The End of Fighting
I. Germany Collapses
• Germany needed to deal a decisive blow to the allied powers
before the U.S. had time to raise an army, train soldiers, and get
to the front line
• German troops no longer needed to fight Russia so in March
1918 troops were transferred to France and German forces came
within 40 miles of Paris.
• U.S. troops arrive and in the Second Battle of the Marne the
German assault is stopped.
Armistice or peace signed on the 11th hour of the 11th month on
the 11th day- November 11, 1918
II. What was the impact of World War I?
• The war killed 8.5 million people and left
more than 21 million men disabled.
Casualties
Allied Powers
• Britain : 750,000 soldiers killed;
1,500,000 wounded
France : 1,400,000 soldiers killed;
2,500,000 wounded
Belgium : 50,000 soldiers killed
Italy : 600,000 soldiers killed
Russia : 1,800,000 soldiers killed
(1.5 million civilians)
America : 116,000 soldiers killed
Central Powers
• Germany : 2,000,000 soldiers
killed
Austria-Hungary : 1,200,000
soldiers killed
Turkey : 325,000 soldiers killed
Bulgaria : 100,000 soldiers
killed
Paris Peace Conference
“Putting the World Back Together”
The Major Players - “The Big
Four”
Woodrow
Wilson USA
George
Clemenceau
“The Tiger”
- France
David
Lloyd
George
“The
Welsh
Wizard” GB
Vittorio
Orlando Italy
Wilson’s 14 Points
Peace and Reconciliation
• 1) Restoration of social order, world trade
• 2) National self-determination
– Right to your own country and the right to
choose your own government
• 3) Leniency toward Germany
• 4) Establish a League of Nations
Clemenceau
Security and Reparations
• 1) Wants reparations to pay for damages to
their country
– At the end of WWI Germany had a “scorched
earth policy”
• 2) Weaken Germany to make sure they
won’t be a threat again
David Lloyd George
Colonial Domination
• 1) Reduce Germany’s navy
• 2) Reduce Germany’s colonial empire
• 3) Protect Europe from spread of
Communism
– Wanted Germany to be a barrier to
Communism
– But felt the pressure from British citizens to
punish Germany
Vittorio Orlando
Give Us Land
• 1) Territory
– He wants to get his “fair share” of the spoils
The Decision Making Process
• Large group proved
too troublesome
• Big 4 meet secretly in
Wilson’s plush
Parisian apartment
– It is here that they hash
out the specifics of the
treaty…
What They Decide to do With Germany
• 1) Pay reparations- $32 billion
(later reduced by half)
• 2) Army reduced to 100,000
men
• 3) No air force or subs
– Only allowed 6 ships
• 4) Lose Alsace and Lorraine
(west) Polish territory splits
country in east
• 5) Rhineland demilitarized
• 6) Saar Basin goes to France
for 15 years - mineral rich
basin
• 7) Lose all overseas colonies
• 8) Held responsible for the
whole war
Article 231 “War Guilt Clause”
“Stabbed in the Back”
• Germany was never
allowed to negotiate
• At the end of the war,
Germany still had men
fighting on foreign soil
"Had our army had our
workmen, on the 5th and 9th of
November, known that peace
would have looked that way,
– Our allies lost, not us!
– That means we didn’t really the army would not have laid
lose!
down its arms; it would have
• German people never
held out."
really accept the terms of
-Conrad Haussmann (Vice
the Treaty of Versailles
President of the German National Assembly)
– It was our government that
signed an unjust
treaty…stabbing us in the
back!
Why does Germany Sign?
• Told to sign and if
not…they would be
invaded by the Allied
powers
• What does this cartoon
seem to be saying?
Europe’s New Boundaries
1914
1919
You be a Delegate
• Whose goals were met the
most?
• As a delegate not from
France, Great Britain,
Italy, or the United States,
how do you feel about
what is going on?
• As a German delegate
what is your reaction to
the treaty process and the
final version of the treaty?
“War to end all wars” or “Twenty
year truce?”
You know what happened in 1939,
why do you think the Treaty of
Versailles failed?