End of the Great War and the Treaty of Versailles

American Intervention, 1917-1918

• May 1915: Lusitania (128 US citizens)

• February 1917: Germany declared unconditional submarine warfare

• Zimmermann Telegram▪ evidence of a proposed

alliance between Germany and Mexico

• 6 April 1917: US Congress approved resolution declaring war on Germany

American Intervention was decisive

• Money and supplies (1917-1918: $7,000,000,000 worth of food and guns)

• Navy (second largest)• Men▪ March 1918: 85,000 US troops▪ Sept. 1918: 1.2 million US troops

• Morale

- in early 1918 war was looking bad for the Allies

- Allied lines pushed back almost to Paris

- However, this was the last major win for the Germans (lack of men, resources, and moral, plus Americans joined to help the Allies)

Last Hundred Days

Last Hundred Days

-Since Canadian forces had been so successful in previous battles (Vimy, Passchendaele), troops were moved to the front line in later battles- Canadian troops were success from August - November, 1918, pushing back German lines and reclaiming important French and Belgian cities

Last Hundred Days

With German resistance crumbling, the armistice was finally signed on November 11, 1918. Canadians fought to the very end with the war’s last Canadian combat death—Private George Lawrence Price—happening just two minutes before the fighting officially ended. That day saw our soldiers in Mons, Belgium—a place of great symbolic meaning, as this was where the British Army had its first significant battle against the invading Germans in the summer of 1914.

The Last Hundred Days

The war was finally over. The Canadian Corps’ accomplishments from August 8 to November 11 were truly impressive—more than 100,000 Canadians advanced 130 kilometres and captured approximately 32,000 prisoners and nearly 3,800 artillery pieces, machine guns and mortars.

November 11, 1918: Armistice!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/travel/video-1103296/Flight-Stories-reveals-heartbreaking-tales-WW1.html

However, massive casualties on both sides...

Paris Peace Conference, 1919

Paris Peace Conference (cont.)

The Big Four:• David Lloyd George of Britain (mediator)• Georges Clemenceau of France (wanted revenge,

compensation, to contain Germany)• Woodrow Wilson of the United States (idealist; national

self-determination; lasting peace)• Vittorio Orlando of Italy (played a minor role)

Canada and the Paris Peace Conference

- dominion countries (colonial countries in an Empire) where not originally invited to Paris Peace Conference

- Borden demanded Canada have its own seat because of Canadian contributions in the war

Class Activity

What demands would you make if you were from:United Kingdom?France?United States?Germany?

United States Demands

Leader: Woodrow Wilson- argued that defeated countries

should we treated well to avoid retaliation

- wanted to eliminate nationalism and imperialism

- wanted and end of alliance systems and arms races

- creation of League of Nations (a group of countries whose goal is to settle conflicts through negotiation and not war)

France’s Demands

- Leader: Georges Clemenceau- French wanted to crush the Germans so

that they would never invade France again- wanted Germany to loose all of their

colonial territory, their right to an army and military, and to take full responsibility for the war

Britain's Demands

Leader: David Lloyd George

- wanted the Germans to take responsibility for the war

- However, he knew that destroying Germany and the German economy would be bad for all of Europe

Treaty of Versailles• Between Allies and Germany• Signed in Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles, June

28, 1919

BRAT - Germany’s Punishment

B - BlameR - ReparitionsA- ArmyT- Territory

BRAT- Germany’s Punishment

B- BlameGermany had to accept the Blame for starting the war in the form of a “war guilt” clause.

R- ReparitionsGermany had to pay over $33 billion in Reparations, or fines. The reparations covered the destruction caused by the war, pensions for millions of Allied soldiers, widows and families.

BRAT- Germany’s Punishment

A- ArmyGermany was forbidden to have an Army over 100,000 men, no submarines, and no air force.

T- TerritoryGermany lost Territory and colonies to Britain and France. Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France, land was lost to Poland, and the Rhineland was to be occupied by Allied troops.

Formation of League of Nations

As part of the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations was formed- Goal of League of Nations was to avoid another

World War by negotiating conflicts instead of using aggression and militarism

- 42 countries joined, including Canada who signed for themselves as an independent country

- Even though League of Nations was proposed by the United States, they did not join. Woodrow Wilson was unhappy with the treatment of Germany and other Central Powers countries

Post-WWI new nation-states

Nations that gained territory or independence after World War I

• Australia: German New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Nauru• Austria: split from the Austro-Hungarian Empire• Czechoslovakia: split from the Austro-Hungarian Empire• Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania: independence from the Russian

Empire• Hungary: split from the Austro-Hungarian Empire• Japan: gained Jiaozhou Bay and most of Shandong from China• New Zealand: gained control of German Samoa• Poland: from parts of the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian

Empires• Romania: Transylvania, Bessarabia, Bukovina• South Africa: gained control of South West Africa• United Kingdom: gained League of Nations Mandates in Africa and the

Middle East• Yugoslavia, as the successor state of the Kingdom of Serbia

Nations that lost territory after World War I

• Austria, as the successor state of Cisleithania and the Austro-Hungarian Empire

• Bulgaria• China: lost Jiaozhou Bay and most of Shandong to the

Empire of Japan• Germany, as successor state of the German Empire• Hungary, as successor state the Austro-Hungarian Empire• Russian SFSR, as the successor state of the Russian

Empire• Turkey, as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire• United Kingdom: lost most of Ireland as the Irish Free

State, Egypt in 1922