Peace

Conference
1919 &
Treaty of
Versailles
 America Joins the
●
War
Germany wages a campaign of unrestricted submarine
warfare, starting in 1915
● May 1915, German U-Boat sinks the RMS Lusitania
● On April 6, 1917, the United States officially declares
war on Germany; troops arrive 1918
● German resources are exhausted
● Hundred Days Offensive - Canada helps push the
Germans back to Belgium
● Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary sign peace
treaties
ARMISTICE
!
After agreeing to the Armistice in November
11, 1918, the Germans had been convinced
that they would be consulted by the Allies on
the contents of the Treaty. This did not
happen. Germany was given two choices:
1) sign the Treaty or
2) be invaded by the Allies.
 Canada and the Paris Peace
Conference
01
● Borden argued that Canada had 03
earned the right to sit independently ● Germany was not invited
at the negotiations - why would this to the negotiations - the
be important? decisions were forced on
them
02 ●
04
Though Britain still controlled
● Most decisions were made by
British PM David Lloyd Canada’s foreign policy, Prime
Minister Robert Borden argued that
George, French PM Georges Canadians’ wartime record had
Clemenceau and Woodrow earned Canada the right to sit
Wilson independently at the peace table.
 Fair or
●
Unfair
Diplomatic points created by US
President Woodrow Wilson -14
Points
● Wanted them to be used as a
template for peace negotiations
with Germany
● How do you think his points
were received? Are they FAIR
or UNFAIR?
"The Allied and Associated Governments
affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility
of Germany and her allies for causing all the
loss and damage to which the Allied and
Associated Governments and their nationals
have been subjected as a consequence of the
war imposed upon them by the aggression of
Germany and her allies."
 I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private
international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly
and in the public view.
II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in
peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international
action for the enforcement of international covenants.
III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of
an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and
associating themselves for its maintenance.
IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to
the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.
V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims,
based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of
sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the
equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.
 VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions
affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the
world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the
independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure
her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own
choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and
may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to
come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as
distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.
VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any
attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations.
No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations
in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their
relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of
international law is forever impaired.
 IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable
lines of nationality.
X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see
safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous
development.
XI. Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored;
Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan
states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of
allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic
independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.
XII. The turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure
sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured
an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous
development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the
ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.
 XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the
territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a
free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence
and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.
XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for
the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial
integrity to great and small states alike.