End of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles

1. End of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles

2. End of the War • November 11, 1918 (11th month, 11th day, 11th hour) – agree to an armistice – a cease fire • Now celebrated as Veteran’s Day • Wilson gave workers the day off • Kaiser was en route to exile in the Netherlands • A young soldier named Adolf Hitler was overwhelmed – “all had been in vain”

3. Wilson the Peacemaker • A southern lawyer, President of Princeton University (only President to hold a PhD) • Democrat – elected in 1912, reelected in 1916 • Wilson’s 14 Point Peace Plan • Self-determination: same language people should rule themselves and create the end of empires • Wilson’s favorite point was the League of Nations which would be an international ruling body and enforce international law • Wilson wet to Europe to be involved with the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles

4. The Big Three • American President Wilson – belief that democracy is the way of the future • British Prime Minister Lloyd-George – didn’t want to be lenient on Germany • French Premier Clemenceau – wanted to punish Germany and didn’t have much faith in Wilson

5. Hammering Out the Treaty • The Italians went home after Wilson tried to appeal to the Italian people while France received a promise that the U.S. and Great Britain would aid France in case of another German invasion. • Japan also wanted the valuable Shantung peninsula and the German islands in the Pacific, and Wilson opposed, but when the Japanese threatened to walk out, Wilson compromised again and let Japan keep Germany’s economic holdings in Shantung, outraging the Chinese.

6. Details of the Treaty of Versailles • Conflicting ambitions ruled the conference. Britain and France wanted to punish Germany, Italy wanted money, the U.S. wanted to heal wounds through Wilson’s League of Nations • Wilson’s baby was the League and so he bargained with Britain and France. • Britain and France agreed to go along with the League, Wilson reluctantly agreed to go along with punishment.

7. Details of the Treaty of Versailles • New Countries • Russia loses Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, part of Poland • Austria lose Czech, Hungary • Hungary also lost a lot of territory • Poland is resurrected and reestablished • Czechoslovakia is created • People who speak Czech and Slovak, but they understand each other • Yugoslavia - a kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes

8. Details of the Treaty of Versailles • Provisions against Germany • German army restricted to 100,000 men (small army = less of a threat) • Forbidden to have an air force • Forbidden to have submarines • Lost their colonies – Japan got them for coming to the Allied side during the war • Rhineland • Western bank on the Rhine River was demilitarized in 1930 • Polish Corridor • Gives Poland access to the Baltic Sea in city of Danzig

9. Article 231 • States that Germany is responsible for WWI • The Germans saw it as a  War Guilt Clause • it formally placed blame on Germany, a proud and embarrassed people, and • It charged Germany for the costs of war, $33 billion (reparations) • Germany won the “battle of ideas” • Promoted the fact that they had never been defeated • Spread the idea that the Treaty of Versailles was an awful thing • Never pay the reparations – pay it by borrowing!

10. The Peace Treaty That Bred a New War • The Treaty of Versailles was forced upon Germany under the threat that if it didn’t sign the treaty, war would resume • When the Germans saw all that Wilson had compromised to get his League of Nations, they cried betrayal, because the treaty did not contain much of the Fourteen Points like the Germans had hoped it would. • Wilson was not happy with the treaty, sensing that it was inadequate, and his popularity was down, but he did make a difference in that his going to Paris prevented the treaty from being purely imperialistic.

11. Reparations REPAY WAR DEBT LOANS REPARATIONS

12. Problems • Italy – Did not get the respect or what they wanted out of the treaty • Russia/Soviet Union (now in revolution) never signed the Treaty of Versailles • United States never signed the Treaty of Versailles • Congress never agreed on a plan that would potentially take away their war making powers • As a result, the League of Nations was a much weaker body • Left England and France as only signees and they will become supporters of appeasement

13. Enough Blame to Go Around • U.S. isolationism doomed the Treaty of Versailles and indirectly led to World War II • France, without an ally, built up a large military force • Germany, suspicious and fearful, began to illegally do the same. • The suffering of Germany and the disorder of the time was used by Adolf Hitler to seize power in Germany, build up popularity, and drag Europe into war.

14. Enough Blame to Go Around • It was the U.S.’s responsibility to take charge as the most powerful nation in the world after World War I • But it retreated into isolationism, and let the rest of the world do whatever it wanted in the hopes that the U.S. would not be dragged into another war • Ironically, it was such actions that eventually led the U.S. into WWII.