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The Peace Settlement: January 1919: victorious Allied nations gathered in Paris to settle __. This time, the reasons for fighting WWI were transformed from __ to __. At end of 1917, after taking govenrmetn, __ revealed contents of secret wartime treaties found in the archives of the Russian foreign ministry. These documents made it clear that European nations had gone to war primarily to __. But, __, (American) tried to shift it ot higher ground.
- Great War
- selfish national interests
- idealistic principles
- Lenin and Blsheviks
- achieve territory
- Wilson
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Wilson's 14 Pts
- a. Wilson’s 14 Points: he believed they justified the enormous military struggle as being fought for a moral cause, and alter a just and lasting peace
- i. included “open covenants of peace” instead of secret diplomacy; reduction of national armaments to one with domestic safety; self-determination of peoples
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Wislon said
- i. He said WWI was peoples’ war waged against absolutism and militarism
- 1. could be ended through democracy and association of nations that would allow political independence and territorial integrity
- ii. his rhetoric on self-determination inspired many movements
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Paris Peace Conference
- a. Other states at Paris Peace Conference had more pragmatic aims
- i. secret treaties and agreements made before war couldn’t be ignrored
- 1. national interests also complicated the deliberations of the Paris Peace Conferecne
- a. David Lloyd George, prime minister of Great Britan, had won a victory on a platform of making Germans pay for the war
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France's approach
- a. France’s approach was determined by national security
- i. Georges Clemenceau believed French had borne brunt of German aggression and deserved revenge and security against future German aggression
- 1. wanted a demilitarized Germany, vast German reparatiosn to pay for costs fo war, and a separate Rhineland as a buffer state between France and Germay
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Another consideration
- a. Another consideration affected negotiontiosn: fear that Bolshevik revolution would spread from Russia elsewhere
- i. led Allies to enlarge/ strengthen eastern Europeans states as Poland, Czech. and Romania at expense of Germany and Russia
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Although 27 nations
- a. Although 27 nations were represented at Paris Peace Conference, the most important decisions were made by Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George
- i. Italy was one of the BigFour but wasn’t so important
- ii. Germany wasn’t invited and Russia couldn’t because of civil war
- 1. Allies didn’t want to negotiate with them
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The Big Three
- a. The Big Three quarreled
- i. Wilson determined to create “league of nations” to prevent future wars
- ii. Clemenceau and Lloyd George wanted to punish Germany
- iii. In the end, only compromise made int possible to achieve peace settlement
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Jan 25 1919
- 1. On jan 25, 1919, the conference adopted the principle fo the League of Nations
- a. details left for later and Wilson agreed to make compromises on territorial arrangements to guarantee the establishment of the League, believing that a functioning League could later rectify bad arrangements
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Clemenceau
- a. Clemenceau compromised to obtain some guarantees for French security
- i. he renounced France’s desire for a separate Rhineland and accepted a defensive alliance with Great Britain and the US
- 1. both states agreed to help France if Germayn attacked it
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