The Legacy of WWI A Flawed Peace
The Legacy of the War 0 New Kind of War: New technologies, Global War million soldiers died, 21 million wounded 0 Total cost: $338 billion 0 Sense of disillusionment 0 Flawed Peace Treaty=WWII
Paris Peace Conference 0 January 18, 1919 at Versailles 0 Decisions made mainly by Big Four: 0 Woodrow Wilson, President of the US 0 Georges Clemenceau of France 0 David Lloyd George of GB 0 Vittorio Orlando of Italy 0 Russia, Central Powers not represented!
Wilson’s Plan for Peace: The Fourteen Points 0 In order to achieve a just and lasting peace, Called for: 0 end to secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, reducing militaries, more fairness for colonies, specific border changes for creating new nations, and an organization that would protect all countries, and peacefully negotiate solutions to conflicts 0 Guiding idea was self-determination: allowing ppl to decide for themselves their type of government 0 Unfortunately, his plan was not popular with the other nation’s leaders, who were concerned with national security, stripping Germany of war-making power
The Treaty of Versailles 0 Treaty of Versailles signed on June 28, 1919: 0 created a League of Nations: international association with goal of keeping peace 0 punished Germany: lost territory, restrictions on military 0 “war guilt” clause: sole responsibility for war was Germany’s-made them pay reparations ($) to Allies 0 all German territories in Africa and Pacific were declared mandates, or areas to be controlled by League of Nations until judged ready for independence
The Creation of New Nations 0 Western powers signed separate peace treaties in 1919 and 1920 with other defeated nations 0 New nations created out of AH: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia 0 Ottoman Turks forced to give up most of empire, retained only land that is now Turkey 0 Palestine, Iraq, and Transjordan went to Britain; Syria, Lebanon to France 0 Russia lost land too: Romania, Poland gained Russian territory; Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, all formerly part of Russia, became independent
Post WWI Map
“A Peace Built on Quicksand” 0 US considered to be dominant power after the war- rejected treaty, especially because of League of Nations- thought it might draw US into European affairs 0 Germans were angry, especially because of war guilt clause 0 Ppl in mandated territories angry they weren’t given independence-colonialism continued 0 Japan and Italy also angry because had gained less territory than they wanted 0 League of Nations ineffective-no support from US, had no power to resolve conflicts