The Treaties with the Other Central Powers
How did they compare to the Treaty of Versailles ?
The table below shows the losses of land and population of the main Central Powers compared to the Treaty of Best
Litovsk between Germany and Russia, which was taken as the bottom line for severity and to which the Treaty of Versailles was compared favorably by the Allies.
The table shows how much greater the losses of Austria, Hungary and Turkey were.
Theme
Brest Litovsk
Versailles
St Germain
Trianon
Sevres
Land lost
32%
13%
75%
75%
71%
Population lost
34%
12%
80%
66%
Germany’s allies in Central Powers also expected the Peace to be based on the 14 Points. However this gave them an
indication of how severe their losses would be. The Central Powers were going to be affected by
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
the commitment to give national self determination to the peoples of the Hapsburg Empire, including Poles and
Italians.
The commitment to give national self determination to the non-Turkish regions of the Ottoman Empire. The
Turkish core of Anatolia was also promised sovereign independence. This ran contrary to the territorial ambitions
of many of the Allies (Britain, France, Italy, & Greece), as well as the aspirations of the new Armenian State.
Austria & Hungary
Compared to Germany however, Austria and Hungary had little to fall back on in the 14 Points as they had called for the
national self determination of the peoples of the Hapsburg Empire, including the Poles and Italians. Thus it was inevitable that Austria and Hungary would lose a great deal of territory to create these new states. Millions of Germans and
Magyars were also ’lost’ as minorities scattered across the Slavic regions of the Empire. The Sudetenland region of Austria was given to Czechoslovakia in order to give the new state defensible frontiers and good industrial raw materials,
even though its population was German. However Austria did retain Carinthia (frontier region with Jugoslavia) in a
plebiscite in 1920 (the only one held in the Hapsburg lands.) The % losses of Austria and Hungary left Versailles and even
Brest Litovsk looking moderate.
The separation of the new states from the Hapsburg Empire was not made by the Allies. It was made by the nationalists
themselves. From before 1914 nationalist agitation had threatened the break up of the Hapsburg Empire. The war
strengthened and unleashed these forces. The Allies used and recognized them.
The states that were to gain land did not wait for formal procedures to be put in motion by the League of Nations. They
launched military operations to seize what they had been given, and more if it suited them. Austria and Hungary were in
no condition to resist. Romania launched a massive invasion of Hungary to seize Transylvania.
Austria and Hungary were so weakened that they were not economically viable when they were created. The both received economic aid from the league of Nations in 1922. Austria was never given a Reparations bill because she had
gone bankrupt in 1920. Hungary was given a bill but hardly paid anything at all because she too was economically crippled.
Austria had clear War Guilt as she had pushed the July Crisis to war in 1914, ignoring opportunities to solve the assassination crisis without war. The Austrian occupation of Serbia in 1915-18 was brutal. However Hungary had used its diplomatic power within the Hapsburg Empire in 1914 to try to prevent the outbreak of war. Hungary appeared to have
less War Guilt than Austria.
Both states bitterly resented their treatment. Hungary waged a political and diplomatic campaign against Trianon under
the slogan ‘Nem ! Nem ! Soha !’ (No ! No ! Never !). Clever posters were made that showed what a similar % loss of land
would look like in other states. One of the countries used was Germany, and the difference to the Treaty of Versailles is
very noticeable.
Hungarian poster protesting about the scale of territorial loss
that the Treaty of Trianon imposed on Hungary. The bottom
right map shows what Germany would look like if it had been
subjected to the same level of land loss in her treaty. Close
up below. This is very different to the map you are familiar
with from the Treaty of Versailles.
Left
Austrian Cartoon : January
1919
Allied leaders inspect the Austrian prisoner.
The caption reads
We must do something to keep
him alive, or we wont be able
to execute him.
Below
Austria’s territorial losses at
the Treaty of St German
The Austrian Germans of
the Sudetenland went to
Czechoslovakia without a
plebiscite
The Germans of Carinthia
voted to stay with Austria
rather than pass to Jugoslavia.
Turkey and Bulgaria
Turkey and Bulgaria had not been part of the pre war Alliance system so had played no role in the July Crisis and the
causes of war. Thus there was no case to argue for War Guilt. However both had been involved in atrocities during
the war. Bulgaria had taken part in the brutal occupation of Serbia, while the Ottoman Empire had massacred over a
million Armenians in 1915-6. Their conduct made them targets for retribution from their actions in the war.
Turkey's loss of her non Turkish lands had been anticipated in the 14 Points, but the unity of Turkish Anatolia had also
been a commitment. Thus the Allied plans to partition Anatolia were seen as unfair. The Treaty of Sevres was signed
by the Sultan but was never ratified by Turkey. The Treaty was rejected by the Turkish nationalists under Mustafa Kemal who went to war to drive the invading forces (Italians, Greeks, Armenians and British & French troops) out of
Anatolia. The so called Turkish War of Independence was successful and, having overthrown the Ottoman Sultanate,
the Turkish Republic was allowed to negotiate a second (revised ) treaty at Lausanne in 1923 (at which she regained
control of Anatolia, removed all military restrictions and reparations charges). Turkey was the only defeated nation to
challenge their treaty by force (even though there were large allied armies inside the country.) The other Central
Powers moaned and evaded, but did not resist. Hungary and Austria were in no fit state to resist. Germany had the
will to resist but not the capacity to do so.
Arguably the failure to enforce the Treaty of Sevres was the greatest enforcement failure of the Allies in the 1919-23
period. France responded with vigour when Germany defaulted on Reparations in 1921 and 1922-3 (Occupation of
the Ruhr). Allied military power had evaporated in the Middle East by 1922 and the UK and France lacked the will and
capacity to resist Mustafa Kemal. The USSR aided the Turkish nationalists with arms and in military operations against
Armenia, for which they took the reward of Armenia itself.
See video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSqXAuy0lZ4
Armenia after World War 1
Above : Turkey after the Treaty of Sevres 1920
Below : Turkey after the Treaty of Lausanne 1923
After the genocidal massacres in
the war, Armenia became one of
the losers in the peace process
too. At one point it seemed to be
heading for independence under
a US mandate; but after a war
against Turkey and Russia it
ended up being partitioned between the USSR and Turkey.
The fate of Armenia was one of
the most tangible consequences
of the USA not signing the Treaties and joining the League of
Nations.