Europe in the 1920’s and 1930’s

1. Europe in the 1920’s and 1930’s Chapter 24

2. Paris Peace Conference • 1919: Allied leaders gather in Paris to negotiate a treaty to officially end WWI • Big Four: • U.S. • Great Britain • France • Italy

3. Treaty of Versailles • Treaty of Versailles: officially ends WWI • Signed June 28, 1919 • Major Provisions of the Treaty • War Guilt Clause: Germany accepts full responsibility for causing the war • Reparations: Germany pays for damages of the war • $33 Billion

4. Treaty of Versailles • Major Provisions of the Treaty • German Disarmament • Germany not allowed to have an Airforce • Severe restrictions in the Germany navy • Army reduced to 100,000 • Germany loses territory • Loses ALL colonies • Loses land for the creation of Poland • Loses Danzig • A DMZ (demilitarized zone) was created in the Rhineland as a buffer between Germany and France

6. Responses to the Paris Peace Conference and Treaty • Some were upset with the Conference due to their harsh treatment of Germany • Woodrow Wilson wanted to be more lenient • John Meynard Keynes (famous economist…Keynesian Economics) was a British delegate. He left the conference in protest of the treatment of Germany • “Paris was a nightmare…” • Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France: “This isn’t a peace, it’s a twenty year truce!”

7. League of Nations • Woodrow Wilson (President of the U.S.) called for the creation of an international peace-keeping organization (14 Points) • League of Nations created after WWI • Weak, ineffective • The U.S. never joined

8. Impact on Germany • Germany crippled by the Treaty of Versailles • Collapse of the Monarchy • November 9, 1918: Kaiser Wilhelm (William) II abdicates throne • November 11, 1918: Germany negotiates for an armistice to end the fighting of WWI • Plans for a new, democratic government begins • Collapse of the German economy • Massive Inflation, money virtually worthless

9. Kaiser William II Friedrich Ebert, 1st President of Weimar Republic

10. Paul von Hindenburg President of the Weimar Republic

11. Weimar Republic • Weimar Republic: Germany’s government created after WWI • Democratic government • Constitution modeled after that of the U.S. • President given excess power • Article 48: gives President power to suspend constitution in times of crisis, dissolve parliament (Reichstag) and call for emergency elections

12. Weimar Republic • Germany’s economy in bad shape • 1923: massive inflation • It would take over 4 trillion German marks (currency) to purchase 1 American dollar. • Slight recovery in mid to late-1920’s • 1929: Stock Market Crash in U.S. leads to Great Depression….Germany hit hard • Germany was relying on the U.S. for loans. U.S. economic problems carry over to Germany. • Germany had highest unemployment rate in Europe

13. Rise of the Nazi Party • Germany’s poor economy contributed to the rise of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) • Nazi Party Platform: (25 Points) • Socialism: government control of certain aspects of the economy for the benefit of the people • Extreme nationalism • Racism and Anti-Semitism • Revenge for the Treaty of Versailles and “Stab in the Back” • Expansion of German influence, imperialism

14. Self-Determination??? • Ethnic groups (and Wilson) called for self-determination for the ethnic groups living in former empires of Europe • Austria and Hungary were broken into separate nations • Poland was created • Czechoslovakia was created by combining the Slovaks and the Czechs • Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were created by taking lands from Russia

15. A New Map

16. The Mandate System • Territories of the former Ottoman Empire were to be administered by the League of Nations • Known as Mandate System • Former German colonies in the Pacific were also part of this system