After WWI, the Allied powers and Germany negotiated the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The treaty imposed harsh terms on Germany, including war guilt, military limitations, and territorial losses. It failed to reconcile the countries or establish lasting peace. The US Senate rejected American participation in the League of Nations, leaving the country isolated. Radical groups conducted bombings in the postwar unrest, leading to a crackdown on suspected communists under the Palmer Raids. Overall, the treaty settlements exacerbated tensions instead of healing wounds from the war.

1.  In your groups come up with 3 or 4 points that
your country would want for the treaty after
the war.
 Reflect upon the hardships that your country
faced.

2. After the carnage of WWI.

3.  First Americans
landed in France in
June 1917
 Gen. Pershing kept
his troops back until
they could receive
more training
 Joined an American
Expeditionary Force
to preserve identity
and avoid Allied
disagreements over
strategy

4.  American units
helped block against
Germans at several
battles
 Sept. 12, 1918 half a
million soldiers and a
smaller number of
French soldiers
overran the German
stronghold at Saint-
Mihiel in 4 days

5.  French offensive stalled
 Mutinies and desertions
 Flanders
 British offensive, but Germans pushed them back
further from where started
 Southern Front
 Italians lost morale and started to desert

6.  Spring of 1918 allied troops under French General
Ferdinand Foch
 The Germans mounted their offensive
 wanted to split the Allies and drive the British to the sea
 came to within 37 miles of Paris before being stopped by the
Allies
 they were low on reserves and morale
 the Allies had high morale and high reserves
because of the US entering the war
 the Allied forces pushed the Germans back and slowly one
by one the resistance of the Central Powers fell
 November 11 at 11am the Germans signed the Armistice
 The Germans had lost the war while its troops still held
territory from France to the Crimean Peninsula

7.  Europe is shattered
 Millions dead, more wounded
 Country boundaries changed
 People looked to President Woodrow Wilson for
hope

8.  Germany saw that  Fourteen Points
their time had come  Peace plan whose
and they wanted an terms included
armistice international
 They hoped that recognition of
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 freedom of the seas
and trade, limitations
points would be used
of arms, an end to all
secret alliances
 Settlements of
colonial claims
 General assembly of
nations created

9.  Germany thought that the 14 points would be
used in the peace process with them
 Britain wanted control of the seas, didn’t want freedom
of the seas
 France wanted reparations (payment for damages) to
be included in any and all peace settlements
 Allied leaders didn’t want them (14 points)
 French Premier Clemenceau “President Wilson and
his 14 points bore me. Even God Almighty has only
10.”

10.  116,500 Americans died
 2.2 million Germans died
 1.7 million Russians died
 1.4 million French died
 1.2 million Austro-Hungarians died
 1 million British died
 Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919
 Victims literally died in their own bodily fluids
 1/50 died, generally ages 20-34 years of age
 25 million died world wide

11.  Big Four= Pres. Wilson
 January 1919 delegates
(US), Prime Minister
from 27 nations gathered in Clemenceau (France),
Paris to work out 5 Prime Minister David
separate peace treaties Lloyd George (Britain),
know as the Peace of Paris Prime Minister Vittorio
 Representatives from Orlando (Italy)
Russia and the Triple
Alliance were not invited
 France and Britain actually
funded against them in the
Civil War

12.  The Germans had surrendered on the basis of
Wilson’s 14 points, not knowing that the other
sides had already divided Germany up in
secret treaties
 When Wilson threatened to negotiate peace on his
own, finally Allies agreed to terms
 Britain refused to hear anything about freedom
of seas, only Germany had to disarm, and a
“guilt clause” made the Germans responsible
to pay off all war debts

13.  German Punishments  Territorially
 Military  Reduced and restricted
 Army  Alsace-Lorraine
reduced, conscription returned to France
prohibited  Poland established
 Navy limited  Danzig freed
 Forbidden to have an  Barred from uniting
air force or build with other German
weapons of aggression speaking peoples
 Stripped of colonial
possessions

14.  Economically
 Pay property damages, costs of the war and soldiers
pensions of the French and British
 Signed in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles June
28, 1919
 Only 4 of Wilson’s original 14 points and 9
supplemental principles emerged intact in the treaty
 League of Nations
 “It is definitely a guarantee of peace”
-Pres. Wilson

15.  Separate peace treaties signed with Austria-
Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey
 Greatest attention was territorial
 Broke up Austria and Hungary
 Austria was left small and economically weak
 Italy received from Austria territory near Brenner pass
in the Alps
 New nations emerged:
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslov
akia, Yugoslavia
 Considered the “cordon sanitaire” or quarantine line
 France would use it as a buffer against any potential threat
from Russia or Germany

16.  While most Americans favored the League of
nations, Wilson’s rival (Henry Cabot Lodge)
was against it
 He was afraid the LON would force American to
bend to the will of other nations
 March 3, 1919 Henry Cabot Lodge was able to
get enough signatures to block the treaty
 Wilson’s only hope was compromise
 He went on campaign across the nation to tell people
why it was necessary
 In 1919 he gave the best speech of his life, then had a
stroke from which he never fully recovered

17.  One of the major arguing points was Article X
to aid League members, but Wilson refused to
accept any changes
 March 1920 enough Democrats broke from the
president to produce a majority, but not a
required 2/3
 The Treaty of Versailles was dead in the US.
Not until July 1921 did Congress enact a joint
resolution ending the war
 The US which had fought separately from the allies,
made separate peace as well

18.  Settlement left Europe and the world troubled
 Those who fought became the “lost generation”
 Peace settlements failed to heal old wounds
and opened new ones as well
 No freedom of the seas
 Economic barriers not lowered
 Only defeated powers were required to disarm
 Provisions against Germany were too harsh to
expect reconciliation with Britain and France,
but not harsh enough to destroy Germany
completely

19.  How did/does your country feel as a result of
the treaties?
 Were there any common goals?
 Were compromises made?
 Which country was most pleased with how the
negotiations turned out? Most displeased?
 Does your country feel it achieved its most
important goals?
 Were there any particular impasses or
impediments to agreements?

20.  May Day 1919 six months after the war ended
mobs in a dozen cities broke up socialist
parades, injured hundreds and killed 3 people
 Many Americans believed they were under
attack by homegrown and foreign-sponsored
radicals
 Menace of radicalism was overblown
 Radicals hoped that the success of the Russian
Revolution would lead to better feelings in the
US
 Most Americans found the idea of Bolsheviks
threatening

21.  1919 the left split
 Radical socialists formed the Communist Labor
party
 Slavic radicals created a separate Communist party
 Together they had no more than 40,000 members
 April 28, 1919 Mayor Hanson received a small
parcel which he thought was from an admirer
of his tough patriotism
 Homemade bomb
 20 such packages were sent (including to J. D.
Rockafeller, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the
postmaster general )

22.  June 2 bombs exploded simultaneously in 8
different cities
 One demolished the front porch of A. Mitchell
Palmer, the attorney general of the US
 Bomb thrower was blown to bits but enough of him
remained for identification
 Italian anarchist from Philadelphia
 Americans assumed that an organized conspiracy
was being mounted to overthrow the government

23.  In response to the bombing he launched raids
in over 30 cities
 Invaded private homes, meeting halls, pool parlors
taking several thousand alleged communists into
custody without warrants and beating those who
resisted
 Placed prisoners in jail and over 200 (with no
criminal records) were deported to the USSR
 NY expelled 5 duly elected Socialists in 1919
 Many people denounced the action

24.  Palmer
predicted
an uprising
in May, but
nothing
happened
til Sept.
Americans
saw it as
the work of
a few
demented
radicals
 35 deaths,
200 injuries