The End of World War I

1917 United States enters the war in April which gives the Allies a psychological and financial boost Russia withdraws from the war in November due to civil war

Last German Offensive With Russia’s withdrawal the Germans were able to concentrate on the Western Front Erich von Ludendorff decided to launch an offensive in the west to break the stalemate Attack was launched in March 1918 and by April German troops were 50 miles from Paris

Hindenburg, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Ludendorff in January, 1917

Second Battle of the Marne July 15-August 5, 1918 in France Germans attacked the French army along their eastern and western lines to split them in two French were aided by British, American, and Italian troops to stop the advance Allies launched a counterattack against the Germans and they were ordered to retreat on July 20 By August 3 the Germans were back where they started in March No further large-scale attempt win the war was taken by the Germans

A U.S. artillery unit fires at Second Marne

March 20, 1918 July 20, 1918 September 25, 1918 November 1918

Soldiers of the London Irish Rifles at Second Marne

US troops cross a pontoon bridge over the Marne in the Second Battle of the Marne

July 1918: Gassed and blinded French infantrymen are led by comrades, and escorted by British soldiers from the second Battle of the Marne

On September 29, 1918, Ludendorff informed German leaders that the war was lost

Armistice Allies were unwilling to make peace with the imperial government of Germany. Sailors in Kiel, Germany mutinied and workers and sailors began taking over civilian and military offices on Nov. 3, 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II gave in and fled the country on November 9

Armistice Social Democrats under Friedrich Ebert announced creation of a democratic republic in Germany November 11, 1918 the new German government signed an armistice, or a truce, an agreement to end the fighting Germans were told to remove troops from Belgium and France and to surrender large amounts of weapons and their navy was to be dismantled

Delegations in the Ferdinand Foch's railway carriage.

Front page of the New York Times on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918.

Belgian postcard showing the German Army's November 1918 retreat

Revolutionary Forces December 1918 radical socialists unhappy with the Social Democrats in Germany formed the German Communist Party They were crushed trying to take over power in Berlin and Munich Austria-Hungary had been replaced by the independent republics of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia after ethnic groups revolted

Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” U.S. president Woodrow Wilson outlined “Fourteen Points” to Congress which were his basis for a peace settlement that he believed justified the enormous military struggle being waged Wilson portrayed WWI as a people’s war against “absolutism and militarism” and he became a spokesperson for a new world order based upon democracy and international cooperation

United States President Woodrow Wilson listed the Fourteen Points in a speech that he delivered to the United States Congress on January 8, 1918

Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” Wilson’s Fourteen Points included: –The making, discussing and reading of peace agreements openly, rather than through secret diplomacy. –Reducing armaments (military forces or weapons) to a “point consistent with public safety” –Ensuring self-determination (the right of each people to have its own nation)

Paris Peace Conference Delegates met in Paris in 1919 to determine the peace settlement Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Lloyd George, wanted to make the Germans pay for the war

Paris Peace Conference Premier of France, Georges Clemenceau, felt the French had suffered the most wanted: –Germany stripped of all weapons –vast reparations (payments) to cover the cost of war –a separate Rhineland as a buffer state between France and Germany

Paris Peace Conference U.S., G.B., and France were known as the Big Three Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau made the important decisions at the conference Italy was considered one of the Big Four but played a smaller part than the Big Three Germany was not invited and Russia was in the middle of civil war

League of Nations Wilson wanted to create an international peacekeeping organization, the League of Nations, to prevent future wars The conference accepted the proposal on January 25, 1919 Wilson agreed to make compromises on territorial arrangements Clemenceau agreed on a defensive alliance with U.S. and G.B. instead of a separate Rhineland but the U.S. Senate refused to ratify it

Treaty of Versailles The final peace treaty of Paris consisted of five separate treaties with the defeated nations of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey The Treaty of Versailles with Germany signed on June 28, 1919 was the most important

Palace of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles The terms for Germany were: –War Guilt Clause declared that Germany (and Austria) were responsible for starting the war –Germany was ordered to pay reparations for the damage done to the Allied gov’ts and their people. –Germany had to reduce its army, its navy, and eliminate its air force –Take away all colonial possessions ( Africa & Asia ) –Gave back land to France and a new Polish state was made –German land on both sides of the Rhine was made a demilitarized zone and stripped of all weapons and fortifications

Council of Four at the Versailles Peace Conference: Lloyd George, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Georges Clemenceau, President Woodrow Wilson

A New Map of Europe German and Russian empires lost territory in eastern Europe and the Austro- Hungarian Empire disappeared New nation-states emerged from these empires: –Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary Romania acquired lands from Russia, Hungary, and Bulgaria Serbia formed a new state, Yugoslavia

Czechoslovakia Poland Belgium Denmark France Lithuania