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Evaluate the difficulties which had to be confronted in creating peace…
Evaluate the difficulties which had to be confronted in creating peace after 1918
Territorial problems
Following Wilsons points and the Treaty of Versailles's desicions most of Europe was reoganised because of German invasion
Countries were given their independance (Austria, Hungary)
Regions were given back to countries (ex: Alsace and Lorraine back to France)
After all these changes there were still conflicts and revolutions : Russian Revolution( 1917-1923),German Revolution (1918-1919, the country was angry at their defeat and blamed their leaders)
There were also conflicts between countries that newly gained their independance : after Poland regained independance a dispute began with Russia who wanted to expand to the west, this lead to the Polish Soveit War (1919-1921)
Peace was only restored in Europe in 1923
As a result Germany lost 13% of it's territory.This decrease in land was part of the Allies plan to weaken Germany.
The aim of Wilson's fourteen points was to reduce the chance of conflict and insure peace. For his strategies to be put into place , the other Allies had to agree. He suggested his ideas at the beginning of 1918, France and Italy eventually agreed later that year . Britain as well exept for the freedom of seas point
Ex: avoiding secrecy , promoting independant countries and collective security
Wilson believed in : open diplomacy, free trade,self-determination
During the Treaty of Versailles, Wilson's fourteen points were not greatly appreciated except for his idea of collective security which lead to the formation of the League of Nations( worldwide organisation with the aim to keep peace, 1920) As for the other points, they did not correspond with other countires views on the matter such as France who wanted to severly punish Germany
America's stand point
Isolationism in the US: They did not want to be involed in Europe's affairs ( apart from Wilson who spent 6 months in France discussing the treaty)
Wilson tried to gain support for his idealogies by touring Amercia but the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations in 1920
America, as a strong and wealthy country (thanks to economic profit from the war) would have been a useful country to have as a member of the League of Nations
Wilson and other ally leaders such as Clemenceau did not have the same view on punishing Germany. France's desire to greatly weaken Germant conflicted with Wilson's vision of "peace without victory"
Negociations on this topic were so heated and strenuous that it affected Wilson's health
Countries' clashing indivudual opinions and difficulties
Considerable damage was done to France: wanted germany to pay reparations, have military rescrictions and lose their colonies so that Germany would never gain power again and invade France
Wilson and Clemenceau had very different ideas, which lead to complicated negociations, the two had a hostile relationship
Wilson believed that punishing Germany would only encourage them to want revenge later on
Lloyd George agrred to punish Germany but also wanted to resume trade with Germans and improve the relationship between the two countries.
Russia signed a peace treaty with the Central Powers (Germany and it's Allies). However Russia did not acheive peace as the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917, the citizens rebelled beacuse of the huge military loss during the war