1. Germany calls for an armistice (an agreement to end war)
November 11, 1918
11:00AM
Germany calls for an armistice
(an agreement to end war)
The Great War Ends

2. 'Do you know what I want to do now. ' he said
'Do you know what I want to do now?' he said. 'I'd like to get on one of those little horse-drawn canal boats in southern France and lie in the sun the rest of my life.'
My watch said nine o'clock. The shelling was heavy and, as I walked down the road, it grew steadily worse. It seemed to me that every battery in the world was trying to burn up its guns. At last eleven o'clock came - but the firing continued. The men on both sides had decided to give each other all they had-their farewell to arms. It was a very natural impulse after their years of war, but unfortunately many fell after eleven o'clock that day.
All over the world on November 11, 1918, people were celebrating, dancing in the streets, drinking champagne, hailing the armistice that meant the end of the war. But at the front there was no celebration. Many soldiers believed the Armistice only a temporary measure and that the war would soon go on. As night came, the quietness, unearthly in its penetration, began to eat into their souls. The men sat around log fires, the first they had ever had at the front. They were trying to reassure themselves that there were no enemy batteries spying on them from the next hill and no German bombing planes approaching to blast them out of existence. They talked in low tones. They were nervous.
After the long months of intense strain, of keying themselves up to the daily mortal danger, of thinking always in terms of war and the enemy, the abrupt release from it all was physical and psychological agony. Some suffered a total nervous collapse. Some, of a steadier temperament, began to hope they would someday return to home and the embrace of loved ones. Some could think only of the crude little crosses that marked the graves of their comrades. Some fell into an exhausted sleep. All were bewildered by the sudden meaninglessness of their existence as soldiers.

3. MAKING PEACE
after World War I

4. “make the world safe for democracy.”
The United States Declared War on Germany in 1917 to:
“make the world safe for democracy.”
USA FOUGHT IN BATTLES AT CANTIGNY, BELLEAU WOOD, AND CHATEAU-THIERRY

5. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson still hoped to be a peacemaker.
January 1918 issues the Fourteen Points

6. A list of terms for resolving this and future wars.
The Fourteen Points
A list of terms for resolving this and future wars.

7. General Assoc.of nations
The Fourteen Points:
End to secret treaties
Freedom of the Seas
Free-Trade
Reduction of Arms
Self-Determination
General Assoc.of nations

8. The League of Nations
Wilson’s Fourteen Points creates a system in which a group of nations act as one, to preserve the peace of all

9. The Paris Peace Conference

10. The Paris Peace Conference
Russia is left out of the Peace negotiations because they left the war in 1917 to fight their own revolution

11. David Lloyd George
Prime Minister
Promised to build a post-war Britain “fit for heroes”

12. Georges Clemenceau French Leader
Nicknamed “the Tiger” for his fierce anti-German war policy
Chief goal: weaken Germany

13. Woodrow Wilson U.S. President Believed in self-determination
“Peace without Victory”

14. Vittorio Orlando Italian Prime Minister
Wanted allies to give Italy lands once ruled by Austria-Hungary (as per a prior secret agreement)

15. Costs of the War 10 million dead; 20+ wounded Economic Turmoil
Weak Governments are vulnerable to revolutions
Psychological: Generations Lost!
Pandemic: Flu killed 20 million

16. Wilson had to compromise 14 Points COUNTRIES LEFT UNSATISFIED
Difficulties of Peace
Secret Agreements
Self-determination
Wilson had to compromise 14 Points
COUNTRIES LEFT UNSATISFIED

17. The Treaty of Versailles
June 1919
Peacemakers summon German representatives to the Palace of Versailles, and order them to sign the treaty drawn up by the allies

19. The Treaty of Versailles
Forced Germany to accept full blame for war
Imposed huge reparations (over $30 billion)
Limited size of German military
Returned Alsace-Lorraine to France
Stripped Germany of its colonies

20. Germans sign the treaty, because they really have no choice
But, their resentment of it would poison the international climate for 20 years- and help spark an even deadlier war...

21. Can we have peace without victory?