The Paris Peace Conference

The aftermath of the war was a confusing time. People around the world were simultaneously celebrating and waiting with anticipation for what came next. So much had happened in the last four years, and so much needed to be figured out: land grabs, reprimands, the solidification of borders, creation of new nations, where to put the people who lost their homes, etc. The question of what to do with Germany arose as well, as they were considered to be the perpetrator of the war. Much of the conference was a debate on how strictly Germany was to be punished.  A new world order essentially had to be created. It was decided that a conference would be held in Versailles, France. Thirty-two nations around the world would come, debate, and try to work out what the post-war world would look like. This conference would come to be known as the Paris Peace Conference.

        Comparison of Europe pre and post war. Note the number of new nations created out of the conflict.

This was a momentous task. Large scale meetings were often held after wars, but there had not been one to this scale in some time. Europe had gone roughly a century with general economic prosperity and no major conflicts. The closest comparison they could make was to the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) that settled the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), the last major war fought in Europe. However, the situation in Paris was much different. Far more people were involved with the Paris conference. By themselves, the British had over 400 delegates at Paris versus 14 that were at Vienna. The human and economic toll was also much larger after the First World War than in the Napoleonic Wars. In the early nineteenth century, politics had been a private affair, with little to no involvement from the public. However, in the early twentieth century, politics were starting to respond to public opinion, especially in an international and liberal post-war atmosphere. The sheer number of people attending the conference would have also made secrecy difficult, regardless.[1] So, the undertaking of such a conference was difficult, to say the least.

            A collection of the world's most powerful leaders was naturally going to be a place filled with contention, differing ideas, and heated arguments. Each nation brought with it its own goals and ideas for how the world should be, with various ethnicities, religions, and political groups all receiving mixed amounts of representation.[2] Naturally, the ambitions of the most powerful nations shaped the results of the conference. Great Britain, France, and the United States, or the “Big Three,” collectively held the majority of the power at the conference and came into it with their own preconceived notions of what the post-war world should look like (Italy and Japan are also sometimes included in this count, making it the Big Four or Five, respectively).

Great Britain was led by its Prime Minister, David Lloyd George (1863-1945). Britain wanted to maintain its trade networks, its colonial holdings, and its naval power to remain the most powerful nation in Europe and the larger world. Germany’s submarine warfare had threatened Great Britain’s long-held naval superiority, and Lloyd George wanted to ensure this did not happen again. Lloyd George also supported the United States in its proposal for the League of Nations, and while he did want to see Germany punished, he did not want to see them crippled, so it would remain a market for British goods. Lloyd George saw himself as a moderate compared to France and the United States.

France was led by Prime Minister George Clemenceau (1841-1929). France had suffered the most of the Big Three. This war was the second time with in the last fifty years that Germany invaded France (the first being the Franco-Prussian war 1870-1871). France had one of the highest casualty numbers of the First World War and had thousands of buildings, bridges, and railroads destroyed since the Western Front had been on their soil. The French had the most at stake not only because of their losses, but for fear of future German aggression. They wanted security, revenge, and compensation from Germany.[3] Its citizens shared similar feelings. They wanted to ensure that Germany was crippled enough so it would never pose a threat again. They did support the idea of a League of Nations, so long as Germany was not allowed to join at first.

The United States, led by President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), emerged from the war as a superpower. Thanks to the arms trade during the conflict, among other factors, they were now the world’s financial center as opposed to Great Britain, and their involvement was a significant factor in winning the war. Like the British, they wanted to not cripple Germany and keep open potential markets. Unlike other nations at the conference, the United States had no real land claims. Instead, Wilson was focused on establishing a lasting peace, having the United States serve as a kind of arbiter at the conference. Wilson was a proponent of self-determination, the creation of nations who could run their own affairs, in contrast to empires. But as this project will point out, he was mainly focused on mainland European affairs, and not more far-flung colonies demanding independence. [4] Wilson’s main goal was the establishment of the League of Nations, an international peacekeeping force to prevent future wars from happening. Wilson was very much wrapped up in his own ideas, outlining in his 14 Points how Germany should be treated, and the fact that they should be treated fairly and still be allowed to be a player on the world stage.[5] Germany would be allowed to join, but not right away.

Throughout the peace conference Wilson pushed his ideas of internationalism, known today as Wilsonianism. Wilson developed his ideas based on United States History. Wilsonianism is a form of liberal internationalism (the spreading of liberal ideals around the world) that revolves around the spreading of democracy, setting up collective security, easy methods of international trade and investment, freedom of the seas, support of international exchange, and national self-determination or the right for a nation to rule itself outside of the influence of others. These ideas contrasted some of the isolationist and imperialist ideals that were common at the time and in the past. Wilson believed that these ideals were part of American exceptionalism, and that the United States would usher in this new world. He wrote his 14 points using this language, a document that was more lenient to Germany that what some of the other European counties at the conference wished for. Wilson’s ideas of open diplomacy and international justice persisted throughout the Peace Conference, though the application of such ideas would prove extremely inconsistent by all parties that held power, including the United States.

The Peace Conference began in January of 1919 and did not fully end until July of 1923. However, the bulk of the decision making was done within the first year. During this time, debates about the very nature of the world were held on a regular basis. New borders had to be drawn and redrawn. The human and economic toll was calculated for repayment to the victors, and ideologies clashed. For better or worse, the peacemakers shaped the world with their actions. 

A few key things came out of the Paris Peace Conference, including officially ending the war (up until then the war was technically still on, it was just in an armistice - an agreed upon temporary cease-fire). One of the main outcomes was the establishment of the League of Nations, a global peacekeeping force with the goal of preventing another war. The conference also set up various treaties with each of the nations in the Central Powers, declaring an end to the war and what would become of them afterward. This usually resulted in confiscated territories, military restrictions, and hefty fines. The most well-known of these treaties was the Treaty of Versailles, the one made with Germany. The German military was reduced drastically, and the government was charged with massive reparations that originally ended up equaling to over 440 billion dollars in modern US currency to various allied nations. Article 231 of the treaty, colloquially known as the war guilt clause, was set up as the reasoning for Germany to be subjected to reparations, though does not outright say that the war was the fault of Germany. This debt was technically not paid off until 2010 due to interruptions from the Second World War, Germany being split into two during the Cold War, and changes in payment plans throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The Treaty of Versailles would go on to become a major point of contention in Germany for decades, and its effects became one of several causes that would lead to the rise of the Nazi party.

Great change was not limited to the countries on the receiving end of these treaties. The war and the conference had significant and lasting effects on all nations present. Even those who were less, or indirectly, involved have their history intertwined with these events, as that’s just how monumental and all-encompassing they were.

Explore the pivotal documents:

[1] Margaret Macmillan, Peacemakers: Six Months That Changed the World. (London: John Murray, 2001), 5

[2]"The Paris Peace Conference." The Advocate of Peace (1894-1920) 81, no. 1 (1919): 3-5. 

[3] Macmillan, 39

[4] National WW1 Museum and Memorial “The Peace of Versailles, A Global View-Erez Manela”. YouTube video, https://youtu.be/XZrXVB0kRj4

[5] Firstworldwar.com," First World War.com - Primary Documents - Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" Speech, 8 January 1918, , https://www.firstworldwar.com/so0=u0rce/fourteenpoints.htm.