Treaty of Versailles (1919–1920)
• Treaty w. Germany, decided by Big Three
• Set up League of Nations
• Set principles for defeated nations →
◦ Reparations
◦ Disarmament
◦ Land loss
◦ Self-determination
Four Other Treaties (followed Versailles principles)
TRIANON (Hungary)
• Lost land to Romania & Yugoslavia
• Army = 35k
• Went bankrupt b4 reparations set
NEUILLY (Bulgaria)
• Lost land to Greece
• Army = 20k
• Reparations = £90m
SAINT GERMAIN (Austria)
• Lost land to Czechoslovakia, Poland, Italy
• Army = 30k
• Went bankrupt before reparations set
Sèvres (Turkey)
• Gave land to Greece; empire split btwn Britain & France
• Army = 50k
• Allies planned reparations, but revolution → overturned by Treaty of
LAUSANNE (1923):
◦ No reparations
◦ Unlimited army
◦ No reparations
◦ Kept land from Greece
Self-determination
• Created new nation-states in E. Europe, notably 5 from Austro-Hungarian Empire
◦ Czechoslovakia (Czechs & Slovaks)
◦ Hungary (Hungarians)
◦ Austria (Austrians)
◦ Poland (Poles)
◦ Yugoslavia (Slavs)
• MINORITIES TREATIES demanded human rights for ethnic minorities
Problems of New States
a. Weak, unstable govts
• Many citizens still identified w. old empires → internal division
• Hungary: Communist Béla KUN (1919); King Charles IV’s failed coups (1921–22)
• Austria: Paramilitary groups → Civil War (1934)
• No DEMOCRATIC traditions → By 1939:
◦ Dictatorships (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Yugoslavia)
◦ Repressive govts (Poland, Hungary)
◦ Fascist Austria
◦ Only Czechoslovakia a democracy (annexed by Hitler, 1939)
b. Ethnic tensions
• Borders included minorities → conflict
• League MINORITIES COMMISSION ineffectual → did not protect minorities
• UPPER SILESIA: Polish rebellion vs Germany (1919–21)
• Czechoslovakia: Mixed ethnic groups, incl. German minority in SUDETENLAND → later tensions [split 1993]
• Austria: Pro-German but forbidden Anschluss
• Hungary: Hungarians in Romania discriminated against → border disputes
• Yugoslavia: Separatist movements, political assassinations (King Alexander I killed, 1934) [→ Yugoslavia collapsed (1991)]
c. Border disputes
• 1919: Italian Gabriele D’Annunzio seized FIUME (disputed w. Yugoslavia)
• Poland fought Russia & Lithuania over VILNA (1919–21), Czechoslovakia over TESCHEN (1920).
• Lithuania seized Memel (1923)
• Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) fought Russia & Germany for independence
• Hungary & Bulgaria sought lost lands → allied w. Nazi Germany in 1930s
d. Economic weaknesses
• Agricultural economies w broken financial systems →
◦ Hungary: Economic collapse (1920–21)
◦ Austria: HYPERINFLATION (1922)
• Former Austro-Hungarian states struggled to trade → new borders ignored railways/roads → transport chaos
e. Military weakness
• Small armies → VULNERABLE to attack
• No strong state in C. Europe to resist Hitler (1930s)
• USSR occupied E. Poland (1939) & Baltic states (1940)
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