Transcript Paris Peace Conference and The Treaty of Versaillesx

Paris Peace Conference and The
Treaty of Versailles
The Paris Peace Conference
• President Wilson led American negotiators attending the peace conference in Paris in January
1919.
– His attendance of the Paris Peace Conference made him the first U.S. President to visit
Europe while in office.
– Republicans criticized Wilson for leaving the country when it was trying to restore its
economy.
• Wilson’s dream of international peace, though, required him to attend the conference as a
fair and unbiased leader to prevent squabbling among European nations.
• The Paris Peace Conference began on January 12, 1919, with leaders representing 32 nations,
or about three-quarters of the world’s population.
• The leaders of the victorious Allies—President Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd
George, French premier Georges Clemenceau, and Italian prime minister Vittorio Orlando—
became known as the Big Four.
• Germany and the Central Powers were not invited to attend.
Great Britain, America and France were the three most powerful Allies and they
wanted to exert their influence upon the Treaty of Versailles.
Yet they wanted different things.
Lloyd George (UK)
•Germany to be justly punished,
but not too harshly
•Germany to lose its navy and
colonies as these were a threat
to Britain's own navy and empire
•Germany and Britain to become
trading partners
BUT Overall, Lloyd George did not want to punish Germany too harshly as he did not want
Germany seeking revenge in the future
Clemenceau (France)
• to cripple Germany so it
couldn't attack France again.
•Wanted Germany broken down
into smaller states (weakened).
France had suffered the most
during the war so Clemenceau
was under great pressure from
the French people to make
Germany pay.
Wilson (USA)
• a better and more peaceful world
• a League of Nations that would help
and support each other and help to
promote world peace
• the right to self-determination. The
right to decide which country you wish
to be governed by
The U.S.A. had joined war late (1917) and
hadn't suffered as much as the other Allies in
terms of human and material costs.
Treaty of Versailles
• Germany looses a great deal of land including
overseas colonies.
Treaty of Versailles
• German army limited to 100,000 men.
• No tanks, air force, or submarines.
• Demilitarization of the Rhineland. (No
weapons or German soldiers allowed in
certain areas.)
Treaty of Versailles
• Reparations- Germany was forced to pay
financial penalties known as reparations as a
result of World War I.
– To pay for damages done in France during the war,
somewhere around 6.6 Billion dollars. Too much
for the Germans to pay.
League of Nations
• Treaty of Versailles establishes league of
nations whose goal is to keep and promote
peace.