The Treaty of Versailles

Warm-Up / Do Now  With your understanding of events that led to WWI create your own peace treaty ending WWI.

Wilson’s Fourteen Points  Wilson’s plan for peace was the Fourteen Points.  It was designed to protect every peace-loving nation and peoples from aggression  First goal was to eliminate the causes of war  End to secret agreements  End to the web of alliances  Freedom of the seas  Europeans countries to reduce their armaments – weapon stockpiles  Second goal was to ensure the right to self-determination for ethnic groups so they could control their own political future.  Most critical of his Fourteen Points was the League of Nations.  Turn to page 317 in your H.A. Textbook

League Of Nations  Leaders included a charter for the League of Nations in the final version of the Treaty.  Member nations would agree to protect one another’s independence and territorial integrity.  League of Nations would maintain peace by providing collective security.  Commitment by many countries to join together to deal with a nation that threatens peace.

Europeans Vision of Peace  Big Four – President Wilson, Prime Ministers: David Lloyd George (GB), Georges Clemenceau (France), and Vittorio Orlando (Italy) met at the Palace of Versailles  France wanted to weaken Germany to the point that it could never threaten France again.  German Army be reduced to 100,000 men  Strip Germany of its coal-rich Saar Valley and the Rhinelands  Great Britain demanded that Germany accepted responsibility for starting the war.  Wanted Germany to pay $33 billion in reparations to the Allies to offset the cost of war.  Argued that the U.S. would benefit because the Allies would be able to repay American banks that were used to finance the war.  Self determination helped ethnic groups from their own nations.  Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  Parts of Germany were given to France, Poland, Denmark, and Belgium.  Central Power Colonies???  Britain, France, Italy, and Japan grabbed colonies in China, Pacific, Africa, and Asia.  These areas were govern by a mandate or territories controlled by the League of Nations.  Turn to Page 319 in your H.A. Textbook

Debate on the Home Front  Before the Peace Treaty Conference Republicans won a majority of seats in the House and the Senate; however Wilson only took one Republican to the Conference.  Congress was divided into three factions:  Reservationists – would vote yes but only with a number of changes to it.  Irreconcilables – No vote was certain  Internationalists – Agreed with the treaty

Election of 1920  The Election of 1920 became a Referendum on the Treaty.  Democrats nominated James Cox of Ohio and the Republicans nominated Warren Harding.  Harding will win in a landslide effectively killing the Treaty of Versailles.  The U.S. will sign a separate peace treaty with Germany in 1921.