Transcript The Paris Peace Conference

THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE
History 12
Ms Leslie
THE BIG THREE
Britain - David Lloyd George
 France - Georges Clemenceau
 USA - Woodrow Wilson

SECRET TREATIES
Lenin revealed the following:
 Russia was fighting to annex galacia from
Austria and the Straights from the Turks
 France was promised Alsace-Lorraine
 Italy wanted the Alps and Adreatic sea
 Bolsheviks hoped exposing this would end the
war

14 POINTS
Wilson felt peace only attainable through allied
victory
 They were to ‘open covenants of peace’
 To replace secret diplomacy
 Freedom of commerce
 Self-determination

Most Europeans agreed with Wilson
 Felt Democracies were more peaceful
 When Wilson toured Europe before the PPC he
was thronged by crowds.

SELF DETERMINATION
The Poles were the first nation-less ethnic group
to get support.
 Point 13 was dedicated to an independent Poland
with access to the sea
 The Czecho-Slovak National Council, the South
Slavs and the Yugoslavians were also promised
their own state.

OTTOMAN TURKEY
 Was
drawn into the war with vague
promises
 Britain encouraging Arab Nationalism to
create a buffer around the Suez canal
 France to control Syria and Lebanon
 Britain to control the Tigris-Euphrates
Valley (now Iraq)
 Britain made a pact in 1917 to create
Palestine for a ‘Jewish national home’
The British also tried to obtain formerly German
territories in Africa and the Middle east to ‘liberate’
them from the Ottoman Turks.
 Not all these treaties would be fullfilled

CLEMENCEAU
France bore the brunt of the war
 Peace to favour French security
 Wanted the Rhineland (Wilson and Lloyd George
opposed this)
 Clemenceau accused Britain of wanting to restore
Germany to a major trading partner

REVOLUTIONARY FEAR
Versailles = first step in containing communism
 Germany did not have to immediately withdraw
troops from Ukraine of Russian Poland

THE CONFERENCE ITSELF
Started January 1919
 27 nations present
 Dominated by the Big Three

HOW TO DEAL WITH GERMANY?
All agreed Germany started the war
 All Disagreed on how to deal with Germany
 Clemenceau wanted revenge
 Wanted to see the German people suffer
 France would only be safe with a crippled
Germany

Woodrow Wilson wanted to punish Germany for
it’s Wicked ways
 Lloyd George was nicer and didn’t want Germany
humiliated.
 After 5 months of Negotiations Germany saw the
terms.

These terms were so bad the Chancellor resigned
 German sailors sank warships
 But since Germany could not go to war again they
signed the treaty on June 28, 1919
 Article 231 put all the blame on Germany

THE TERMS:
 Germany
ordered to pay back the full cost of the
war in Reparations. At a total of 6.6 billion
British pounds in gold and goods. To be paid in
30 years. 52% of which would go to France
 All coal produced in the Saar was to go to
France for 5 years
 Germany’s army was reduced to 100,000 men
and forbidden to have tanks
No more conscription. Volunteers had to serve at least 12
years
 Navy could only be 6 battle ships, no submarines, and no
new craft over 10,000 tonnes.
 No planes. No poison gas, no heavy artillery.
 The Rhineland was demilitarized – no troops or
fortifications, allied troops were there instead

Alsace-Loraine was given to France
 The Polish Corridor to the sea was taken from German
Land.
 All African Colonies taken away
 Lost Territory in the South Pacific (New Guinea, Marshall
Islands)
 Many parts of Germany were allowed to vote with they
wanted to separate or not, Eupen-Malmedy went to
Belgium and North Schleswig went to Denmark.

REACTIONS?
France didn’t think is was harsh enough
 Not all nations were independent

SELF DETERMINATION
Not all ethnics live in tight communities
 Where to draw the border?
 Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and Romania
force to sign treaties where their minorities
would not be treated equal

WHAT BECAME OF A-H?
It turned into: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, Romania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
and Finland
 As a result infrastructure collapsed
 Economic systems collapsed
 The Big Three would not allow free trade

SO IT HAPPENED LIKE MAGIC?
No. The poles and Czechs fought over territory
 The Polish army attacked Russia and got land
back
 The Italian leader, Orlando, left the Conference
as Italy was being ignored

WHAT DID IT MEAN FOR GERMANY?

Lost: 13% of land
6 million people
48% loss of Iron production
15% of agriculture
10% of industrial output

German people upset over ‘war guilt clause’
 Reparations = Future Germans paying for it
 Lack of Military = vulnerable

TREATY OF SAINT GERMAIN
With Austria
 Austria to become a republic
 Forbidden to Anschulss with Germany
 Armed forces limited
 Land given to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia,
Romania, Poland and Italy

TREATY OF SEVRES
Demolished the Ottoman empire
 Greece, Britain and Italy all got a piece
 Britain was given the mandate of Palestine, Iraq
and Jordan
 France was mandates Syria
 Turks were humiliated as Greeks were their
former slaves

Ottoman Sultan was over thrown by Kemal in 1922
 A new treaty was negotiated in 1923 giving Greek
territory back to Turkey
 No more Reparations for Turkey to pay
 No more limit to army
 Showed allies would change treaties if forced and
would not come to the aid of their allies


YAY!!! That’s it!!!