Making+The+Peace

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 * Intro**

Just weeks after the war ended President Wilson boarded a steamship bound for France. He had decided to go in person to Paris where Allied leaders would make the peace. “Tell me what is right,” Wilson urged his advisors, “and I’ll fight for it.” Sadly it would not be that easy. Europe was a shattered continent.


 * The Costs of War**

Millions of soldiers were dead and even more wounded. The devastation was made even worse in 1918 by a deadly pandemic of influenza. In just a few months the flu killed more than 20 million people worldwide.

In battle zones from France to Russia homes, farms, factories, roads, and churches had been shelled into rubble. People had fled these areas as refugees. The costs of reconstruction and paying off huge war debts would burden an already battered world. The allies blamed the conflict on their defeated foes and insisted the losers make reparations or payments for war damage. The stunned Central Powers who had viewed the armistice as a cease-fire rather than a surrender looked for scapegoats on whom they could blame their defeat.

Under the stress of war governments had collapsed in Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman empire. Political radicals dreamed of building a new social order from the chaos. Conservatives warned against the spread of bolshevism or communism as it was soon called.
 * The Paris Peace Conference**

The Central Powers and Russia were not allowed to take part in the negotiations. Wilson was one of the three strong leaders who dominated the Paris peace Conference. He was a dedicated reformer and at times was so stubbornly convinced that he was right that he could hard to work with. Wilson urged for “peace without victory” based on the Fourteen Points. British prime minister David Lloyd George had promised to build a post war Britain “fit for heroes” a goal that would cost money. The chief goal of the French leader Georges Clemenceau was to weaken Germany so that it could never again threaten France.

The Allies made secret agreements with other countries so that they would join the war on their side. The Italian prime minister Vittorio Orlando insisted that the Allies honor their secret agreement to five former Austro-Hungarian lands to Italy. Such secret agreements violated the principle of self-determination. Many people who had been ruled by Russia, Austria-Hungary, or the Ottoman empire now demanded national states of their own. Wilson had to compromise on his Fourteen Points. However he stood firm on his goal of creating an international League of Nations. The League would be based on the idea of collective security, a system in which a group of nations acts as one to preserve the peace of all. Wilson felt sure that the League could correct any mistakes made in Paris.


 * The Treaty of Versailles**

In June 1919 the Allies ordered representatives of the new German Republic to sign the treaty they had drawn up at the palace of Versailles. The treaty forced Germany to assume full blame for causing the war. It also imposed huge reparations that would burden an already damaged German economy. The total cost of German reparations would later be calculated at $30 billion (the equivalent of about $2.7 trillion today). Other parts of the treaty were aimed at weakening Germany. The treaty severely limited the size of the once-feared German military. It returned Alsace and Lorraine to France removed hundreds of square miles of territory from western and eastern Germany and stripped Germany of its overseas colonies. The Germans signed because they had no choice.


 * Outcome of the Peace Settlements**

The Allies drew up separate treaties with the other Central Powers. Like the Treaty of Versailles these treaties left widespread dissatisfaction. Unhappy nations waited for a chance to revise the peace settlements in their favor.

Where the German, Austrian, and Russian empires had once ruled a band of new nations emerged. Poland became an independent nation after more than 100 years of foreign rule. The Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia fought for and achieved independence. Three new republics Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary rose in the old Hapsburg heartland. In the Balkans the peacemakers created a new South Slav state Yugoslavia, dominated by Serbia.

The treaties created a system of mandates, territories administered the western powers. Britain and France gained mandates over German colonies in Africa. Japan and Australia were given mandates over some pacific islands.

The Paris Peace Conference did offer one beacon of hope with the establishment of the League of Nations. More than forty nations joined the League. They agreed to negotiate disputes rather than to resort to war. The United States would not be obligated to fight in future wars. The U.S. never joined the League. The loss of the U.S. weakened the League’s power.

Era 7 Europe Before WWI WWI End and Consequences of WWI Inter War Years WWII
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