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A comparison of European peace treaties
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The Peace of Münster, 1648
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/timeline-dutch-history/1648-treaty-of-munster
The Treaty of Peace between the
United Provinces of the Netherlands
and Spain was signed at Münster on
30 January of 1648. It was part of a
larger settlement, known as the
Peace of Westphalia. The Peace of
Westphalia treaties ended 30 years
of civil war in the lands of the Holy
Roman Emperor and 80 years of war
between the Spanish Empire and the
Dutch Republic. Westphalia marks
the beginning of the view that the
most powerful countries in Europe should balance power in Europe between them
and avoid one country having supreme power. French power grew as a result of
Westphalia, and it was agreed on condition that Catholic Europe recognised the
independence of the Protestant Dutch Republic. The principle of non-interference
in the internal affairs of sovereign states in was introduced to international law.
States should be able to determine their own development. It represented a defeat
for the claims of personal rule by the Habsburgs within the Holy Roman Empire and
a victory for the sovereignty of national states.
For the Dutch Republic the Peace of Münster was heralded as a victory in their
Eighty Years War with Spain. Spain recognised the legal existence of the Republic
of the United Provinces as a sovereign state. Although today Dutch students learn
about the importance of this Treaty of Peace as a key document in their country’s
history, the rulers (stadholder) still hoped for a United Netherlands, including the
southern provinces which remained under Habsburg rule. Some nobles feared losing
their army officer status. Many Calvinists did not want religious toleration. The
Province of Zeeland stood to lose money as smuggling and piracy against Spain
ended. Nevertheless, the Treaty was accepted by the Dutch Estates by a slim
majority.
The (Second) Treaty of Paris, 1815
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1815)
After Napoleon's abdication in 1814, the
Great Powers of Europe gathered in a
Congress in Vienna to try to restore stability
and peace. It was led by Count von
Metternich, Austrian Imperial Chancellor.
The aim was to return to the balance of
power system that the French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars had disrupted. The powers would act as the Concert of Europe
and try to prevent any local conflicts spreading across Europe by balancing power.
This was an idea that had started in the German lands with the Peace of
Westphalia in 1848. With the First Treaty of Paris in 1814, the Concert did not set
out to punish France. Talleyrand of France was involved in the negotiations. The
Congress saw the ruler and not the people as important. In the view of the men at
Vienna, people were subjects once more and not citizens. The French ruler
(Napoleon) and not France had been defeated. The Bourbon monarchs were
restored to the throne of France. France kept the lands it had gained by 1792 and
treasures brought to France over the years of conquest.
After Napoleon’s escape from exile and his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, a
Second Treaty of Paris was signed in 1815. It was actually fours treaties that the
French government signed with Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. France
was now taken back to her 1790 borders, made to give up the treasures of war, to
pay 700 million francs in indemnities (reparations) to the other powers of Europe
and to accept foreign troops in France for five (later cut to three) years. The
Treaty of Paris formally ended war between France and the other major countries
of Europe. The Concert of Europe ensured a more or less stable Europe for at least
half a century. There were differences of opinion about how it should operate and
its ethos. It could not prevent the rise of nationalist and democratic movements,
which periodically brought periods of revolution to parts of Europe. Nor could it
avoid the nationalist wars for the creation of Italy and Germany in the middle of
the century. However, it managed to contain most of the wars to a local scale.
In contrast in to the Paris Conference a century later, the men at the Congress of
Vienna did not have to pay close attention to widespread public opinion. The
majority of European people did not have the vote, were not educated to a high
level, and were therefore were not directly involved in plans for the future of
Europe in 1815. In this way the Congress negotiations had more in common with the
diplomacy of the past than the future. There was, for example, no discussion about
holding Napoleon responsible for a concept such as war crimes.
The Treaty of Versailles, 1919
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Conference,_1919#/media/File:Big_four.jpg
In January 1919 the leaders of three
major European powers and the
United States began the leadership
of the Paris Peace Conference to end
the First World War. President
Woodrow Wilson of the USA,
President Clemenceau of France,
Prime Minister Lloyd George of Great
Britain and Prime Minster Vitorrio
Emanuele Orlando of Italy were the
major decision makers at the
Conference. As democratically
elected leaders they had to pay attention to the mood of their electorates which in
Europe was very anti-German. There was also a desire to make sure that this was
the ‘war to end all wars’ as the sacrifice had been terrible. Clemenceau of France
was facing a general election very soon. Also in attendance were delegates from 27
other nations.
The Treaty of Versailles, which Germany was forced to agree to and sign on 28
June 1919, was one of five major treaties to be signed from 1919-20 as part of the
Paris Conference. One of the Treaty clauses (also in the other treaties), Article
231, became known as the War Guilt clause. It required "Germany [to] accept the
responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage".
Germany was forced to disarm, give up territory (for example, Alsace-Lorraine to
France and all her colonies) and pay reparations to certain countries. These
reparations were agreed in 1921 and were high at 132 billion Marks ($31.4 billion).
Also part of the Treaty was the Covenant of the League of Nations. This League was
promoted by President Woodrow Wilson and was to be set up in Geneva as an
international organisation for the the arbitration of international disputes.
Germany and the USSR were excluded. The Congress of the USA refused to ratify
the Treaty of Versaille and so the USA never joined the League. Britain and France
continued to be imperial powers and, along with Italy and Japan, undermined the
League by not always referring to it. The promised disarmament of all the powers
did not take place, fuelling further resentment in Germany. Reparations payments
were renegotiated under the Dawes and Young plans, but not abolished. Hitler’s
propaganda exploited the Treaty of Versailles to increase his support and to
encourage Germany to war in the 1930s.