The End of WWI

The Last Year of the War In 1917 the Allies were not fairing well in the war Allie offensives on the Western Front had been badly defeated The Russian Revolution caused Russia to withdraw from the war Things looked very good for the Central Powers The entry of the United States in 1917 gave a psychological boost to the Allied Powers - Fresh troops - New material The US troops prove to be crucial to the war in 1918

New German Offensive When the Russians withdrew from the war it provided Germany with an opportunity to focus on the Western Front. The man who guided German military operations, Erich von Ludendorff, decided to try to break the stalemate on the Western Front They launched an attack in March 1918 They were successful in their advancements, and by April they were 50 miles outside Paris They were stopped, however, at the Second Battle of Marne

The second Battle of Marne On July 18, 1918 French, Moroccan, and American troops stopped German advancements at Marne 140,000 fresh American troops had just arrived They also had the support of hundreds of tanks They were able to throw the Germans back over the Marne, causing the German advancement to fail With a million American troops arriving in France the Allies began to advance toward Germany By September 29, 1918 General Ludendorff informed the leaders of Germany that the war was lost, and to ask for peace immediately

Collapse of Germany and the Armistice The Allies were unwilling to make peace with the autocratic imperial government of Germany Germany began to create a more liberal type of government These reforms came too late for Germany - The people were exhausted and angry On November 3, 1918 sailors in the town of Kiel, located in northern Germany, resulted to mutiny Days after, councils of workers and soldiers began to form throughout northern Germany - They began to take over civilian and military offices

Collapse of Germany and Armistice Emperor William II gave in to public pressures and fled the country on November 9 After he fled the Social Democrats, led by Friedrich Ebert, announced that Germany would create a democratic republic On November 11, 1918 the new government signs an armistice - a truce, an agreement to end the fighting

Revolutionary Forces in Germany The Great War may have been over, but revolutionary forces in Germany were still active The German Communist Party grew from a group of radical socialists who did not agree with the policies of the German democrats They form in December of 1918, a month later they try to seize Berlin The Social Democrats were able to crush the rebels - They murdered the Communist Party leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht Radical revolution had been stopped, but those attempts left the German middle class with a deep fear of communism

Austria- Hungary Austria- Hungary also experienced disintegration and revolution As with Germany, the people were weary from war Ethnic groups within Austria- Hungary began to seek their independence When the war finally ended the Austro – Hungarian Empire no longer existed It was replaced by the independent republics of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia along with Yugoslavia These nations became rivals which weakens eastern Europe over the next 80 years

The Peace Settlements In January 1919 representatives of the 27 of the Allied nations met in Paris to establish the final settlements of the war At the beginning of the war European nations were seeking territorial gains By the end of the war those nations began to think more idealistically

Wilson’s Fourteen Point Plan The most idealistic was the US President Woodrow Wilson Before the end of the war Wilson developed a fourteen point plan that he believed justified the military struggle that was being waged between nations He hoped his plan would bring about a just and lasting peace He believed it was best for the nations to create peace agreements openly rather than through secret diplomacy

Wilson’s Fourteen Point Plan Within his plan he hoped to accomplish the following: - reduce military forces and weapons that was consistent with domestic safety - adhere to the right of people to have their own nation (Self- determination) - create democratic governments (argued it was the only way to eliminate absolutism and militarism) - create a general association of nations which would guarantee political independence to large and small nations Wilson became the spokesperson for a new world order based on democracy and international cooperation

The Paris Peace Conference Delegates met in Paris in early 1919 to determine the peace settlement They were met with obvious complications due to secret treaties and agreements that were made before the war (hopes of territorial gains) This hope for territorial gains conflicted with Wilson’s hopes for self- determination National interests also complicated the conference David Lloyd, prime minister to Great Britain had just been elected on the platform that he would make the Germans pay for the war France sought national security Georges Clemenceau, the premier of France, believed France had suffered the most from the Germans - he sought after revenge and security against future German attacks

The Paris Peace Conference France demands for Germany to - be stripped of all weapons - make large payments or reparation, to cover the costs of the war France also demands a separate Rhineland as a buffer state between France and Germany These important decisions were made by Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George United States, Britain, and France became known as the Big Three at the conference for they were the ones calling the shots

The Paris Peace Conference Italy was somewhat considered a large power, but they played a small role at this conference Germany was not invited to attend, and Russia was not present due to their civil war Due to so many conflicting view points compromises had to be made to reach peace Wilson asked that his idea for a League of Nations be the first thing on the agenda - On January 25, 1919 they agreed to the idea of a League of Nations In return Wilson compromised on territorial arrangements Clemenceau compromised by giving up the idea of a separate Rhineland and accepted a defensive alliance with GB and the US

The Treaty of Versailles The final peace settlement consisted of five separate treaties with Bulgaria, Turkey, Germany, Austria, and Hungary The most important of these was the Treaty of Versailles - signed by Germany on June 28, 1919 The Germans believed it was unfair and harsh especially article 231 - the War Guilt Clause- required them and Austria to take blame for starting the war - Germany was forced to pay reparations for all the damages the Allies had suffered

The Treaty of Versailles The Germans also found the military and territorial agreements unfair - under this treaty Germany was required to reduce its army to a hundred thousand men - cut back its navy - eliminate its air force - the French territories of Alsace and Lorraine, which Germany took, were returned - Sections of eastern German were given to a new Polish state Under this treaty German land along both sides of the Rhine became a demilitarized zone - It was stripped of all weapons and fortifications

The Map of the World After WWI the map of the world was redrawn Germany and the Russian empire lost a great amount of territory Austria- Hungary was no longer in existence From these three empires emerged new nation- states - Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary In the Balkans, new territorial agreements were also made - Romania received additional lands from Russia, Hungary, and Bulgaria - Serbia formed the nucleus of a new state called Yugoslavia - this combined Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes

The Map of the World The Paris Peace Conference was suppose to be guided by self- determination The mixtures of different types of people throughout eastern Europe made it impossible to draw boundaries along neat ethnic lines Compromises had to be made - France for example wanted to strengthen and expand Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania - They wanted these nations to act as barriers against Germany and Communist Russia - Due to the compromises every eastern European state was left with ethnic minorities - Germans in Poland, Hungarians, Poles, and Germans in Czechoslovakia; Hungarians in Romania; and Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, and Albanians in Yugoslavia

The Map of the World The Ottoman Empire was broken up by the peace settlement The Allies promised to recognize the independence of the Arab states in the Ottoman Empire due to their support in the war The Western nations changed their minds - France took control of Lebanon and Syria - Britain took over Iraq and Palestine These acquisitions of these territories were called mandates Woodrow Wilson opposed the annexation Due to this opposition, the peace settlement created the mandate system - a nation officially governed another nation as a mandate on behalf of the League of Nations, but did not own the territory

Legacy of the Great War The liberal, rational society of the nineteenth century was brought to an end with WWI With almost 10 million dead, and destruction in Europe progress had been undermined Power of governments over the lives of citizens increased Freedom of the press and speech were limited due to national security Revolutions broke up old empires and created new states which led to new problems