world war i 1914 - 1918 bitter peace the treaty of versailles
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WORLD WAR I1914 - 1918
BITTER PEACEThe Treaty Of Versailles
Essential Question:What were the terms of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I?
World War I was fought between the Allies and Central Powers from
1914 to 1918
On November 11, 1918, the German government agreed to an armistice,
and the war ended
THE BLOODY COST
WOUNDED SOLDIERS RETURN FROM THE FRONT
World War I was the largest, deadliest,
and most destructive war the world had yet seen
8.5 million soldiers and 13 million
civilians died as a result of the war
21 million soldiers were wounded during the war
THE WOUNDED
A combat nurse writes a letter for a wounded soldier
Many of the wounded soldiers
were maimed and suffered
crippling injuries
SOLDIERS BLINDED BY POISON GAS
STAGGERING AMOUNT OF DEATH
To put this in proper perspective…In the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. has lost over 5000 soldiers over the last decade or so
In World War I, the Allies alone lost an average of 3500 SOLDIERS PER DAY in just over four years of war
THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDEGENOCIDE is intent to destroy a national,
ethnic, racial, or religious groupDuring the war, the Turks of the Ottoman
Empire blamed some of their wartime losses on a group of people living in its borders called the Armenians
The Turks used the war as an excuse to commit genocide against the Christian Armenians, a group of people the Muslim Turks had hated for a long time
The Turks exterminated
possibly as many as ONE MILLION Armenian men,
women, and children
ARMENIAN WOMAN AND HER CHILDREN MARCHING TO THEIR DEATHS
THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Germany and Turkey were allied in the war; some German soldiers witnessed the
systematic way the Turks slaughtered the Armenians
Germany and Turkey were allied in the war; some German soldiers witnessed the systematic
way the Turks slaughtered the Armenians
THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDEARMENIANS BEHEADED BY TURKISH SOLDIERS
Some of these German soldiers would later become Nazis during World War II
THE SCIENCE OF GENOCIDE
These future Nazis learned the “science of genocide” from the Turks and used similar methods when carrying out the Holocaust against the Jews
ARMENIANS BEHEADED BY TURKISH SOLDIERS
Homes, farms, towns, and cities were destroyed; the war cost a total of $338 billion
and most national treasuries were empty
THE DAMAGE DONE
FRENCH CITY OF VERDUN:
BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR
PALACE OF JUSTICE IN SENLIS:
BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR
THE DAMAGE DONE
RUINS OF THE CITY OF YPRES AFTER THE WAR
THE DAMAGE DONE
RUINS OF THE FRENCH VILLAGE OF VAUX
THE DAMAGE DONE
AND AS IF THAT WEREN’T ENOUGH…
At the end of 1918, as the world is still reeling from the war, another disaster strikes; an
influenza epidemic spreads around the globe, killing about 30 million people worldwide
In 1919, representatives from 32 nations attended the
Paris Peace Conference to write a treaty to end the war
The conference was led by the “Big Four”: Britain, France, Italy,
and the United States
French Premier French Premier George ClemenceauGeorge Clemenceau
U.S. President U.S. President Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson
British Prime Minister British Prime Minister David Lloyd George David Lloyd George
Italian Prime Minister Italian Prime Minister Vittorio OrlandoVittorio Orlando
Germany and none of the Central Powers were allowed to attend; Russia (now led by Bolsheviks)
could not attend because of how they quit the war
U.S. President U.S. President Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson
Italian Prime Minister Italian Prime Minister Vittorio OrlandoVittorio Orlando
Creating a treaty would not be easy because the major powers had different agendas
French Premier French Premier George ClemenceauGeorge Clemenceau
British Prime Minister British Prime Minister David Lloyd George David Lloyd George
Britain and France wanted to weaken
Germany so it could never go to war again
Britain and France wanted Germany to accept full
blame, pay reparations, and lose all overseas colonies
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson disagreed the these harsh punishments for Germany
President Wilson presented his own peace proposal known
as the Fourteen Points
WILSON’S 14 POINTS
Wilson’s peace plan (the 14 Points) was
meant to prevent
international problems from
starting another war
9. Change in Italy’s borders10. Self-government for
Austria-Hungary’s peoples11. Removal of German
troops from the Balkans with Serbia gaining access to the sea
12. Independence for Turkey Giving those under Turkish rule the ability to rule themselves
13. Independence for Poland14. Creation of The League of
Nations
1. An end to secret treaties2. Freedom of the Seas3. Free trade among
nations4. A reduction of all armies
& navies5. End colonialism6. Removal of German
troops from Russia7. Removal of German
troops from Belgium8. Removal of German
troops from France & the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France
THE 14 POINTS: AN OUTLINE FOR PEACE
POINTS 1-5: Wilson hoped to eliminate the causes of WWI and called for an end to secret treaties
(alliances), freedom of the seas, eliminating imperial colonies, and reducing national militaries
President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, 1918
POINTS 6-13: Wilson suggested changing nationalboundaries, creating new nations, and allowing self-determination so that the people of each
nation could decide their own form of government
POINT 14: Wilson wanted a League of Nations…
…that would give all nations an
opportunity to work out their
grievances without resorting to war
Wilson hoped that a League of Nations could peacefully
negotiate solutions to future conflicts
ALLIES DISAGREE President Wilson favored “peace without
victory”, opposing severe punishment for the defeated Central Powers
The other Allies, most notably France, wanted revenge on the Central Powers, especially on Germany; France suffered more damage than any other country over the course of the Great War, and wanted vengeance on Germany because of it
In the United States, isolationists wanted America to stay out of other nations’ affairs
The bottom line result: The Allies reject most of the 14 Points
Britain and France disagreed with so many of the Fourteen
Points that Wilson had to compromise
These compromises led to an agreement known as the Treaty
of Versailles
The major provisions of the Versailles Treaty included:
A League of Nations that would serve as an
international organization to keep peace among nations
The League also included a Court of International Justice
to settle disagreements
The League covenant included an agreement
that all member nations would work
together to stop future acts of aggression
The terms of the treaty severely punished Germany Germany
had to give up land in
Europe and all of its overseas colonies
Germany was forced to sign the “war guilt” clause, accepting all
blame for the war and paying $33 billion in
reparations to the Allies
The German military was reduced to 100,000 troops,
six warships, no submarines, and could not manufacture
war equipment
In addition, the Treaty of Versailles redrew the map of Europe and the Middle East
Central Europe was redrawn to reduce the power of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire
Land was taken from Germany to create Poland; the German-French border was demilitarized to avoid
a future invasion
Several Slavic nations (such as Bosnia and Serbia) combine to form one large new nation (Yugoslavia)
New nations were created from territories that Russia gave up when it left the war early
The Ottoman Empire was divided; Britain and France gained mandates
in the Middle East
The mandates gave Britain and France
control over oil resources in the Middle
East
A mandate is the authority to administer a country or
territory
CARVING NEW NATIONS FROM OLD EMPIRESAUSTRIAHUNGARY (two main parts of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire are split up)CZECHOSLOVAKIA (taken from Germany
and Austria-Hungary) EAST PRUSSIA (a Germanic state now
separate from mainland Germany)POLAND (free of Russia and Germany)YUGOSLAVIA (a Slavic nation composed of
Serbia, Montenegro, and other Slavic people like Croatians and Bosnians, who are now free from Austria-Hungary)
FINLAND (independent of Russia)ESTONIA (independent of Russia)LATVIA (independent of Russia)LITHUANIA (independent of Germany)IRELAND is now independent of Britain,
but…NORTH IRELAND remains under British
controlThe free city of DANZIG is created
CARVING NEW NATIONS FROM OLD EMPIRES
BORDER CHANGES TO EXISTING COUNTRIES
In war, there are winners and losers
The winners expanded their borders while the
losers lost land
ITALY, ROMANIA, GREECE, and DENMARK
expand their borders
TURKEY, BULGARIA, GERMANY, and RUSSIA
lose territory
Spain
Russia
France
Italy
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Great Britain
Turkey/Ottoman Empire
SerbiaBulgaria
Greece
Sicily
Denmark
Belgium
Netherlands
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
ATLANTIC OCEAN
NORTH SEA
BLACK SEARomania
Portugal
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Albania
Montenegro
IrelandBALTIC SEA
Luxembourg
Spain
France
U.S.S.R.
Italy
Finland
Germany
Greece
Great Britain
Yugoslavia
Estonia
Poland
Turkey
Sicily
Switz. Austria
Czechoslovakia
Bulgaria
Latvia
RomaniaHungary
Norway
Portugal
Ireland
North Ireland
LithuaniaDenmark
Sweden
Netherlands
LuxBelgium
Danzig
East Prussia
Albania
NORTH SEA
BALTIC SEA
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
BLACK SEA
ATLANTIC OCEAN
On June 28, 1919, Germany and the major Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles and
World War I officially came to an end
Most nations celebrated the
official end of the Great War
Germans protested the harsh terms and resented their own government for giving in and
signing the treaty “Down with the brutal peace!”
PLANTING THE SEEDS
Winston Churchill, Britain’s future Prime
Minister, predicted that the harsh terms against Germany would cause
conflicts in the future. He called the Treaty of
Versailles “monstrous” for its harshness on Germany.
In the United States, reactions to the Treaty of Versailles were mixed
According to the U.S. Constitution, only
the Senate can approve treaties
Many Senators feared that signing the treaty and joining the League would force America to
become involved in future foreign wars
As a result, the United States never signed the
treaty nor joined the League of Nations
Members of the League of Nations (shaded)
World War I was the largest war the world had yet seen and it changed the way future wars were fought
Nations used “total war” tactics to commit all their
resources to winning; they also drafted
soldiers, rationed, and used propaganda
New war technologies increased the rates of
death and destruction to unprecedented levels
The war changed expectations for women and
led to voting rights for women in many nations
World War I was the largest war the world had yet seen and it changed the way future wars were fought
22 million soldiers and civilians died in the
war: an entire generation of
Europeans was killed The physical damage
to Europe was enormous
War devastated Europe’s economy;
nations had little money to rebuild and
few jobs to offer citizens
The terms of the Versailles Treaty caused problems and bitterness in many nations, especially Germany
The Treaty of Versailles was said to be a “peace built
on quicksand”
The treaty did not address the M.A.I.N. causes of WWI
The League of Nations did not include the USA; League leaders would do anything to
avoid another war High unemployment and desire for revenge would
lead to aggressive dictators in the 1920s and 1930s
DO YOU RECOGNIZE THIS MAN?
CORPORAL ADOLF HITLERAdolf Hitler, who was from Austria, was a soldier for Germany in the Great War. He earned medals for bravery. Hitler was temporarily blinded by poison gas and was recovering in a hospital when news of Germany’s defeat reached him.
GERMANY’S HUMILIATION GUARANTEES FUTURE CONFLICT
In his autobiography, Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote about hearing of Germany’s defeat:
“The burning in my eyes could not match the hate burning in my heart. From
that moment, I knew I should enter politics.”
THE SEEDS ARE SOWN FOR AN EVEN
BLOODIER CONFLICT
WORLD WAR I and WORLD WAR II: THE SAME WAR?
World War I was definitely not “The War To End All Wars”
The way this war ended guaranteed a future conflict
Only 21 years after World War I ended, World War II would begin
Many historians consider WWI and WWII to be the same war, but with an “intermission”
World War II would far surpass World War I in terms of death and destruction
Created by Christopher Jaskowiak
Thanks to Brooks Baggett for some of the slides
Thanks to Professor Daniel Blum of Buffalo State College for his excellent teaching of the course, 20th Century Europe