Download Treaty of Versailles

■ Essential Question:
–What were the terms of the Treaty
of Versailles that ended World
War I?
World War I was
On November 11, 1918, the
fought between the
Germany government
Allies & Central Powers
agreed to an armistice &
from 1914 to 1918
World War I came to an end
World War I was the
largest, most deadly,
& most destructive war
the world had yet seen
8.5 million soldiers &
13 million civilians died
as a result of the war
World War I was the
largest, most deadly,
& most destructive war
the world had yet seen
21 million soldiers were
wounded during the war
World War I was the
Homes, farms, towns were
largest, most deadly,
destroyed; The war cost
& most destructive war $338 billion & most national
the world had yet seen
treasuries were empty
In 1919, representatives
The conference was
from 32 nations attended the led by the “Big Four”:
Paris Peace Conference to
Britain, France, Italy,
write a treaty to end the war & the United States
Neither
Germany nor any of theFrench
Central
Powers
U.S. President
Premier
were
allowed
to attend…Russia
couldClemenceau
not attend
Woodrow
Wilson
George
because they already quit World War I
Italian Prime Minister
Vittorio Orlando
British Prime Minister
David Lloyd George
Britain
Creating
& France
a treaty would Britain
not be easy
& France
because
wanted
wanted
the to
major
weaken
powers had Germany
different agendas
to accept full
Germany so it could
blame, pay reparations, &
never go to war again
lose all overseas colonies
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
disagreed with these harsh
punishments for Germany
British Prime Minister
French Premier
David Lloyd
George
George Clemenceau
President
Wilson
presented
his own
peace
proposal known
Italian
Prime
Minister
U.S. President
as theOrlando
Fourteen Points
Vittorio
Woodrow Wilson
President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, 1918
Points 1-5: Wilson hoped to eliminate the causes
of WWI & called for an end to secret treaties
(alliances), freedom of the seas, eliminating
imperial colonies, & reducing national militaries
Points 6-13: Wilson suggested changing national
boundaries, creating new nations, & allowing
self-determination so that the people of each
nation could decide their own form of government
Point 14: Wilson wanted a League of Nations…
…that would give all
nations an opportunity
to work out their
grievances without
resorting to war
Wilson hoped that a
League of Nations
could peacefully
negotiate solutions to
future conflicts
Britain & France disagreed These compromises led to
with many of the Fourteen an agreement known as
Points so Woodrow Wilson
the Treaty of Versailles
had to compromise
The major provisions of the Versailles Treaty included:
A League of Nations
The League covenant
that would serve as an
included an agreement
international organization
that all member
to keep peace among nations
nations would work
The League also included an together to stop future
Court of International Justice
acts of aggression
to settle disagreements
The terms of the treaty severely punished Germany
Germany had to
Germany was forced to sign the
give up land in
“war guilt clause” accepting all
Europe & all of its blame for the war & pay $33 billion
overseas colonies
in reparations to the Allies
The German military was reduced to
100,000 troops, 6 warships, no submarines,
& could not manufacture war equipment
In
addition,
the
Treaty
of
Versailles
Land
was
taken
from
Germany
to create
Ottoman
Empire was
Central Europe was redrawn
redrewthe
the
map
ofofEurope
& the
Middle
East
Poland;
The
German-French
border
was&
Britain
France
to reduce
power
the divided;
New
nations
were
created
demilitarized
to
avoid
a
future
gainedinvasion
mandates in the
Austro-Hungarian
Empire
from territories that Russia gave
Middle East
up when it left the war early
The mandates gave Britain
Europe
the Middle East
& France control
over&oil
Before
& After
resources in the
Middle
East World War I
On June 28, 1919, Germany & the major
Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles
and World War I officially came to an end
Most nations
celebrated the official
end of World War I
But, Germans protested the
harsh terms & resented their
gov’t for signing the treaty
“Down with the
brutal peace!”
In the United States, reactions to
the Treaty of Versailles were mixed
According to the
U.S. Constitution,
only the Senate can
approve treaties
Many Senators feared
that signing the treaty
& joining the League
would force America
to become involved in
future wars
Members of the League of Nations (in black)
As a result, the USA
never signed the
treaty or joined the
League of Nations
World War I was the largest war the world had yet
seen & it changed the way future wars were fought
Nations used total war
tactics to commit all their
resources to winning,
drafted soldiers, rationed,
used propaganda
New war technologies
increased the rates of
death & destruction to
unprecedented levels
The war changed
expectations for women
& led to voting rights for
women in many nations
World War I was the largest war the world had yet
seen & it changed the way future wars were fought
22 million soldiers &
civilians died in the war;
An entire generation of
Europeans was killed
Many places in Europe
were destroyed
The war devastated the
economies of European
nations who had little
money to rebuild & few
jobs to offer citizens
The terms of the Versailles Treaty caused problems
& bitterness in many nations, especially Germany
The Treaty of Versailles
was said to be a “peace
built on quicksand”
The treaty did not address
the M.A.I.N. causes of WWI
The League of Nations did
not include the USA & its
leaders would do anything
to avoid another war
High unemployment &
desire for revenge would
lead to aggressive dictators
in the 1920s & 1930s