Transcript The Aftermath of WWI

The
Aftermath
Steps Toward
Peace
• The “war to end all wars” had
lasted four long years, and it
was now time for peace
• The leaders of the victorious
nations gathered at the
palace in Versailles, outside
Paris, to negotiate the terms
Wilson’s Plan
•Wilson arrived in
France with an
idealistic vision for
peace, including the
establishment of a
League of Nations
- Wilson was praised just about
everywhere he went, until he
arrived at Versailles
- The allied leaders held too
much resentment towards
Germany to agree to Wilson’s
idealistic peace proposal, his
“Fourteen Points”, which
Wilson had presented to
Congress before the end of the
war
Fourteen Points
• The first five points were necessary
to prevent another war:
– No secret treaties among nations
– Freedom of the seas maintained for all
– Tariffs and economic barriers should be
abolished to promote free trade
– Arms should be reduced to the lowest
safe point
– Colonial policies should consider the
interests of colonial peoples as well as
interests of imperialist powers
• The next eight points
dealt with boundary
changes, trying to
follow historically
established boundary
lines based on
nationality and selfdetermination
League of Nations
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• Wilson’s
and final point
called for the creation of a
national organization to deal
with diplomatic crises, a
“League of Nations” – a forum
for nations to discuss
grievances without having to
resort to war
•Wilson ended up
conceding on most
of his Fourteen
Points in return for
the establishment of
the League of
Nations
The Participants
•The peace conference
at Versailles did not
include:
–The defeated Central Powers
–Russia
–Smaller Allied Nations
The Participants
• It did include:
– Georges Clemenceau, the French Premier, who
had already lived through two German
invasions of France
– David Lloyd George, British prime minister who
was voted into office on the slogan “Make
Germany Pay”
– Vittorio Orlando, Italian prime minister, who
wanted control of Austrian territory as per their
agreement during the war, which had flipped
Italy to the Allied side
– Woodrow Wilson
Treaty of Versailles
• June 28, 1919 – The “Big
Four” leaders met with
the leaders of the
defeated nations to sign
the peace treaty at
Versailles
What the Treaty did:
• Established 9 new nations from the
defeated nations, including
Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and
Poland
• Shifted the boundaries of other
nations
• Gave 5 areas of the Ottoman
Empire to France and Britain as
mandates, temporary colonies
• It also barred Germany from
maintaining an army
• It also required Germany to
give Alsace-Lorraine back to
France
• It also required Germany to
pay reparations, or war
damages, of $33 billion to the
Allies
Treaty Weaknesses
• Humiliation of Germany, including
forcing them to sign a war-guilt
clause, admission of sole
responsibility for the start of WWI
• Germany’s colonial possessions
were taken away, which guaranteed
their inability to pay their
reparations
• Though Russia had fought
with the Allies and lost more
men, they were excluded
from the Peace Conference,
and lost more territory than
Germany did
• The treaty ignored the rights
of colonized peoples for selfdetermination
Opposition
• Many Americans opposed
the Treaty, because:
–It was too harsh
–It was a sell out to imperialism,
trading one set of colonial rulers for
another
–Boundaries established did not
satisfy all of the ethnic groups
•The League of Nations
sparked debate over:
–Whether it would spoil US
policy of isolationism
–Suspicion over joint economic
and military action against
aggression
–Right of Congress to declare
war was not included
Uncompromising
• Wilson refused to compromise
about the League of Nations
• On a campaign tour, exclaiming its
virtues, Wilson suffered a stroke
• The League of Nations was passed
through Congress twice, and both
times failed to gain enough votes
for ratification
Legacy of the War
• Warren G. Harding, the new
American President, tried to
soothe the American people
by advocating a return to
“normalcy”
• However, the world had been
too transformed by war
War had changed things in the
US, including:
- strengthened the military and
the government
- accelerated changes socially,
especially for blacks and
women
- propaganda had provoked fear
and antagonism that had no
other outlet
War had changed things in
Europe, including:
- destruction caused severely
damaged social and political
systems
- war created political instability
and violence
- communism and fascism
started to rise
• Why did the Treaty
of Versailles
actually help to
lead to the second
world war?