1. The Paris Peace Conference –
Chapter 27 Lesson 3
Notes:
The Paris Peace Conference –
Jan., 1919

2. THE “BIG FOUR” VICTORIOUS ALLIED POWERS:
Prime Minister Lloyd George representing
Britain
Premier Clemenceau representing
France

3. Premier Orlando representing Italy (but angrily
leaves early because Italy does not receive the
promised land from defeated
Austria as Italy had been secretly promised by the
Allies at the beginning of the war);
President Woodrow Wilson representing the
U. S. (Orlando’s absence leaves the
“Big Three” to work out the details of the peace
conference with their subsequent peace treaties)

4. “PEACE OF JUSTICE” IS EMBODIED IN HIS
WILSON’S DESIRE FOR A
“PEACE OF JUSTICE” IS EMBODIED IN HIS
14 POINTS:
no secret treaties
freedom of trade and freedom of the seas
armament reduction for all countries
self-determination:
people have right to rule themselves
14th POINT: to establish an international
organization called the
League of Nations, made up of large and small
states, to
negotiate conflict rather than go to
war

5. TREATY OF VERSAILLES SIGNED BY THE NEWLY FORMED
DEFEATED GERMANY’S
TREATY OF VERSAILLES SIGNED BY THE NEWLY FORMED
WEIMAR REPUBLIC OF GERMANY:
“peace of vengeance” forced upon Germany
rather than using President Wilson’s
suggestion for a “peace of justice” or a “peace
without victory” toward defeated Germany
Germany is forced to accept the
“war guilt” clause, having to take full
responsibility for the war and its aftermath

6. Germany is forced to accept the
“blank check” clause;
reparations (amounts of money to be paid for
damages caused) are determined later to be
$30+ billion
Germany must relinquish (turn over) the iron
& coal-rich territories called
Alsace / Lorraine to
France

7. Poland; the purpose for this strategy is to not
Germany must relinquish the Polish Corridor
along the Baltic Sea to
Poland; the purpose for this strategy is to not
only give land-locked Poland access to a port
called
Danzig for trade, but as important, to divide
the German population to prevent its future
German unity
Germany is forbidden to produce any
additional war materials

8. German land next door to France Germany is forced to relinquish the
Germany is forbidden to
station troops in the
Rhineland, a strip of
German land next door to
France
Germany is forced to
relinquish the
Sudetenland (a moun-
tainous region of 3
million Germans) to
Czechoslovakia, the only
democracy in E. Europe,
and again, the purpose
is to separate the
German population

9. An Anschluss (union)
is forbidden between Germany and
Austria

10. RUSSIA, IS PUNISHED MOST SEVERELY:
EX-ALLIED POWER,
RUSSIA, IS PUNISHED MOST SEVERELY:
Because Communism becomes the most
feared political system, the Allies provide a
buffer zone between Russia and the rest of
Europe by taking Russian lands along the
Baltic Sea so that…

11. former Allied Power,
Russia, loses more
land than any other
belligerent in WW I:
Finland, Estonia,
Latvia, & Lithuania
become independent
Baltic states
Russia also loses
Poland
Russia, too, loses
more soldiers, its
most valuable
resource, than any
other belligerent as
a result of WWI

12. UNITED STATES’ INVOLVEMENT IN WORLD AFFAIRS AFTER WW I:
returns to a policy of
isolationism
refuses to join the
League of Nations
signs 5 separate peace treaties with
each of the defeated
Central Powers