End of the Great War and the Treaty of Versailles

American Intervention, May 1915: Lusitania (128 US citizens) February 1917: Germany declared unconditional submarine warfare Zimmermann Telegram  Sent and deciphered in Jan  Brits gave it to Wilson Feb. 24, 1917  Wilson had it published March 1, April 1917: US Congress approved resolution declaring war on Germany

President Woodrow Wilson 1916: “ He kept us out of war. ” By 1917 wanted to help end the war Jan. 1918: Fourteen Points Idealistic National self-determination

American Intervention was decisive Money and supplies ( : $7,000,000,000 worth of food and guns) Navy (second largest) Men  March 1918: 85,000 US troops  Sept. 1918: 1.2 million US troops Morale

November 11, 1918: Armistice!

The “Stab in the Back” Myth Adolf Hitler Matthias Erzberger

Spanish Influenza Pandemic,

Spanish Influenza Pandemic First appeared in Kansas (but possibly China) Killed 8 million in Spain Most deadly to year-olds Quick death 43,000 US soldiers died. 17 million died in India (5% of population). Infected 500 million people. Killed more than 50 million world-wide.

Paris Peace Conference, 1919

Paris Peace Conference (cont.) The Big Four: David Lloyd George of Britain (mediator) Georges Clemenceau of France (wanted revenge, compensation, to contain Germany) Woodrow Wilson of the United States (idealist; national self-determination; lasting peace) Vittorio Orlando of Italy (played a minor role)

John Maynard Keynes ( ) Economic advisor to Lloyd George Quit the conference The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1920)

Treaty of Versailles Between Allies and Germany Signed in Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles, June 28, 1919

Treaty of Versailles Crucial Terms:  Clause 231: “War guilt” clause:  “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.”  Clause 232: reparations, eventually calculated at $33,000,000,000 (1921)  Covenant of the League of Nations

Things soon begin to fall apart US Congress rejected Versailles Treaty Henry Cabot Lodge Sept. 1919: Wilson's 8000 mile tour, 40 speeches; 29 cities (22 days) Wilson collapsed Nov. 2, 1920: Warren Harding elected US President Aug. 1921: US signed a separate Treaty with Germany

Other post-WWI treaties Treaty of Saint-Germain, 10 September 1919, (Austria) Treaty of Neuilly, 27 November 1919, (Bulgaria) Treaty of Trianon, 4 June 1920, (Hungary) Treaty of Sèvres, 10 August 1920 (Ottoman Empire subsequently revised by the Treaty of Lausanne, 24 July 1923 (Republic of Turkey)

Post-WWI new nation-states

Nations that gained territory or independence after World War I Australia: German New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Nauru Austria: split from the Austro-Hungarian Empire Czechoslovakia: split from the Austro-Hungarian Empire Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania: independence from the Russian Empire Hungary: split from the Austro-Hungarian Empire Japan: gained Jiaozhou Bay and most of Shandong from China New Zealand: gained control of German Samoa Poland: from parts of the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian Empires Romania: Transylvania, Bessarabia, Bukovina South Africa: gained control of South West Africa United Kingdom: gained League of Nations Mandates in Africa and the Middle East Yugoslavia, as the successor state of the Kingdom of Serbia

Nations that lost territory after World War I Austria, as the successor state of Cisleithania and the Austro-Hungarian Empire Bulgaria China: lost Jiaozhou Bay and most of Shandong to the Empire of Japan Germany, as successor state of the German Empire Hungary, as successor state the Austro-Hungarian Empire Russian SFSR, as the successor state of the Russian Empire Turkey, as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire United Kingdom: lost most of Ireland as the Irish Free State, Egypt in 1922