The+Paris+Peace+Conference+and+the++Treaty+of+Versailles

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media type="custom" key="2970962" width="156" height="125" The Paris Peace Conference was an international meeting convened in January 1919 at Versailles just outside Paris. The purpose of the meeting was to establish the terms of the peace after World War. Though nearly thirty nations participated, the representatives of Great Britain, France, the United States, and Italy became known as the “Big Four.” The “Big Four” would dominate the proceedings that led to the formulation of the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that articulated the compromises reached at the conference.The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany, and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, one of the events that triggered the start of the war. Although the armistice signed on 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference, to conclude the peace treaty. Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial, required Germany and its allies to accept responsibility for causing the war and, under the terms of articles 231-248, to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions, and pay reparations, to certain countries that had formed the Entente, powers. The Treaty was undermined by subsequent events starting as early as 1922 and was widely flouted, by the mid-thirties. The result of these competing and sometimes incompatible goals among the victors was a compromise that nobody was satisfied with. Germany was neither pacified, nor conciliated, which, in retrospect, did not bode well for the future of Germany, Europe, or the world as a whole.  Representatives of the German government were summoned to Paris and on May 7, 1919, presented with the fruits of the peace negotiations. After examining the more than 200-page document, the Germans were outraged. They believed that they had been lured into an armistice with the promise that the Fourteen Points, would serve as the backbone of the peace treaty. What they found instead bore little resemblance to Wilson’s even-handed proposals. Thus, the stage was set for two decades of German poverty, hunger, privation and World War II. Peace with Germany, like most complicated issues, required compromise. Despite German anger, the result of the negotiations was much more moderate than the harsh terms of Brest-Litovsk, but still far from the spirit of the Fourteen Points. The treaty contained more than 400 articles, but the major issues can be summarized by the following: Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France. German colonies were assigned to victorious nations as ”mandates” under the League of Nations. The Saar Basin was assigned to France for 15 years, then a plebiscite was to be held to determine the area's allegiance. Poland was reestablished as an independent nation and granted access to the sea through a strip of land that came to be known as the Polish Corridor. The amount of German reparations was to be determined by a Reparations Commission. Germany was forced to accept responsibility for all losses and damages in the conflict in what was termed the "war guilt clause" (Article 231). Wilson’s victories included the creation of a modern Poland, the pledge of support for disarmament, the establishment of colonial trusts and, of course, the creation of the League of Nations. However, in order to obtain these provisions, he acquiesced to the demands of the Allies on reparations, stripping Germany of its colonies and the near total destruction of the German military — all of which contributed to an undercurrent of anger in the defeated nation.
 * General Information **
 * The ****Palace of Versailles **

Now, with this treaty, there comes some Territorial Claims.For exaple, The Japanese claim to Shandong was disputed by the Chinese.It is said that In 1914 at the outset of First World War Japan had seized the territory granted to Germany in 1897. They also seized the German islands in the Pacific north of the equator. Apparently, in 1917, Japan had made secret agreements with Britain, France and Italy really want these territories. With Britain, there was a mutual agreement, Japan also agreeing to support British annexation of the Pacific islands south of the equator. Despite a generally pro-Chinese view on behalf of the American delegation, Article 156 of the Treaty of Versailles transferred German concessions in Shandong, China to Japan rather than returning sovereign authority to China. The leader of the Chinese delegation, Lu Zhengxiang, demanded that a reservation be inserted before he would sign the treaty. The reservation was denied, and the treaty was signed by all the delegations except that of China. Chinese outrage over this provision led to demonstrations known as the May Fourth Movement. The Pacific islands north of the equator became a class C mandate administered by Japan.  There were many different approaches from the different countries all over the world. There were many different ones, but the ones that will be mentioned are The Untied States, British French, approach/aims:
 * Territorial claims **
 * The Approach of other Countries **

Prior to Wilson's arrival in Europe, no American President had ever visited Europe while in office. Since Wilson had established the conditions for the armistices that had brought an end to World War I, Wilson felt it was his duty and obligation to the people of the world to be a prominent figure at the peace negotiations. In doing so, Wilson ultimately began to lead the foreign policy of the United States down the path of interventionism. Wilson's Fourteen Points had helped win the hearts and minds of Germans as the war ended, and high hopes and expectations were placed on him to deliver what he had promised. Once arrived, however, he found himself working diligently to try and sway the direction the French (Georges Clemenceau) and British (Lloyd George) delegations were taking towards Germany and its allies. Unlike France and Britain, who still aspired to be dominant colonial powers, the United States hoped to establish a more liberal and diplomatic world where democracy and sovereignty would be respected. However, Wilson's attempts to ensure that his Fourteen Points would lead to change ultimately failed, after France and Britain refused to adopt its core principles of liberty and self-determination, in part because of the control they wielded over their colonies around the world. France and Britain tried to appease the American President by consenting to the establishment of his League of Nations. However, because some of the articles in the League's charter conflicted with the United States Constitution, the United States never did ratify the Treaty of Versailles nor join the League of Nations, an institution it had helped to create, to further peace through diplomacy rather than war. The United States sued for peace with Germany and its allies in 1920. The United States did not encourage nor believe that the Article 231 placed on Germany was fair or warranted.
 * __The United States__** :

France had lost some 1.5 million military personnel and an estimated 400,000 civilians to the war had been fought on French soil. To appease the French public, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau wanted to impose policies deliberately meant to cripple Germany militarily, politically, and economically so as never to be able to invade France again.[ Georges Clemenceau also particularly wished to regain the rich and industrial land of Alsace-Lorraine, which had been stripped from France by Germany in the 1871 War.
 * France: **

Prime Minister David Lloyd George supported reparations but to a lesser extent than the French. Lloyd George was aware that if the demands made by France were carried out, France could become the most powerful force on the continent, and a delicate balance could be unsettled. Lloyd George was also worried by Woodrow Wilson's proposal for "self-determination" and, like the French, wanted to preserve his own nation's empire. Like the French, Lloyd George also supported secret treaties and naval blockades. Prior to the war, Germany had been Britain's main competitor and its largest trading partner, making the destruction of Germany at best a mixed blessing. Lloyd George managed to increase the overall reparations payment and Britain's share by demanding compensation for the huge number of widows, orphans, and men left unable to work through injury, due to the war.
 * Britain's aims:**

 ==<span style="font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%; font-style: normal; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Reaction To The Treaty ==

<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">**Reaction of the Allies:** Clemenceau had failed to achieve all of the demands of the French people, and he was voted out of office in the elections of January 1920. French Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch, who felt the restrictions on Germany were too lenient, declared, "This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for twenty years." <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Influenced by the opposition of Henry Cabot Lodge, the United States Senate voted against ratifying the treaty. Despite considerable debate, Wilson refused to support the treaty with any of the reservations imposed by the Senate. As a result, the United States did not join the League of Nations, despite Wilson's claims that he could "predict with absolute certainty that within another generation there will be another world war if the nations of the world do not concert the method by which to prevent it." After Wilson's successor Warren G. Harding continued American opposition to the League of Nations, Congress passed the Knox-Porter Resolution bringing a formal end to hostilities between the United States and the Central Powers. It was signed into law by Harding on 21 July 1921. On 29 April the German delegation under the leadership of the Foreign Minister Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau arrived in Versailles. On 7 May when faced with the conditions dictated by the victors, including the so-called "War Guilt Clause", Foreign Minister Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau replied to Clemenceau, Wilson and Lloyd George: We know the full brunt of hate that confronts us here//.// You demand from us to confess we were the only guilty party of war; such a confession in my mouth would be a lie. Because Germany was not allowed to take part in the negotiations, the German government issued a protest against what it considered to be unfair demands, and a "violation of honour" and soon afterwards, withdrew from the proceedings of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany's first democratically elected Chancellor, Philipp Scheidemann refused to sign the treaty and resigned. In a passionate speech before the National Assembly on 12 March 1919, he called the treaty a "murderous plan" and exclaimed, After Scheidemann's resignation, a new coalition government was formed under Gustav Bauer and it recommended signing the treaty. The National Assembly voted in favour of signing the treaty by 237 to 138, with 5 abstentions. The foreign minister Hermann Müller and Johannes Bell travelled to Versailles to sign the treaty on behalf of Germany. The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919 and ratified by the National Assembly on 9 July 1919 by a vote of 209 to 116. Conservatives, nationalists and ex-military leaders began to speak critically about the peace and Weimar politicians, socialists, communists, and Jews were viewed with suspicion due to their supposed extra-national loyalties. It was rumoured that the Jews had not supported the war and had played a role in selling out Germany to its enemies. This was mainly due to certain members of the World Zionist Congress, many of whom were from Germany, attempting to influence (with some success) the British and American governments' policy toward the Ottoman Empire (with special attention given to the fate of Palestine), which became known at the Paris Peace Conference. This effort produced the Balfour Declaration. These //November Criminals//, or those who seemed to benefit from a weakened Germany, and the newly formed Weimar Republic, were seen to have "stabbed them in the back" on the home front, by either criticizing German nationalism, instigating unrest and strikes in the critical military industries or profiteering. These theories were given credence by the fact that when Germany surrendered in November 1918, its armies were still in French and Belgian territory. Not only had the German Army been in enemy territory the entire time on the Western Front, but on the Eastern Front, Germany had already won the war against Russia, concluded with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. In the West, Germany had seemed to come close to winning the war with the Spring Offensive. Its failure was blamed on strikes in the arms industry at a critical moment of the offensive, leaving soldiers with an inadequate supply of materiel. The strikes were seen to be instigated by treasonous elements, with the Jews taking most of the blame. This overlooked Germany's strategic position and ignored how the efforts of individuals were somewhat marginalized on the front. Nevertheless, this myth of domestic betrayal fell on fertile ground, due to the conditions of the treaty seen unanimously seen as //unacceptable// (quote Philip Scheidemann before he refused to sign and stepped down) by all political parties from left to right.
 * Reaction in Germany:**

On 28 June 1914 Gavrilo Prinzip (1894-1918), a rogue Serbian nationalist, assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914), heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This event touched off a sequence of actions that led to the outbreak of World War I. There followed four years of ghastly warfare that brought about the wholesale destruction of an entire generation of young men. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Although U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) initially affirmed American neutrality in the conflict, the Unites States did eventually enter the war in 1917. Once that happened, Wilson saw the need for a new type of peace treaty. In his war address to Congress in April 1917, he spoke of the need for the self-determination of peoples and nations, of a peace treaty without territorial acquisitions, of a future that guaranteed the rights of man and that ensured a world safe for democracy.

Eventually, Wilson settled on the instrument of a League of Nations as the tool to accomplish these goals, and he elaborated his proposal in the Fourteen Points which he presented to Congress on 8 January 1918. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">When Germany agreed to an armistice in October 1918, it did so on the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points. This, however, caused confusion because France and Great Britain, as America's allies, had made no commitment to negotiate on the basis of Wilson's points. This confusion did not immediately become important in the armistice negotiations, because Germany was in no shape to continue the war. The disagreement over terms and the peace process, however, became manifest in the negotiations for a final peace treaty in Paris.

The Paris Peace Conference began as a triumphal gathering of allied diplomats--Representatives of the defeated powers were not invited--much like past major European diplomatic conferences such as the Congress of Vienna.

In the protracted diplomatic discussions at Versailles, Wilson, David Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister (1863-1945), Georges Clemenceau, the French Premier (1841-1929), and Vittorio Orlando, the Italian Prime Minister (1860-1952), all compromised their initial bargaining positions in a way that left each subject to bitter recrimination from their contemporaries and condemnation from future historians. For example, Wilson abandoned much of his original principles when he supported territorial acquisitions, but he did so quite inconsistently. For instance, he supported Italy's claims in the Trentino, but not in Fiume. Lloyd George, similarly, agreed to divide up the German colonial empire but was more cautious with respect to German territorial changes in Europe. Clemenceau did oversee the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France and did get a demilitarized zone in the Rhine River valley, but he did not obtain the Rhine River as the Franco-German border.

Almost immediately after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the diplomatic situation changed dramatically. The U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty, and then Wilson fell ill. The British began having second thoughts about the severity of the treaty, and the French became overly pre-occupied with their security in Europe.

Many later historians and contemporary analysts pointed directly to the treaty as the cause for the rise of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) in Italy and Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) in Germany. It was often claimed that the treaty merely started the chain of events that became a "road to war." In reality, that was far from the case. The document, despite its many shortcomings, did provide a workable peace, if the signers had decided to continue to work within the context of the treaty. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">