The aftermath of first world war

The 1st World WarThe aftermath of the war

María Jesús CamposChusteacherWikiteacher

Losses and casualties• “Total war”: the

combatants mobilised all their resources, military, industrial and human.

• The number of men mobilised by both sides during the war totalled over 65 million.

• Historians estimate that up to 10 million men died on the battlefield and around 20 million were wounded.

The Aftermath of World War I

• The Armistice was signed 11 of November of 1818

• Everybody felt that the First World War should be the “war to end all wars”.

• After the war:– The political map of

Europe would be redrawn (the Ottoman and the Habsburg Empires dissapeared)

– European countries suffered a difficult economic situation. Some countries had been devastaded.

The mood in 1919• People felt that Germany

should be blamed and pay for the war.

• Not only because they thought Germany has caused the war but because of the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed between Germany and Russia.

The Paris Peace Conference, 1919-20

• Took place in Versailles

• 32 nations were represented but not the defeated countries

• The “Big Three” (Great Britain, USA, France) took all the important decissions.

The “Big Three”

George Clemenceau, France- France had been devastated and 2/3 soldiers had been injured or Killed- Germany should be harshly punished and pay for the war

Woodrow Wilson,

USA- Believed in peaceful cooperation among nations and the right to self-determination

David Lloyd George, Great Britain

- Was usually in the middle ground between Clemenceau and Wilson- Germany should be punished but not harshly to prevent a new war

Peace Treaties of the First World War

Treaty of Versailles

- 1919- Germany Treaty of Saint

Germain- 1919

- Austria

Treaty of Neuilly- 1919

- Bulgaria

Treaty of Trianon- 1919

- Hungary

Treaty of Sevres 1920

Treaty of Lausanne 1923

Turkey

Treaty of Versailles, 1919Germany had to accept:

• War guilt: accept the blame of the war

• Reparations: pay for the damage (lifes and infrastructures) caused to the Allies

• Army: limited to 100.000 soldiers, 6 battleships, no tanks, submarines or aircraft Punch, 19 February 1919. Caption: German

Criminal to Allied Police: Here, I say, stop! You’re hurting me! [Aside: If I only whine enough I may be able to wriggle out of this yet.]

Germany territorial losses in Europe

Germany lost all its colonies

• The Treaty of Versailles also included the creation of the League of Nations, an international organization to keep peace and prevent war

• Germany was not allowed to become a member until demonstrating “it was a peace-loving country”

German reaction to the Treaty of Versailles

• Outrage: Germans did not feel that they had started the war or that they had lost it as its country has not been occupied.

• Germany lost 10% of its land which meant a 12.5% of its population.

• Reparations were too heavy for Germany’s weak economy.

Mass demonstration against the Treaty of Versailles before the Reichstag in Berlin

• The new socialist government, led by Ebert, reluctantly signed the Treaty on 28 June 1919

• The German democratic government was fragile:– The Communists

attempted a coup d’etat: the Spartacists uprising

– The radical right-wing attempted a coup d’etat: the Kapp putsch

The impact of the Treaty on Germany

• Germany fell behind on its reparation payments in 1922

• The Ruhr region was occupied by France and Belgium weakening German’s economy even more.

• To pay the workers the German government printed more money which caused and hyperinflation (money became worthless)

• Germans blamed the Treaty for their problems.

Nobody liked the Treaty of Versailles

• Germany blamed the Treaty for their difficulties

• France thought the Treaty was not harsh enough with Germany

• Great Britain feared that it would bring a new war

• USA’s Senate refused to be a member of the League of Nations and ratify the Treaty

Treaty of Saint Germain, 1919

Austria had to accept: • Disarmament and

Reparations• The Habsburg Empire was

divided into different states (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia…)

• Populations from other nationalities remained in Austria

Treaty of Sevres, 1920 & Lausanne, 1923Turkey : • Ataturk, nationalist leader, rejected the terms of the Treaty of

Sevres.• The Treaty of Lausanne recognized the Turkish rights over

Smyrna and most of Anatolia. • In exchange, Turkey had to cede Lebanon and Syria to France

and Palestine, Irak and Trasjordan to Great Britain.

Other consequences of the TreatiesNew states appeared:

• Czechoslovakia (which became a strong industrialized state)• Poland (whose borders were not recognized by the USSR)• Yugoslavia (which merged Serbia with populations from Austria

and Hungary)

Swallow the Pill

Reparations