The End of the War

1. The End of the War

2. Right before the end…President Wilson issues the Fourteen Points

3. President Wilson issues the Fourteen Points • Jan. 1918 • First five points: • End to secret agreements between nations • Freedom of the seas • Removal of trade barriers • Arms reductions • Fair settlement of colonial disputes

4. Fourteen Points • Next 8 points: • Dealt with specific territorial issues in Europe and the Ottoman Empire. • Based on the principal of self-determination: the right of nations and peoples to control their own fate and decide what form of government they will have.

5. Fourteen Points • Last point: called for “a general association of nations” • League of Nations • Members would work together to keep world peace. *collective security – joint action by member nations against an aggressor to keep peace. • *Other Allies don’t like his plan, but keep quiet because they needed America’s help to win the war.

6. The End • Russia – withdraws in 1917 – Germans can move all troops to Western Front • March 1918- launch a massive attack on the British – Second Battle of the Somme • 2 months of heavy fighting, both sides lost about 500,000 men; German army gets within artillery range of Paris! • American forces save the Allies and push Germans back beyond their own border.

7. The End • Between Sept and Nov 1918: • Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary surrender • German military starts to mutiny once they know they can’t win; revolts throughout German cities • Nov 9: Kaiser abdicates • Armistice signed on Nov. 11 at 11 am

8. The Cost • 65 million men fought • 8.5 million died • 21 million wounded • Civilian deaths/flu pandemic put death tolls over 20 million • $200 billion – cost of fighting the war • $37 billion in estimated damages

9. The Paris Peace Conference • Jan. 1919 • 27 nations represented, but it was dominated by the “Big Four” • Woodrow Wilson – US • David Lloyd George – GB • Georges Clemenceau – France • Vittorio Orlando – Italy • Defeated Central Powers and Russia (Communist) not included

12. Conflicting Goals • President Wilson wanted to spread democracy and promoted “peace without victory.” • Clemenceau wanted to crush Germany and limit their future power • David Lloyd George – somewhere in between • Orlando – just wanted the land Italy had been promised; walked out when he discovered the Allies had lied to him

13. The Treaty of Versailles • Required Germany to accept full responsibility for starting the war and pay the Allies reparations • $33 billion (about $402 billion today) • Reduced Germany’s size and population by about 10% • Returned Alsace-Lorraine to France (Franco-Prussian War 1871)

14. Treaty of Versailles • Limited Germany’s military to a small navy and a 100,000 man army with no offensive weapons. • German troops banned from the Rhineland – region along the French border • Germany stripped of all overseas colonies • These harsh, unfair reparations sew seeds of future conflict; leave Germany wanting revenge. Explains why Hitler is appealing.

15. Old Empires Collapse; New Countries Form • The old multi-national empires were broken up: • Poland was created out of land from Germany and Russia; • Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania out of Russia. • Other nations: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia

18. Post-War • The League of Nations was formed to oversee and settle disputes between nations. • Relied on collective security – joint action by member nations against an aggressor to keep peace. • US Senate didn’t ratify it because of fear of obligation in future conflicts – left the LON powerless to keep peace.