Download The End of The First World War

The End of The First
World War
Casualties of World War I
Deaths in Battle
Allies
 France
 British empire
 Russia
 Italy
 United States
 Others
1,357,800
908,371
1,700,000
462,391
50,585
502,421
Central Powers
 Germany
1,808,546
 Austria-Hungary 922,500
 Ottoman empire 325,000
Wounded in Battle
4,266,000
2,090,212
4,950,000
953,886
205,690
342,585
4,247,143
3,620,000
400,000
1
Millions
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
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The Treaty of Versailles

The Big Four: Woodrow
Wilson (US), David Lloyd
George (Great Britain),
Georges Clemenceau
(France), Vittorio Orlando
(Italy)
Germany and the USSR were
not invited.
The decisions of the
Big Four were
influenced by four
factors:
1: Secret Treaties

In March 1915, France was promised Alsace-Lorraine,
control of the left bank of the Rhine and German
colonies in Africa while Britain was allowed to take over
German colonies in Africa and the Pacific. In April of the
same year, Italy was tempted to join the war on the side
of the Allies by promises of Austrian and Turkish
territory. In August 1916, Rumania was promised
territories in Transylvania and Bukovina. The Big Four
had to respect these treaties when they were making the
territorial settlement after the war.
2: New States
► Before
the Conference opened in January
1919, the Russian and the AustroHungarian Empires had collapsed. Within
these empires, there arose many new
states—Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
3: Communist Russia

Since November 1917, there was a
communist government in Russia. The Big
Four wanted to strengthen the neighboring
states of Russia so that they could form a
buffer to protect Europe against the
spread of Communism.
4: Post-war bitterness

During the war, the Allied governments
had done their best to arouse the
patriotism of their own people.
Immediately after the war, the people of
the Allied countries still had a fierce hatred
against the enemy nations. Because they
had suffered so much during the war, they
brought pressure on their governments to
exact heavy compensation from the
losers.
Wilson's 14 Points
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1. An end to all secret diplomacy
2. Freedom of the seas in peace and war
3. The reduction of trade barriers among nations
4. The general reduction of armaments
5. The adjustment of colonial claims in the interest of the
inhabitants as well as of the colonial powers
6. The evacuation of Russian territory and a welcome for its
government to the society of nations
7. The restoration of Belgium
8. The evacuation of all French territory, including Alsace-Lorraine
9. The readjustment of Italian boundaries along clearly recognizable lines of
nationality
10. Independence for various national groups in Austria-Hungary
11. The restoration of the Balkan nations and free access to the sea for
Serbia
12. Protection for minorities in Turkey and the free passage of the ships of
all nations through the Dardanelles
13. Independence for Poland, including access to the sea
14. A league of nations to protect "mutual guarantees of political
independence and territorial integrity to great and small
nations alike."

To sum up, Wilson's ideals of a peaceful world
consisted of a removal of all the basic causes of
the First World War (namely armaments race,
secret diplomacy, economic rivalry and the
struggle of the oppressed nationalities to get
independence) and the formation of an
international organization to promote the
political, economic and social progress of the
whole world.
Maps of Europe: 1914/ 1919
Maps of the Middle East
The Peace Treaties
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The Big Three drew up the Covenant of the League of
The Nations. They decided that the Covenant should be
included in each of the peace treaties. The peace
treaties they drew up were as follows:
(1) Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June
1919.
(2) Austria signed the Treaty of St. Germain (September
1919)
(3) Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Neuilly (November
1919).
(4) Hungary signed the Treaty of Trianon (June 1920)
(5) Turkey signed the Treaty of Sevres (8/1920) &
Lausanne (7/1923).
Treaty of Versailles (1919)

The Treaty reflected chiefly two basic
ideas: punishment of the defeated and the
maintenance of the principle of selfdetermination. These two basic ideas were
also reflected in the other treaties.
Territories:
 Germany was to lose all her past conquests.
These were to be returned to their own national
units.
 Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France.
The Saar, the coal-producing area of Germany,
was brought under the control of the League of
Nations for 15 years.
 Eupen and Malmedy were given to Belgium. In
the north, North Schleswig was returned to
Denmark.
Territories:
 Poland was recreated as a state.
 Germany also lost all her colonies in Africa and the
Pacific. Most of them were transferred to the League of
Nations which allowed the victorious powers such as
Britain, France, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, New
Zealand, Japan to rule over them as Mandates.
 Germany's territorial losses were severe (about 13% of
her land and 7 million of her former population had to be
given up) although these losses constituted chiefly her
past conquests. Moreover, she was forbidden to enter
into any union with Austria.
Disarmament:
• Germany was almost totally disarmed. She
was allowed an army of 100,000 men to be
recruited by voluntary enlistment and six
small battleships of less than 10,000 tons.
Submarines and airplanes were strictly
forbidden. The Rhineland would be occupied
by the Allied forces for 15 years, during which
it would remain permanently demilitarized.
War-guilt and Reparations:
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According to Article 231 of the Treaty "the Allied and
Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts,
the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing
all the losses and damages to which the Allied and
Associated Governments and their nationals have been
subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon
them by the aggression of Germany and her allies." In
other words, the whole blame of provoking the First
World War was put on Germany. This is historically
incorrect and so constituted a great hurt to the German
national pride.
General Effects of the First
World War
 Before
the war, there had been 19
monarchies and 3 republics. After the war,
15 out of 27 states were republics with an
elected president. The number of
independent states in Europe also
increased from 20 in 1914 to 27 in 1919.
The Serbs, Poles, Croats, Czechs, Letts
and Finns had all formed their national
states.
General Effects of the First
World War
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After the First World War, there was little political stability in Europe.
In eastern Europe, the new states, Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland were always
threatened by the rapid increase in national strength of communist
Russia.
the Italians also harbored ill-feeling towards the Versailles
Settlement because the Big Three failed to realize the territorial
ambitions of Italy as were promised in the Treaty of London of 1915.
The First World War left crushing economic burdens on all the
European countries. It has been estimated that the European victors
owed an aggregate of $10 billion to the U.S..
European governments had to rehabilitate devastated areas, to pay
pensions to the wounded and to the relatives of the dead and to pay
the interest due on the public and foreign debts.
Overview:
 10
million dead (estimate)
 ● The economy of Europe devastated.
 ● The concept of “total war” was accepted.
 ● Europe was deprived of world
hegemony. The US became the most
powerful nation in the world.
 ● Western civilization was demoralized.
“A Street in Arras”
John Singer Sargent, 1918
“Oppy Wood” – John Nash, 1917
“Those Who Have Lost Their Names”
Albin Eggar-Linz, 1914
“Gassed and Wounded”
Eric Kennington, 1918
“Paths of Glory”
C. R. W. Nevinson, 1917
German Cartoon:
“Fit for active service!”, 1918
Key Topic Points:
• Allied victory- Human Casualties/statistics
• Treaty of Versailles- German responsibility, League
of Nations, 14 points
• Collapse of Empire: Austrian-Hungarian, Russian,
and Ottoman Empires
• Economic devastation of Europe (war debt,
eventual depression), Russian Revolution, end of
European world hegemony (colonialism)
• Creation of new nations in Central and Eastern
Europe, Middle East
• Rise of US as industrial superpower