The Final Days of WWI
IB 20th Century History
Defeat of Central Powers

1918 Russia was out of the War (Russian
Revolution)

Central Powers focus on taking over Paris

May 1918 just 37 miles from Paris but U.S. troops
arriving everyday.

End of September 1918:

Turkey asks for peace

Austria-Hungarian empire breaks up
Armistice
– an agreement to stop
fighting
November
11, 1918 at 11:00 a.m.
all fighting stops and WWI comes
to an end
Terms of Armistice
 Germany
agrees to:
 Cancel treaty with Russia
 Give up a large part of its
navy including all submarines
 Turn over much of its
munitions
 Release war prisoners
Cost of WWI

8.5 million dead
 1.8 million Germans, 1.8 million
Russians
 1.4 million French
 1 million Austria and Hungary
 1 million British
 110,000 U.S.

21 million wounded

Total cost was more than $300 billion
War Deaths by Country
The Story so far…

World War I is over, the killing has ceased.

January 18, 1919, a conference was built at the Palace of Versailles.

The Allied powers, the victors of WWI, meet to clean up the war mess.
Paris Peace Conference

Where – Versailles (outside of Paris)

When – January 1919

Why – To arrange terms of peace

Who –

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George

French Premier Georges Clemenceau

Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
Meeting at Versailles

Paris Peace Conference
 Delegates representing 32 countries
 Major decisions were made by the Big Four:
 Woodrow Wilson (U.S.)
 Georges Clemenceau (France)
 David Lloyd George (Great Britain)
 Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
Conflict of Interests
 France
wanted security over another
German attack, return of Alsace-Lorraine
 Britain
wanted Germany’s African’s
colonies & destruction of Germany’s navy
 Italy
also wanted land
 Japan
wanted German colonies in the
Pacific
“I can predict with absolute certainty
that within another generation there will
be another world war if the nations of
the world do not concert the method
by which to prevent it."
Woodrow Wilson, 1919
Woodrow’s Plan 1918

Woodrow proposed his Fourteen Points
 Outlined a plan for maintaining peace
 Proposed the following points:

1st Point: End all secret treaties

2nd Point: Freedom of the Seas

3rd Point: Free trade

4th Point: Reduce national armies (trying to stop militarism)

5th Point: Colonial Fairness (trying to stop harsh imperialism)

6th-13th Points: Rearranging borders (self-determination)

14th Point: Create a general association of nations that would
negotiate solutions to world conflicts (The League of Nations)
Unsatisfied with Wilson’s
plan

Plan threatened national security

Plan was too nice– GB and France thought it lacked punishment against
Germany


Wanted to take away Germany’s power
Clemenceau wanted Germany to pay for France’s suffering


France lost more than 1,000,000 soldiers and civilians during
wartime. This was about 11% of the population.
France’s land was destroyed and devastated.
Why did the US Reject the Treaty
of Versailles?

Critics of the Treaty believed that the
League would drag the US into future
European wars (Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge)

Americans were “war weary” and wanted to
return to isolationism

Wilson suffered a stroke and was unable to
sell the treaty to the people

The US refused to join the League of
Nations, making the League a “paper tiger”
or weak on the world stage.

U.S. – Wanted organization to maintain world peace called League of
Nations

Idea was well liked

Many thought it was not realistic

Reparations – payment for war damages

Who should pay? How much?
What Kind of Peace?

Option 1: Fair and not so harsh that it would kindle
future wars

Option 2: Germany caused the war, should be
punished harshly to prevent them from ever being
powerful again.
Treaty of Versailles 1919

French, British, and U.S. argued and finally compromised. The product
was The Treaty of Versailles.

Signed between Germany and the Allied powers, June 28. 1919.

Adopted Wilson’s 14th point, created League of Nations
 Aimed for world peace, stopping further wars
 General Assembly, 32 allied and neutral nations
 Executive Council, the 5 Allied Powers
 U.S.
 Great Britain
 France
 Italy
 Japan
Germany and Russia were left out of the League of Nations.
Treaty of Versailles
1. Pay reparations
2. Admit guilt
7. Allow allied troops in
Rhineland
3. Give up territory
8. Establish “Polish
Corridor” to sea
4. Not build up
Rhineland
9. Not manufacture war
materials
5. Free Poland
10. Make army smaller
6. Make Danzig a free
city
11. Establish League of
Nations

Punishments Against
Germany
Treaty of Versailles also
punished Germany:
 Portions of Germany’s
territories were taken away,
colonies in Asia and Africa
were given to League of
Nations to be administered.
 Military restrictions
 Article 231-” Germany was
solely responsible for the
war”, therefore, had to pay
reparations to the Allies.
AlsaceLorraine is
given up to
France
Germany
Major Provisions
League of
Nations
Germany
Loses
Territory
Germany is
restricted
in its
military
War Guilt
32 Allied
Nations,
Germany
has to
return
AlsaceLorraine to
France
Cannot
buy/build
military
weapons or
war
machines
Is declared
totally
responsible
for World
War I
But…
Germany &
Russia are
excluded
Germany
loses all of
its overseas
territory in
Africa &
Pacific
Set limit to
size of army
Has to pay
the
equivalent
$33 Billion
to Allies in
30 years
End of World War I > Europe in 1914
End of World War I > Europe in 1919

New Nations Formed
Negotiated between Allies and defeated nations (Austria, Hungary,
Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire) 1919, 1920. It literally broke down Europe into
many tinier new nations.

Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken down into independent nations: Austria, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia

Ottomans had to give up all the land lost in Southwest Asia, losing Palestine, Iraq, and
Transjordan to British rule. Syria and Lebanon went to France. The Ottomans could only
keep Turkey.

Russia lost territory to Romania and Poland. Also, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania (formerly part of Russia) become independent nations.
Europe Before WWI
After WWI
Unlasting peace

U.S. rejected the treaty
 Americans thought that if they wanted peace, they should get
themselves out of European affairs.

Germany is upset
 War-guilt clause caused them to hate the Allies.
 Economically devastated
 Militarily restricted
 In their point of view, unfairly sanctioned

Colonies were unsatisfied that they could still not gain independence

Japan and Italy did not get what they wanted out of the war—land, so
also backed out.

Without consent or support of U.S., the League of Nations could not do
anything to amend or take any action.

Observer at Versailles noted the treaty was merely, “a peace built on
quicksand.”
Legacy of WWI

This was a New kind of war. New weapons and
technology were introduced killing people faster,
and more efficiently than ever before.

War was brought to the global scale

People could see that war could get extremely
destructive.
Causes of WWI
•Nationalistic pride
•Competition for colonies
•Military buildup
•Tangled web of alliances
•Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Effects of WWI
•Destruction in Europe
•Boom in American economy
•Suppression of dissent in the U.S.
•Allied victory
•Defeated empires lose their colonies
•The U.S. emerges from the war as a
world leader and an economic giant