The End of World War I CHAPTER 23 SECTION

The Last Year of the War  In 1917 the war began to turn in the favor of the Axis powers as they defeated the Allies along the Western Front. Also the loss of Russia proved difficult for the Allies. It was not until the United States entered that the momentum would shift from one side to another.  With the removal of Russia from WWI due to the communist revolution, Germany was free to concentrate all of their troops along the Western front since they no longer faced an enemy of the Eastern Front.  While German forces were concentrated along the Western front, they were starting to run low on supplies and troops. Sensing that the end was near, A German military official named Erich Ludendorff believed that Germany’s best chance of survival would be to prepare for a final offensive using everything that they had left.

The Last Year of the War  The last German offensive initially had good results. Once again they fought around the Marne river, and this time the Germans were victorious. They were now only 50 miles away from Paris.  As they continued marching towards Paris a second battle of the Somme erupted and Germany suffered huge casualties. Over 1 million American troops had arrived in France to aid in the defensive against Germany.  Ludendorff realized that the war was lost and in 1918 he wrote a letter to German military leaders letting them know that the war was lost. He demanded that the government of German negotiate for peace.

Keizer Wilhelm II (center) & Erich Ludendorff (right)

The Last Year of the War  The Allies realized that Germany had no choice but to surrender. The Allies take advantage of the situation by refusing to negotiate for peace with the existing German government and will only negotiate with a new political entity.  This will lead to internal chaos within Germany. Members of their navy refused to follow orders, revolting in the town of Kiel.  The situation in Germany was so bad the Kiser (emperor) leaves the country entirely and leaves it’s faith to the remaining citizens.  On November 11 (Veteran’s Day) Friedrich Ebert took over as the new leader of Germany and established a democratic republic. On that day an Armistice was signed which called for an end to the fighting. Things did not go well for the new government as communist ideology entered Germany with many Germans wanting a communist country.

The Peace Settlements  In 1919, the Allies sought new ways to officially end the war. Woodrow Wilson the American president even outlined his “14 Points”, or 14 steps every country should take to end the war, negotiate for peace and then put restrictions in place that would reduce the likelihood of an event like this happening again.  During the Paris Peace Conference movements began to officially end the War. The Prime minister of G.B., David Lloyd George proposed that since the Germans were for the first side to mobilize within the triple alliance, that they should be required to pay for the damage the war had caused in every country involved.  France also required a buffer zone with Germany, a military Free Germany and payments or reparations to cover the cost of the war.

The Peace Settlements  Finally in 1919 the treaty of Versailles officially ends the war with Germany, and also puts a number of restrictions on Germany including a small military, reparations payment and full blame for the outbreak of war. They also lost territory to France includeing Alsace & Lorraine.  Many changes to the European map arose as a result of WWI, Austria-Hungary & the Ottoman empire were no more. Many of those territories reestablished themselves as nation states, inspired by self determination.  Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria & Hungary were all new European countries. Many of these sates will have large numbers of ethnic minorities which will cause issues in the future.

Europe post WWI

The Peace Settlements  In the middle east many of the people who rose up against Turkic rule during the age of the Ottoman Empire believed that they now would be allowed to constitute themselves along the lines of self determination that lead to the creation of many new European countries.  The Ottoman Turks settles on the Anatolian Penisula creating the country of turkey.  With regards to remaining territories, they were split up amongst France and Britain as mandates. Similar to a colony but different in the sense that while France controls Lebanon & Syria, The do not “own” the territory. Britain got Iraq & Palestine as mandates.

Middle –East post WWI