MAKING THE PEACE BELL WORK #5

The Costs of War The human and material costs of the war were staggering. More than 8.5 million people were dead. Double that number had been wounded many handicapped for life. Famine threatened many regions. The devastation was made even worse in 1918 by a deadly epidemic of influenza. In just a few months, the flu swept around the world, killing more than 20 million people twice as many as the war itself.

Financial Burdens In battle zones for France to Russia, homes farms, factories, roads, and churches had been shelled into rubble. The Allies blamed the conflict on their defeated foes and insisted that the losers make reparations, or payments for war damage.

The Treaty of Versailles In June 1919, the peacemakers summoned representatives of the new German Republic to the palace of Versailles outside Paris. The Germans were ordered to sign the treaty drawn up by the Allies. The German delegates read the document with growing horror. It forced Germany to assume full blame for causing the war. The treaty also imposed huge reparations that would put an already damaged German economy under a staggering burden. This covered not only the destruction caused by the war, but also pensions for millions of Allied soldiers of their widows and families. The total cost of German reparations would come to over 30 billion dollars.

Germans The Germans signed because they had no choice. But German resentment of the Treaty of Versailles would poison the international climate for 20 years and help spark an even more deadly war.

Mandate System Outside Europe, the victorious Allies added to their existing overseas empires. The treaties created a system of mandates, or territories that were administered by western powers. Unfulfilled Goals- Germany was not the only power dissatisfied by the peace. Italy was angry because it did not get al the lands promised in its secret treaty with the Allies. Japan protested the refusal of western nations to recognize it claims to China. Russia, excluded form the peace talks, resented the reestablishment of a Polish nation and three independent Baltic states on lands that had been part of the Russian empire.

League of Nations This was an international organization dedicated to maintaining peace and advancing the interests of all peoples.