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• Wilson had hoped that World War I would be the war to end all wars. • His goals for continuing peace were outlined January 1918 in his “Fourteen Points” speech before Congress. The War had not yet ended. Wilson’s “points” included: History Alive • end to secret diplomacy • freedom of the seas Wilson • equal economic opportunity for all nations hoped to have the • reduction of armaments world • impartial handling of boundary disputes follow this plan for Formation of the League of Nations peace. History Alive • Leaders from around the world met at Versailles to discuss and negotiate a treaty. • The Big Four: Woodrow Wilson of the The “Big Four”: Great Britain, Italy, France, U.S. United States, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy dominated the meeting. Germany had been barred from the conference. • France, Britain, and Italy wanted to punish Germany. • The Western Front had taken place mostly on French soil. • France experienced huge casualties. • The French also wanted payment for damages as well as buffer zones to secure their nation against any future German attack. • Italy wanted to claim territories that had been promised to it in secret treaties with Allies at the start of the war. • It also wanted the Austrian city of Flume, which Italy had seized during the war. • The British were anti-German because of competition for world power. • The British wanted control of the German colonies in Africa. • England wanted to maintain control of the waters off its coast. History Alive • Nations were exhausted by the war. • The nations worked to draft a treaty to settle the conflicts of the war. • Each leader had his own agenda and interests, which made it close to impossible to negotiate a fair and lasting • The Treaty of Versailles treaty. was a compromise. • Germany lost its colonies. • Germany was assigned • Germany was forced to return the full guilt for the war. region of Alsace-Lorraine to France. History Alive • Germany was disarmed. • It had to pay reparations to the Allied powers amounting to $33 million. • The treaty punished Germany harshly. • Austria-Hungary was broken up and its land divided among other nations. • The treaty directly conflicted with President Wilson’s ideals. • His most valued ideal, the League of Nations, became part of the treaty. • His insistence on the self-determination of peoples, the nationalistic movements of the Poles, the Czechs, and the Yugoslavs were granted independence and sovereignty. • Wilson returned home to try to convince the Senate to allow the United States to join the League of Nations. • The President faced opposition to the treaty. • Some felt betrayed by allowing the reparations against Germany and by allowing the war-guilt clause. • Isolationists felt the treaty involved the U.S. too much in world affairs. • The battle over acceptance was also divided between republicans and democrats. • Congress defeated the treaty in November 1919. • The U.S. failed to join the League, which weakened the organization. History Alive