The Great War 1914 1918 Chapter Thirteen Section

The Great War 1914 - 1918 Chapter Thirteen Section Four A Flawed Peace

The Allies Meet and Debate n n n The Paris Peace Conference was held on January 18 th, 1919 at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris. This was a meeting of delegates from 32 countries to establish the terms of peace following WWI. Major decisions were made by the Big Four: United States, France, Great Britain, and Italy. Woodrow Wilson- President of the U. S. Georges Clemenceau- leader of France Russia, Germany, and Germany’s allies were not represented.

Wilson’s Plan for Peace n n n The Fourteen Points: Points 1 through 4: end to secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, reduced national armies and navies. Point 5: adjustment of colonial claims with fairness to colonial peoples. Points 6 through 13: specific point s for changing borders and creating nations. Self-Determination- allowing people to decide for themselves under what government they wished to live. Point 14: a general association of nations which would protect great and small states alike.

The Versailles Treaty n n n n Britain and France did not agree with Wilson’s Fourteen Point Plan. They were concerned with security and wanted Germany stripped of its power to wage war. On June 28 th, 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was signed between Germany and the Allied powers. It was a compromise and included Wilson’s Fourteenth Point. League of Nations- an international association whose goal would be to keep peace among nations. The treaty also punished Germany lost substantial territory in Europe, had severe restrictions placed on its military, lost all of its colonies, and had to pay war reparations to the Allies.

A Troubled Treaty: The Creation of New Nations n n n Separate peace treaties were signed with Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. New countries were created out of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia. The Ottoman Empire retained only the territory of modern day Turkey. Mandates were created from Ottoman lands in the Middle East: Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan were under British rule. Syria and Lebanon went to France. Russia lost land to Poland Romania. The nations of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were created out of Russia.

“A Peace Built on Quicksand” n n n The United States had emerged as the dominant world power. It rejected the Treaty of Versailles. Many Americans wanted the U. S. to stay out of European affairs. Germany was angry at the way it was treated. African and Asian nations were angry at the way their desire for independence was disregarded. Japan and Italy gained very little territory in the treaty. The League of Nations was in no position to take action on these or other complaints. All of this would plunge Europe into another catastrophic war in just two decades.