9/4/19 Senior Scholars: Interwar Europe: WorkinG Out Modernity in the Midst of Crisis Fall 2019 Prof. Kenneth F. Ledford [email protected] 368-4144 DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY HISTORY DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 1 9/4/19 DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY Interwar Europe • Friday, September 1, 1939 – 4:40 a.m. Central European Time – Wielun – Luftwaffe – 4:45 a.m. Central European Time – Westerplatte – Kriegsmarine – Gleiwitz Radio Tower DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY HISTORY DEPARTMENT 2 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 3 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT Interwar Europe DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY Interwar Europe DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 4 9/4/19 Interwar Europe DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY Interwar Europe DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 5 9/4/19 Making the Peace • Allied and Associated Powers gathered in Paris – Paris Peace Conference • Opened January 18, 1919 • Closed January 21, 1920, with inaugural General Assembly of the League of Nations HISTORY DEPARTMENT Negotiating Peace HISTORY DEPARTMENT Making the Peace • Allied and Associated Powers gathered in Paris – Paris Peace Conference – Delegates from 27 countries • 52 preliminary commissions • Held 1,646 sessions to prepare reports for plenary meetings • Diplomats accredited from 32 states and nationality groups HISTORY DEPARTMENT 6 9/4/19 Making the Peace • Allied and Associated Powers gathered in Paris – Paris Peace Conference – Delegates from 27 countries – Most famous commission the “Commission on Polish Affairs” • Drew “Curzon Line” to serve as eastern border of new Poland HISTORY DEPARTMENT Making the Peace • Organization of Paris Peace Conference – Plenary Conference of the 27 states once a week – Supreme War Council became directing agency of peace, with addition of Japan • Council of 10 (heads of state/government plus foreign ministers) • Council of 4 (U.S., Britain, France, Italy) HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT 7 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT David Lloyd-George HISTORY DEPARTMENT Georges Clemenceau HISTORY DEPARTMENT 8 9/4/19 Vittorio Orlando HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT Making the Peace • Long delay between Armistice (November 11) and opening of Peace Conference (January 18) and further delay led to two problems – Decision to skip preliminary settlements and proceed to final one made preliminary decisions from Territorial Committees final – Victorious powers demobilized while negotiating, demanded by war- weary populations, but reducing options of imposing will HISTORY DEPARTMENT 9 9/4/19 Making the Peace • Explore making of the peace in 1919 in three steps: – Explore terms and effect of Armistice, which prefigured the peace – Explore plans and aims of victorious powers – Explore the first of the treaties with the five defeated powers, Germany, the Treaty of Versailles – Then next week will look at the other four treaties and some of the consequences of World War I and the Paris Peace Conference for today HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • Negotiation of First Armistice of Compiègne took a long and hard month – September 29, 1918, Ludendorff and Hindenburg tell Kaiser Wilhelm II and Chancellor Georg von Hertling that German military situation was hopeless – Ludendorff claimed he could not guarantee that front would hold for another 24 hours – Demanded request to Entente for immediate ceasefire HISTORY DEPARTMENT 10 9/4/19 Armistice • October 3, 1918, Prince Max von Baden replaced Hertling as Chancellor – October 4, sent telegram to Wilson asking to negotiate terms on basis of Fourteen Points – Wilson responded on October 14 and 23 – Made it clear that Allies would deal only with a democratic Germany not an imperial state under military dictatorship – Implied but not stated that Kaiser would have to abdicate HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • October 5, Prince Max announced impending constitutional reforms, adopted by Reichstag on October 29 – Made Chancellor responsible to majority in Reichstag – Made army subject to civilian control through Chancellor – Abolished property-based three-class suffrage system in Kingdom of Prussia HISTORY DEPARTMENT 11 9/4/19 Armistice • October 5, government announced to public for first time the perilous military situation on Western Front – But German army still stood on French and Belgian soil, albeit having retreated since July HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • Ludendorff in late October declared Allied demands unacceptable, changed his mind, demanded to resume war he had declared lost a month before – New democratic Imperial government dismissed him and replaced him with General Wilhelm Groener – October 24, sailors in Wilhelmshaven then Kiel refused to sail and rose up HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • On November 4, soldiers and sailors in ports formed Solders’ and Sailors’ Councils (Soldaten- und Matrosen-Räte) HISTORY DEPARTMENT 12 9/4/19 Armistice • November 6, German delegation headed by Matthias Erzberger departed Berlin for France HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • Uprisings in Wilhelmshaven and Kiel turned into revolution on November 9 in Berlin and many other cities – Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated throne – Prince Max turned over Chancellor’s office to Friedrich Ebert of the Social Democratic Party – Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the democratic republic from the Reichstag at 2:00 p.m. – Karl Liebknecht proclaimed the socialist republic from the city palace at 4:00 p.m. – Ebert worked with Erzberger of the Catholic Center Party to avoid a Bolshevik-style revolution, create a republic, and negotiate a peace HISTORY DEPARTMENT 13 9/4/19 Collapse and Revolution HISTORY DEPARTMENT Collapse and Revolution HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT 14 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT Collapse and Revolution HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • Erzberger and German delegation arrived at forest of Compiègne on morning of November 8 – Allies handed Germans a list of demands and gave 72 hours to answer – No real negotiations – Sunday, November 10, French showed them Paris newspapers to prove the Kaiser had abdicated and republic been proclaimed – November 10, Ebert instructed Erzberger to sign – Armistice agreed to at 5:00 a.m., signed between 5:12 and 5:20 a.m. – Effective 11:00 a.m. Paris time (Noon Berlin time) HISTORY DEPARTMENT 15 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT 16 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • Terms of the Armistice: – Termination of military hostilities on land and in air within 6 hours – Immediate removal of German troops from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Alsace-Lorraine within 14 days – Subsequent removal of all German troops from west bank of Rhine plus 30 km bridgeheads on east bank at Mainz, Koblenz, and Cologne – Occupation of Rhineland and bridgeheads by Allied troops HISTORY DEPARTMENT 17 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT 18 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT 19 9/4/19 Armistice • Terms of Armistice – Removal of all German troops on Eastern Front (Turkey, Austria- Hungary, Romania) to German territory as of August 1, 1914 – Renunciation of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Russia and Treaty of Bucharest with Romania – Internment of German High Seas Fleet in Britain – Surrender of all German submarines – Surrender of 5,000 cannons, 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 Minenwerfer, 1,700 airplanes, 5,000 locomotives, 150,000 railway cars. HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT 20 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • British naval blockade of Germany continued – Total blockade until January 17, 1919 – After that, Allies requested Germans to send German ships to Allied ports to transport food supplies. – German government feared loss of ships if hostilities resumed – Did not send ships until March 1919 – March 1919 onward U.S. food also shipped on U.S. ships to Germany – Restrictions on food imports only fully lifted on July 12, 1919 after signing of Treaty of Versailles HISTORY DEPARTMENT 21 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT Armistice • Original Armistice had term of 32 days, to expire December 13, 1918 – German withdrawal and disarmament began immediately – Germany fell into revolution and chaos • December 15-16 and December 25, struggles with Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils • December 27, Poles rose in Province of Posen – Armistice extended until January 16, 1919 • Spartacus Uprising Berlin January 4-15 • Elections to National Assembly January 19 – Armistice extended again until February 16, 1919 • National Assembly convened in Weimar February 6 – Armistice extended third time to January 10, 1920 HISTORY DEPARTMENT HISTORY DEPARTMENT 22 9/4/19 HISTORY DEPARTMENT Plans and Aims for Peace • United States – Wilson felt obligated to attend Paris Peace Conference in person to work for his goal of a League of Nations – His war aims represented in Fourteen Points • Britain and France did not embrace Fourteen Points, embraced individual ones for their own reasons or instrumentally to curry favor with Wilson – Wilson led U.S. toward policy of interventionism • Out of touch with public opinion at home HISTORY DEPARTMENT Plans and Aims for Peace • Great Britain – Over-arching interest was to maintain unity of British Empire with all its holdings and interests – Four specific additional goals • Ensure security of France • Remove threat of German High Seas Fleet • Settle contentious territorial issues to prevent future tensions • Support League of Nations HISTORY DEPARTMENT 23 9/4/19 Plans and Aims for Peace • Great Britain – Wanted to limit idea