Chapter 27

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Chapter 27 World War I and Its Aftermath
Section 5 Making the Peace
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• Setting the Scene
• Just weeks after the Great 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. Wilson was
  certain that he could solve the problems of old
  Europe. "Tell me what is right," Wilson urged his
  advisers, "and I'll fight for it."
• Sadly, it would not be that easy. Europe was a
  shattered continent. Its problems, and those of
  the world, would not be solved at the Paris Peace
  Conference, or for many years afterward.

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I. The Costs of War

• More than 8.5 million people were dead and over
  21 million had been wounded

Let us use arithmetic for World War I 9,000,000
dead young men equal
1,350,000,000 pounds of bone and flesh
27,900,000 pounds of brain matter 11,250,000
gallons of blood 414,000,000 years of
life that will never be lived 22,500,000
children who will never be born The dry if
imposing figure "9,000,000 dead" seems a little
less statistical when we view it from this
perspective. Dalton Trumbo, author of Johnny Got
His Gun
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I. The Costs of War

• The devastation was made worse in 1918 by the
  influenza pandemic, which killed more than 20
  million

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I. The Costs of War

• The costs of rebuilding and paying off war debts
  were huge, and famine threatened many regions

Ypres, France
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I. The Costs of War

• Governments collapsed in Russia, Germany,
  Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman empire

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I. The Costs of War

• Political radicals dreamed of building a new
  social order, while Conservatives feared that
  communism would spread

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I. The Costs of War

• Imperial rule was not ended and unrest swept
  through Europe's colonies, who had hoped for
  independence

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II. The Paris Peace Conference

• Woodrow Wilsons talk of self-determination and
  democracy raised hopes for a just and lasting
  peace

Paris crowds greet President Wilson (1919)
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II. The Paris Peace Conference

• Wilson urged "peace without victory," and wanted
  the Fourteen Points to be the basis of the peace

Representatives at the Paris Peace Conference
included, left to right, British prime minister
Lloyd George, Italian foreign minister Giorgio
Sonnino, French premier Georges Clemenceau, and
U.S. president Woodrow Wilson
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II. The Paris Peace Conference

• British PM David Lloyd George demanded harsh
  treatment for Germany and to make them pay for
  the war

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II. The Paris Peace Conference

• French leader Georges Clemenceau wanted to weaken
  Germany so it could never threaten France again

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III. The Treaty of Versailles

• In June 1919 at Versailles, the Germans were
  ordered to sign the treaty drawn up by the Allies

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III. The Treaty of Versailles

• Germany was forced to assume full blame for
  causing the war and pay reparations totaling over
  30 billion

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III. The Treaty of Versailles

• The treaty limited the size of the German
  military, returned Alsace and Lorraine to France,
  and stripped Germany of its colonies

Lady Germania chained to a torture pole. German
political picture, June 1919.
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III. The Treaty of Versailles

• Germany resented the terms of the Treaty but
  signed because they had no other choice

From a book produced in Germany during the 1930s
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III. The Treaty of Versailles

• New nations included the Baltic states, Austria,
  Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, and
  Poland regained independence

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III. The Treaty of Versailles

• Mandates were created - territories to be
  administered by western powers until they were
  able to "stand alone"

League of Nations Mandates - Middle East Africa
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II. The Paris Peace Conference

• Wilson had to compromise on his Fourteen Points,
  but his goal of a League of Nations to preserve
  peace became a reality

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III. The Treaty of Versailles

• More than 40 nations joined the League of
  Nations, agreeing to negotiate disputes rather
  than resort to war