Paris Peace Conference

focused upon the desire to create a state - an appreciation for the common language, culture and traditions of your people regardless of statehood

- Obsessive desire of Germans to acquire an empire (this threatened other countries)drove other countries to go to war - France's desire for revenge (Franco-Prussian War) drove the government to war to restore France's dominance in Europe - Great Britain felt they had the strongest Navy and they wanted their power restored as in pre-1914 - Culmination of many nations accepted war to advance their own national interests

-this involved nationalism to liberate people from their oppressors - Austria-Hungary was made of many minority groups: Slavs in the Balkan wanted the map to be redrawn - Austria was then in conflict with Russia because they also wanted the Balkan area so it was the nationalist aspirations and the murder of the Archduke of Austria that promoted the outbreak of war

One country acquiring dominance over another country or region

1. Britain and France had empires and Germany wanted to become an empire by gaining new colonies 2. Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands already had most of the colonies that Germany wanted 3. Germany had strong industrial and military power and they were willing to be aggressive. They were all ready to fight to keep their lands or to acquire new land.

January 1919 in Paris

an agreement to ensure a world war would never happen again

France - Georges Clemenceau United States - Woodrow Wilson Britain - David Lloyd George

a) outlawing alliances b) freedom of seas c)free trade d) disarmament e) return of Russian territories taken by Germany f) Alsace-Lorraine returned to France G) Formation of League of Nations H) Self-Determination

Ethnic groups can decide of whom they would prefer to be governed by. (after the war Austria-Hungary no longer existed and Serbs and Croatians formed Yugoslavia)

a) Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France b) Poland given land c)Germany accepted full responsibility for the cause of the war d) Germany gave up all colonies e) Military restrictions for Germany - 100,000 men, navy and airforce restrictions f) Germany surrendered entire Merchant fleet g) West bank of Rhine River de-militarized h) unifications between Germany and Austria forbidden i) Constitution of League of Nations included in treaty

Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary and Poland

- came from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles - part of Wilson's 14 points - US rejected the treaty and the League - step towards establishing an international arbitrator

- the territorial, military and economic terms humiliated and infuriated the Germans and this encouraged revenge. Reparation payments caused Germany's economic collapse. The demobilized German troops were unhappy and they created right-wing political groups that were against the Allies' treatments of the Germans and this eventually led to Hitler and the Nazi party.

Security of the sea lanes to its empire(Britain did not support heavy reparations for Germany b/c they were more afraid of the Bolsheviks and they did not want Russia to take over Germany)

National security and financial reparations (payments) - return of Alsace-Lorraine - German Rhineland be a buffer zone (against Wilson's principle of national self-determination) or it be made a demilitarized zone (this was the compromise) -financial compensation for losses (Germany had to pay back as much as it could within 30 years)

They wanted to maintain their healthy economy so they wanted France and Britain to repay their loans. Make the world safe for democracy.