Treaty of Versailles and Paris Peace

France's goals at the Paris Peace Conference (Treaty of Versailles)

• revenge on Germany

• HEAVY reparations on Germany

• Alsace-Lorraine back from Germany (Franco-Prussian War)

• bufferstate between France and Germany (invaded in 1871 and 1914)

• permanent demilitarization of Germany

• a defensive military alliance

United Kingdom's goals at the Paris Peace Conference (Treaty of Versailles)

• revenge on Germany
• less harsh reparations
• limits on Germany's navy (Germany destroyed their boats so UK didn't get them)

Italy's goals at the Paris Peace Conference (Treaty of Versailles)

• land from Austria-Hungary

Japan's goals at the Paris Peace Conference (Treaty of Versailles)

• land
• Germany's Asian colonies (although all countries wanted Germany's colonies)

Zionist's (Weizman) goals at the Paris Peace Conference (Treaty of Versailles)

• Jewish homeland in Palestine

Wilson's Fourteen Points

• no secret treaties
• freedom of seas (Great Britain controlled seas with naval empire, did not like this clause)
• no economic barriers on trade (free trade benefited big countries like Great Britain, smaller countries disliked this clause)
• smaller army & navy (asking Great Britain to reduce their navy?)
• adjust colonies with fairness to colonial people
• abide by self-determination: people choose national governments through democratic elections & live without interference from outside countries because of clear permanent borders (means Ireland, India, Germany, Middle East, etc. could get independence/their own government)
• establish a League of Nations: international body to resolve issues peacefully without war! (democracy would stop all future wars…right?)

Treaty of Versailles

• War Guilt Clause (Article 231): Germany is solely responsible for the war → even though Austria-Hungary started war with Serbia & Russia mobilized first
• Article 232: Germany has to pay billions in reparations BUT at the time of signing, Germany did not know how much they had to pay & felt forced to sign
• Germany lost their African & Asian colonies
• France got military occupation of the Rhineland for 15 years, a defensive alliance with UK & US, and Alsace-Lorraine from Germany
• Germany's army limited to 100K & no air force
• Czechoslovakia "the spear into Germany" created & Poland split Germany
• forbid Anschluss (union between Germany & Austria)
• Germany forbidden from joining League of Nations (for now) → Germany isolated
• Main Ideas: Germany loses land & money, is demilitarized & isolated

European Nations Created/Recognized by Paris Peace Conference post WWI

• Yugoslavia
• Czechoslovakia
• Finland
• Poland
• Balkan states

Political & Military Change Post WWI

• China in arms over Treaty of Versailles
• demilitarization of Rhineland
• Germany's army limited to 100K and no air force
• Provisional Government in Russia overthrown in October Revolution led by Lenin & Bolsheviks → Russia faced a civil war between Whites (wanted Tsar back) and Reds (Communists)
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: took Russia out of WWI, Russia lost quarter of land & 1/3 of population (but took some back in civil war)

Economic Changes Post WWI

• war reparations paid in gold or foreign currency for Germany
• factories destroyed by war
• Great Depression hit in 1929

Social Changes Post WWI

• 8 million people died on the battlefield & 7-8 million civilians BUT Spanish flu killed 60 million
• drafts would take entire populations of men from towns &

Artistic & Cultural Changes Post WWI

• Jazz spreads
• WWI creates an age of anxiety
• unhinged, abstract, emotional art (Dada)
• Dada art is antiwar & anti-establishment, challenges the system

Post-WWI Middle East

• Ottoman Empire collapsed & mandate system put in place
• mandate system: lands placed under control of European powers by League of Nations until they could "stand alone," colonialism under another name
• Paris Peace Conference: Middle East representatives went there to try and secure autonomy BUT were mostly ignored & only Hejaz got independence
• Balfour Declaration: Great Britain document issued DURING the war that declared Great Britain supported a Jewish homeland in Palestine AS LONG AS there was no violations of civil & religious rights of non-Jews who were already living there
• Lausanne (1923): peaceful transition of people (Ottoman Empire stop killing people), establishes Turkey's borders, removed special privileges given to European in Ottoman Empire