End of World War I The Last Year of the War The Peace Settlement

1
End of World War IThe Last Year of the WarThe
Peace Settlement

• Chapter 16 Section 4

2
The Last Year of the War

• Main Idea
• November 11, 1918
• German Republic and Allies Armistice

3
The Last Year of the War

• 1917
• Not good for the Allies
• were defeated on the Western Front
• Russia withdraws because of civil unrest
• Central Powers in a better position
• US enters which provides a psychological boost
  for the Allies
• Fresh troops and resources

4
A New German Offensive

• New hope for Germany
• Russian withdrawal
• believed they would now win the war
• Focus shifted to Western Front
• Ludendorffs miliary gamble
• A large risk to break the military stalemate
• Provisions running low, soldier reserves
  depleting, German home was exhausted

5
A New German Offensive

• March 1918 ? German Attack
• By April German forces were within 50 miles of
  Paris
• German forces were stopped in July at the 2nd
  Battle of Marne
• American, French, and Moraccan troops forced
  Germans back over the Marne

6
A New German Offensive

• On August 8th 2nd Battle of the Somme
• A million American troops entered France
• Allies marched toward Germany
• 8/8 was a black day for the Germans
• On September 29th, Ludendorff admitted the
  Germans lost
• Demanded government ask for peace

7
Collapse and Armistice

• Allies did not want to make peace with autocratic
  imperial German government
• Sailors in Kiel mutinied
• Within days soldiers took over offices until
  Emperor William II left
• 9/11Social Democrats and Friedrich Ebert created
  democratic republic
• 11/11 German government signs armistice

8
Revolutionary Forces

• German Communist Party unhappy with Social
  Democratic Government
• GCP tried to take over Berlin
• SDG kill main leaders to crush rebellions in
  addition to attempts in Munich
• The republic is saved
• there is unrest within the middle class
• Deep fear of communism develops

9
Revolutionary Forces

• Austria-Hungary experiences revolution
• As government is weak from war
• there is internal distress as ethnic groups
  wanted their independence
• By the end of WWI there is no Austria-Hungary
• Replaced with Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and
  Czechoslovakia
• Eastern Europe will remain weak from national
  rivalries

10
The Peace Settlement

• Treaty of Versailles
• Infuriated Germany
• Recognized new nations
• Established League of Nations

11
Wilsons Proposal

• 14 points more idealistic
• Basis for peace settlement
• Have open discussions rather than secret
• Reduce amount of weapons per country (safety
  only)
• Ensuring Self-determination ? right of people to
  have their own nation

12
Wilsons Proposal

• WWI was a peoples war against abolitionism and
  militarism
• Two enemies of liberty
• Only ways to eliminate these enemies was to
  create
• Democratic governments
• general associations of nations
• Guarantee political independence for ALL nations

13
Wilsons Proposal

• Wilsons ideas idealistic
• Freedom
• Peace
• Democratic government
• Nations working together
• Other states more practical motives
• Land
• Power
• punishment

14

• Signing of treaty

15
The Paris Peace Conference

• Delegates met to make conference
• Problems from the beginning
• Secret promises before war began regarding land
• Reasons for war had changed within those 4 years
• National interests

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The Paris Peace Conference

• National Interests
• Great Britain Prime Minister, David Lloyd George,
  
• wants Germany to pay
• Premier of France, Clemenceau,
• wants national security, fearful of German power
• Also wants to make sure Germany is left weak and
  without weapons
• Created distance between Germany and France
• Reparations ? German payments for war

17
The Paris Peace Conference

• The Big 3 ? US, France, and Britain
• Made most of the important decisions
• Left out Italy since they played smaller part
• Germany not invited
• Russia could not attend civil war
• Fought over what they wanted accomplished
• Wilson League and prevent future wars
• Clemenceau and Lloyd George punish Germany

18
The Paris Peace Conference

• End results
• Wilsons League of Nations created
• but only if there were changes on territorial
  arrangements
• Thought he could fix unfair settlements later
• France wanted Rhineland security
• Wanted Rhineland
• but instead was granted a defensive alliance with
  Great Britain and US
• US refused to ratify this agreement

19
Treaty of Versailles

• Final peace settlement involved 5 peace treaties
  with Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and
  Turkey
• Treaty with Germany most important
• Harsh punishment for Germans
• War Guilt Clause ? Germany and Austria were
  responsible for starting war
• Pay reparations for all damages Allied
  governments and citizens suffered

20
Treaty of Versailles

• Germany continued
• Military was reduced to 100000 men, reduced navy,
  and eliminated air force
• Alsace and Lorraine were given back to France
• eastern Germany given to Poles
• Rhine area - Demilitarized zone
• was stripped of weapons and forts
• To protect French

21
The Legacies of War

• Map of Eastern Powers changed
• Lost German and Russian empires lost land and
  Austria-Hungary gone
• Gained Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania,
  Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary
• Serbia formed middle of new Yugoslavia

22
The Legacies of War

• Not every ethnic group has nation
• Goal was self-determination
• Mixtures of peoples impossible to draw strict
  
• ethnic
  lines
• Compromises had to be made
• Germans in Poland and Czech, poles in Czech,
  Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in Yugoslavia
• This would lead to many problems later

23
The Legacies of War

• WWI ruined the liberal, rational society
• 10 million people died
• Damage from war
• total war as it completely mobilized people and
  resources
• Governments became more powerful and freedom of
  speech and press limited
• Strong central authority became a way of life
• The hope that things would return to normal was
  soon dashed