The Failed Peace• Now that the war was “over,” Wilson traveled to

France to help the Allies set the terms of peace• Remember “moral diplomacy?”• He finally deemed the world “safe for democracy”• 1st U.S. Pres. to meet foreign leaders on foreign soil• Hopes were high!

Allied leaders from

other countries

did NOT share his

hopes & visions

Wilson’s 14 Points Peace Plan

• Wilson honestly wanted world peace

• Europe honestly wanted revenge & to punish the

Germans for the war

• Fourteen Points: 1918 President Wilson’s peace plan for post WW1 to avoid future wars

Wilson’s 14 Points Peace Plan1. An end to secret agreements• Secrecy had encouraged a messy web of rival alliances

that had helped lead to war2. Freedom of the seas & free trade 3. Limit on arms 4. Peaceful settlement of disputes over colonies5. National self-determination: right of national groups to have their own territory & forms of gov’t

Wilson’s 14 Points Peace Plan14. League of Nations:

association of nations formed after ww1 under Wilson’s 14

point plan intended to protect the independence of all countries

—large or small

• “Justice to all people & nationalities with their right to live on equal terms of liberty &

safety with one another, whether weak or strong”

• + promotes peace & democracy• - too vague, non-realistic, not all

Allies wanted the same thing

Paris Peace Conference• Diplomats from 30+

nations met at Paris & Versailles to negotiate 5 separate peace treaties

• Key issues were decided by the leaders of the Allied nations– Big Four: U.S. Britain,

France, Italy

Disagreement Among the Allies• Wilson wanted “peace without victory” = opposed

punishing the defeated powers (already lost :-/)• Other Allies wanted revenge– Reparations: cash payments for the losses they had suffered

during the war– “War Guilt Clause”: Germany accepts responsibility for the war

Harsh Terms for GermanyJune 1919

• Treaty of Versailles: treaty signed on June 28th, 1919 by Germany & the Allies; formally placed the responsibility for the war on Germany and its allies– Germany wasn’t even allowed to send delegates to the

peace talks • Do you think that’s constructive or unconstructive? Why?

– None of the Allies were satisfied (it’s hard to please everyone!)

Treaty of Versailles- Germany had to pay Allies HUGE reparations• Cost of pensions for Allied soldiers/ their widows & children• Reparation costs would exceed $300 billion

– Do you think a country that just LOST a war would be able to choke that up?

– Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France– Germany was stripped of its overseas colonies (now under GB or

France)

Results:• Several new nations formed on the principle of self-

determination: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia & Poland• Germans who had previously settled here would soon seek

to regain control of German speaking people in Eastern Europe…

• Wilson’s 14 points were included in the peace treaty (prevention of future wars with peace)– Plan: talk over problems & find mediation

• If this failed: members would join together to fight aggressors

The Fight for the Versailles Treaty• Majority favored the treaty– peace

• A minority opposed it– Too soft on defeated powers– German-Americans thought it

too harsh– Used as a Republican platform

to rip Wilson (D) apart– Isolationists: people who

wanted the U.S. to stay out of world affairs & opposed the LON

The Defeated Treaty

• Wilson wouldn’t budge on how crucial his LON was…but people didn’t want it as much as he did

• He go so stressed out promoting it that he had a stroke• Loose ends at the end of a war would now serve as a

platform for future wars

Waaaahhhh!!!