The Paris Peace Conference, the beginning of World War II

Mondo History Updated on 2024-02-08

The Paris Peace Conference, the beginning of World War II

In the first half of 1919, Paris became the focus of the world, where the elite of various countries gathered. Sometimes they smile, sometimes frowned, sometimes argued, sometimes silent.

They met privately for dinner and performed together. However, in meetings, they often go toe-to-toe. These versatile diplomats made Paris the center of global politics, law and parliament.

The gentle wave of people's hands can be devastating to a country or a nation. This is an unprecedented experience, and there will probably never be an arena of war of this magnitude again.

American idealism **Woodrow Wilson, his thoughts and deeds are full of idealism. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he was fostered in idealism from an early age.

During his tenure as president of Princeton University, he successfully transformed the lifeless university into a vibrant, excellent college that attracted the nation's best young faculty.

His achievements led him to a political career, and after becoming a leader, he still maintained the elegance of a scholar. During his tenure, he was a keen progressive movement, advocating for tariff cuts, opposing trust monopolies, expanding individual freedoms, and limiting ** power.

Before going to Paris, the idealist Wilson proposed to both chambers a fourteen-point plan for the future world order, including the restoration of the occupied territories of various countries, the granting of more powers to the peoples of the colonies, the formation of the League of Nations, mutual recognition of sovereignty among nations, the reduction of armaments, equality and freedom**, and so on.

In the Weekly Review, Chen Duxiu praised Wilson as "the best man in the world today." At the Paris Peace Conference, however, the positions of various countries were different and contradictory.

The five major countries of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan each have their own demands, France hopes to severely punish Germany to ensure geopolitical security, while Britain opposes French dominance, hoping to keep its overseas power and colonies.

France, also a colonial empire, was opposed to Britain's claims because of their intertwined colonies in Africa and the Middle East. Italy, for its part, wanted to secure its own interests in the Adriatic and needed the support of the French and British navies.

Japan, on the other hand, wanted Shandong, but this was contrary to Wilson's principles and was also firmly opposed by China. This meant that Wilson's journey in Paris would be fraught with difficulties.

Sure enough, they had their first confrontation on the issue of dealing with Germany's overseas colonies. Wilson advocated giving the colonies to the League of Nations to oversee the Trusteeship, while the Australian Prime Minister directly opposed the principle of the Trusteeship, advocating a direct partition.

His views were supported by Britain, France, Japan and other countries.

Wilson was adamant about not backing down, and countries argued about it. In the end, the countries reached a compromise and accepted the trusteeship plan. After this episode, Wilson briefly returned to the United States to rest.

In the absence of this troublesome person, Britain, France, Italy and Japan held a private meeting and decided on a plan for dealing with Germany. ** When he returned to Paris, he was very unhappy with this and refused to recognize the proposals.

In particular, four countries deliberately omitted the resolution to establish the League of Nations, which was a key link in the realization of Wilson's 14-point plan. If the League of Nations cannot be built, then all his efforts will be in vain!

Wilson's opposition put him on the cusp, and both the imperialists and the peace-hungry European masses criticized him for deliberately delaying the proceedings.

On April 3, 1919, Wilson fell ill from too much stress to continue peace negotiations. ** Angrily announced that the United States would withdraw from the peace conference if countries did not abide by the agreement.

This intransigence frightened Britain and France, who said they would not annex the German colonies, and Italy left the table in anger. Japan, for its part, agreed with Britain and France to support each other's claims in Shandong.

In order to form an international alliance, ** had no choice but to compromise with Japan, sacrificing the rights and interests of the people of Shandong, China. In 1920, the League of Nations was formed, but the United States never joined.

* Putting in a lot of effort to do this, but failing to achieve their goals.

Wilson, a Democrat, was vetoed by Republicans on a Senate bill, causing him to have a stroke and incapacitate him. He died in 1924 at the age of 67. Under Republican rule, he was the only Democrat** and at the same time an idealist, racist, and pacifist.

As one of the five great powers, France suffered the most losses in the war, so its goal was to completely dismember Germany and send it to hell, but this was opposed by Britain and the United States.

Britain wants a strong Germany to threaten France without harming its interests, while the United States wants to implement the 14-point proposal to give Germany the right to exist and the right to develop.

Despite the defeat of Germany, its great strength was still retained, and the Entente had not yet occupied German territory. The German corporal and a large number of people could not understand why they had to surrender.

After World War I, in retaliation against Germany, France recklessly demanded high reparations. In response, Germany fell into a state of famine, which the British Prime Minister condemned. France first recovered the Alsace-Lorraine region, which was the territory they ceded to Germany.

Britain and France are very different over the amount of reparations, with Britain demanding £24 billion from Germany and £44 billion from France. Eventually, thanks to Wilson's efforts and expert calculations, the reparations were reduced to £6.5 billion, which was determined only in 1921.

In the terms of the reparations, the output of the Germans was to be used for reparations, which made the Germans despair. In addition, Italy went down the path of blackening after being denied a claim to the northern Adriatic port of Rijeka.

The Italian prime minister had sided with the Entente, hoping for something on the Mediterranean coast. In particular, the Treaty of London, signed in 1915, clearly stipulated that Italy would receive some territory along the Mediterranean coast.

At the Paris Peace Conference, Italy's basic demands were rejected, leading to the angry departure of Prime Minister Orlando and some of the delegates, paving the way for Mussolini to come to power and German development.

Britain suffered a major blow in the First World War and its international standing was greatly reduced, going from being the largest foreign investor and creditor before the war to being the most indebted country, with 40% of the budget going to interest payments.

Britain could no longer administer the Dominions, which enjoyed their own foreign policy and achieved independence. British Prime Minister Lloyd George carefully reconciled Clemenceau and Wilson, seizing the terms that were favorable to Britain.

In the battle for war reparations, Lloyd George proposed that France should get 50% and Britain should get 30%, but Clemenceau strongly disagreed, arguing that France should get 58% of the reparations, because they believed that France had the greatest losses in the war.

The contradictions between Britain and France were very acute in dealing with Germany. Britain proposed to preserve Germany's strength and should not punish Germany too much, but France insisted on high reparations and territorial cedes, and even wanted to get the most important military-industrial region in Europe, the Saarland, in order to strengthen its military power and dominate Europe.

However, Lloyd George and Wilson** were adamantly opposed to the idea, and after some bargaining, Britain was eventually given a mandate for a territory of 10 million people, France was given a territory of 7.5 million people, and the Saarland was returned to Germany 15 years later.

The representative of Germany**, Brockdorf Lancao, received a draft on German reparations and territorial disposition and objected to it. However, the victorious powers, such as Britain and France, did not intend to give up their own interests, but only made some minor changes to the draft.

They passed on the risk of social contradictions to Germany. Lloyd George said bluntly: The peace treaty will set the stage for war 20 years later. For the next 15 years, Britain** continued to carry understanding and guilt towards Germany.

After that, the Führer took advantage of the guilt of Europe and the United States against Germany and the dissatisfaction of the people to create the Second World War. The specter of Zionism also appeared at the Paris Peace Conference.

As early as November 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration in support of the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which was the first time that Zionism was supported by the world's top powers.

However, the declaration has no legal force and is only an informal policy document. But the Jews did not give up, and they wanted to gradually realize their dream of restoration at the Paris Peace Conference.

They needed to fight for two things, the first was for Britain to take the Mandate for Palestine, and the second was to win the international community's support for the Balfour Declaration.

In 1918, the British had already occupied Palestine, and the Zionist head Weizmann met with the Arab leader Faisal in an attempt to gain sympathy from the Arab world, and he assured Faisal that the Jews had no intention of establishing a Jewish ** in Palestine, they just wanted a place to stay.

Faisal believed this, and in January 1919 they signed the Weizmann-Faisal Agreement, which gave further impetus to Zionism.

On 3 February, the Zionist Movement submitted to the General Assembly the Zionist Movement Statement on Palestine, which supported the United Kingdom as the ruling mandate for Palestine and stated the right of the Jews to establish a national homeland and an autonomous republic in Palestine.

This requirement goes beyond the provisions of the Balfour Declaration and the Weizmann-Faisal Agreement. Wilson advocated the principle of national self-determination when the opinions of the locals were fully taken into account, but Weizmann traveled to London to put pressure on Whitehall, accusing the British of cowardice and favoritism towards the Arabs.

Eventually, Britain agreed to take over Palestine against the advice of the United States, and the other Allies recognized the Balfour Declaration without their own concern.

The two goals of Zionism were achieved, but it also led to the beginning of a century of suffering for the Palestinian people. In our Paris Peace Conference, there are many wonderful stories, such as Japan's territorial ambitions, the courageous resistance of the Chinese delegation, the keen sense of Kemal, the founding father of Turkey, the re-establishment of Poland, the independence of Arabia, and so on.

Everyone struggles to grasp the looming hope, but the result often comes at the cost of shattering.

Through a series of treaties, the Entente deprived Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Turkey of their colonies, dismembered their empires, demanded high reparations, and jointly established the Versailles system.

Has peace come? The Americans nodded yes, believing that the world had become a better place. The British also agree, believing that their world is moving in a positive direction.

The French, for their part, were convinced that the threat had been successfully removed. However, only one person disagrees. In his speech at the Bergblau Keller beer hall, he angrily pointed ahead, that direction is Germany, that direction is the future of the world.

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