The Peace of Paris

France 1919

Paris Peace Conference

The Paris Peace Conference was held in 1919 to create peace treaties to officially end World War OneMuch of Europe lay in ruins after the war and the victors wanted to exact some revenge on the losersThe victors imposed the terms of peace on the defeated nations

The conference was attended by all the leaders of the victorious powersThe goal was to create a treaty that would prevent future conflictThere were two main ideologies about how to handle the Germans

1. Severely punish the Germans for their aggression. This group was led by France

2. The second group wanted to avoid harsh punishment and get Germany back on its feet. This group was led by the US and BritainIn the end neither side got its way and the treaty reflected the worst of both sides

The Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the victors and GermanyThe allies were represented at the Conference by Clemenceau of France, George of Britain, Wilson of the United States, and Orlando of Italy

Fourteen Points

Canada was represented by Prime Minister Robert Borden under her own flag and not as a part of the British EmpireWoodrow Wilson worked very hard to have his fourteen points incorporated as the framework of the treaty.Wilson had used these as a reason to bring the U.S. into the war

The main points were:

1. Outlawing Alliances

2. Disarmament3. Free Trade4. Self Determination5. League of Nations

Self determination was the most important of these points It meant that people would vote on whom they would prefer to be governed by, usually by ethnic groupThis led to the map of Europe being significantly redrawn

The League of Nations

The League of Nations was an attempt at collective securityThis meant that an attack by an aggressor would be perceived as an attack on all and would be dealt with as suchThe main objective was to preserve the peace

The hoped it would maintain the peace through the following means;

1. International Co-operation2. Arbitration- disputes would be submitted

to decide on before fighting3. Collective Security- All members were

bound to come to the aid of the other nations

Problems with the Treaty

The goal was to prevent future wars, in this it failed miserablySeveral clauses led to intense bitterness in Germany

1. War Guilt clause forced the Germans to accept all responsibility for the war

2. War Reparations- The Germans were forced to pay the victors 33 billion dollars as compensation for damage done Adolf Hitler used this treaty to pave the way to the second world war

Treaties signed to end WWI

Treaty of Versailles- Allies and GermanyTreaty of Trianon- Allies and HungaryTreaty of Neuilly- Allies and BulgariaTreaty of Sevres- Allies and TurkeyTreaty of St. Germain- Allies and Austria