The Aftermath

Steps Toward Peace

• The “war to end all wars” had lasted four long years, and it was now time for peace

• The leaders of the victorious nations gathered at the palace in Versailles, outside Paris, to negotiate the terms

Wilson’s Plan•Wilson arrived in France with an idealistic vision for peace, including the establishment of a League of Nations

- Wilson was praised just about everywhere he went, until he arrived at Versailles

- The allied leaders held too much resentment towards Germany to agree to Wilson’s idealistic peace proposal, his “Fourteen Points”, which Wilson had presented to Congress before the end of the war

Fourteen Points• The first five points were necessary

to prevent another war:–No secret treaties among nations–Freedom of the seas maintained for all–Tariffs and economic barriers should be

abolished to promote free trade–Arms should be reduced to the lowest

safe point–Colonial policies should consider the

interests of colonial peoples as well as interests of imperialist powers

•The next eight points dealt with boundary changes, trying to follow historically

established boundary lines based on

nationality and self-determination

League of Nations• Wilson’s 14th and final point

called for the creation of a national organization to deal with diplomatic crises, a “League of Nations” – a forum for nations to discuss grievances without having to resort to war

•Wilson ended up conceding on most

of his Fourteen Points in return for

the establishment of the League of

Nations

The Participants•The peace conference at Versailles did not include:–The defeated Central Powers–Russia–Smaller Allied Nations

• It did include:– Georges Clemenceau, the French Premier, who

had already lived through two German invasions of France

– David Lloyd George, British prime minister who was voted into office on the slogan “Make Germany Pay”

– Vittorio Orlando, Italian prime minister, who wanted control of Austrian territory as per their agreement during the war, which had flipped Italy to the Allied side

– Woodrow Wilson

The Participants

Treaty of Versailles•June 28, 1919 – The “Big Four” leaders met with the leaders of the defeated nations to sign the peace treaty at Versailles

What the Treaty did:• Established 9 new nations from the

defeated nations, including Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Poland

• Shifted the boundaries of other nations

• Gave 5 areas of the Ottoman Empire to France and Britain as mandates, temporary colonies

• It also barred Germany from maintaining an army

• It also required Germany to give Alsace-Lorraine back to France

• It also required Germany to pay reparations, or war damages, of $33 billion to the Allies

Treaty Weaknesses• Humiliation of Germany, including

forcing them to sign a war-guilt clause, admission of sole responsibility for the start of WWI

• Germany’s colonial possessions were taken away, which guaranteed their inability to pay their reparations

• Though Russia had fought with the Allies and lost more men, they were excluded from the Peace Conference, and lost more territory than Germany did

• The treaty ignored the rights of colonized peoples for self-determination

Opposition• Many Americans opposed the

Treaty, because:–It was too harsh–It was a sell out to imperialism,

trading one set of colonial rulers for another

–Boundaries established did not satisfy all of the ethnic groups

•The League of Nations sparked debate over:–Whether it would spoil US policy of isolationism

–Suspicion over joint economic and military action against aggression

–Right of Congress to declare war was not included

Uncompromising• Wilson refused to compromise

about the League of Nations• On a campaign tour, exclaiming its

virtues, Wilson suffered a stroke• The League of Nations was passed

through Congress twice, and both times failed to gain enough votes for ratification

Legacy of the War• Warren G Harding, the new

American President, tried to soothe the American people by advocating a return to “normalcy”

• However, the world had been too transformed by war

War had changed things in the US, including:- strengthened the military and the government- accelerated changes socially, especially for blacks and women- propaganda had provoked fear and antagonism that had no other outlet

War had changed things in Europe, including:

- destruction caused severely damaged social and political systems

- war created political instability and violence

- communism and fascism started to rise