Notes

The First World War was devastating. Nobody expected it to last for more than a few months, and it instead dragged on for years. The death toll of 40 million and the horrors of the trenches created feelings of despair, anger and revenge. Someone had to be blamed for this carnage, and the obvious targets were the losers.

The Allies included Britain, France and Russia at the start of the war, though in 1917 Russia left the war and America replaced them. The opposing side were the Central Powers, whose main members were Germany and Austria-Hungary. By 1918, the German army was exhausted, and knew that defeat was inevitable, especially with the Americans sending vast resources to Europe to fight them.

In November 1918, revolutions began across Germany. Their emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, abdicated [left his position] and the new democratic German government signed an armistice [a ceasefire, but not the legal end of the war] on November 11th 1918.

Germany expected a fair peace for many reasons. Firstly, they (rightly) believed that the war was caused by the actions of many nations, not just theirs. They had also signed the armistice on French soil and still had a large number of troops, so it did not seem to the ordinary German person that they had lost. Furthermore, they had done as the Americans had asked earlier in 1918, and replaced their Kaiser with a democratic government.

However, this was in complete contrast to what France thought. Germany had invaded France twice in 50 years (1871 and 1914), and the French did not want this to happen again. Additionally, much of the war was fought on french soil, damaging French land and industry. They also suffered up to 2 million casualties.

Britain had also suffered hugely, though the war had not been fought on British soil, and their casualties were lower. However, Germany had been Britain’s 2nd biggest trading partner before the war, so they did not want to punish them too much. They also feared that if Germany was made too weak, the Balance of Power [the British idea that Europe could be kept in peace by France, Germany and Russia all being equally strong].

What made attitudes in Britain and France even more bitter to Germany was the importance of public opinion, meaning the views of the ordinary people. Both nations were democratic, meaning that if the government did not follow the wishes of their people, they would be voted out in an election.

America did not suffer anywhere near as much as the other Allies, as it was only active in the war for a year and suffered few casualties. In fact they had been made even more powerful, as Britain had borrowed vast sums from them during the war, and would now have to pay them back. Many Americans were also of German descent. America also did not want their global trade to be disrupted by damaging a country as wealthy as Germany, or to be entangled in European politics.

It was decided that the Peace Conference should be held in France, at the palace of Versailles. This was bad news for the Germans, as not only was it on their most bitter enemy’s home soil, but it was also where the Germans had embarrassed the French in 1871 by crowning their Kaiser there after defeating France in only a few weeks. By choosing Versailles, the French were sending the message that they would get their revenge. Indeed, the Germans were not invited to send any representatives to negotiate the final treaty.

There were many pressures on the peacemakers at Versailles. Apart from the devastation of the war, the force of public opinion and the different aims of the victorious Allies, it was made even more difficult by the collapse of several empires, including Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Borders would have to be redrawn. Another problem was the fear of Communism, a political idea that believed people should be equal, and that the wealthy and privileged should be overthrown. This had happened in Russia in 1917, and many feared it would spread like a disease unless decisive action was taken.