Discussion 11

Reading: HistoryDoctor.net: Dr. Larry E. Gates, Jr.’s

“The Peace Settlement”

 

The Peace Settlement

Germany gained a brief respite after the surrender of Russia

at Brest-Litovsk. Shortly thereafter, the Germans launched a

major offensive against French lines, but the offensive was

turned back within 35 miles of Paris at the Second Battle of

the Marne. Allied success was largely the result of the

infusion of fresh American troops who did not suffer from

the war weariness that plagued the other forces. Both sides

were weary of the war, but it was the Germans who cracked

first.

After the Russian Revolution, a series of major strikes broke

out in Germany, mostly led by Socialists and Communists. In

July, 1918, a coalition of moderates in the Reichstag passed

a peace resolution calling for peace without territorial

annexation. In response, the German military cracked down

with a virtual dictatorship of the homeland. With the Allies

advancing on all fronts, General Ludendorff realized that the

war was lost; but insisted on blaming moderate politicians in

the Reichstag for the defeat. On October 4, 1918, a new

liberal government met to sue for peace; however President

Woodrow Wilson responded that he would only negotiate

with the democratically elected government of the German

people. The German people had had enough, and rose up in

rebellion. Soldiers and workers began to establish

revolutionary councils on the models of the Russian soviets.

On November 3, sailors in Kiel mutinied and on the same

day Austria Hungary surrendered to the Allies. Masses of

workmen in Germany struck and demonstrated for peace.

Faced with unrest and with army discipline collapsing,

Wilhelm II abdicated and fled to Holland, where he remained

to the end of his days. A German Republic was proclaimed

on November 9, and agreed to the Allied terms of surrender,

which were NOT generous. Allied and German

representatives met at Compiegne near Aix-la-Chappelle,

(present day Aachen) in a Railroad Car where the Armistice

was signed at eleven a.m. on November 11, 1918. The War

was over.

 

Revolution: Revolution broke out in Austria-Hungary and

Germany as a result of the defeat. In Austria-Hungary, the

Hapsburg empire collapsed. Independent Austrian,

Hungarian, and Czechoslovakian republics were proclaimed

and in the south Yugoslavia (literally, "land of the southern

Slavs") was created. Class consciousness was replaced with

the prospect of establishing new national states.

In Germany, the Revolution of 1918 was similar to the

Russian Revolution of 1917. A popular uprising from below

toppled the monarchy and a liberal provisional republic was

established. Unlike other areas, radical revolutionaries did

not triumph, which caused great chagrin to the German

communists, who considered the revolution only half

completed. There were several reasons why Germany did

not embrace a communist government:

German Communists were not as violently revolutionary as

were the Russians. They wanted to see the expansion of

civil liberties and favored the gradual elimination of

capitalism; however they were also German patriots and

were appalled at the prospect of terror or violent revolution.

There was not the support from workers and soldiers for the

extreme left position as had been the case in Russia. The

German peasantry did not rise up as had been the case in

the French and Russian revolutions.

The German Social Democrats accepted defeat and ended

the war as soon as they took power. This ended the loss of

morale among the troops and prevented the regular army

from disintegrating.

Two radical communists, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa

Luxemburg, tried to seize control of the government in

Berlin and thereby bring about a Russian type Revolution. In

January, the moderate socialists called on the army to crush

the uprising. Liebknecht and Luxemburg were arrested and

later murdered by army leaders.

 

The Treaty of Versailles: Twenty seven victorious nations

sent seventy delegates to meet in Paris at Louis XIV’s palace

in January, 1919. Historian John McKay reports, "A young

British diplomat later wrote that the victors ‘were convinced

that they would never commit the blunders and iniquities of

the Congress of Vienna’ [of 1818]. Then the ‘misguided,

reactionary, pathetic aristocrats’ had cynically shuffled

populations, not ‘we believed in nationalism, we believed in

the self determination of peoples.’ Indeed ‘we were

journeying to Paris…to found a new order in Europe. We

were preparing not Peace, only, but Eternal Peace."

Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States had

previously promulgated his Fourteen Points Peace Plan in

January, 1918, which gave the conference a spirit of

optimism.

Germany was not allowed to participate, and Russia was

involved in its own civil war, and did not participate. For that

reason, the major powers at the conference were the United

States, Britain and France. The conference immediately

devolved into quarrelling. Wilson was obsessed with

creating the League of Nations while others in attendance

were concerned with punishing Germany. David Lloyd

George had won an election in Britain based on his plan to

make Germany pay, commenting that "We shall squeeze the

orange until the pips squeak." The British people as a whole

were not sympathetic to the Germans whom they

considered, in the words of Rudyard Kipling, "people with

the hearts of beasts."

The French Ambassador, Georges Clemenceau, known as

"The Tiger," wanted nothing short of old fashioned revenge

as well as security for France. He wanted a buffer state

between France and Germany, the permanent

demilitarization of Germany, and reparations from the

German government. Wilson considered this vindictive and

would not go along; and the conference was soon

deadlocked, and Wilson packed his bags to return home.

Clemenceau only compromised because of the fear of the

breakup of the conference which would leave France alone

to face Germany should hostilities break out again. In lieu of

a buffer state, the parties agreed to a permanent alliance of

France with the United States and Britain, whereby each

would come to the aid of France if it were attacked.

The resulting Treaty of Versailles was not as harsh as might

otherwise seem; in fact if one accepts the example of Brest-

Litovsk, it is likely that the Germans would have been even

more severe had they won. The terms:

Germany’s colonies were given to France, Britain, and Japan

as League of Nations mandates.

Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France.

Poland was recreated as a separate state from parts of the

old German empire. The German city of Danzig (now known

as Gdansk, Poland) was made part of Poland and a corridor

created which allowed Poland access to the sea. This latter

provision proved to be a sore point in later years, as East

Prussia was separated from the balance of Germany.

Germany had to agree to build no further military

fortifications and limit its army to 100,000 men.

Germany was required to sign a "war guilt clause" by the

terms of which Germany accepted full responsibility for the

war.

Since Germany was solely responsible for the war, it must

pay war reparations equal to all civilian damages caused by

the war.

When presented with the terms, the German delegates

protested vigorously, but they had no choice. Germany was

still under naval blockade, and the Allies refused to lift it

until representatives of the German government signed the

treaty. It was signed on July 28, 1919, in the same Hall of

Mirrors where Bismarck had proclaimed the German Empire

fifty years before.

Separate treaties were signed with Austria, Hungary,

Bulgaria and Turkey. The treaties basically ratified the

existing situation in eastern and central Europe following

the breakup of Austria-Hungary. Some Austrian territory was

ceded to Italy, and parts of Hungary were ceded to

Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia. The

Turkish Empire was broken up also. France received Lebanon

and Syria, and Britain received Iraq and Palestine. They

were officially League of Nations mandates.

 

American Rejection of the Treaty of Versailles: The

Treaty of Versailles was not perfect, but it was acceptable in

Europe. It provided for national self-determination, the

factor which had led to the outbreak of war in the first place;

a new world organization had been formed, and the

remaining problems could be worked out in the future. The

delegates at Versailles had felt it necessary to be

expeditious, as they detested Lenin and feared that his

Bolshevik revolution might spread to the rest of Europe (the

very plan that Lenin had in mind.) Peace seemed to be the

solution to Lenin’s calls for revolution.

Two obstacles remained: Germany and the United States.

Germany suffered communist uprisings, reactionary plots,

and disillusionment with losing the war. In fact, because

German soldiers were still on foreign soil and no foreign

soldiers were on German soil when the armistice was

signed, the army had accused the civilian government of a

"stab in the back." The moderates faced an enormous

challenge. The ensuing Weimar Republic was successful in

suppressing rebellion, including Adolf Hitler’s Beer Hall

Putsch; however even it eventually collapsed not to left

wing rebellion but to right wing arrogance.

In the United States, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Chairman

of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, was opposed to

the treaty as written, primarily because he feared that the

League of Nations would deprive the United States of its

power to declare war. This fear was probably more imagined

than real. Lodge proposed modifications, but Wilson refused

to accept any change. He was ill and self-righteously narrow

minded. Wilson single handedly saw that the Treaty was

never ratified by the United States. The U.S. never joined

the League of Nations nor did it ratify the defensive alliance

Wilson had arranged with Britain and France. In essence, the

U.S. turned its back on Europe.

Britain relied on the U.S. refusal and also refused to honor

the defensive alliance with France. France was forced to

stand alone against Germany. The grandiose Western

Alliance fell apart, and only a fragile peace remained.