Download Chapter 21 Section 4

Chapter 21
Section 4
The War’s End and Aftermath
Pages 647-653
Objectives
• 1. List the final events of World War I.
• 2. Identify the goals of President Wilson’s
Fourteen Points.
• 3. Summarize the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles.
• 4. Explain why the U.S. Senate rejected the
Treaty of Versailles.
• 5. Discuss the global impact of World War I.
End of the War
• The Allies were relieved that the United States was
entering the war.
• A. The Allies were dealing with morale issues.
• B. French units were suffering from break outs of
mutinies in the trenches.
• Revolution in Russia: March, 1917-workers frustrated
with the lack of food and other resources, left factories
and protested in the streets. The workers wanted
change in government and the end of the war. The
people overthrew the czar of Russia. The socialist
group known as the Bolsheviks-led by Vladimir Lenin.
• The Bolsheviks were committed to end the
Russia’s involvement. They signed a treaty
with the Central Powers in March,1918.
• The Central Powers were now free to
concentrate their efforts on the western front.
• March 21,1918: the Germans launched an
offensive against the Allies. The Germans had
the artillery to attack the Allies. The Germans
by May were only fifty miles from Paris.
• Paris was saved when General Pershing agreed to
allow a unite of Americans to go under the
French commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch.
• June 3-4,1918: The U.S. troops working with the
French stop the Germans at Chateau-Thierry. The
U.S. Marines recaptured Belleau Wood from the
Germans and saved Paris.
• July 15,1918: The Germans led another assault
around Reims. The Allies were able to maintain
control and a counterattack was led by Foch
which pushed the Germans back.
• Summer, 1918: Foch using the U.S. forces led a
major offensive against the Germans. The
Allies pushed the Germans back at Saint-,
Mihiel France, then towards Sedan, which was
a German rail center that they had held since
1914. The Americans fought along the Meuse
River and the Argonne Forest. At Battle of
Argonne Forest, [Americans suffered 120,000
casualities, artillery and machine-gun fire.]
The Wounds of War
• The intense, bloody fighting of World War I left some soldiers with a
nervous disorder called shell shock. The term described a range of
symptoms-from headaches to comas to suicidal depression. Shell
shock was widespread during the war. One American doctor wrote
that “the present war is the first in which…. The functional nervous
diseases [shell shock] have constituted a major medicomilitary
problem. As every nation and race engaged is suffering from the
symptoms, it is apparent that new conditions of warfare are chiefly
responsible for their prevalence.” In many cases, some doctors
argued, the symptoms were brought on by horrible experiences
that were “beyond [soldiers’] capacity to assimilate.”
• What modern-day6 psychological disorder might be similar to shell
shock?
• Croix de Guerre: “Cross of War,” French
military honor given to African American
troops who served at the Battle of Argonne.
• As the Allies kept moving towards Germany
the Central Powers were starting to fall apart
and morale was sinking in the military. By fall,
1918 mutinies were breaking out in the
German forces.
• October, 1918: German chancellor requested an
armistice or cease fire from President Woodrow
Wilson.
• November 9, 1918: Kaiser Wilhelm left the
throne.
• November 10, 1918: German representatives
came to Allied headquarters at Compiegne to
hear the terms of armistice. The Allies told the
Germans that they had to give up AlsaceLorraine, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, and
surrender military equipment.
• November 11, 1918 at 11:00 a.m., the
conflicting nations signed the armistice.
• January, 1919: peace conference to be held in
Paris, France.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
• Wilson in late 1917 had invited scholar’s to the White
House to discuss and advise on peace terms.
• Fourteen Points: program for world peace.
• January 8, 1918: Wilson presented the principles and
the outcomes of the Allies to Congress.
• First Nine Points: dealt with the idea of selfdetermination-the right of people to self govern
themselves. The other four points focused on the
causes of modern war. Some of the contributing factors
are secret diplomacy, the arms race, violation of
freedom of the seas, and trading obstacles.
• The fourteenth point: The League of Nations –
This body would be an international and
would work to prevent war.
• Wilson was supported on the home front by
Congress and the American people. The
Europeans were not as receptive and felt the
Americans were getting to involved in their
business.
The Paris Peace Conference
• December 4, 1918: Wilson was the first president to go
to Europe while in office. When his ship landed in
Brest, France he was welcomed as a hero.
• January 18, 1919: the peace conference was defined as
the Big Four: Wilson, U.S., David Lloyd George, British
prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, French premier,
and Vittorio Orlando, Italian prime minister.
• Three of the four wanted large reparations-payments.
They wanted keep German land and their merchant
fleet. [These kind of reparations would cost the
German economy and cause future uprisings.] This was
against Wilson’s principles of the Fourteen points.
Treaty of Versailles
• June 28,1919: The official signing took place at the palace of
Versailles. [Secretary of State, Robert Lansing thought, “ the terms
of peace appear immeasurably harsh and humiliating.”]
• 1. divided Germany’s colonies and the Ottoman Empire among
Allied nations. Also, new nations were created [Czechoslovakia and
Yugoslavia], France reclaimed Alsace-Lorraine area. France also
claimed Saarland, the industrial part of Germany for 15 years.
• 2. Germany was to disarm, and take full responsibility for the war,
and charged billions in reparations.
• 3. Wilson made sure that the agreement included the League of
Nations. Wilson felt the term were harsh and insurmountable.
With the agreement the wrongs of the treaty could be remedied
over time. Disputes would be settled peacefully and follow a
procedure.
The treaty in the Senate
• July, 1919: Wilson returned to the U.S. and immediately started
persuading the Senate to support the treaty. Fourteen Republicans in the
Senate were known as irreconcilables, and totally rejected the treaty. 35
Republicans known as reservationists, did not agree with Article 10, which
committed the U.S. to war in defense of any League member.
• Henry Cabot Lodge: Senate leader of the Foreign Relations and disliked
Wilson. Lodge kept the treaty stalled and Wilson embarked on a 9,500
mile promotion of the League of Nations/treaty.
• September 25, 1919: Wilson was complaining of a headache and was
ordered back to Washington, D.C. where he almost suffered a fatal stroke.
He lived in seclusion and many thought his wife finished out the
presidency.
• The treaty continued to be rejected by the Democrats. Lodge introduced
his own version with 14 reservations, again rejected. By the time Wilson
left office the League of Nations was established in Geneva, Switzerland
without U.S. participation.
The Global Impact of the War
• While leaders in the U.S. were debating the treaty in
Congress. The Europeans were struggling to rebuild
economically, physically, and emotionally. In Europe
inflation was rampant and existing businesses couldn’t
keep up with the demand for food and other services.
• In the Middle East many leaders thought they were
free from the Ottoman Turks. Now they found they
were under the influence of the British and the French.
• Balfour Declaration: of 1917 created more tension in
the Middle East region by British supporting the Jewish
homeland in Palestine.