Project Introduction

Project Introduction

For the last few years, we have been living in an exciting time for world history, the centennial of the First World War. Interest in the topic can be seen in books, museums, academic sources, and even in pop culture such as television, movies, and video games. Even though the centennial technically ended in November of 2018, the war and its after-effects have a reach that spread far and wide. As I write this, 100 years ago, the Paris Peace Conference was underway. Leaders of the nations who participated in the First World War met in France to discuss the momentous event that just occurred, and after the dust had settled, how it would all be resolved. The actions they took would shape the world for decades to come.  Though much of what happened after the war is familiar to us, there were players in the peace conference whose roles and outcomes are less well known. The focus of this website is to discuss some of those nations involved in the Peace Conference and the effects it had on those nations over time. Highlighted here are the nations on the periphery: Japan, Ireland, and India. All of these nations were actively involved in the First World War in some form or another but were subject to a much more passive role in the Paris Peace Conference to follow.The population of these nations were also largely non European, or non Anglo- European. A fact that must be kept in perspective when considering political decisions in this time period. Japan was considered to be part of the big five, one of the more powerful nations at the conference, but ultimately fell under the control of the European states and the United States. India was represented as part of Great Britain but did not get much of a platform to stand on as a colony. Ireland got the least amount of representation, as it was basically denied access to the conference. Despite these nations’ varying lack of participation, the events in Europe had significant effects on their history moving forward.

That is where this website comes into play.  As part of my Masters in Public History track for SUNY Brockport, I have created this website for the purpose of adding useful historical material on the peace process. This website is broken up into a few different sections. First is a brief recap of the First World War going over the major players, events, innovations that came of the war, and the outcome. This is followed by a similar summary of the peace conference itself: its history, the major events, topics, and challenges faced by the peacemakers in Europe at the time. The final section focuses on the nations whose histories are less well known, and who did not play a central role in the war itself, even as their participation in the peace process would affect their own histories. Starting with a page on the League of Nations and its connections to Japan, India, and Ireland, this section highlights how these nations were heavily affected by the war and conference. Their pages flow in chronological fashion, outlining major events and topics in the history around the war and conference. The summaries will begin roughly in the mid-19th century and extend into the mid-20th century. This project does not claim that the war and conference were solely responsible for all major events in that particular country’s history, as that would be disingenuous. However, the reasoning given will display a through-line to connect the dots between events.

As a public history project, this site is made with the public in mind. This capstone is designed not to add any new research or alternate viewpoint to the discourse, but rather serve as a way to familiarize readers with the subject matter. This is meant for the student looking for additional study material, or an academic looking to brush up on some of the basics, or even someone with little to no knowledge in the field learning about this important time period for the first time.  

Check out the resources used to build the website: