The Versailles-Washington system

The Versailles-Washington peace system was created by the victorious states after the First World War. Among these states, first of all, were Great Britain, France, USA and Japan. Its goal was to consolidate the redistribution of the world. In fact, it was directed not only against the countries that lost the war, but also against the Soviet Union. Also, the system sought to maintain dependence and suppress the liberation movement in the colonies.

The basis of the system in Europe was the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, as well as the Saint Germain (1920), Neuysky (1919), Trianon (1920), Sevres (1920) peace treaties and agreements that were adopted during the Washington Conference of 1921-22 . However, despite the achievements, the Versailles-Washington system proved to be rather fragile, which led to its fall and the beginning of an even more bloody war.

The beginning of the system was laid down by the decisions of the Paris and Washington conferences. The creation of this system allowed to substantially relieve the tension in the world that existed after the war. It was necessary to update the principles of international relations, which was reflected in the main provisions adopted by the powers. The right to self-determination of all peoples, the categorical rejection of wars as a means of resolving existing conflicts in the world were recognized.

An important event of this time was the creation of the League of Nations. A number of European countries gained independence recognized internationally.

The crisis of the Versailles-Washington system was due to the fact that, according to the decision of the Entente powers, the gravity of the post-war reconstruction was shifted to the defeated nations, without taking into account the fact that there were no political regimes that were responsible for unleashing the war. The winners established reparations without taking into account the real capabilities of the countries that were supposed to pay them. Therefore, the uplifted first world wave of nationalism not only did not sleep, but began to rise even more actively.

Soviet Russia was outside the system. The Entente powers regarded it as a traitor, which concluded a separate peace with their common enemy . In addition, the regime of the Bolsheviks was greeted hostile by the Allies, during the intervention of 1918-19 they attempted to overthrow it. The civil war that was taking place in Russia formally allowed not to invite its leaders at the conference. After its termination, Russia became the largest state in the world and, in response to ignoring it by the Entente, became in opposition to the system.

Another factor that predetermined the collapse of the Versailles-Washington system was that the victorious powers did not take into account the possible economic consequences of the treaties they concluded, which heavily burdened the world economy with payments that they could not do. Reparation payments have led to the undermining of the centuries-old economic ties between countries.

Even after the war, the peoples of the German colonies and the Ottoman Empire remained in the same position without receiving long-awaited independence. For them, they created a mandate system, which, in fact, was no different from the colonial one.

The mistake made by the Versailles-Washington system was that the powers forced the young German state to sign a peace treaty on the terms that disgraced it.

Stabilization of relations in the world after the creation of the system was observed only at the very beginning of its existence, in the 1920s. Recognition of the USSR also contributed to this stabilization. In 1922, for the first time, Russia was invited to Genoa for an international conference on solving economic problems. In its course, the USSR and Germany signed the Treaty of Rapallo, agreeing to lift mutual claims, thereby establishing diplomatic relations.

The Versailles-Washington system existed until the middle of the 20th century - before the Second World War.