This document provides detailed summary notes on all you need to know for core topics 1,2,3,4,5,6 in the Cambridge IGCSE History Option B course. These notes are what secured me a 9 in the final exams.
Core Topic 1: Were the peace treaties of
1919-23 fair?
The Paris Peace Conference 1919-20
• Took place in the Palace of Versailles.
• No defeated countries were invited.
• Treaty of Versailles and 4 others were made.
Wilson’s Ideas
• Don’t be too harsh on Germany.
• Strengthen democracy in defeated countries.
• Give self-determination to small countries once part of the European Empire.
• International cooperation.
Lloyd George’s ideas
• He was a realist and occupied a middle ground.
• He didn’t want a harsh treaty as it could lead to communist revolution.
• Trade with Germany.
• Germany to lose its navy as it threatened the British Empire.
• He especially disliked 2 of Wilson’s points: all nation’s access to the seas and people ruling
themselves.
Clemenceau’s ideas
• Revenge on Germany.
• Reparations to be paid.
The Treaty of Versailles
1. War Guilt
• Germany takes blame for starting the war.
2. Reparations
• Germany to pay £6.6 billion.
3.German territories and colonies
• German colonies taken away and controlled by the League of Nations.
• Union between Austria and Germany forbidden.
• Rhineland demilitarised.
• Saarland and Danzig controlled by the League of Nations.
• Germany lost 68,000 km² of territory.
• Germany lost 10% of land in Europe.
• 12.5% of its population.
• 16% of coalfields.
• Almost half of its iron and steel industry.
4. Germany’s armed forces
• Army limited to 100,000.
• Conscription was banned.
• No armoured vehicles, submarines or aircrafts.
• Only 6 battleships.
,5. League of Nations
• Set up as an international “police force”.
• Germany not allowed to join until it showed signs of being a peace-loving country.
Germany’s reaction to Treaty of Versailles
1. War guilt and reparations
• Didn’t feel like they started the war.
• Bitter that they had to pay reparations with a severely damaged economy.
2. German territories
• Germany was bitter because while they lost colonies, allies gained colonies of German
territories in Africa.
3. 14 Points and League of Nations
• Treatment of Germany did not align with 14 points, e.g. while self-determination was given to
some countries, German-speaking people were being hived off to other countries to be ruled
by non-Germans.
• Felt insulted by not being invited to join the League of Nations.
Consequences of the treaty for Germany
1. Political violence
• Attempted revolution (the Kapp Putsch) defeated by general strike by Berlin workers which
stopped essential services such as power and transport.
• Numerous assassinations (1922 Germany's foreign minister Walther Rathenau murdered).
• November 1923 Hitler led the Munich Putsch which was defeated.
2. Conflict in the Ruhr
• No reparation paid in 1922, so in 1923 French and Belgian soldiers entered the Ruhr and took
raw materials and goods.
• Germans ordered to go on strike to stop supply to the French.
• The French killed 100 workers and expelled 100,000 protesters from the region.
3. Hyperinflation
• Government printed extra money which made it virtually worthless, so prices shot up.
Some said the treaty was fair
• Germany’s call for fairer treatment did not square with their much harsher treatment of Russia
in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918.
• Germany’s economic problems were self-inflicted (government allowed debts to run up as
they planned to pay them with reparations from defeated states).
Treaty of St Germain 1919 - Austria
• Austria separated from Hungary.
• Lost land to Poland, Italy and creation of new states like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
• Army restricted to 30,000.
• No alliance with Germany.
, Treaty of Neuilly 1919 - Bulgaria
• Bulgaria lost land to Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia.
• Lost access to Mediterranean.
• Armed forces restricted to 20,000.
• £10 million reparations to be paid.
Treaty of Trianon 1920 - Hungary
• Hungary lost territories to Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
• 3 million Hungarians ended up in other states.
• Due to pay reparations but its economy was so weak it never did.
Treaty of Sevres 1920 - Turkey
• Turkey lost territory, empire broken up.
• Parts of Turkey controlled by Allies.
• Taxes, finances and budget controlled by Allies.
• Army restricted to 50,000.
• Navy restricted, no air force.
(Extra) Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918 - Russia
• Very harsh treaty that Germany made Russia sign.
• Russia had huge territorial losses including the 3 Baltic States.
• Lost huge areas of prime agricultural land.
• Lost 80% of coal mines.
• Lost half of other industries.
• 6 billion marks in reparations in a follow up agreement in August 1918.
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