The Legacy of War

The First World War

• Known as the ‘the war to end all wars’

• Hostilities of WW1 ended with the signing of an armistice on Nov.11, 1918

– Agreement amongst warring countries to stop fighting and move to a peace conference

Legacy of War

• Early next year, delegates from the belligerents (countries who participated in the war) met in Paris to discuss the terms of peace

• Victors of the war set the terms of peace

Legacy of War

• The task was daunting

• Peacemakers wanted to design an international system to make another war unlikely

Building the Peace

• Fourteen Points– President Woodrow Wilson of the US, released a

document called the fourteen points

– Originally released to convince the American public that the sacrifices made during the war were justified

Woodrow Wilson

Fourteen Points

• President Wilson then took these same fourteen points to the Paris Peace Conference.

• Tried to convince the Europeans that these points could be the foundation for a lasting peace.

• The points were organized into two categories

Group One

• Points 1 - 5 were a new idea about how countries should work together.

• Idea was called Internationalism – For internationalism to work countries would have

to put aside selfish feelings (nationalism)

– Ethnic groups would be allowed to create new countries based on nationalist desires

Group 2• Points 6 - 8 explained how the lands that

Germany conquered should be dealt with

• Points 9 - 14 referred to the ethnic desires of the people living in Central and Eastern Europe.– Would give Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, and

Poles a homeland. – These people given their own country, and

must be fair to avoid more conflicts.– Austria-Hungary empire would no longer exist

The Paris Peace Conferences – The Treaty of Versailles

• Treaty of Versailles – Possibly most important international

agreement of the 20th century

– Representatives from Allied Powers met at the Paris Peace Conferences to decide what would happen to the defeated countries

– Very difficult to do, wanted to prevent another war from occurring

Paris Peace Conference

• Realism vs. Idealism

• Realists believed Germany should be dealt with very harshly so they would physically not be able to go to war again

• Idealists argued that punishing Germany would cause the Germans to become bitter and may cause them to seek revenge

Realism vs Idealism

• President Woodrow Wilson (US) was an idealist

• Prime Minister Georges Clemensceau (France) was a realist

• These two represented the two sides at the conference

Realist France

• Because France was located next to Germany, they wanted Germany to be crippled/dismantled.

• France wanted Germany to pay for all the damage they caused during the war

• Paying for these damages was called reparations

Neutral Britain

• Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Britain fell between idealism and realism

• Wanted revenge on Germany

• But didn’t want to cripple them because they wanted to trade with them in the future

The Treaty of Versailles

• In the end, the treaty that was signed was a compromise between both sides.

• Arguably the worst of both

• Two very important ideas emerged– 1. Self-determination– 2. The War Guilt Clause

Self-Determination

• Self-Determination meant that ethnic groups could vote on the issue of whom they would prefer to live with or be governed by

• To implement self-determination each ethnic group in Europe had to have their own homeland

Self-Determination

• Finding land for each ethnic group was extremely difficult, and the borders of European countries already existed, making it much harder

• Two new states (countries) were created– Czechoslovakia– Yugoslavia

Self-Determination

Self-Determination

• President Wilson didn’t expect that German people would have right to self-determination

• Many significant groups were not given a homeland, but were forced to live in another country

Self-Determination

• Unfulfilled self-determination led to future conflict (as we will see)

• Some exceptions were– Sudetan Germans in Czechoslovakia– 1 million Poles in Czechoslovakia– Germans in Polish corridor– 50-50 split of Germans and French people in

Alsace-Lorraine– The Irish

Polish Corridor

The War Guilt Clause

• The War Guilt Clause stated that Germany alone must accept responsibility for causing the war

• Included to justify the punishments the allies wanted to place against Germany

The War Guilt Clause

The War Guilt Clause

• Caused – Germans to protest– German Chancellor to resign– German sailors scuttled (sank) the German fleet so

the Allies couldn’t have them

• No protests worked– Germans had to sign the Treaty of Versailles or

the Allies would resume hostilities (fighting)

The War Guilt Clause

Summary of Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

• 1. The War Guilt Clause• 2. Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France• 3. Poland was given a strip of land (from

Germany) to give them access to the sea - called the Polish Corridor

• 4. Germans and other central powers had to surrender all of their colonies to the League of Nations

Alsace-Lorraine

Europe 1914

Europe 1919

Summary of Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

• 5. German army was limited to 100,000 men, navy also very restricted in size

• 6. Germany also forced to surrender entire merchant fleet to compensate for Allies shipping losses during the war

Summary of Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

• 7. West bank of Rhine River Valley (on border of France and Germany) was to be demilitarized.

• Allied armies occupied this bank for 15 years after WW1.

• Rhineland area known as a ‘buffer zone’ since Germany was not allowed to have military activity in this area

Europe 1919

Summary of Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

• 8. Union between Austria and Germany was forbidden

• 9. The constitution of the League of Nations was to be included as part of the treaty

Failures of the Treaty of Versailles

• Treaty of Versailles had many shortcomings

• These problems helped cause WW2

Failures of the Treaty of Versailles

• Examples – groups left without a homeland kept a strong

feeling of nationalism that can lead people to war

– Germans were angry that they were blamed for the war, and left so crippled after the Treaty of Versailles.

– Forced to pay extreme penalties for ‘starting the war’

Failures of the Treaty of Versailles

– Hitler will use his view point of the treaty to gain support and to get help overthrowing the German government.

– Treaty that ended WW1 was a major cause of WW2