People who identify themselves as a nation should be free to govern themselves
People of a common race or ethnicity
Or else people with a common culture, religion or history
Examples would include Slavs or Poles, Estonians or Latvians
War guilt
Accepting blame for causing the war
Clause 231 of the TofV and written into each treaty
Countries were therefore liable for the damage and loss of life of the Entente Powers
And so, liable to pay reparations
Reparations
Can be seen as a war fine
As compensation for war damage, war costs and loss of life
they would help pay of the debts incurred by the victors
For example, the flooded French mines, the destroyed farms and villages, helping to pay for war debts and war pensions
Plebiscites
A referendum
A vote on a specific issue
They were held to decide particularly contentious territorial issues (not that they weren’t all contentious)
Examples: Northern Schleswig voted to join Denmark whilst Central Schleswig voted to remain in Germany; the Saar would hold a plebiscite after 15 years to decide whether it should be part of Germany, France or remain under the League’s control
Mandates
Mandated territories were taken from the defeated powers and handed to various countries (mostly Britain and France but also Japan, South Africa, Australia and others)
But they were under the overall provision of the League of Nations and its Mandates Commission
The territories were to be administered for the good of the peoples in the various territories with the long-term goal of preparing them for independence
In reality, however, the mandates were run for the strategic or economic benefit of the mandated powers