This photograph records one of the rooms at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. What problems do you think they faced in trying to agree to a new map for Europe?

Spot the difference Europe before and after the First World War

Self-determination was point 10 of Wilson’s Fourteen Points Self-determination was point 10 of Wilson’s Fourteen Points.   Wilson wanted to re-draw the frontiers of eastern Europe so that races ruled themselves. In some ways, self-determination was achieved. The Treaty of Versailles created Poland by taking West Prussia from Germany. It also created the new nation-states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Treaty of Saint Germain created Czechoslovakia and the Treaty of Trianon created Yugoslavia.  In all, nine nation states were set up. However, the Big Three did not allow the defeated countries self-determination. Germans found themselves living in Poland, Lithuania and Czechoslovakia, and Anschluss with Austria was forbidden. Bulgaria and Turkey also lost land. In the new countries (especially Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia), were ‘enclaves’ of minority races. Also, France and Britain did not allow colonies self-determination, and German colonies and the Turkish empire became mandates under British and French control. From www.johndclare.net

Europe was in a state of turmoil – old governments had gone but stable new governments had not yet had time to be set up. The War had helped to bring about a revolution in Russia. The Russian Empire had been replaced by a communist Soviet Union. The Kaiser had fled from Germany. The German Empire had been replaced by a new and very unstable democratic government. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had disintegrated and many small nations had achieved their independence. From Britain and the Great War by Greg Hetherton, 1998

Taken from a speech by Adolf Hitler on 30 January 1939 Among the fourteen points which President Wilson promised Germany… was the fundamental principle of the self-determination of peoples.... Many millions of Germans citizens were torn from the Reich against their will, or prevented from uniting with it. Indeed in the sharpest contrast to the solemn promise of the right of self-determination, the Peace Treaty of Versailles even forbade the union of the Germans of the Ostmark [Austria] with the Reich at a moment when efforts were being made in Austria to give effect to the right of self-determination through plebiscites. Taken from a speech by Adolf Hitler on 30 January 1939 From archive.org

Source 1 His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. Extract from the Balfour Declaration of 1917, setting out the British governments plans for the Middle East Source 2 The whole history of the Middle East in the half century between 1919 and 1969 is a history of the undoing of the work of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the settlements made after the First World War. Jon Kimche, Swiss journalist and author in A Prince of Our Disorder; The Life of T.E. Lawrence by John E. Mack, 1976 The impact of the First World War is still felt today in the Middle East. What do source 1 and 2 suggest about the origins of these issues?