1ère Euro

History : ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES IN WWI

III- PEACEMAKING

The war caused 9 million casualties, mostly in Europe. It was quickly called the Great War, and people in the
world wanted it to be the last war of human History. But hope for peace didn’t last very long. Negotiations were
hard to establish the Peace treaties, and as soon as 1920 doubts arose as to whether they would ensure a lasting
peace.

1. Preparing peace : the role of President Wilson

Questions :
1. Introduce the document precisely : when was it made (was the war over ?) ? Who was the author ? Who
was the addressee ? What is the aim of the document ?
2. Which articles illustrate the leading economic ideology of the USA ? Elaborate your answer.
3. Which principle is illustrated in articles 9, 10 and 11 ?
 4. Which point was likely to make America’s allies uneasy ? Why ?
5. What is the aim of Point 14 ?

Correction and lesson :

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) had great plans to make sure war would never happen again. Nations would have to
cooperate. He had made it clear in January 1918 (before the end of the war) in his Fourteen Points. They were the sketch
of a program for peace, the principles which will guide peacemaking once the war had finished. Wilson announced his
Fourteen Points in a speech to Congress on 8 January 1918, when the Germans were asking for a truce. But the ideas were
also addressed to the USA’s allies as Wilson wanted his 14 Points to be the basis to negotiate the Peace Treaties.

The Fourteen Points were an important part of the peace process :

- the 14 points were based on the idea that trade should bring peace in the world. Free trade among countries
would promote economic growth and reduce trade conflicts that could draw nations into war This is why Wilson wanted
to promote free trade and the free navigation upon the seas. Indeed, referring to U-boat attacks on shipping which had
drawn the United States into WWI, Wilson explains that ships would be able to travel freely in times of war. Free trade and
the idea of free navigation illustrated the liberal ideology of Wilson, who sustained capitalism.

- One of the most important was self-determination = people of different national groups had the right to rule
themselves (articles 9, 10 and 11). In practice, self-determination of peoples was difficult to apply. Actually, the peoples
from Eastern Europe were spread across wide areas, some might end up being ruled by groups who had a different culture
and language. Moreover, this idea did not please France neither the UK who had many colonies where peoples had
already started to ask for independence. But Wilson really intended to ensure the right to self-determination for ethnic
groups so they could control their own political futures (point 5). He thought that Imperialism and competition for colonies
had been a cause of WW I

- The other important one was point 14 which called for a League of Nations to ensure world Peace. Member
nations would agree to protect one another’s independence and territorial integrity.
Under the principle of territorial integrity, nations respect one another’s borders and do not try to gain another country’s
territory by force. Countries would work together in the League of Nations to resolve conflicts before those conflicts
escalated into.

The 14 Points broke with the former position of the USA = the USA was more and more involved in the world affairs Wilson
aimed at basing the future negotiations on the 14 Points. He wanted to convince the Allies but his 14 points were
unwelcome even if the Allies couldn’t say so. Clemenceau just commented : “The Lord God had only ten”.

Negotiations to prepare the first peace treaty with Germany were organized in Versailles (where France signed
its defeat in 1871 and where the German Empire had been created in 1871. Do you get the idea ? ). But
negotiations were quite hard. Talking about American President Wilson and French Prime Minister Clemenceau,
British Prime Minister Llyod George said to a journalist that it was as if he were sitting between Jesus Christ and
Napoleon !
Negotiations for Peace gathered the Heads of State or government of France, Great Britain, Italy and the USA. But
negotiations were harsh, despite Wilson’s efforts. But on the one hand, France, Great Britain and the US did not share the
same goals. Wilson was considered idealistic and not very legitimate to negotiate as his own territory had not been
destroyed. Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France since November 1917 (he was 77), was under a huge pressure
to make Germany pay for the French sufferings (as Germany had already invaded France in 1870 and lose Alsace-Lorraine).
So, he argued to secure the French-German border by gaining land over Germany and getting money to pay for the French
war effort. David Lloyd George, the experienced British Prime minister (had been in politics for 30 years), wanted Germany
to be punished but not too harshly as the Germans would look for revenge. He also wanted to protect his interests at sea
and would only allow Germany to have a limited navy but Wilson was for ‘freedom of the seas’. But he also wanted to be
able to trade with Germany in the future. Moreover , initially, the Germans had rejected the Fourteen Points as the basis
for peace but when the war ended in November and after the much harsher terms of the Armistice, they hoped that the
peace settlement would be based on them. The Allies refused because the Germans had rejected them before. This helped
to build up German resentment against the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles (“prussianism” on the document).

Another danger was looming at that time : communism which began to threat Europe after the 2nd Russian Revolution in
October (November) 1917 and the attempt of a German communist revolution in Berlin in January 1919 (“bolchevism” on
the document).