End of World War I Wilson’s 14 Point Peace Plan & The Treaty of Versailles

“14 Points” January 8, President Wilson describes his peace plan to Congress –The war will not be over for another 10 months –It Contains 14 different parts –He thought it would protect peaceful nations from aggressive ones

Point #1 No more secret treaties and alliances –Secret Alliances helped cause WWI –By eliminating secret alliances future wars can be avoided –Alliances and treaties are fine, just not secret ones

Point #2 Freedom of the sea –Unrestricted Submarine Warfare had pulled the United States into the war –If all countries guaranteed that ships could travel freely around the world, then this cause of WWI could be avoided in the future

Point #3 Free Trade –Free and open trade will make the economy of all countries stronger –This will help to avoid conflicts caused by trade or other economic reasons

Point #4 Reduce the size of country’s militaries –Militarism was one of the big causes of WWI –By limiting the size of armies and navies, it was hoped that large scale wars would not occur

Point #5 Self Determination, especially for colonies –To help end Imperialism, Wilson wanted people to decide for themselves –Colonies would get the chance to be free, and the people in those colonies would have a say in what happened to them and their countries

Point #6-#13 Redraw boundary lines between countries –Related to Point #5 –Countries who lost land in WWI would get it back –New national boundaries would be drawn to reduce conflicts between different groups of people –Remember the “spark” that started WWI

Point #14 League of Nations –An organization made up of the countries of the world –Purpose- To work out problems and conflicts before these conflicts lead to war

Paris Peace Conference Held outside Paris at the Palace of Versailles, Treaty was completed June 18, 1919 BIG FOUR- Leaders of Winning Nations –U.S.A.- Woodrow Wilson –Great Britain- David Lloyd George –France- Georges Clemenceau –Italy- Vittorio Orlando Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were not invited

Forget the 14 Points!!! Wilson shared his 14 Points at the meeting Leaders were more concerned with their country’s interests –France- Remove Germany as a threat German army-100,000 France gets Saar valley (Coal) –Great Britain- Germany must accept responsibility for the war War Guilt Clause War Reparations = $33 Billion

Self Determination In Europe anyway, but screwed up –Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia got Independence –Parts of Germany and Austria were given to France, Poland, Denmark, and Belgium Forget the rest of the world –Middle East is carved up Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine (Israel) –German colonies around the world are seized

League of Nations Wilson got one of his points –The League of Nations was set up, by the Treaty of Versailles The League would fix the problems with the Treaty of Versailles They could maintain World Peace

Treaty of Versailles BIG PARTS!!!!! –War-Guilt Clause –Reparations –Redraw the map of Europe and the Middle East –League of Nations –Central Powers were not even invited