League of The Nations. They decided that the Covenant should be included in each of the peace treaties. The peace treaties they drew up were as follows: ▫ Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. ▫ Austria signed the Treaty of St. Germain (September

1919) ▫ Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Neuilly (November 1919). ▫ Hungary signed the Treaty of Trianon (June 1920) ▫ Turkey signed the

Treaty of Sevres (8/1920) & Lausanne (7/1923).

Criticism of the Versailles Settlement • The makers of the Versailles Settlement had contradictory

viewpoints in making the peace treaties but, in general, they did agree to reconstruct Europe on the principles of democracy and nationalism.

• The peace settlement was made by the Big Three and the defeated states were never allowed to discuss the terms.

• The punishment on Germany was somewhat excessive, since a democratic government had come to power.

• There was the existence of many national minorities in the new states of Europe—about 17 millions.

• The victorious powers did not disarm, even though the defeated powers had been disarmed to the lowest level.

• There were many cases in which the Big Three abandoned the principle of nationality when they were making the territorial settlement.

General Effects of the First World War • The First World War had far-reaching repercussions on the political

and economic developments of Europe. • After the First World War, there was little political stability in

Europe. In eastern Europe, the new states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland were always threatened by the rapid increase in national strength of communist Russia.

• In central Europe, the Germans always longed for a revision of the Treaty of Versailles. They would give full support to a government which advocated a strong foreign policy.

• In southern Europe, the Italians also harboured ill-feeling towards the Versailles Settlement because the Big Three failed to realize the territorial ambitions of Italy as were promised in the Treaty of London of 1915.

• There were only two states in Europe which hoped to preserve the Versailles Settlement. They were Britain and France. As both Britain and France were gravely weakened by the war, it is doubtful that they would be willing to make a costly war against any aggressors who were determined to revise the Versailles Settlement.