A Failed PeaceChapter 29 Section 4

I Allies Meet at VersaillesA. Wilson’s Plan for Peace

•Allied powers meet in Versailles for the Paris Peace Conference• Big Four made decisions =

Woodrow Wilson/Clemenceau (France)/David George (GB)/Orlando (Italy)• Russia not represented – in

middle of civil war• Germany and its allies also

not represented

•Wilson’s Fourteen Points = plan for achieving just and lasting peace• First 5 points ending secret treaties,

freedom of seas/trade/& reducing national armies & navies• 6th – 13th specific suggestions for changing

borders & creating new nations• SELF DETERMINATION guided all points• Allowing ppl to decide for themselves which

gov’t they wished to live under• 14th point “a general association of

nations” that would protect large and small nations• Reflects his hope for future peace

negotiations & avoiding war

B. Allies Dictate a Harsh Peace•GB & France show little sign of

agreeing to Wilson’s planTreaty of Versailles•Agree to Wilson's 14th point =

League of Nations internat’l org. who's job was to keep peace among nations• 5 allied powers perm. members of

the exec. Council• General assembly made up of allied

& neutral nations• Germany & Russia were excluded

•Punished Germany• lost large piece of territory terr. In Africa & Pacific were declared mandates•restricted in its military operations•“war guilt” clause = places sole responsibility for the war on Germany

• As a result of the war guilt clause Germany had to pay reparations to the allies

C. The Creation of New Nations•New countries created from former Austro-Hungarian

Empire• Austria/Hungary/Czechoslovakia, & Yugoslavia Independent

•Ottoman Turks gave up almost all its land except modern day Turkey• Ottoman land in south west were mandates rather then independent

nations• Pakistan, Iraq, under GB control• Syria & Lebanon under French control

•Russia alienated by the allies also lost land • Finland, Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania now independent

D. “A Peace Built on Quicksand”• Treaty of Versailles did little to keep the peace•US (dominant power after the war) doesn’t sign the treaty• Best hope for peace was ISOLATIONISM – stay out of Euro

affairs•War Guilt left legacy of bitterness and hatred among

Germans• Other countries felt betrayed or cheated (Russia)•Mandated countries upset they didn’t gain independence

• Japan & Italy (allies) upset they didn’t gain more land from war•ALL LEAD TO ANOTHER WORLD WAR