The Peace of Paris

1. The Peace of Paris France 1919

2. Paris Peace Conference • The Paris Peace Conference was held in 1919 to create peace treaties to officially end World War One • Much of Europe lay in ruins after the war and the victors wanted to exact some revenge on the losers • The victors imposed the terms of peace on the defeated nations

3. The conference was attended by all the leaders of the victorious powers • The goal was to create a treaty that would prevent future conflict • There were two main ideologies about how to handle the Germans • Severely punish the Germans for their aggression. This group was led by France • The second group wanted to avoid harsh punishment and get Germany back on its feet. This group was led by the US and Britain • In the end neither side got its way and the treaty reflected the worst of both sides

4. The Treaty of Versailles • The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the victors and Germany • The allies were represented at the Conference by Clemenceau of France, George of Britain, Wilson of the United States, and Orlando of Italy

5. Fourteen Points • Canada was represented by Prime Minister Robert Borden under her own flag and not as a part of the British Empire • Woodrow Wilson worked very hard to have his fourteen points incorporated as the framework of the treaty. • Wilson had used these as a reason to bring the U.S. into the war

6. The main points were: • Outlawing Alliances • Disarmament • Free Trade • Self Determination • League of Nations

7. Self determination was the most important of these points • It meant that people would vote on whom they would prefer to be governed by, usually by ethnic group • This led to the map of Europe being significantly redrawn

8. The League of Nations • The League of Nations was an attempt at collective security • This meant that an attack by an aggressor would be perceived as an attack on all and would be dealt with as such • The main objective was to preserve the peace

9. The hoped it would maintain the peace through the following means; • International Co-operation • Arbitration- disputes would be submitted to decide on before fighting • Collective Security- All members were bound to come to the aid of the other nations

10. Problems with the Treaty • The goal was to prevent future wars, in this it failed miserably • Several clauses led to intense bitterness in Germany • War Guilt clause forced the Germans to accept all responsibility for the war • War Reparations- The Germans were forced to pay the victors 33 billion dollars as compensation for damage done • Adolf Hitler used this treaty to pave the way to the second world war

11. Treaties signed to end WWI • Treaty of Versailles- Allies and Germany • Treaty of Trianon- Allies and Hungary • Treaty of Neuilly- Allies and Bulgaria • Treaty of Sevres- Allies and Turkey • Treaty of St. Germain- Allies and Austria