Wilson fights for peace Module 7 (Lesson 4) Wilson fights for peace

Study questions Key Terms and People are in ‘Blue’

A. WHAT WERE THE GOALS OF THE 14 POINTS & THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS A. WHAT WERE THE GOALS OF THE 14 POINTS & THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS? HOW DID WILSON’S GOALS FOR PEACE DIFFER FROM THOSE OF THE OTHER ALLIES? Goals – Create diplomatic negotiations & end secret treaties Ensure freedom to navigate the seas Ensure free trade among nations by lowering tariffs Reduce armies/navies to a level needed for domestic safety Solve problems fairly that arose because of colonial claims Preserve, restore, &/or redraw territory according to nationalities, self-determination, and sovereign rights Creation of a League of Nations to diplomatically handle any conflicts in the future How did these goals differ from those of the other Allies – Georeges Clemenceau (French premier) was angry & wanted to prevent any future invasions from Germany David Lloyd George (British prime minister) was angry & won reelection w/this slogan…’Make Germany Pay’ Vittorio Orlando (Italian prime minister) wanted to control Austrian-held territory

b. WHAT WERE THE major effects of the treaty of versailles? Treaty of Versailles Main Provisions – Redrew the map of Europe with the establishment of 9 new nations including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Turkey, & the USSR which were created out of Germany, Russia, & the Austro-Hungarian Empire (online text Europe Map) Germany must return the region of Alsace-Lorraine to France Germany had to pay reparations (war damages) totaling $33 billion to the Allies The War Guilt Clause held that Germany was solely responsible for all losses/damages suffered by the Allies during the War Germany’s military was reduced to 100,000 men & a few toothpicks! Created the League of Nations and Germany initially couldn’t join

b. WHAT WERE THE major effects of the treaty of versailles? It humiliated Germany by making her claim sole responsibility for the war It stripped Germany of all of her overseas colonial possessions which made it very difficult to pay back the war reparations which then sunk its economy into a great depression All of these variables made the condition ripe in Germany for Hitler to rise to power in the 1930’s by playing on their sense of German nationalism/pride & by secretly building back up their military and regaining territory in Europe Since Russia backed out of the war, she was not allowed to be part of the Paris Peace Conference & ended up losing more territory than Germany which resulted in the newly- formed USSR determined to gain this territory back It ignored the claims of colonized people for self-determination which led to strife in Southeast Asia where the people of Vietnam longed for independence

c. How did wilson’s support for the league of nations stand in the way of senate support for the treaty of versailles Conservative Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge didn’t like the provision for joint economic & military action against aggression (even though it would be voluntary) because he (along with many other Republicans) felt that the League of Nations would threaten our return to an isolationist foreign policy and it would take away Congress’s power to declare war Wilson wouldn’t compromise with the Republican majority in the Senate and wouldn’t agree to their demands. He suffered a stroke and lay partially paralyzed for the remainder of his presidency As a result, the Senate twice rejected the League of Nations and so the U.S. never signed the Treaty of Versailles or joined the League of Nations

Impact of the war Europe was in ruins French and German towns and villages were reduced to rubble Trench warfare and no man’s land devastated the French & German country side as farm land was littered with craters, dead crops, & buried land mines that would pose a danger for generations to come The economies in Europe were in trouble as they all had to pay off the war debt The loss of life was staggering