End of the Great War and the Treaty of Versailles

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End of the Great War and the Treaty of Versailles
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American Intervention, 1917-1918

• May 1915 Lusitania (128 US citizens)
• February 1917 Germany declared unconditional
  submarine warfare
• Zimmermann Telegram
• Sent and deciphered in Jan. 1917
• Brits gave it to Wilson Feb. 24, 1917
• Wilson had it published March 1, 1917
• 6 April 1917 US Congress approved resolution
  declaring war on Germany

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President Woodrow Wilson

• 1916 He kept us out of war.
• By 1917 wanted to help end the war
• Jan. 1918 Fourteen Points
• Idealistic
• National self-determination

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American Intervention was decisive

• Money and supplies (1917-1918 7,000,000,000
  worth of food and guns)
• Navy (second largest)
• Men
• March 1918 85,000 US troops
• Sept. 1918 1.2 million US troops
• Morale

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(No Transcript)
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November 11, 1918 Armistice!
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The Stab in the Back MythAdolf HitlerMatthias
Erzberger
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Spanish Influenza Pandemic
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Spanish Influenza Pandemic

• First appeared in Kansas
• Killed 8 million in Spain
• Most deadly to 20-40 year-olds
• Quick death
• 43,000 US soldiers died
• 20 million died in India
• Up to 40 million world-wide

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Paris Peace Conference, 1919
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Paris Peace Conference (cont.)

• The Big Four
• David Lloyd George of Britain (mediator)
• Georges Clemenceau of France (wanted revenge,
  compensation, to contain Germany)
• Woodrow Wilson of the United States (idealist
  national self-determination lasting peace)
• Vittorio Orlando of Italy (played a minor role)

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John Maynard Keynes (1883-1940)

• Economic advisor to Lloyd George
• Quit the conference
• The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1920)

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Treaty of Versailles

• Between Allies and Germany
• Signed in Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles,
  June 28, 1919

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Treaty of Versailles

• Crucial Terms
• Clause 231 War guilt clause
• 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.
• Clause 232 reparations, eventually calculated at
  33,000,000,000 (1921)
• Covenant of the League of Nations

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Things soon begin to fall apart

• US Congress rejected Versailles Treaty
• Henry Cabot Lodge
• Sept. 1919 Wilson's 8000 mile tour, 40 speeches
  29 cities (22 days)
• Wilson collapsed
• Nov. 2, 1920 Warren Harding elected US President
• Aug. 1921 US signed a separate Treaty with
  Germany