End of WWI

Wilson's Agenda  Plan for World Peace  Jan 18, 1918  Fourteen Points Speech  3 groups  First 5 = Issues that caused the War  Next 8 = Specific boundary changes  14th Point = Creation of League of Nations  Arrived in Europe to present in December 1918  Welcomed w/ open arms & celebration  Naïve & Idealistic

14 Points  Freedom of the Seas  No tariffs  Self-determination  Arms reduction  League of Nations  No secret treaties  Borders moved & new nations are created to prevent future wars

Allies' Agenda  Rejected Wilson's 14 Points  Anger dominated peace talks  Make Germany Pay!  Take control of territory (Germany's)  Demilitarize Germany  Punish Germany

Treaty of Versailles  June 28, 1919  Established 9 new nations & shifted boundaries  Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia  Carved 4 areas & gave to Britain & France  Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, & Palestine (Israel & Jordan)  De-militarized Germany  Army 100,000 men  Alsace-Lorraine France  Reparations/war damages ($33 billion)  War-Guilt Clause: forced Germany to take sole responsibility for WWI

Problems, Problems…  3 basic problems  Humiliation of Germany  Bolshevik Gov. in Russia = ignored  Decisions of colonial territories  Wilson returned home to opposition  Treaty = too harsh  Exchange of colonial rulers  Boundaries = poorly drawn  League of Nations = threat to American foreign policy  Wanted to stay out of European entanglements

Reactions in U.S.  U.S. did NOT join League of Nations  Feared the restraints too much  Did NOT ratify Treaty of Versailles  Signed a separate treaty!  U.S. desired a "return to normalcy" "We never really let the Germans know who won the war. They are being told that their army was stabbed in the back, betrayed, that their army had not been defeated. The Germans never believed that they were beaten. It will have to be done all over again." - General John J. Pershing

Set-Up  Postwar economic conditions = Desperate  Depression in 1923 in Germany  German currency = worthless  Weak government  Weimar Republic  Search for a scapegoat  Jews & Socialists  Rise of New Party  Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers' Party