The Peace Conference at Paris

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The Peace Conference at Paris

• The End of WWI

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Paris January 1919

• Allies were determined to dictate the terms of
  peace
• War had caused much bitterness
• Representatives from defeated powers not invited
• Defeated power called in only to accept the terms
  of the treaties

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Separate Treaties

• Allies decided that a separate treaty should be
  written for each of the Central Powers
• Five treaties drawn up

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Versailles Conference

• The allies represented at Versailles
• called the Big Four
• Great Britain (David Lloyd George)
• France (Georges Clemenceau)
• United States (Woodrow Wilson)
• Italy ( Vittorio Orlando)

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Problems Facing Peacemakers

• Republics replaced hereditary monarchies
• Germanyking out
• Austria-Hungary.. Split into two nations and king
  out
• Russian- Czar replaced by Communist
• Ottoman Empire ready to collapse

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Territorial Claims

• The victorious nations had territorial demands
  that were difficult to reconcile.
• France wanted security from German attack
• Return Alsace and Lorraine
• Extend French boundary to the Rhine River
• Saar River Valley, with its valuable coal
  deposits,
• Should be given to France.

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Other Territorial Demands

• Italy- claimed the
• Tirol region
• city of Trieste
• Port city of Fiume
• The Big Four became the Big Three
• Italy did not get Fiume
• Italy walked out of the Conference

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Additional Claims

• Belgium requested two small portions of German
  Territory
• Suffered under German occupation
• Great Britain Wanted
• Germanys African colonies
• Germanys navy destroyed
• a prohibition against the building of warships in
  Germany

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Japan

• Fought on the side of the allies during WWI.
• Wanted to retain (hold on to ) the Pacific
  islands she occupied during the war
• Wanted to have first choice and the largest share
  of lands take from China
• Claimed she had a special position in China

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Reparations

• Reparations- payment for war damages.
• Who should pay for restoring land?
• Should reparations include pensions to wounded
  veterans and to widows and orphans

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League of Nations

• Need for a world organization to maintain peace
• League of Nations established
• Many did not believe it would be successful

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Justice or Vengeance

• Conflicting viewpoints
• Fourteen Points represented a peace of justice
• Created by Woodrow Wilson
• No secret treaties, no harsh treatment of former
  Central Powers
• Peace of Vengeance
• Losers must be taught a lesson
• Only harsh treatment could teach Germany and
  Austria the consequences of starting a war