The document summarizes the key terms and impacts of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War 1. It discusses Wilson's 14 Points, the massive human and economic costs of WWI, and the Paris Peace Conference where the "Big Three" Allied powers imposed punitive terms on Germany without its participation. The treaty forced Germany to accept war guilt, pay extensive reparations, lose territory and colonies, and face severe military restrictions. These humiliating terms angered Germans and destabilized the new Weimar Republic, contributing to conditions that later allowed Hitler to rise to power.

1. Impact of First World
War

2. The End of First World War
 Wilson’s Fourteen Points for post-WW1
Europe
 Democracy
 People to have a say in the government
 Self-determination
 People to have the right to decide what
country they wanted to live in
 League of Nations
 Collective security – safety for many
countries, not just for one
 Problem-solving through discussion, not
war

3. Effects of First World War
 Casualties
 18 million soldiers and 9 million civilians
 Physical and psychological wounds
 Costs
 Most combatant countries were in debt to
USA
 Damage
 8,000 square miles of agricultural land
 1,000 factories
 13 million tonnes of ships

4.  11 Nov 1918: armistice,
 a temporary peace agreement signed
by the warring states, including
Germany.
 Germany’s military leaders stopped the
war although Germany was not
defeated or occupied.
 Germany agreed to the armistice
because they thought that Wilson’s ’14
Points’ would apply to them too.

5. Textbook
 18 Jan 1919: Paris Peace Conference
by the ‘Big Three’, who met for 5
months – Br, Fr, USA
 Germany was not allowed to attend
the talks

6. Paris Peace Conference
  Clemenceau (French PM)
 Revenge (because of extensive damage done
to France / Preventive (to prevent Germany
from becoming strong again)
  Lloyd George (British PM)
 Revenge (Make Germany pay for the damage)
/ Recovery (help Germany recover from the
war)

  Woodrow Wilson (US President)
 A fair peace

7.  Germans not allowed to see the
treaty until a few weeks before
signing.
 They had no choice but to sign it.
 If they had refused to sign, the Allied
Powers would have continued their
naval blockade, which was depriving
Germany of food and raw materials.

8. Treaty of Versailles – Territorial terms
Germany lost land in Europe and its
colonies, eg ()
 Alsace-Lorraine returned to France
 Lands given up to create Poland and Czechoslovakia
(Hitler wanted to recover Poland and Czech)
 ‘Polish Corridor’
 Lands given up to Belgium and Denmark
 Lost all overseas colonies – in Africa, China
(Shandong)
 Mandates of League of Nations
 Union between Germany and Austria disallowed
(Hitler formed this union again)

9. Military Terms – German forces
were drastically cut (p. )
 Army
 Only 100,000 men allowed and no tanks
 Navy
 Only 6 battleships allowed, no submarines
 Air-force
 Nil
 All weapons were to be destroyed
 Rhineland to be demilitarised – no
Germany military forces in the area, and
Allied troops would occupy the Rhineland
for 15 years.

10. War Guilt Clause - Article 231
 Germany was blamed for WW1
 for ‘all the loss and damage which the
Allied Governments and their nationals
have been subjected to as a consequence
of the war imposed on them by the
aggression of Germany and her allies’
 Had to pay compensation for damages
done, mainly to France
 A reparation of 6,600 million sterling
pounds in money and goods (it would
take G 50 years to pay up)
 This amount would impoverish Germany
for years

11. Reactions of German Diplomats
 Wanted to negotiate but were
ignored
 Forced to sign or face the
consequence of invasion / naval
blockade
 Sinking of German High Seas Fleet
by angry German commanders

12. Reactions of German People
 Why surrender when we were winning?
 German territories were not occupied
 No longer fighting a two-front war
 ‘Stab-in-the-back’ theory (the German
people felt they were stabbed in the back
by their own politicians and diplomats)
 Russia had surrendered in March 1918
 Why were we blamed for the war when all
the major powers were involved?
 What did our heroic soldiers die for?
 Why did our government sign the treaty?

13. Why the Germans were angry?
Amount too large to be paid even by the
next two generations; Reasons for payment
was not acceptable to the Germans
Economic
terms
No offensive weapons allowed; too weak
even to defend itself; humiliating
Military
terms
Territories with Germans remained outside
Germany; principle of self-determination
applied to everyone except Germany
Territorial
terms
Explanation
Reasons

14. Effects of the Treaty of
Versailles
 The people felt resentful.
 They blamed the politicians who
stopped the war before the German
army was finally defeated.
Considered as BETRAYAL not defeat.

15.  They blamed The new democratic
government for signing the treaty. The
government did not get the support of the
people and hence it was difficult to control
them. The Weimar republic was thus
discredited. It had a bad start.
 The situation of dissatisfaction continued in
the 1920s and 1930s and many were
supportive of other politicians who wanted
to make Germany great again.

16.  The treaty was responsible for
Germany’s economic troubles.
 Its main sources of wealth, the coal
mines of the Saar and the iron
industries in Alsace-Lorraine were lost
by this treaty.
 Reparations (war compensation) had
to be paid out of fewer resources. The
economy was in a mess.

17.  The situation contributed to the rise
of Hitler
 Most Germans wanted to get rid of
the restrictions of the treaty. Adolf
Hitler used this as a tool for his
propaganda – only one viewpoint /
only one voice

18. A German cartoon of 1921,
commenting on the amount of
reparations to be paid to the Allies.

19. “Vengeance! German nation! Today
in the Hall of Mirrors the disgraceful
treaty is being signed. Do not forget
it. The German people will, with
unceasing labour, press forward to
re-conquer the place among nations
to which it is entitled. Then will
come vengeance for the shame of
1919.”
- An extract from a German newspaper,
28 June 1919