The History Book

280

See also: The Young Turk Revolution 260–61 ■ The Battle of Passchendaele

270–75 ■ The Reichstag Fire 284–85 ■ Nazi invasion of Poland 286–93 ■

The founding of the United Nations 340

A

fter four years of global

conflict, 16 million people

had died and centuries-

old empires and dynasties had

collapsed. In January 1919, the

victors of World War I met to

discuss the terms of peace. US

President Woodrow Wilson had

devised a plan that he believed

would bring a new order to Europe

based on democracy. Wilson

pushed for a League of Nations

to act as arbiter and peacemaker

in national disputes.

Britain and France wanted

to ensure that Germany would

never again be able to threaten

European peace. The German

Army was to be reduced and the

Rhineland demilitarized. Germany

was also asked to give up lands to

France on its west and to Poland

on its east and north. In addition,

the Austro-Hungarian empires

were to be split into new nations

such as Czechoslovakia and

Yugoslavia; and the Ottoman

Empire was also to be carved up,

to the advantage of the British

and French.

War-guilt clause

Crucially, in a “war-guilt clause,” the

Germans had to admit to starting

the war and also pay £6.6 billion in

reparations. They signed the Treaty

of Versailles on June 28, 1919 but

stalled in paying compensation, so

in 1923 France occupied Germany’s

industrial Ruhr Valley. However, in

the interwar years, neither of those

nations did anything to deter

aggression by Nazi Germany. When

Adolf Hitler took France in 1940, he

ordered the master copy of the

treaty to be burned. ■

THIS IS NOT PEACE.

THIS IS AN ARMISTICE

FOR 20 YEARS

THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES (1919)

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Peace after World War I

BEFORE

1914 The four empires of

Au s t r i a-Hu ng a r y, G e r m a ny,

Ottoman Turkey, and Tsarist

Russia rule over vast lands.

1916 British and French

diplomats meet secretly to

determine the fate of the

post-Ottoman Arab world.

1919 The Paris Peace

Conference sets out the

terms and conditions for

post-war peace.

AFTER

1920 The Treaty of Sèvres

carves up the Ottoman Empire

to remake the Middle East.

September 3, 1939 World

War II begins with the German

attack on Poland.

October 24, 1945 The

League of Nations, having

disbanded, reforms after World

War II as the United Nations.

You have asked

for peace. We are ready

to give you peace.

Georges Clemenceau

Prime Minister of France

US_280-281_Versailles-SovietRussia.indd 280 15/02/2016 16:44

281

See also: The October Revolution 276–79 ■ Nazi invasion of Poland 286–93 ■

The Berlin Airlift 296–97 ■ The fall of the Berlin Wall 322–23

A

fter the October Revolution

in 1917, Russian leader

Vladimir Lenin created a

single-party state and appointed

Joseph Stalin as general secretary.

Stalin then used his position

to launch his bid for supreme

leadership, becoming dictator in

1929, five years after Lenin’s death.

Stalin pushed the country into a

period of rapid industrialization. He

confiscated land belonging to rural

farmers to turn it into large farms

to be run collectively to make food

for the new workforce. In 1931–32,

he requisitioned grain from the

peasants, which led to a severe

famine in Ukraine, killing millions.

The People’s Commissariat for

Internal Affairs (secret police) was

tasked with hunting out Stalin’s

political opponents. Thousands of

Soviet citizens died in the 1930s’

“blood purges,” known as the Great

Terror, and millions of non-Russians

were deported to labor camps.

Despite this, Stalin portrayed his

country as a land of peace and

progress, and himself as a man

working for the benefit of the people.

The dictator looked for chances

to expand communism beyond

Soviet frontiers, and after World

War II, it spread to Poland, Hungary,

Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and

others, becoming known as the

Eastern Soviet Bloc. Communist

parties came to rule in North Korea

in 1948, China in 1949, Cuba in

1959, and Vietnam in 1975.

Stalin had risen to become one

of the most powerful men in the

world. Soon after his death in 1953,

his nation was a superpower to

challenge the United States. ■

THE MODERN WORLD

DEATH IS THE

SOLUTION TO ALL

PROBLEMS. NO MAN—

NO PROBLEM

STALIN ASSUMES POWER (1929)

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Soviet Russia

BEFORE

1917 Lenin begins Russia’s

move toward communism.

1922 The Union Treaty joins

Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and

the Transcaucasus into the

Soviet Union.

1928 The first Five-Year Plan is

adopted, with the state setting

ambitious goals for the whole

of the economy.

AFTER

1945 The Soviet Union defeats

Nazi Germany and controls

central Europe.

1989 East and central Europe

reject communism, and the

Berlin Wall comes down.

1991 The Congress of People’s

Deputies votes for the

dissolution of the Soviet Union.

I believe in one

thing only, the power

of the human will.

Joseph Stalin

US_280-281_Versailles-SovietRussia.indd 281 15/02/2016 16:44