End of the War

Goal of Today • Today we will look at the end of WWI and the

peace treaty.

• Terms to Know• Armistice• Wilson’s Fourteen Points• Treaty of Versailles• Goals of the Big Three• The Battle of Belleau Wood

Battle of Belleau Wood – June, 1918

· This was the first battle involving U.S. troops.

· The Germans were defeated after three weeks of battle.

* The Allied defense of Paris was the turning point of the war.

Battle of the Argonne Forest – Sept.-Oct., 1918

· The battle was fought in an attempt to push Germany further out of France.

· After forty-seven days and heavy casualties, the Germans retreated.

American gunners battle through the Argonne Forest.

Why…..

On 11 November 1918 the German government called for a ceasefire.

• Failure of German surge• German troops mutinied and deserted• British naval blockade• Food & supplies in short supply• Riots on streets of Germany• Kaiser fled abroad• New government prepared to discuss peace terms

• 7am November 8th 1918 members of the French and German commands met in a railway car in the Compiegne Forest outside of Paris to sign a cease fire to end the war.

Paris Peace Conference

• The Paris Peace Conference opened on January 12th 1919 in Paris. Leaders of 32 countries representing about 75% of the worlds population were in attendance. The negotiations were dominated by the five major powers the US, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan.

Major PlayersUS President,

Woodrow Wilson

French Prime

Minister, Georges

Clemenceau

British Prime Minister, Lloyd-George

Italian Prime MinisterVittorio Orlando

Problem, problems!Here are some of the problems facing world leaders at the end of WWI. What advice would you offer them?

1. The war had brought massive destruction, especially to buildings and farming land in France. How could all this damage be repaired?

2. From Eastern Europe to Ireland and throughout the world, nationalist groups were keener than ever to rule themselves and to be free from the empires which had controlled them.

3.The First World War had cost twenty million lives. The world had never seen a war like it. How could future wars be prevented?

Wilson’s Fourteen Points

• It was a program designed by US President Woodrow Wilson that would provide a fair peace settlement and prevent future wars.

• Three Goals– Eliminate trade barriers, secret treaties, and arms races– Stressed the importance of self determination or the right

to live under the government of their choice.– Establish a league of nations.

The British: Lloyd George

• The British wanted revenge on the Germans for the war. The British people wanted to punish Germany.

• George was also afraid of communism and felt that while Germany should be punished it should serve as a buffer zone between communist Russia and the rest of Europe.

Georges Clemenceau: France

• Felt that Germany should be brought to its knees so that it could never start a war again.

On 28 June 1919, exactly 5 years after the murders at Sarajevo, which had sparked off the First World War, the most powerful men in the world signed the Treaty of Versailles.

Terms of the Treaty• (1) the surrender of all German colonies as League of Nations

mandates; (2) the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France; (3) cession of Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium, Memel to Lithuania, the Hultschin district to Czechoslovakia, (4) Poznania, parts of East Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland;(5) Danzig to become a free city; (6) plebiscites to be held in northern Schleswig to settle the Danish-German frontier;

• (7) occupation and special status for the Saar under French control; (8) demilitarization and a fifteen-year occupation of the Rhineland; (9) German reparations of £6,600 million; (10) a ban on the union of Germany and Austria; (11) an acceptance of Germany's guilt in causing the war; (11) provision for the trial of the former Kaiser and other war leaders; (12) limitation of Germany's army to 100,000 men with no conscription, no tanks, no heavy artillery, no poison-gas supplies, no aircraft and no airships; (13) the limitation of the German Navy to vessels under 100,000 tons, with no submarines;

The consequences of Versailles• The Treaty seemed to satisfy the "Big Three" as it

was a just peace as it kept Germany weak yet strong enough to stop the spread of communism; kept the French border with Germany safe from another German attack and created the organization, the League of Nations that would end warfare throughout the world.

• Made the big three happy

How About Germany?

• The Treaty left a mood of anger throughout Germany. Germany felt it had been unfairly treated. Above all else, Germany hated the clause blaming her for the cause of the war and the resultant financial penalties the treaty was bound to impose on Germany. Those who signed it (though effectively they had no choice) became known as the "November Criminals". Many German citizens felt that they were being punished for the mistakes of the German government in August 1914 as it was the government that had declared war not the people.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShRA8HRMR4Q