1. Peace Treaties and New Nations After WWI

2. Background to Peace Settlements
1918- U.S. President Woodrow Wilson gave his famous “Fourteen Points” speech to Congress, his basis for a lasting peace settlement between nations.

3. Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Main points included…
Open agreements between countries. No secret diplomacy.
Reduction of national military forces or weapons.
Self-determination of people.
League of Nations to prevent future wars.
These points will create “collective security,” collective meaning “all together.”

4. Paris Peace Conference 1919
Twenty-seven nations met at the Paris Peace Conference housed in the Versailles Palace.
Most important decisions made by President Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and French President Georges Clemenceau.
Germany and the Central Powers not invited to attend.
Russia not there because of its civil war.

5. Hall of Mirrors
Conference held at Versailles Palace.
Paris, France

6. Conflicts President Wilson had a long term vision of peace in Europe.
France and Britain wanted to punish Germany.
Both nations wanted Germany to pay for the war.
France wanted real security for itself since the majority of the war was fought on French soil.
France’s demands included creating a separate state in Germany’s Rhineland province to be a buffer between Germany and France.
Rhineland Province

7. Compromises
Compromises by the Allies had to be made for there to be a peace agreement.
January 25, 1919, the Paris Peace Conference accepted the idea of a League of Nations.
President Clemenceau gave up the idea of a Rhineland state in exchange for a defensive alliance with the U.S. and Great Britain.

8. Treaty of Versailles June 28, 1919
Article 231 of treaty, the “war guilt” clause. Declared Germany and Austria were responsible for the war.
Germans were to pay reparations (payment for damages and suffering caused by the war) to the Allied nations.
Germany was to cut down its army to 100,000.
Alsace-Lorraine region in Germany returned to France (France had lost it in in the late 1800s).
Some territory of East Prussia rewarded to new country of Poland.
The Rhineland province was to be demilitarized (no army or weapons allowed).

10. The new German government was outraged.
German leaders eventually signed the treaty knowing they could not go back immediately to war.

11. Other Peace Treaties from the Paris Conference
Austro-Hungarian Empire completely broken apart.
Austria and Hungary forced to become separate countries.
Between Russia (also lost major territory), Germany, and Austria-Hungary, many new countries were created based on the majority nationality that lived in the region.

12. New Countries in Central-Eastern Europe after 1918
Poland created from Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary.
Czechoslovakia created from Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Danzig was created from Germany as an international city and port run by the League of Nations.
Yugoslavia (Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia) created from Austria-Hungary and Serbia.
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland created from lost Russian territory.
Romania was awarded a huge chunk of Hungary, mainly Transylvania.

13. Europe Map After 1919

14. Ottoman Empire Breakup
Also broken up after the peace settlement.
Western Allies had promised during the war to recognize Arab states in the Middle East since they helped them fight the Turks.
Promises were broken once the war ended.
Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine went to the British and Syria went to France.

15. President Wilson complained this was against the principle of self-determination.
League of Nations decided these areas would be mandates (governed by France and Britain but not made colonies of those countries)

17. Success and Failures of the Paris Peace Conference
Self-determination. Many democratic nations in Europe were created out of the empires.
League of Nations formed.
Failures
Wilson failed to achieve peace without victory. Germany dealt a severe financial punishment it could not afford.
Major failure was enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles.
-U.S. Congress voted against America’s participation in the League of Nations.
-U.S. Congress rejected the defensive alliance with Great Britain and France.
-British Parliament also rejected the alliance.
-France by itself had to take stronger actions against Germany.

18. Germany’s resentment grew!
To be continued…