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THE LEGACY OF WORLD WAR I 15

2

Austria-Hungary border, 1914

THE BREAKUP OF THE

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE 1918–

The Hapsburg Empire’s collapse led to three new

states: Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.

Former Austrian territory was added to Poland,

Romania, and what later became Yugoslavia. Austria

had to pay reparations, was forbidden to unite with

Germany, and saw its army restricted. The old

Kingdom of Hungary lost two-thirds of its land and

many ethnic Hungarians to Romania and elsewhere.

Signing the Treaty of Versailles

WRITING THE PEACE

The victorious Allied politicians and

diplomats met in Paris in 1919 to draw up a

series of treaties with the defeated Central

Powers, each one named after the palaces,

chateaux, and towns to the west of Paris

where they were signed. The main treaty

was signed with Germany at Versailles

in June 1919, followed by St.-Germain-

en-Laye with Austria in September

1919, Neuilly-sur-Seine with Bulgaria in

November 1919, Trianon with Hungary

in June 1920, and finally the abortive

Sèvres treaty with Turkey in August 1920.

1923 Ankara

becomes new capital

of Republican Turkey.

1915–1922 Around

1.5 million Turkish

Armenians are killed by

Turkish Nationalists.

1918 Russia signs the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk,

giving up its claims

on lands west of the

Brest-Litovsk line.

THE LEGACY

OF WORLD WAR I

The end of war in Europe in 1918 saw the collapse of four

major empires. The map of the continent needed to be redrawn,

and the future home of millions of people decided. As new states

emerged and old conflicts were slowly resolved, the legacy of the

war continued to be felt across Europe for many years.

The peace treaties that settled the

future of Europe after 1919 were the

result of numerous compromises

between the “Big Four”: the victorious

Allied powers of the US, UK, France,

and Italy. American president Woodrow

Wilson wanted to forge a liberal peace

settlement based on national self-

determination, while French prime

minister Georges Clemenceau wanted

above all to ensure the future security

of his country and make Germany pay

for the war—a view that was shared by

David Lloyd George, prime minister

of Britain. The resulting treaties had

the overall effect of pleasing no one,

and left the people and governments of

many countries profoundly dissatisfied

with the outcome.

“My home policy: I wage war. My foreign policy: I wage

war. All the time I wage war.”

GEORGES CLEMENCEAU, 1918

Territorial disputes continued to divide

nations, notably in Eastern Europe,

while actual fighting continued in

Turkey until 1922. Many of the new

states were crudely carved out of

Austro-Hungary and the other old

empires, while defeated Germany

emerged as a shrunken republic and

imperial Russia, excluded from the

peace talks, became the world’s first

Communist state.

While some problems were

addressed by the peace treaties,

the legacy of the war had profound

social, economic, and political

consequences across Europe and

Asia, and would become one of

the defining causes of a new world

war within 20 years.

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3

4

5

6

1

TIMELINE

1915 1920 1930

AFTER THE WAR

The borders of many European countries were

redrawn after World War I, as empires collapsed and

new countries were born. This new settlement was

often violent, and left its own damaging legacy.

KEY

National

borders, 1923

1925

END OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 1917–

The February Revolution of 1917 that overthrew

the Romanov Czar and the October Revolution

that ended the provisional government led to

a Communist takeover of Russia. The Bolshevik

regime arranged a cease-fire with Germany in

December 1917, and in March 1918 signed the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, renouncing its claims on

Finland, the Baltic provinces, Poland, and Ukraine.

1

Russian border,

December 1917

Brest-Litovsk treaty line

Areas temporarily

autonomous or

independent

3

New states created

EMERGING STATES 1918–

The collapse of the Ottoman, German, Russian,

and Austro-Hungarian empires at the end of the

war led to the formation of new states in central

Europe: Estonia; Finland; Austria; Czechoslovakia;

Poland; Hungary; Lithuania; Latvia; and the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. They

were joined by the Irish Free State, which broke

free from Britain in 1922 after a brutal civil war.

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Dublin
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