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VERSAILLES PEACE CONFERENCE

VERSAILLES PEACE CONFERENCE. January 1919 27 nations attended Only the victors Dominated by the “Big Four” Great Britain France Italy United States. PROVISIONS OF TREATY. “ war guilt clause” (Article 231) Alsace/Lorraine returned to France Rhineland demilitarized

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VERSAILLES PEACE CONFERENCE

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  1. VERSAILLES PEACE CONFERENCE • January 1919 • 27 nations attended • Only the victors • Dominated by the “Big Four” • Great Britain • France • Italy • United States

  2. PROVISIONS OF TREATY • “war guilt clause” (Article 231) • Alsace/Lorraine returned to France • Rhineland demilitarized • German army reduced to 100,000, navy reduced to 12 ships, all subs destroyed, and no military airforce was allowed • Germany forced to pay 132 billion marks reparations • Germany turned over most of its merchant and fishing fleet and railroad stock • turned over 25% of it coal • Germany lost all its colonies

  3. WEIMAR GOVERNMENT • Two-house legislature • Lower House: Reichstag • Leader of the largest party in the Reichstag would be chancellor • Powerful president • Elected for seven-year term • Had power to dissolve Reichstag and call for new elections • Had power to suspend the constitution during a national emergency and rule by decree Reichstag

  4. “FREE CORPS” RECRUITING POSTER “Protect the Homeland”

  5. “KAPP PUTSCH” • March 20, 1920 • Wolfgang Kapp • Former imperial bureaucrat • Seized control of Berlin and Bavaria • Supported by conservative politicians • President Friedrich Ebert appealed to workers to defend the republic • Workers launched general strike which caused “putsch” to collapse

  6. WALTER RATHENAU • Foreign minister • Signed treaty of mutual friendship with the Soviet Union • Treaty of Rapallo (1922) • Soviet Union received German technical assistance • Germany received Soviet help in evading some of the military restrictions imposed by Versailles Treaty • Diplomatic relations established between the two countries • Rathenau murdered two months after signing the treaty

  7. FRENCH OCCUPATION OF THE RUHR BASIN • January 11, 1923 • France rejected German request to temporarily suspend reparations payments • Germany responded by ordering coal miners in Ruhr Basin to stop mining coal destined for Allies • France sends troops into Ruhr Basin • Germany responds by printing paper money to pay miners for their work stoppage • Result is hyperinflation

  8. GERMAN HYPERINFLATION • November 1918 • 8.9 marks = $1.00 • January 1920 • 64.8 marks = $1.00 • January 1923 • 17,972 marks = $1.00 • July 1923 • 353,412 marks =$1.00 • August 1923 • 4,620,455 marks = $1.00 • September 1923 • 98,860,00 marks =$1.00 • November 1923 • 4,200,000,000,000 marks = $1.00

  9. IMPACT OF HYPERINFLATION

  10. GUSTAV STRESEMANN • Convinced Ruhr Basin coal miners to go back to work • France withdrew troops in response • Ordered government to stop printing billion mark notes and issued new mark which equaled one trillion old marks • Ended hyperinflation

  11. DAWES PLAN • Stresemann convinced GB and France to provide loans to Germany • League of Nations commission chaired by Charles Dawes extended repayment schedule for German reparations • Reduced amount Germany had to pay every year • U.S. reduced French and British outstanding debt by 35% • Returned financial stability to Weimar Germany

  12. PAUL VON HINDENBURG Germany signs Treaty of Locarno in 1925 with GB, France, Italy and Belgium Pledged to settle all future disputes peacefully Elected president in 1925

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