Attempts at Peace After World War I

After the Great War, a lot of effort was put in to try and develop peace throughout Europe. After the first war (from 1914-1918), president Wilson and twenty-seven other representatives from the victorious side met in Paris in January 1919 with the losers of the war (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and turkey). The three most powerful leaders at the time from the three main powers on the allied side made most of the decisions for the treaty. Clemenceau from France and Lloyd George from Britain both wanted a tough treaty that ‘made Germany pay’. While president Wilson from USA wanted to introduce his list of fourteen points for peace. And after much intense discussion between the three representatives, an agreement was made, and the Treaty of Versailles was created.

The treaty was forced on Germany and the Germans were angry with this because they thought the Treaty of Versailles was unfair. The terms of the treaty included Germany being blamed for the war, reparations of £6.6 million were to be paid by them, Germany was also to lose 13.5% of her territory along with seven million people. They were not allowed to re-unite with Austria ever again and the German army was to be reduced to 100,000 men. The Treaty of Versailles was eventually signed by the Germans on June 28th, 1919 and although the Treaty of Versailles was an attempt to settle peace after the war, the Germans were very unhappy with the terms of the treaty. They wanted vengeance for what they had to agree to and for losing the war. This hinted possible future conflict.

After president Wilson put out the list of fourteen points, the very last point –setting up of a league of nations to protect world peace for the future- was taken into account and the League of Nations formed in January 1920. It was the League of Nations’ duty to maintain peace and settle any arguments or conflict that was going on. One successful example is when Greece invaded Bulgaria. The league solved this dispute and both sides obeyed. This proved the League of Nations to be a major factor in terms of restoring peace.

In the 1920’s, a lot of plans and pacts formed to establish peace. This era was an ear of hope and people called the 20’s the ‘golden twenties’. One of the pacts included the Locarno pact, which was intended to guarantee peace to Western Europe. It was signed in December 1st 1925 and the pact mainly meant that Germany was to respect the shared borders of France and Belgium. Germany joined the League of Nations shortly after the Locarno pact.

Other plans and pact of the golden twenties include the Kellogg-Briand pact. The Kellogg-Briand pact was an agreement to renounce war between France and USA. It was signed in August 27, 1928. Another main plan included the Dawes plan (1924) in which Germany was given more time to pay off their reparations. That was followed by the Young plan in 1929 when Germany stated that they couldn’t afford to pay any more. The young plan reduced the amount Germany had to pay in reparations from £6.6 million to £2 million and the date was also extended to 1988. These plans and pacts all played a huge part in reducing conflict and tension between countries after the Great War.

Overall, the numerous attempts for peace were significant, but it was not enough for permanent peace. And the strain between Germany and the allies showed eventually in the 1930s.