1. Creating a “New” Europe
Ch. 27 Sec. 5
Creating a “New” Europe

2. The Treaty of Versailles
The treaty w/ Germany, signed at Versailles in May 1919, was known as the Treaty of Versailles
It dealt harshly w/ Germany, Germany had to admit sole guilt for starting the war & pay reparations; the Germans strongly objected, but had little choice
France regained Alsace-Lorraine, & Belgium gained territory

3. Poland was restored as an independent nation; a Polish Corridor sliced through Prussia & it gave Poland an outlet to the Baltic Sea
Germany had to abolish its military draft & reduce its army to 100,000 men; Germans were forbidden to manufacture heavy artillery, tanks, military airplanes, or submarines

4. Fates of Former Territories
Austria surrendered land to Italy
Hungary lost territory to Romania, Poland, & Russia & the new nations of Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia combined Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina
The new boundaries created problems, often they didn’t match ethnic divisions

5. Wilson’s Fourteen Points had supported national self-determination, stirring nationalist feelings
The Polish Corridor through German lands angered Germans; some ethnic groups remained brutally oppressed
During the war the Turks had launched genocide, or systematic extermination, of Armenians
Foreign outcry halted these atrocities, but the Turks resumed them in 1920

6. Of the 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, about 1
Of the 2 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, about 1.5 million were killed & the rest were deported
Bulgaria lost territory to Greece
The Ottoman Empire lost almost all territory except Turkey; new nations created from Ottoman lands included Palestine, Transjordan, Syria, & Iraq
Russia lost land; Poland & the Baltic states of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania declared independence from Russia

7. The League of Nations
Wilson hoped that the League of Nations would be able to fix the treaty’s injustices
A special commission, including Wilson, wrote the Covenant of the League of Nations; it became part of the Versailles treaty
1st aim was to promote international cooperation
2nd aim was to keep peace among nations by settling disputes & reducing armaments

8. the League worked closely w/ the Permanent Court of International Justice
The World Court is located today at The Hague in the Netherlands
Each member nation had one representative in the Assembly; the council, the main peacekeeping body, had 9 member nations (later increased to 14); five were permanent G.B., France, Italy, Japan, & the U.S.; the remaining seats rotated

9. The league could impose penalties such as breaking diplomatic relations
They could impose economic sanctions, blocking trade w/ the offending nation
The league of Nations also dealt w/ colonies of the defeated powers; until each colony was “ready for independence” it would be a mandate, administered by the gov’t of a so-called advanced nation

10. German & Ottoman territories were given as mandates to G. B
German & Ottoman territories were given as mandates to G.B., France, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, & Japan
Although Wilson promoted the League of Nations, the U.S. never joined

11. Some were wary of the League’s powers; others feared that the League’s peacekeeping commitments would drag the U.S. into foreign wars; the U.S. never ratified the Treaty of Versailles
But 42 nations attended the first meeting of the League of Nations in 1920; by the 1940s it included 59 nations