The Peace Settlements and the New Europe 1918-1923

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History Internal Assessment

The Peace Settlements and the New Europe 1918-1923

Discuss the view that the Paris settlements were an unsatisfactory compromise between hopes for reconciliation and a desire to punish the Central Powers.

Jens Vallø

January 21, 2002

I.B. World History HL

Table of contents

Introduction                                                                        1

Body

The War Aims of the Great European Powers                                2

The Peace Settlements                                                        4

The Economic and Social Crisis                                                5

Conclusion                                                                        6

Bibliography                                                                7

The Peace Settlements and the New Europe 1918-1923

Discuss the view that the Paris settlements were an unsatisfactory compromise between hopes for reconciliation and a desire to punish the Central Powers.

Introduction

        The Peace Treaties of 1919-20 were seen by some contemporaries as a triumph of democracy, a victory for the rule of law that would end the militaristic tendencies of the Great European Powers. To other critics it seemed no more than a hypocritical act of vengeance and economic ignorance, and a short-term victory for the allies. As for the hopes for reconciliation, the victorious Great Powers desired to prevent future conflicts as the casualties and destruction had been so immense during the war. It failed to do so as the conditions of the final settlements only humiliated the German people, and in the short-term crippled one of the strongest economies on the European continent.

        

        For the victorious nations including Britain and France the treaties left only some short-term advantages. It failed to reestablish a balance of power in Europe that maybe would have prevented future disasters. There are several reasons for why the peace negotiations were not very succesful in what they attempted to do. One important facter was that France and England were too divided by mutual suspicions to implement the treaties in the years after the war. Many of the deals looked good on paper, but the nations of Europe simply did not carry them through as the should. An even more significant weakness of the settlements of 1919-20 was that America, which had played such a large role in negotiating them, was prevented by the vote in the Senate from implementing them. The problem of Anglo-Frence hostility, the decision of the American senate, and the severe humiliation brought to the German people all point out that the peace settlements after World War One failed to prevent future conflicts. (Binder 81-85)

        Several different themes must be discussed in order to evaluate this view.           The war aims of the Great European Powers, and how they influenced the peace negotiations after the war. Thus the international politics in post war Europe, concerning the desires of the victorious nations, and the consequences this had for the defeated Central Powers. The negotiations themselves will be assessed, and the social and economic crisis the war and its peace settlements triggered in post war Europe will be evaluated as well.

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Body

The War Aims of the Great European Powers

        When World War One broke out in July 1914, all European nations had their own goals in the war, and spent the next five years fighting for these goals. Germany  who has commonly declared the agressor, as well had a set of goals to achieve. The ultimate goal was to control Europe indirectly through a customs union firmly dominated by herself. This customs union would include most of the continental western Europe, Poland, the Scandinavian states, the Balkans, Austria-Hungary and ...

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