Chapter 23: Section 4

Chapter 23: Section 4

Establishing Peace

The Costs of War: War Dead

• About 5 million Allied soldiers and 3.5 million soldiers from Central Powers died in combat.

• More than 20 million soldiers on both sides were wounded.

• In France, 90% of young healthy men were killed or wounded.

• 116,000 U.S. troops died, and about 200,000 wounded.

Financial Losses

• The war brought financial disaster to many parts of Europe.

• Factories and farms were left in ruins - severe food shortages occurred.

• $30 billion dollars worth of property was destroyed.

• Allies spent $145 billion on the war effort, and the Central Powers had spent $63 billion.

• France and Britain had borrowed large amounts of money to fight the war and were deeply in debt.

The Influenza Epidemic

• 1918: Worldwide epidemic of influenza broke out.

• Over 2 years it killed approximately 30 million people.

• Started at an army training camp in Kansas.

• Half of the Americans who died at this time died from influenza.

• State and local governments tried to stop the spread of the disease.

• Quarantines, public gatherings and school were banned

• 800,000 Americans were dead by the time the epidemic ended in 1919.

The Peace Agreement

• Wilson's Fourteen Points ( vision for a post war world).

• Specific proposal for post war peace: settled national border disputes , military cutbacks, lower tariffs and banned secret agreements between nations.

• Creation of the League of Nations: international assembly of nations to work together to settle international disputes and encourage democracy.

• European leaders disagreed with vision and wanted to punish Germany for its role in the war.

• Europe wanted to prevent Germany from ever becoming a world power again.

The Treaty of Versailles

• Paris Peace Conference held at the palace of Versailles outside of Paris.

• The Big Four: President Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French premier Georges Clemenceau, and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando took control of the conference.

• no representatives from Russia or the Central Power's attended.

The Treaty of Versailles

• Many Allied leaders wanted Germany to take complete blame for the war and the damage it caused.

• Reparations: payments for war damage , were set at $33 billion.

• France and other Allies wanted to take control of large parts of German territory.

The Treaty of Versailles

• Wilson reluctantly agreed to treaty which was the peace settlement of World War I and established the League of Nations.

• Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia became independent countries.

• Poland was restored as a nation.

• The Central Powers turned over their colonies to the League of Nations;

Versailles Treaty Rejected

• The U.S. Constitution says that treaties must be ratified by at least 2/3s of the members of Senate.

• Republican senator Henry Cabot Lodge wanted the winners to set the terms of peace.

• Republicans insisted on changes to the treaty before they would ratify it.

• The fear was the League of Nations would have the power to force the U.S. to send troops ato war based on the decisions they made.

• Wilson would not compromise and insisted that the treaty be ratified exactly as it was written.

Versailles Treaty Rejected

• November 19, 1919 The Treaty of Versailles was defeated in the Senate.

• The U.S. signed a separate peace treaty and did not join the League of Nations.