1. The Causes The Effects The Big Three
What do we know already?
The Causes
The Effects
The Big Three

2. THREE PERSPECTIVES ON THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCES
The Treaty of Versailles

3. To decide what to do, the ‘big three’ met.

4. George Clemenceau: Realist Wants: People: supported him
dismember Germany
revenge
guaranteed safety
stripped of industry and armed forces
People: supported him
What excerpts from Treaty did he support?
War Guilt Clause
Alsace and Lorraine
Military restrictions
de-militarized Rhine valley
Forbid (Anschluss)

5. Woodrow Wilson Idealist Wants: People:
just and lasting peace
creation of the League of Nations
Democracy
People:
didn’t support him
Treaty of Versailles defeated by US Senate WHY?
What excerpts from Treaty did he support?
League of Nations
Constitution of League
Alsace and Lorraine
Disarmament

7. Lloyd George Middle of the Road Wants: People: supported him
revenge and reparations—but do not cripple Germany
feared refugees and communism
wanted a trading partner in Germany
People: supported him
What excerpts from Treaty did he support?
War Guilt Clause
Military restrictions
surrender merchant fleet
League of Nations mandates

8. And the 4th: Vittorio Orlando
-Dalmatian Coast
-Fiume

14. The ‘Three’ make Wilson ignore his 'Points'
Look again at “the 14 Points” and then note the following:
1 Point 1: the Allied leaders met in secret.
2 Point 2: Britain refused to give up its right to stop
shipping and trading with an enemy during wartime
Point 3: tariff barriers were retained-and increased
4 Point 4: there was no real attempt at disarmament
(14.10).
5 Point 5: Britain and France increased their colonial
holdings.
6 Point 6: the Allies sent troops to attack the Bolsheviks.
7 Point 9: the boundary of Italy was not settled.
8 Point 13: post-war Poland contained millions of
Germans.
9 Point 14: the League of Nations never worked as
Wilson had hoped.

15. SELF DETERMINATION DENIED
West Prussia and Posen, with four million Germans, were
given to Poland one of the new states created
at Versailles;
2. -small portions of German territory (and German
people) were handed to Czechoslovakia, another new state;
3. -Danzig, once an important German part, and its
Germans was named 'a Free City’; to be governed by the
League of Nations;
4. -Memel, another important port, with Germans
was seized to the new country, Lithuania, created by
the Treaty
5. -Northern Schleswig went to Denmark;

16. Note Six and a half million Germans (or one-tenth of the former population)
lost their German citizenship and became citizens of other countries.

20. Major Losses

21. Criticism of the peace settlement
1. There were too many small states, unable to defend themselves from attack by any major power.
2. Each state imposed its own tariff barriers, contrary to point 3 of the Fourteen Points. This led to a reduction in international trade, one of the reasons for the post-war depression.
3. Contrary to Point 12, the population of the new Poland was not entirely Polish. The presence of racial minorities- Germans, Hungarians and others-Poland Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia -the presence of similar minorities in.
This was to cause international unrest in the 1920s and 1930s and the 1990’s

22. 4. Germany was angered by the loss of so much territory
4. Germany was angered by the loss of so much territory. It was almost inevitable that she would look for revenge.
5. The Allies ignored Bolshevik Russia and her legitimate interest in the future of the countries on her border.
6. The reparations imposed were too harsh-and were never paid, except to the USA

23. The War Guilt Clause
Article 231 of the Treaty (the 'war guilt' clause) Germany solely responsible for all 'loss and damage' suffered by the Allies during the war and provided the basis for reparations.
The total sum due was decided by an Inter-Allied Reparations Commission and was set at £6.6 Billion ($ ).
This would have taken Germany until 1984 to pay!

24. The Germans would not blame the military for the problems brought by the war but rather the civilian government which agreed to these terms (“stab in the back” of Germany)

25. The International Labour Organization (ILO) Accomplishments
(a) working day should be no more than eight hours and the working week no more than forty-eight hours.
(b)Workers should have annual paid holidays was accepted.
(c)The ILO decided that workers had a right to form trade unions.
(d)The ILO decided that no one should be in a full time employment before the age of fifteen.