War And Peace

War and Peace WWI—Its Result and Consequences

The War The First World War broke out on 28th July, 1914 when Austria declared war on Serbia The belligerents were the Central Powers and the Allies The Central Powers were Germany , AustriaHungary, Bulgaria and Turkey The Allies included France, Britain, Russia, Serbia and Japan. Italy, the U.S. joined, and Russia withdrawn the Allies later

The War Most battles were fought in Europe. Some battles were fought in the colonies of the Powers in Africa and Asia Although most of the powers thought that the war would end soon, it last for more than 4 years because of the Trench war fares

The War Italy joined the Allies in May 1915 because Austria was her traditional enemy, and she was promised to have Trentino and Trieste after the war The U-boat policy of Germany force the U.S. to declared war on Germany in April 1917 In March, 1918, the Bolsheviks concluded peace with Germany by signing the Treaty of BrestLitovsk On November 1918, the new government, formed after the abdication of Kaiser William II, signed the surrender to end the First World War

The Cost of the War About 10 million men died in total About 5 million civilians died from diseases related to food shortages (Textbook p. 94) The War ended four empires: Turkey, Germany, Austria and Russia The estimation of money used during the war period was $330,700,000,000 The damages were huge, too

The Peace Conference at Versailles A peace conference was held at Versailles, Paris on January 1919 27 nations were represented Communist Russia and the defeated were not allowed to join the conference Most of the decisions were first made by the big three

The Big Three President Woodrow Wilson of The US Being a former Professor of Princeton University, he was viewed as an idealist He proposed his famous “14 points” which stressed on selfdetermination, fair and equal status for all nations and a League of Nations should be sat up to promote peace

The Big Three Georges Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister •He had twice seen his country invaded by the Germans, in 1870 and 1914. He proposed to keep Germany permanently weak

The Big three Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister He favoured moderate terms in dealing with Germany and he realized the need for restoring German prosperity in maintaining peace However, he had promise to punish Germany during election He thus had to mediate to Clememceau’s harsh terms and Wilson’s lenient attitude at the Conference

Italy’s Attitude Italy was represented by Vittorio Orlando He was interested in securing for more territories for Italy He was one of the “Big Four”, however, he found himself excluded from the inner circle When Italy’s territorial demands were not fully satisfied, the Italians regarded themselves being deceived

The Treaty of Versailles (with Germany)

A. Territorial Clauses

Lost of her overseas colonies Alsace-Lorraine returned to France A special corridor was created for Poland The Port of Danzig was to come under the League of Nations

The Treaty of Versailles B. Military clauses A demilitarized zone was to be created in Rhineland The Germany army was reduced 100,000 Germany would not allowed to have aircraft, conscription or submarine Germany was also not allowed to import or manufacturing war materials

The Treaty of Versailles C. The War Guilt Clause The allies believed that the war was caused by German Therefore, Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles claimed that Germany was solely responsible for provoking the War Germany had to compensate the Allies at £6500 million

The Treaty of Versailles D. Other provisions of the Treaty Opened some of the rivers in Germany and the Kiel Canal to ships of all nations Germany and Austria were forbidden to united Germany had to give up the territories gains from Russia in March 1918

Reactions and Comments of German to the Treaty The Germans were angry with the “War-Guilt Clause” The German not regarded themselves defeated The German resented the dictated Treaty The Germans felt having been deceived, by the Wilson 14 points The huge reparations made German felt upset People also complained that the treaty ignored economic recovery

Other Treaties The Treaty of St Germain (with Austria) The Treaty of Neuilly (with Bulgaria) The Treaty of Trianon (with Hungary) The Treaty of Sevres (with Turkey in 1920) and the Treaty of Lausanne (with Turkey in 1923)

Achievements of the Peace Conference The Settlement achieved a higher degree of ethnic self-determination than had existed before The League of Nations was established. Its existence marked a great step beyond the international anarchy before 1914

Defects of the Peace Conference 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The terms of the peace treaties created anger, especially for the Central Powers: Austria lost ¾ of its territories Bulgaria was deprived of outlets to Aegean Sea Hungary was reduced to a small state with a small population Turkey lost most of her European territories Germany was angry for the “War-Guilt clause”, the huge reparation and the territorial losses

Defects of the Peace Conference     

Even the Allies were dissatisfied with the settlement: Italy were dissatisfied with the limited land reward China were dissatisfied with the arrangement of Shantung province Russia denounced the cession of Russian territories The US never ratified the Treaty of Versailles Many people from the Allies thought that the settlement was unfair and unworkable

Consequences of the War

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Enormous casualties and serious destruction to properties and equipment: Over 12 million of soldiers died and 15 million civilians casualties There were serious material destruction Normal daily life and economic activities upset Nations joined the war borrow heavily

Consequences of the War New Balance of power in Europe and the world 2. Four vast empire disappeared 3. Britain and France were weaken, the US and Japan emerged as strong power

Consequences of the War The formation of the League of Nations A beginning of decolonization Improvement of the status of women Improvements in industrial techniques and the art of war