A Flawed Peace

Section 4 Pages 760-763

The Fourteen Points January 8, 1918 Peace proposal Encourage Allies and

Central Powers to end the war

Did not want a punitive peace

Wilson did not consult the Allies

Some points were contrary to secret agreements made among the Allies

President Woodrow Wilson

The Fourteen Points

8 Points dealt with territorial matters Open, rather than secret, diplomacy Freedom of the seas General disarmament Removal of trade barriers Impartial settlement of colonial claims The establishment of a League of Nations

Woodrow Wilson

Presbyterian minister, President of Princeton University

President of the United States (1913-1921)

Guiding Spirit

Redraw boundaries of Eastern Europe along ethnic lines

BUT…minority problems became greater

Failure at Home The Republican Congress was not in

agreement with the peace negotiated under Wilson, particularly with the League of Nations and collective security aspects.

A separate peace was negotiated between the United States and Germany.

Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize, and heralded in Europe as a savior of peace.

Germany: Treaty of Versailles signed June 28, 1919

Pay huge reparations Lost major territory Military restrictions Article 231(accept sole guilt) Excluded from League of Nations

*signed under protest

New Nations Finland Estonia,

Latvia, Lithuania

Poland Czechoslovakia Yugoslavia

Map 1919 Europe

The Balkans prior to WWI

Greece gained Bulgaria’s Aegean Coast

Serbia & Romania doubled in size

The Balkans in 1925

Romania & Serbia were big winners of territory

Treaty of Brest-LitovskMarch 3, 1918

Bolsheviks signed a separate peace with Germany

Germany now free to shift troops to the Western Front

The Allies refused to accept the treaty as legitimate Signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Germany’s Desperate Situation Russia out of the war, but fresh American troops

on the Western Front Austria-Hungary and Turkey almost knocked out

of the war Food shortages in Germany Numerous strikes in major cities 500,000 workers on strike in Berlin (January) Increasing inflation The Ludendorff Offensive (March-July, 1918) November 11, 1918 – armistice signed

Armistice

This photograph was taken after reaching an agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. The location is in the forest of Compiègne. Foch is second from the right.

Hitler later ordered that the rail car where this agreement was made be burned.

“The Peace to end all peace”

Germans bitter & brokenImperialism continuedUSA did not ratify treatyJapan, Italy unhappy w/their

shareSows seeds for WWII

League of Nations

USA refused to be part of League of Nations…Wilson lost Congressional

backersLeague had little power to

settle disputesAsians/Africans upset at being

governed by a mandate

Aftermath of War

8.5 million soldiers died21 million woundedCountless civilians – disease,

starvation, slaughter$338 billion cost

Society shaken to foundations

Communism & civil war in Russia

Political & economic chaos in Germany led to rise of Hitler

British & French empires crumble/ treasuries drained

USA refused world leadership

Consequences of World War I Four empires destroyed

German Empire Austro-Hungarian Empire Ottoman Empire Russian Empire

Economic devastation Projection of the U.S. into world

affairs Russian Revolution and the rise

of the Soviet Union Rise of Mussolini & Fascism in

Italy Rise of Hitler and Nazism in

Germany

Influenza Epidemic

In the spring of 1918, the Spanish flu hit England and India. By fall, it had spread through Europe, Russia, Asia, and to the United States.

12 million died in India. 1500 people died in Berlin in one day. 20 million died worldwide.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty signed by Germany and the Allied powers after World War I.