A Flawed PeaceCh. 29.4

The Allies meet at Versailles

• Delegates represented 32 different countries.

• Russia, Germany, and Germany’s allies were not represented.

• Most decisions were made by the big four:– Woodrow Wilson – U.S.– Georges Clemenceau – France– David Lloyd George – Great Britain– Vittorio Orlando – Italy

WilsonOrlando

George

Clemenceau

Wilson’s plan for peace

• Known as Wilson’s 14 points, they outlined a plan for achieving a lasting peace.

• The first five points– End to secret treaties– Freedom of the seas– Freedom of trade– Reduced national armies and navies– Adjustment of colonial claims and fairness

toward colonial peoples

6-13 points

• 6-13 were specific suggestions for changing borders and creating new nations.

• The guiding idea behind these points was ‘self-determination’.

• This meant allowing people to decide for themselves under what government they wished to live.

14th point

• The 14th point proposed a “general association of nations” that would protect “great and small states alike.

• Wilson hoped for an organization that could peacefully negotiate solutions to world conflicts.

France wants Germany to pay

• Britain and France were concerned with national security.

• They wanted to strip Germany of its war-making powers.

• The French were determined to punish Germany. – France is where most of the fighting took

place. – They lost more than 1 million soldiers and

much land was destroyed.

Treaty of Versailles

• They came to an agreement on June 28, 1919, exactly 5 years after Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.

• Called the Treaty of Versailles

• Adopting Wilson’s 14th point, they created the League of Nations.

Delegates at the signing

Photo taken right after signing the treaty.

League of Nations

• The league was to be an international association whose goal would be to keep peace among nations.

• Gave ALLIED powers: US., G.B., France, Italy, and Japan were to be permanent members of the league’s executive council.

• The General Assembly would consist of representatives from 32 Allied and neutral nations.

• Germany was deliberately excluded. • Russia was also left out because they withdrew

from WWI early.

Germany is punished

• The treaty of Versailles also punished Germany.

• Germany lost substantial territory and had severe restrictions placed on its military operations.

• Article 231, known as the ‘war guilt’ clause, placed sole responsibility for the war on Germany.

• As a result, Germany had to pay reparations ($33 Billion) to the Allies.

• All of Germany’s territories in Africa and the Pacific were declared territories to be administered by the League of Nations.

• Under the peace agreement, the Allies would govern the territories until they were ready for independence.

Separate Peace treaties

• The Allied powers also signed separate peace treaties in 1919 and 1920 with each of the other defeated nations: Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire.

• These treaties also led to huge land losses for the Central powers.

New Countries Recognized

• Several new countries were created out of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. – Austria– Hungary– Czechoslovakia– Yugoslavia

• These were all recognized as independent nations.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Dissolution_of_Austria-Hungary.png

Turkey

• The Ottoman Turks were forced to give up almost all of their former empire.

• They retained the country of Turkey. • The Allies gave British control of:

Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan.• France was given control of Syria and

Lebanon.• Countries placed under European control

were called ‘mandates’.

• The surrender of Jerusalem to the British on December 9th, 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem.

Ottoman Empire before WWI (in red)

After WWI, all that’s left is Turkey

Russia

• Russia did not favor well with the Allies.

• Russia also suffered land losses. – Romania and Poland gained Russian

territory. – Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania –

formerly part of Russia – became independent nations.

U.S. Rejects Treaty of Versailles

• The US, considered to be the dominant nation after WWI, rejected the treaty.

• Many Americans objected to the League of Nations.

• Americans believed that staying out of European affairs was the best way for a peaceful life.

• The U.S. eventually worked out a separate treaty with Germany several years later.

Germany is bitter

• The War-guilt clause left Germany bitter and hateful towards the Allies.

• Mandate countries were upset that they were not recognized as independent nations.

• European colonialism, disguised as the mandate system, continued in Asia and Africa.

League of Nations powerless

• Both Japan and Italy were upset, too.

• They had entered the war hoping to gain more territory, and gained less than they wanted.

• Lacking the support of the U.S., the League of Nations could not take action on these complaints.

• 20 years later, the legacy of bitterness from the Treaty of Versailles would begin WWII.

• What does this political cartoon suggest about the League of Nations?

• What does this political cartoon suggest about the League of Nations?

WWI was a new kind of war

• Involved new technologies.

• Brought war on a grand and global scale.

• Left behind a landscape of death and destruction that was never seen before.

Legacy of WWI

• 8.5 million soldiers died. • 21 million were wounded. • Countless civilians died of starvation,

disease, and slaughter. • An entire generation of Europeans were

wiped out. • Drained the treasuries of Europe. • The total cost of war was $338 billion• Destroyed acres of farmland, homes,

villages, and towns

The Lost Generation

• The enormous suffering and apparent pointlessness of the Great War left a deep mark on Western society.

• The Lost Generation refers to the generation that came of age during WWI.

• Insecurity and despair that many people experienced are reflected in the art and literature of the time.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj5ClZAQwHs

T.S. Eliot

From "The Hollow Men"

We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rat's feet over broken glass In our dry cellar

Frank Buckles February 1, 1901 – February 27, 2011

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65sq5klbzrw