some information about the end of wwi

1. The end of WWI
President Wilson proposed a plan for peace
called the Fourteen points which consisted
of:
a. no more alliances
b. free trade among all nations
c. people in all European nations could
freely elect their own leaders
d. Central Powers should not be punished
for starting the war
e. Create an organization to work for
peace called the League of Nations

2. Sounds like Wilson was on the right track for promoting
world peace, right?

3. However, the other Allies had other plans
for Germany
The British, French and Italians basically decided that Germany
needed to be punished for starting the war.
So the provisions of the Versailles Treaty were quite harsh
towards Germany
Please, remember that it was the Austrians and Russians who
started the war.
Now the Germans were going to have to take the blame

4. Versailles Treaty Ends the War
1) Germany loses all of its colonies
2) Germany has to give territory to France and Poland
3) Limits the size of the German army to 100,000 soldiers
and navy the navy to 6 Battleships (no submarines! And
no Air Force!)
4) Germany is to accept the blame for starting the war
(this is later known as the “War guilt Clause” of the
Versailles treaty)

5. Click the next slide to see the “reparations”
that Germany was forced to make as well

6. 5) Germany is to pay $33 billion dollars for the full
cost of the war:
a. $5 billion dollars down
b. $250 million/year until it’s paid AND:
c. give all of its large merchant ships, ½ of its
medium ships and ¼ of its fishing fleet to the
Allies.
d. build 200,000 tons of ships each year for the
Allies over the next 5 years
e. give up 1/3 of their coal producing lands
f. had to give 40 million tons of free coal each
year to France for 10 years
g. had to give all industrial inventions to the
Allies

7. In fact the Bayer corporation (A German company)
Had to give up its patent for Aspirin because of the Treaty
of Versailles
This was the most popular pain reliever in the world at that
time and losing this patent cost the company and Germany
millions of dollars

8. Why were the Germans going to have a
hard time paying off that debt?
The Allies took away the means for Germany to earn money to pay off this
huge amount of reparations.
Think about it:
1) Losing colonies means Germany loses raw materials and markets for
finished goods
2) Giving its coal producing lands to France meant there was more difficult to
power its industrial plants
3) Losing its shipping means that it couldn’t export anything it managed to
produce
4) Losing its patents also meant less money was being earned
5) So Germany had to borrow money to make the first payments and later
they quit paying altogether

9. The Treaty of Versailles basically set the stage for the
beginning of WWII. But more about that later.
For module 5 will focus on US Isolationism and the Roaring
20’s!!!!!!!
(While most of Europe is kinda in a funk)