The War to End All Wars 1914-1919
Wilson’s 14 Points Before the end of the war, Wilson came up with a plan for world peace that he called the 14 Points The most important of these points were: - The end to secret alliances - A reduction in armaments - Adjust colonial claims - Freedom of the seas
The Big Four Woodrow Wilson –United States David Lloyd-George –Great Britain Georges Clemenceau –France Vittorio Orlando –Italy
The Treaty of Versailles The “Big Four” met up to discuss the terms of the treaty Who is missing? European leaders wanted very different goals than Wilson’s 14 Points They had no interest in peacefully ending the war, they wanted to punish Germany and grab as much power and land as possible
What was in the Treaty? Germany was punished very harshly There weren’t allowed to have tanks or an air force Their military was not allowed to be any larger than 100,000 men The Rhineland became a de-militarized zone They couldn’t have any submarines or new battle ships
What Else? Much of Germany was broken up and given to other countries
Reparations Germany was also forced to accept all of the blame for the war on the part of her and her allies Austria-Hungary didn’t get the blame Germany had to pay $33 billion in reparations –mostly to France Finally fully payed off in 2010
What about America? Wilson created the League of Nations as a panel of world leaders to try to intercede in world conflicts to prevent the outbreak of another major war Despite the League of Nations being create by Wilson, congress voted to not join the League American became even more isolationist