a flawed peace and the roaring 20's

A Flawed Peace

By Jack Garrity

The Big Idea

The Peace Settlements In January 1919, representatives of 27 victorious Allied nations met in Paris to make a final settlement of the Great War. What started out as hopes for more colonial territory, turned to more idealistic visions proposed by Wilson.

The Peace Settlements Wilson (USA), Clemenceau (France), and Lloyd George (Great Britain) made the most important decisions at the Paris Peace Conference, the Big Three.

The Peace Settlements

Italy played a smaller role, Russia did not attend because of its Civil War, and no one invited Germany.

The Peace Settlements David Lloyd George, prime minister of Great Britain, had won a decisive victory in elections in December of 1918. His platform was simple: make the Germans pay for this dreadful war.

The Peace Settlements France’s wanted national security and revenge against future German aggression. Clemenceau wanted Germany stripped of all weapons, vast reparations and a separate Rhineland as a buffer state between France and Germany.


Wilson became the spokesperson for a new world order based on democracy, self determination, and international cooperation.

The Peace Settlements Wilson had outlined “Fourteen Points” as his basis for a peace settlement that he believed would result in a truly just and lasting peace.

14 Points

Treaties and peace agreements should be open not secret.

14 Points The Seas should be a neutral zone open to all trade between countries.

14 Points

Countries should reduce military forces and armaments (military forces or weapons) to a “point consistent with domestic safety”.

14 Points

All people have the right of self-determination (the right of each people to have its own nation).

14 Points To Wilson World War I was a people’s war against “absolutism, imperialism and militarism.” These enemies of liberty, he argued, could be eliminated only by creating democratic governments.

14 Points

Enemies of liberty, he argued, could be eliminated only by creating a “general association of nations.”

14 Points

A League of Nations would guarantee “political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”

The Peace Settlements It was no surprise that the Big Three quarreled. Wilson wanted to create a world organization, the League of Nations, to prevent future wars.


In the end, only compromise made it possible to achieve a peace settlement.. On January 25, 1919, the conference accepted Wilson’s idea of a League of Nations. In return, Wilson compromised on territorial arrangements, believing the League could later fix any unfair settlements.


In April, during the Paris Peace Conference, Wilson became seriously ill. His temperature rose to 103 degrees, suffering from the Spanish Flu.

• The Spanish Flu of 1918 flu pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic.

• It was the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus, killing at least 50,000,000 throughout Europe, India and the USA.

The Peace Settlements Wilson's illness prevented him from participating in final key negotiations, he left for the USA, and worst had a stroke on the voyage home.

The US does not join the League of NationsWilson’s stroke disabled him for the remainder of his life. The US Senate rejected joining the League of Nations, reflecting a belief that the USA should be isolated from the problems and conflicts around the world.

The Treaty of Versailles

The final peace settlement of Paris consisted of five separate treaties with the defeated nations—Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey.


The Treaty of Versailles with Germany, signed at Versailles near Paris, on June 28, 1919, was by far the most important

The Treaty of Versailles Article 231 of the Treaty (the War Guilt Clause) declared that Germany (and Austria) responsible for starting the war and ordered Germany to pay reparations for all the damages of the war.


On Oct. 3, 2010, Germany paid off this debt. The total 269 billion marks, or 96,000 tons of gold.


Germany’s army was reduced to a hundred thousand men, cut back its navy, and eliminate its air force.


Alsace and Lorraine, taken by the Germans from France in 1871, were now returned.

The Treaty of Versailles Poland regained sections of eastern Germany, and became an independent country.


German land along both sides of the Rhine was made a demilitarized zone and stripped of all weapons and fortifications.

The Treaty of Versailles Outraged by the “dictated peace,” the new German government complained but, signed the treaty.

The Peace Conference Japan had one major issue at the table, equality. They wanted to be recognized as an equal nation, which Britain and France rejected.

The Peace Conference Italy received none of the territory promised during the war, and left the peace conference very upset.

A New Map of Europe Wilson’s 14 points resulted in New nation-states emerged: Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, , Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia.

A New Map of the Middle East

Wilson opposed the British and French taking the land the Ottoman Empire, advocating self determination.

A New Map of the Middle East

The Allies had promised to recognize the independence of Arab states in the Ottoman Empire.

A New Map of the Middle EastOnce the war was over, however, the British and French changed their minds. France took control of Lebanon and Syria, and Britain received Iraq and Palestine.

A New Map of the Middle EastCalled mandates, Woodrow Wilson fought against the Allies empires, Britan and France claimed they did not own the territory, but were governing them on on behalf of the League of Nations.

The War’s Legacy

World War I shattered the liberal rational society that had existed in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe.

The War’s Legacy

The death of 10 million people, and incredible destruction undermined the whole idea of progress.

The War’s Legacy

World War I a complete mobilization of resources and people, increased the power of governments over the lives of their citizens.

The War’s Legacy Revolutions broke up old empires and created new states, which led to new problems.

The War’s Legacy The USA emerged from the war as the most powerful industrialized nation.

The War’s Legacy

The League of Nations became a weak advisory body, unable to cope with them, without the USA’s and Russia’s participation.

1920’s Italy

• Fascism rises in Italy.

• Fascism: a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts extreme nationalism and race above the individual with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictator, controlling a capitalist economy and social regimentation, with the forcible suppression of any opposition.

Italy the first Fascist State

• Benevento Mussolini’s Italian Fascism ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922-1943.

Whipping up nationalism against the government, Mussolini forced the King of Italy to proclaim him leader as his black shirts marched into Rome.

1920’s Italy


• Italian Fascism was rooted in the desire to restore and expand Italian territory to surpass the ancient Roman Empire.


• Fascism was a radical third way between capitalism and communism, both of which it rejected.


• A corporatist economic system, whereby employer and employee syndicates are linked together in associations to collectively represent the nation's economic producers and work alongside the government to set national economic policy


• It opposed liberalism, Marxism, and reactionary conservatism.

Italy the first Fascist State• "Fascism was born... out of a profound, perennial need of this our Aryan and

Mediterranean race.” Mussolini refers to Italians as being the Mediterranean branch of the Aryan Race, which was superior to other races. Inferior races could be enslaved and did not have to be treated as fully human.

The War’s Legacy

• Mussolini began taking islands then took Ethiopia (using chemical warfare) while the League of Nations strongly protested, but did not act

• The US could not have cared less as it turned away from the world and began a decades long party, the Roaring 20’s.

The Roaring 20’s in the USA

With Europe destroyed, the USA prospered as the Europeans bought anything they could produce.


The United States experienced stunning economic growth during the 1920s. Clashes between traditional and modern values shook the United States. While isolating itself from Europe, an era of exciting and innovative cultural trends, witnessed changes in art and literature. This period also saw a dramatic increase in the country’s interest in sports and other forms of popular culture.


Big Wall Street Banks supplied huge loans, especially to Germany the country with the worst economic outlook.


In the 1920s, real per capita earnings soared 22 percent between 1920 and 1929.


As Americans’ wages increased, their work hours decreased. U.S. Steel cut work shifts from 12 hours to 8 hours, and Henry Ford employees worked 5 days instead of 6 with 2 weeks vacation a year.


At the same time, mass production created more supply and reduced consumer costs.

Assembly Line

In 1913, Ford installed the first moving assembly line at his plant in Highland Park, Michigan.

Assembly Line

By 1914, workers built Model T’s every 93 minutes. Previously, the task had taken 12 hours.

Assembly Line

By 1925 a Ford car rolled off the line every 10 seconds.

Assembly Line

In 1908, the Model T’s first year, it sold for $850, by 1915 reduced to $490, by 1924 Model Ts sold for $295.

Assembly Line

Ford sold millions, “Every time I reduce the charge for our car by one dollar,” he boasted, “I get a thousand new buyers.”

The Consumer Goods IndustryMany other new goods came on the market to take advantage of rising disposable income. Americans bought such innovations as electric razors, vacuum cleaners, disposable facial tissues, frozen foods, and home hair dye.

The Airline Industry

By the 1920s, airplanes were being used for more than just joyrides. The postmaster general introduced regular airmail service in 1918 by hiring pilots to fly mail between Washington, D.C., and New York.

The Airline Industry In 1926 the aviation industry received another boost with the passage of the Air Commerce Act, which provided federal aid for building airports.

The Airline Industry

It was the extraordinary transatlantic solo flight of former airmail pilot Charles Lindbergh in 1927, however, that demonstrated the possibilities of aviation and won popular support for commercial flight.

• A 33 hour solo flight.

The Airline Industry By the end of 1928, 48 airlines were serving 355 American cities, advertisers praised the benefits of commercial flying for business executives.

Easy Consumer CreditThe prosperity of the 1920s gave many Americans the confidence to go into debt to buy new consumer goods.

Easy Consumer CreditAmerican attitudes toward debt started changing as people began believing in their ability to pay their debts over time.

Easy Consumer CreditAmericans bought 75 percent of their radios and 60 percent of their automobiles on the installment plan.

Nativism Resurges WW1 increased American’s belief that others should be kept out of the USA.

Nativism Resurges The fear and prejudice many felt toward Germans and Communists expanded to include all immigrants, triggering a general rise in racism and in nativism.

Nativism Resurges Nativist and racist feelings were reinforced by the beliefs of the eugenics movement. Eugenics is a pseudo-science (or false science) that deals with improving hereditary traits

Nativism Resurges Developed out of Social Darwinism, eugenics emphasized that human inequalities were inherited and warned against breeding the “unfit” or “inferior.” Eugenics fueled the nativists’ argument for the superiority of the “original” American stock—white Protestants of northern European descent.

• The government passed anti immigration bills.

Nativism Resurges The National Origins Act of 1924 made immigrant restriction a permanent policy.

Nativism Resurges The law also tightened the quota system, setting quotas at two percent of each national group residing in the country in 1890.

Nativism Resurges A second part of the act limited immigration to 150,000 , with 87 percent of those open to only northwestern European countries.

Return of the Ku Klux KlanAt the forefront of the movement to restrict immigration was the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK. The new Klan targeted —Catholics, Muslims, Italians, immigrants, and other groups believed to represent “un-American” values.

Return of the Ku Klux KlanThe Ku Klux Klan portrayed itself as an organization of law and order, but when the media exposed its attacks on African and European Americans membership dropped and it became a dangerous fringed organization.

• Cultural conflicts arose between advocates of the new culture and conservative fundamentalists.

The Fundamentalist Movement Fundamentalists believed that the Bible was literally true and without error.

The Fundamentalist Movement They defended the Protestant faith against ideas that implied that human beings derived their moral behavior from society and nature, not God.

Prohibition By the early 1900s, many progressives and traditionalists supported prohibition, banning alcohol.

Prohibition They pass the Eighteenth Amendment, which took effect in January 1920, the result was more Americans drank.

Prohibition Congress passed the Volstead Act which allowed U.S. Treasury agents to inforce prohibition.

Prohibition People flocked to secret bars called speakeasies, where they could purchase alcohol. In New York City alone, an estimated 32,000 such bars sold liquor illegally.

Prohibition Smuggling and the consumption of liquor by millions helped create an illegal billion-dollar industry for gangsters.

Prohibition More than 70 federal agents were killed while enforcing Prohibition in the 1920s.

Prohibition Crime became big business, Al Capone, one of the most successful and violent gangsters of the era, had many police officers, judges, and other officials on his payroll, dominating organized crime in Chicago.

Prohibition Eliot Ness, the leader of a special Treasury Department task force, brought Capone to justice in 1932.

Harlem Renaissance From 1916-1930, a “ Great Migration” saw about 1.6 million African Americans leave the southern states to northern industrial cities.

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance, a cultural, social, and artistic explosion took place in Harlem, New York spanned the 1920s.

Harlem Renaissance Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton and others added pianos to traditional New Orleans Jazz bands, creating American Jazz the first international pop music.

Harlem Renaissance The international dance sensation Josephine Baker set fashion trends from Paris to NYC.

Harlem Renaissance Poets like Countee Cullen ( The Black Christ and Other Poems (1929) ) and novelists Claude McKay wrote expressions of African American America.

The New MoralityFashion changed during the 1920s, as women “bobbed,” or shortened, their hair, wore flesh-colored silk stockings, and admired the youthful look of movie stars.

The New MoralityFlappers—a young, dramatic, and stylish woman—personified these changes. She smoked cigarettes, drank prohibited liquor, and dressed in attire considered too revealing by many.

The New MoralityZelda Fitzgerald, wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, symbolized the flapper spirit. She urged women to be “light-hearted [and] unconventional” rather than focused on “a career that calls for hard work.”

The New MoralityLove and emotional aspects of marriage grew in importance, the ideas of romance, pleasure, and friendship became linked to successful marriages.

The New MoralityAdvice books in the 1920s dispensed such hints as, “Have lots of pleasure that both husband and wife enjoy . . . and above all, be good friends.”

The New Morality Ideals of the loving family and personal satisfaction—views popularized in magazines and other media—influenced popular views on relationships.

Women in the workforceWomen in the workforce also began to define the new morality.

Women in the workforceMany single, working-class women held jobs simply because they needed the wages for themselves or for their families. For some young, single women, work was a way to break away from parental authority and establish a personal identity.

Women in the workforce Women attended colleges that encouraged students to pursue careers, challenging traditional ideas about the nature of women’s role in society.

Women VoteOn August 18th, 1920, Congress ratified the 19th Amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote.

Popular Radio Shows and Music Radios were the IPads of the Jazz Age.

Popular Radio Shows and Music Most stations in the 1920s played the popular music of the day, such as “Yes! We Have No Bananas” and “Lover Come Back Again.”

Popular Radio Shows and Music In one of the most popular radio shows captured the nation’s attention every night.

Popular Radio Shows and Music The mass media’s easy availability to millions helped break down patterns of provincialism, fostered a sense of shared national experience, unifying the nation culturally.

The Rise of Hollywood Nothing quite matched the allure of motion pictures.

The Rise of Hollywood Technology had not yet made sound possible in films, so theaters hired piano players to provide music during the feature, while subtitles revealed the plot.

The Rise of Hollywood Audiences thronged to see such stars as Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Mix, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and Clara Bow.

The Rise of Hollywood In 1927 the first “talking” picture—The Jazz Singer—was produced, and the golden age of Hollywood began.

Prohibition The ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933 repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and ended federally-mandated Prohibition.

Prohibition It was a victory for the forces of modernism and a defeat for the supporters of traditional moral values.

Stock Market CrashAmerica’s party came to an abrupt end with the great stock market crash of 1929, which sent the world into a global depression.

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