The Great War 1914- 1918

Chapter ThirteenSection Four

A Flawed Peace

The Allies Meet and Debate The Paris Peace Conference was held on January 18th, 1919

at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris. This was a meeting of delegates from 32 countries to

establish the terms of peace following WWI. Major decisions were made by the Big Four: United States,

France, Great Britain, and Italy. Woodrow Wilson- President of the U.S. Georges Clemenceau- leader of France Russia, Germany, and Germany’s allies were not

represented.

Wilson’s Plan for Peace The Fourteen Points: Points 1 through 4: end to secret treaties, freedom of the

seas, free trade, reduced national armies and navies. Point 5: adjustment of colonial claims with fairness to

colonial peoples. Points 6 through 13: specific point s for changing borders

and creating nations. Self-Determination- allowing people to decide for

themselves under what government they wished to live. Point 14: a general association of nations which would

protect great and small states alike.

The Versailles Treaty Britain and France did not agree with Wilson’s Fourteen Point

Plan. They were concerned with security and wanted Germany

stripped of its power to wage war. On June 28th, 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was signed

between Germany and the Allied powers. It was a compromise and included Wilson’s Fourteenth Point. League of Nations- an international association whose goal

would be to keep peace among nations. The treaty also punished Germany. Germany lost substantial territory in Europe, had severe

restrictions placed on its military, lost all of its colonies, and had to pay war reparations to the Allies.

A Troubled Treaty:The Creation of New Nations Separate peace treaties were signed with Austria-Hungary,

Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. New countries were created out of the Austro-Hungarian

Empire: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia. The Ottoman Empire retained only the territory of modern day

Turkey. Mandates were created from Ottoman lands in the Middle

East: Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan were under British rule. Syria and Lebanon went to France.

Russia lost land to Poland and Romania. The nations of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were

created out of Russia.

“A Peace Built on Quicksand” The United States had emerged as the dominant world

power. It rejected the Treaty of Versailles. Many Americans wanted the U.S. to stay out of European

affairs. Germany was angry at the way it was treated. African and

Asian nations were angry at the way their desire for independence was disregarded.

Japan and Italy gained very little territory in the treaty. The League of Nations was in no position to take action on

these or other complaints. All of this would plunge Europe into another catastrophic war

in just two decades.