Modern+History+-+Core

The End of WWI - Be sure to include sources!!!!

The Stockholm Conference

Key terms: Origins/Context: - Aims:From 1889 socialist parties around the world were united in the Second International. The members of the International elected a permanent executive known as the International Socialist Bureau (ISB). In conferences the members of the International pledged to work for peace and to use industrial action in the event of a European war to cripple the military machines of their governments. The International disbanded at the outbreak of World War 1 because of differences between Patriotic right wing socialists and their support of their respective government’s prosecution of war. Those parties in the Patriotic Right were the SPD (Germany), SFIO (France), Labour Party (Britain) and trade union leaders in these countries. - The initiatives for international social conference was taken by the Dutch and Scandinavian socialists and was the culmination of a series of attempts by the ‘northern neutrals’ to promote a revival of international socialist contracts. - War weariness set in by 1917 the Centre 'Minority' socialists in Europe (SFIO 'minority' in France, the USPD in Germany, the ILP and UDC in Britain, and the PSI in Italy) supported moves to restore peace by re-establishing the Second International. Socialists from neutral countries joined this group. A proposal for a conference of socialist parties in Stockholm was put forward by the ISB. A large number of socialists from the Patriotic Right were also interested in attending such a conference. Aims: - The Stockholm Conference was an attempt by international socialism to end the First World War through negotiation. [1] - Hoped the very public nature of such a conference would place considerable pressure on their governments to consider a negotiated peace
 * Socialism-** theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
 * Annexation-** formally taking over a territory.
 * Indemnity-** the responsibility for a payment of a debt or cost.

Preparations: - At the end of May 1917, Russian socialists (Centre Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries), now sharing power with the Provisional Government, put forward their plan for a "peace without annexations and indemnities". - Huysmanns, the ISB Secretary, issued an invitation to all socialist parties in Europe and the United States of America to attend an international conference in Stockholm. Meanwhile, Dutch and Scandinavian socialists set up a preparatory committee in Stockholm in anticipation of the conference. On 11 July the Russian socialists decided to join with the ISB, and the combined Russian-Dutch-Scandinavian invitation went out to all socialists parties to attend the conference at Stockholm. Stockholm Conference: - USA, BRI, FRA and ITA govt. didn’t allow delegates to attend. - Each of these governments had been considering allowing socialists from their countries to attend and was afraid of refusing passports because of the industrial unrest it might cause. - USA Pres. Wilson refused passports because he saw the conference as a threat to the recent American involvement in the war and feared socialism. However a few Americans, who had been refugees from Tsarist Russia, were able to slip out of the USA and arrive in Sweden. - Other allies followed USA. à A separate conference of Allied socialists was convened in London instead. (Inter-Allied Socialist and Labor Conference) à Russia excluded. - The historian Kent Forster commented that the Allied conservative governments "had very neatly nipped in the bud what might have been the climax of the rising tide of leftist opposition to the war". Forster argued that the British, French and American rejection of the Stockholm Conference and the Papal Peace Note "paved the way for the Russian withdrawal from the war. - Between May and July 1917 delegations from Austria-Hungary, Germany, the United States and Belgium separately visited the organisers in Stockholm.  - In June a number of socialists arrived in Stockholm with the aim of coming up with a set of peace terms based on the principles of no annexations and no indemnities. The Russian, Scandinavian and Dutch representatives were the first to arrive, followed soon after by the German, Austrian and Bulgarian delegates.

The Papal Note **//__The Papal Notice – 1917__//** ® First peace movement which included specific settlements and proposals. ® Attracted wide spread attention. ® Received little recognition in many texts from the First World War. ® Contained his desire to seek negotiation to end the war: o Humanitarian concerns – those suffering especially innocent civilians. o Interest in survival of monarchy of Austria-Hungary – stronghold of Catholicism in Europe. o Feared socialist attempts to end the war would increase socialism post-war. o If the war did not end soon a violent revolution would engulf Europe. ® The document provided much controversy as a majority of the major powers in the war were not catholic nations: o British o Russians o Germans ® There is a limited amount of information regarding the document as it was not a primary concern for papal authority of the time, as it was seen as unbeneficial to the end of the war. ® There are no sources, as they were not included during the war, due to the lack of importance which the notice had. 

The Paris Peace Conference · The Paris Peace conference in 1919 was an allied victors meeting following the end of World War 1 to set peace terms for Germany and defeated nations. · The conference opened on 18 January 1919. It came to a conclusion on 21 January 1920 · This conference involved diplomats from 32 nationsrepresenting approximately 75% of the world's population. · They concluded and discussed a series of treaties that reshaped the world and included penalties on Germany. · The leaders of the three great powers included- President Woodrow Wilson for USA, Prime Minister David Lloyd George for Great Britain and Georges Clemenceau for France. · There was a problem o f reconciling the aspirations of individual nations with their idealistic program outlined by Woodrow Wilson. For example Germany would constantly argue that it was on the basis of the **__14 POINTS__** that it had laid down its arms, but to meet the objections of particular nations many of Wilson’s points will have to be watered down or completely redrafted. · Germany and Russia were not invited to attend · Paris was the center of attention when it came to peacemaking and the central base for world government. · An important result included a punishing peace treaty that declared Germany **__Guilty__**, which effected and weakened there militarily, and required it to pay all the costs of the war to the winners. · The League of Nations was an outcome created by the conference in Paris · The following treaties were arranged at the Paris Peace Conference which included
 * __ Paris Peace Conference, 1919 __**

1. The Treaty of Versailles, 1919, 28 June 1919, (the German Empire) 2. The Treaty of Saint-Germain, 10 September 1919, (Austria) 3. The Treaty of Neuilly, 27 November 1919, (Bulgaria) 4. The Treaty of Trianon, 4 June 1920, (Hungary) 5. The Treaty of Sèvres, 10 August 1920, 24 July 1923, (Ottoman Empire).

· The League of Nations was established the first attempt at an international inter-governmental organization to prevent war, settle disputes and improve people’s lives. Just as World War I was believed by many to be the war that would end all war, This Conference was meant to bring lasting peace. Unfortunately, it sowed seeds that resulted not only in World War II but in subsequent conflicts such as the Lebanese Civil War and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

As a citizen of Germany, Russia, France, Great Britain, Italy, or the United States you have received the following letter, which asks you to help to develop a treaty to end the war.

The Armistice

= **Events leading to the Armistice** = · The German offensive had been thwarted by the Allied counteroffensive and the German army was about to collapse. · Germany was forced to fight a two front war · Germany could never match the combined economic and military might of the Allies. · The German economy could not keep the army supplied. · With the entry of US in 1917, Germany had to face the strength and wealth of the greatest power on earth. · The strains on the German front lowered morale.

October 1918 telegrams and Ludendorff’s address
· Due to the unrest on the home front, Ludendorff decided to address the Reichstag and tell them of Germany’s true situation. · Ludendorff said there were two factors for Germany’s defeat; Tanks and America. · He believed that “each fresh day the enemy nears there goal and becomes less inclined to conclude peace that will be tolerable to Germany. · The German sent the Americans a telegram on the 5th of October saying; o “The German Government requests the President of the United States of America to take steps for the restoration of peace, to notify all belligerents of this request, and to invite them to delegate positions for the purpose of taking up negotiations. The German Government accepts, as a basis of peace negotiations, the Program laid down by the President of the United States in his message to Congress of 8 January 1918, and his subsequent pronouncements, particularly in his address of 27 September 1918.” · Wilson responded to the Germans telegrams saying: o “If the Government of the United States must deal with the military masters and the monarchical autocrats of Germany now, or if it is likely to have to deal with them later in regard to the international obligations of the German Empire, it must demand not peace negotiations but surrender. Nothing can be gained by leaving this essential thing unsaid.” · Ludendorff was then replaced as First General Quartermaster with General Wilhelm Groener · Wilson then went ahead with his fourteen points which the Triple Entente didn’t accept.

The Negotiation Process
· Negotiations went on after a telegram on the 7th of November · The Armistice was agreed on the 11th of November and would be enacted at 11 am Paris Time. · The Germans were told that the naval blockade would continue until peace was agreed. · Erzberger was not able to get instructions from Berlin because of the fall of the government. However, he was able to communicate with the German Army Chief of Staff Paul von Hindenburg in Spa who instructed him to sign at any price as an armistice was absolutely necessary. Signatures were made between 5:12 a.m. and 5:20 a.m., Paris time. · The armistice was signed in a carriage of Foch's private train =The Armistice facts: = · The Armistice wasn’t actually signed on the “11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”; it was signed at 5am. · In accordance to this it wasn’t finally ratified until the 10th of January 1920 at 4:15pm.



Wilson's 14 Points

**__Wilson and the Fourteen Points__** - Was a response to Lenin’s calls for peace without negotiation on 8thJanuary 1918 - **Aim:** Encourage the Allies to victory; appeal to the Central Power’s disenfranchised minority members, ensure justice would be done in the wake of its terrible contravention and to keep Russia in the war. - National self-determination was never a universal principle for Wilson,

rather self-government - President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress, established what became known as the Fourteen Points - It was a program for peace. Argued that morality and ethics should be the basis of the foreign policy - ‘//Every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fear dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression.’// - Were successful to the extent that they provided framework for the issues that lead to the Versailles Treaty - Unsuccessful to the extent that the allied forces refused to follow some of them and their rejection by the US Congress - Called for the establishment of the League of Nations (The basic duty of this “universal association” would be “to prevent any war begun either contrary to treaty covenants or without warning and full submission of them causes to the opinion of the world”—to make diplomacy democratic)
 * || P.g201, Evidence of War, A. McCallum (2000) ||

**__The Fourteen Points:__**

**1.** Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at. **2.** Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war. **3.** The removal, as far as possible, of all economic barriers. **4.** Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments would be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety. **5.** A free, open-minded and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims. **6.** The evacuation of all Russian territory. **7.** Belgium to be evacuated and restored. **8.** All French territory to be freed and the invaded portion restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1971 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all. **9.** A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality. **10.** The peoples of Austria-Hungary… should be accorded the freest opportunity for autonomous development. **11.** Romania, Serbia and Montenegro should be evacuated… economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into. **12.**The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman should be assured a secure sovereignty… but the other nationalities should be assured… autonomous development **13.** An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a secure and free access to the sea. **14.** A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording a mutual guarantee of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike. (The League of Nations)

**__Sources__**

**__Visual Sources__**



//Carton Depiction of Wilson's Fourteen Points Woodrow Wilson addressing Congress//

**__Text Sources__** **1. Arthur Balfour's Speech to Parliament in Response to Woodrow Wilson's 11 February Speech to U.S. Congress, 27 February 1918:** []

**2.Official Statement of Belgian Prime Minister Baron Charles de Broqueville on the Fourteen Points, 28 February 1918** []

**3. Count Hertling's Speech to the Reichstag in Response to Woodrow Wilson's 11 February Speech to U.S. Congress, 25 February 1918** [] 

**__Reception__**

- Largely positive - Some leaders of the Allied powers, who hoped for territorial gain, did not favour Wilson’s idealistic aims. - Republicans at home who favoured isolation openly criticized his World vision and mocked it, referring to the Fourteen Points as the ‘fourteen commandments’.

· **The Fable of the Fourteen points: Woodrow Wilson and National Self-Determination:** [|http://www.princeton.edu/~gradconf/index_files/piirsgradconfwebsite_files/papers-ARE%20NOT%20public%20anymore/T_Thronviet.pdf] · **Comprehensive PDF Listing on the Fourteen Points:** [] · **Transcript of Wilson’s Speech to Congress:** []
 * __Links__**

**//DAVID LLOYD GEORGE//**

· Prime Minister of Britain à 1916 – 1922 · Promised revenge · Apprenticed with a law firm when he was 16 à practiced law at 21 · Established a reputation as a radical à many attacks on government policy à Boer War (1899-1902) · Liberal · President of the Board of Trade à 1905 · Minister of Munitions à 1915 · 1916 à succeeded Lord Kitchener as Secretary of War à became Prime Minister later that year · Lloyd George's achievements in the last two years of the war included persuading the Royal Navy to introduce the convoy system and the unification of the Allied military command under the French general Ferdinand Foch · Lloyd George was Britain's chief delegate to the Paris Peace Conference that drafted the Versailles Treaty · AIMS for Paris Peace Conference: o Destruction of German fleet o Destruction of German colonial empire o Increase in British colonial possessions o Re-establishment of European trade relations o Prevention of any country dominating Europe

//WOODROW WILSON// - US Democratic statesman and twenty-eight President of the United States of America (USA)from 1913-1921 - PhD in Law; Professor at Princeton since 1890 - 1902= President of Princeton University → reformed curriculum and teaching methods - elected governor of New Jersey 1910 → two years later received Democratic presidential nomination - re-elected as President in 1916 → declared war on Germany (April 1917) - enumerated conditions for a peace treaty in his ‘Fourteen Points’ (January 1918) → contained a proposal for the ‘League Of Nations’ (culmination of Allied Leaders to “preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike”) - Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’ influenced German cessation of hostilities → an armistice (truce) was signed on 11th November, 1918 = agreed on a Peace Conference to be held in Paris to discuss the post-war world - Wilson travelled to Paris Peace Conference in January 1919 as representative of US Senate → charter for proposed League of Nations incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles Conference = accepted and adopted by Allied leaders; Wilson returns to the US to ratify the Treaty in Congress ~ 1918 election shifted balance in Congress from Democrats to Republicans → seven votes on Versailles Treaty and acceptance of US involvement in the ‘League Of Nations’ failed = failure to carry through his conception of peace - Senate ratification refusal made engaged Wilson into a nation-wide campaign to win support for the Paris Peace Agreement from the people ~ while on tour, collapsed (26th September, 1919) and was an invalid for the last three and a half years of his life. Woodrow Wilson died in 1924.
 * __WORLD WAR ONE Involvement__**

**//GEORGES CLEMENCEAU//**

· Premier of France · Interested in politics from a young age à published magazines expressing his opinion à spent 73 days in prison · Became a doctor à went to live in New York à enjoyed the political freedom of the people of the US  · 1869 à returned to France · 1870 à became involved with radical politics again · 1871 à elected Radical Republican on the National Assembly à voted against peace terms demanded by Germany (hatred of Germany à wanted to secure France from any possible subsequent attacks after the Franco-Prussian War) à involved in in the insurrection known as the Paris Commune · Aggressive debating style à “The Tiger” · 1902 à Senator · 1906 à appointed minister of home affairs · 1907 – 1910 à Prime Minister of France à recognised by his hostility to socialists and trade unionists · Outspoken opponent of Joseph Joffre · 1917 à reappointed Prime Minister à rejected any notions of peace · Persuaded the British to accept the appointment of Ferdinand Foch as supreme Allied commander · Versailles Peace Conference à clashed with Wilson and Lloyd George à a realist—aware of the importance of power politics à opposed Wilson’s idealistic views o Policies were supported by the government and the citizens o Determined to make Germany pay for destruction of the war à wanted them to be humiliated · Lloyd George à Clemenceau was too harsh · Managed to regain Alsace-Lorraine to France · Unable to achieve all of his demands à rejected by the French electorate in 1920