After The War
Full Summary
Midterm elections in November of 1918 showed a changing attitude towards President Woodrow Wilson and his policies. To save his party, he appealed to the voters by returning the Democrats to congress. However, voters elected Republican majorities in both houses. Wilson then announced intention to head the American delegation to the peace conference. His decisions were not received well by the people who felt that the President’s best place was at home. The American delegation to the conference faltered again.
The Peace Conference opened at the Palace of Versailles in January of 1919, and most of the sessions took place in Paris. These proceedings were dominated by President Wilson, Britain’s Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, France’s Premiere, Georges Clemenceau, and Italy’s Premiere, Vitorio Orlando. These four leaders were known as “The Big Four”. Their meetings were held in secret. Meanwhile, Wilson was robbed of his public opinion, and there was an immediate triumph with the League of Nations into the peace treaty.
Opposition began to grow. The likelihood that Wilson’s peace program was evident was when 39 Republican senators signed a statement opposing the League of Nations. To appease his critics, Wilson called for changes designed to protect American interests. The Allies wanted further concessions in their favour.
The Treaty of Versailles made many statements that impacted many nations around the world as a whole. In the Middle East, it stated that the Ottoman Empire would lose its territory. In Europe, Austria-Hungary was split up. Germany lost territory and was stripped of its colonies. The Treaty stated that Germany was required to pay for the reconstruction of damage in Europe that was a result of the war, as well as pay the Allies for the cost of the war. In all, the outcome of World War I brought great changes to the Middle East and Europe, as well as the creation of new nations and colonies....