Transcript Reactions to the Peace Treaties

REACTIONS TO THE PEACE
TREATIES
HISTORIOGRAPHY: CHANGING
INTERPRETATIONS OF EVENTS
Traditional view: frequent clashes between
Clemenceau and Wilson with Lloyd George as
mediator
 In reality, France and Britain clashed over harsh
treatment of Germany as well

FRANCE AND USA
US was unsatisfied because Wilson had to
compromise some ideals—the US refused to sign
the treaty and never did. Didn’t join LoN, either.
 France was very unsatisfied, felt Germany was not
punished enough—reflected in the 1920 election—
Clemenceau was defeated because he had been too
willing to compromise
 Smaller treaties were a concern—they’d created
small successor states that might fall to Germany
if she recovered

ITALY
Very unhappy
 Achieved few of its territorial ambitions
 Orlando (PM) walked out of the talks in anger
 His protests had no effect on the Big 3 decisions
after, and the Italian people were angry at him for
a “mutilated victory”
 It was the downfall of the liberal government and
the rise of Benito Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship
with its promise of making Italy “great, respected,
and feared”
 Minor skirmish to take back some land awarded to
Yugoslavia (new successor state in Europe)—
Italians were clearly bitter about lack of land prizes

BRITAIN
The most satisfied, probably
 Colonial issues solved as they hoped (Germany’s
colonies dispersed, they got mandates in the
MidEast)
 Not concerned with mainland Europe, but wanted
balance of power, which seemed achieved—
Germany not destroyed and France was not
dominant
 Trianon, St Germain, and Neuilly caused little
concern
 But Sevres made Britain large and Turkey small,
carved up the MidEast in drastic ways, questioned
Britain’s motives

JAPAN
Felt the peace treaties confirmed their role as
second-rate power
 Felt Wilson’s ideals were simply ways of
maintaining the dominance of the Western world
 The “racial equality” clause: Japan proposed a
clause that said every race should be treated
equally in the LoN. They thought this would mean
Japan gets treated equally, but some Europeans
worried it meant the end of colonization.
 In the end, a majority voted “yes” on the clause,
but since a few people said “no”, Wilson declared it
a loss—he said a unanimous decision would be
needed on this one because of how emotional it had
become (and he and the US didn’t want it)

GERMANY’S REACTION:
Outrage.
 Germany lost 13% of its land, 12.5% of its people,
48% of its iron resources, 15% of it agricultural
production and 16% of it coal.
 War Guilt: Germans felt the blame should be
shared, and the cost of paying back for this guilt
would be too heavy
 Disarmament: Germany would be left vulnerable to
attack; other nations weren’t required to disarm
 Loss of land: lost raw materials, insult to national
pride as their former colonies were divided up
among victors
 14 Points: the treaty didn’t follow them; Germans
outside the borders of Germany weren’t granted
independence

GERMANY’S REACTION CONT’D
In German minds, since they didn’t start the war,
didn’t really lose it, and asked for the armistice, they
thought they’d get lenient treatment
 Treaty of Versailles came as a giant shock
 Enormous psychological impact on the nation (Hitler)
 Historiography: If the treaty hadn’t been so harsh,
would the German people have wanted revenge so
badly? Some say yes—the German treaty with
Russia (Brest-Litovsk) was just as harsh, and the
German people would have been just as harsh to the
Allies if they had won.
