The End of The First World War Casualties

The End of The First World War

Casualties of World War I Deaths in Battle Allies § France § British empire § Russia § Italy § United States § Others 1, 357, 800 908, 371 1, 700, 000 462, 391 50, 585 502, 421 Central Powers § Germany 1, 808, 546 § Austria-Hungary 922, 500 § Ottoman empire 325, 000 Wounded in Battle 4, 266, 000 2, 090, 212 4, 950, 000 953, 886 205, 690 342, 585 4, 247, 143 3, 620, 000 400, 000

The Treaty of Versailles n The Big Four: Woodrow Wilson (US), David Lloyd George (Great Britain), Georges Clemenceau (France), Vittorio Orlando (Italy) Germany and the USSR were not invited. The decisions of the Big Four were influenced by four factors:

1: Secret Treaties n In March 1915, France was promised Alsace-Lorraine, control of the left bank of the Rhine and German colonies in Africa while Britain was allowed to take over German colonies in Africa and the Pacific. In April of the same year, Italy was tempted to join the war on the side of the Allies by promises of Austrian and Turkish territory. In August 1916, Rumania was promised territories in Transylvania and Bukovina. The Big Four had to respect these treaties when they were making the territorial settlement after the war.

2: New States ► Before the Conference opened in January 1919, the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian Empires had collapsed. Within these empires, there arose many new states— Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

3: Communist Russia l Since November 1917, there was a communist government in Russia. The Big Four wanted to strengthen the neighboring states of Russia so that they could form a buffer to protect Europe against the spread of Communism.

4: Post-war bitterness n During the war, the Allied governments had done their best to arouse the patriotism of their own people. Immediately after the war, the people of the Allied countries still had a fierce hatred against the enemy nations. Because they had suffered so much during the war, they brought pressure on their governments to exact heavy compensation from the losers.

Wilson's 14 Points n n n n 1. An end to all secret diplomacy 2. Freedom of the seas in peace and war 3. The reduction of trade barriers among nations 4. The general reduction of armaments 5. The adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of the inhabitants as well as of the colonial powers 6. The evacuation of Russian territory and a welcome for its government to the society of nations 7. The restoration of Belgium 8. The evacuation of all French territory, including Alsace-Lorraine 9. The readjustment of Italian boundaries along clearly recognizable lines of nationality 10. Independence for various national groups in Austria-Hungary 11. The restoration of the Balkan nations and free access to the sea for Serbia 12. Protection for minorities in Turkey and the free passage of the ships of all nations through the Dardanelles 13. Independence for Poland, including access to the sea 14. A league of nations to protect "mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small nations alike. "

u To sum up, Wilson's ideals of a peaceful world consisted of a removal of all the basic causes of the First World War (namely armaments race, secret diplomacy, economic rivalry and the struggle of the oppressed nationalities to get independence) and the formation of an international organization to promote the political, economic and social progress of the whole world.

Maps of Europe: 1914/ 1919

Maps of the Middle East

The Peace Treaties n n n The Big Three drew up the Covenant of the League of The Nations. They decided that the Covenant should be included in each of the peace treaties. The peace treaties they drew up were as follows: (1) Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. (2) Austria signed the Treaty of St. Germain (September 1919) (3) Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Neuilly (November 1919). (4) Hungary signed the Treaty of Trianon (June 1920) (5) Turkey signed the Treaty of Sevres (8/1920) & Lausanne (7/1923).

Treaty of Versailles (1919) n The Treaty reflected chiefly two basic ideas: punishment of the defeated and the maintenance of the principle of selfdetermination. These two basic ideas were also reflected in the other treaties.

Territories: § Germany was to lose all her past conquests. § § These were to be returned to their own national units. Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France. The Saar, the coal-producing area of Germany, was brought under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years. Eupen and Malmedy were given to Belgium. In the north, North Schleswig was returned to Denmark.

Territories: § Poland was recreated as a state. § Germany also lost all her colonies in Africa and the Pacific. Most of them were transferred to the League of Nations which allowed the victorious powers such as Britain, France, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan to rule over them as Mandates. § Germany's territorial losses were severe (about 13% of her land 7 million of her former population had to be given up) although these losses constituted chiefly her past conquests. Moreover, she was forbidden to enter into any union with Austria.

Disarmament: • Germany was almost totally disarmed. She was allowed an army of 100, 000 men to be recruited by voluntary enlistment and six small battleships of less than 10, 000 tons. Submarines and airplanes were strictly forbidden. The Rhineland would be occupied by the Allied forces for 15 years, during which it would remain permanently demilitarized.

War-guilt and Reparations: n According to Article 231 of the Treaty "the Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the losses and damages to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies. " In other words, the whole blame of provoking the First World War was put on Germany. This is historically incorrect and so constituted a great hurt to the German national pride.

General Effects of the First World War Ø Before the war, there had been 19 monarchies and 3 republics. After the war, 15 out of 27 states were republics with an elected president. The number of independent states in Europe also increased from 20 in 1914 to 27 in 1919. The Serbs, Poles, Croats, Czechs, Letts and Finns had all formed their national states.

General Effects of the First World War After the First World War, there was little political stability in Europe. In eastern Europe, the new states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland were always threatened by the rapid increase in national strength of communist Russia. Ø the Italians also harbored ill-feeling towards the Versailles Settlement because the Big Three failed to realize the territorial ambitions of Italy as were promised in the Treaty of London of 1915. Ø The First World War left crushing economic burdens on all the European countries. It has been estimated that the European victors owed an aggregate of $10 billion to the U. S. . Ø European governments had to rehabilitate devastated areas, to pay pensions to the wounded and to the relatives of the dead and to pay the interest due on the public and foreign debts. Ø

Overview: Ø 10 million dead (estimate) Ø ● The economy of Europe devastated. Ø ● The concept of “total war” was accepted. Ø ● Europe was deprived of world hegemony. The US became the most powerful nation in the world. Ø ● Western civilization was demoralized.

“A Street in Arras” John Singer Sargent, 1918

“Oppy Wood” – John Nash, 1917

“Those Who Have Lost Their Names” Albin Eggar-Linz, 1914

“Gassed and Wounded” Eric Kennington, 1918

“Paths of Glory” C. R. W. Nevinson, 1917

German Cartoon: “Fit for active service!”, 1918

Key Topic Points: • Allied victory- Human Casualties/statistics • Treaty of Versailles- German responsibility, League of Nations, 14 points • Collapse of Empire: Austrian-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires • Economic devastation of Europe (war debt, eventual depression), Russian Revolution, end of European world hegemony (colonialism) • Creation of new nations in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East • Rise of US as industrial superpower