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11, THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE AND, THE TREATY OF PARIS, , OEE, , sr the horrible and terrible battles of more than four years, the, Ae Tae oar d in 1918. Faced with the adverse, , First World War came to an en v, situations, Kaiser William Il, the Emperor of Germany had to abdicate, the throne and flee to Holland. There came the total collapse of the, , Hohenzollen dynasty in Germany. The Socialistic Republic, established, , in Germany after the downfall of William II, had to surrender before the, , Allies and signed an armistice on November 11, 1918. It was the first step, , towards peace, by which Germany was required to hand over a large, amount of war material and to surrender her fleet to the Allies within, , fourteen days., Though the war came to an end, it brought in its train many tangled, , roblems. The responsibility of solving these problems lay upon the, shoulders of the Great Powers. Some of these problems were :, (i) To ascertain the loss of money, human lives and the territories,, having occurred in the course of war., (ii) To decide the outlines on which the treaties be concluded with, the defeated countries., (iii) To make some provisions and arrangements in order to avoid, the possibilities of war in future., (iv) To compensate the Allies., (v) To establish peace on permanent basis., In order to think over these problems, to find out the possibilities, of the establishment of peace and to conclude the treaty with the defeated, nations, the Great Powers decided to convene a conference at Paris, the, , capital of France. Paris was an appropriate place chosen for the purpose,, for this city had been “the nerve centre of the Allied cause, the throbbing, , heart of the coalition, from the first day to the last of the racking struggle.”, , Beginning of the Conference, The conference was opened on January 18, 1919 in, é ¢ ope 0 , the Royal Palace, of Versailles. This date coincided with the forty-eighth anniversary of the, per of the German Empire, i.e. forty-eight years ago, the, garmation of the German Empire was proclaimed on January 18 ‘1871, rom that very Palace of Versailles. Not only this, Germany had also

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The Paris Peace Confe, , prence and the Treaty of Paris | 117, captured two important, , capt Provinces of France, namely Alsace and, _ The delegates of the defeated nations were not invited to attend the, conference, About seventy members of twenty-seven countries of the, world came to attend it. The delegates ofeach country were accompanied, with diplomats, assistants, legal advisers, typists, press reporters ete. It, was the first and the biggest gathering of the diplomats of the world, The, President of France inaugurated the conference. In his speech, he laid, much emphasis on the justice, self-decision and the League of Nations., Clemenceau, the great War Minister and the Prime Minister of France, was unanimously elected President of the conference., Several committees were constituted to investigate the methods of, , settlement and to report on different subjects, such as, responsibility for, the war, International Labou, , \ t r Legislation, League of Nations etc., President Wilson of the United States was made chairman of all these, committees. Under such constitution, the conference continued in, session throughout the year. But the delegates could not draw any, conclusion,, , The Council of Ten, , It was thought impossible to take any decision openly in the general, assembly. The council of ten delegates was, therefore, constituted. It, consisted of the delegates of five big powers, namely England, France,, America, Italy and Japan. These powers were called the ‘Big Five’. The, council held its meeting twice a day. The advisers and the specialists were, called in when needed. With the passage of time, this council also, , appeared to be biggish and, therefore, it was decided to terminate this, council., The Council of Big Four, , In March 1919, the council of Big Four was constituted. It consisted, of only four delegates of four big nations. They were as follows :, , America— Wilson, , England — Lloyd George, , France — Clemenceau, , Italy— Orlando., , These four persons are famous as ‘Big Four’ in history. Later on,, the differences arose between Orlando and Clemenceau and, therefore,, Orlando left the conference and went back to Italy. Thus, the decisions, , of the Peace Conference of Paris were generally taken by three Great, Personalities of the world., , Brief Introduction of the ‘Big Four’, , __ L. Wilson. Wilson was the President of the United States, He Played, 4n important and decisive role in the first world war. He was the true, ollower of the establishment of permanent peace in the world. The, People called him an apostle who created a new system for the good of, the mankind. He laid down fourteen points to establish peace in the, world. In the Peace Conference of Paris, his main aim was to establish

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118 | World History (1871-1966), , 1s for the purpose of the maintenance of peace. In, , the League of Natiot, the words of C.D, Hazen: ; ; . oe “The chief concern of President Wilson at the conference of Paris, , . internationa anization for, as to secure the creation of some international organization 0, , Arent urenange of peace, and it was largely through his efforts that, , the League of Nations came into existence., , -der to lessen the possibilities 0 :, permit peace: in the werk, Wilson had laid down fourteen point, programme before the delegates of the Peace Conference. In this, programme, Wilson made it clear that there should be no secre ee, and the diplomacy of the future should be open. He also laid emphasis, upon the reduction of national armaments and impartial decisions. It was, his desire that the people should be granted the right of selfdetermination. In his own words ;, , “Establishment of peace in the world is possible only when respect, , is shown to the wishes and aspirations of the people. For this it is, , absolutely necessary that the people should be granted the right of, self-determination.”, , 2. Lloyd George. Lloyd George was the Prime Minister of England, and the prominent leader of the Liberal Party. He wanted to take revenge, on Germany. He had won the election in 1918 on this basis only. He was, of the view that Germany should be made too weak io raise its head again, in future. In spite of this fact, he had a soft corner for Germany. In this, way, his behaviour with Germany was not so harsh as that of France. He, was a man of extraordinary intelligence. In the Peace Conference, he had, solved many complicated problems., , 3. Clemenceau. Clemenceau was the Prime Minister of France and, the President of the Peace Conference of Paris. He was the greatest of, all the delegates in the conference. He was called the ‘Old Lion’ of, France. He had seen with his own eyes the diastrous defeat of France in, the battle of Sedan in 1870. He had, therefare, great desire in his heart to, take vengeance against Germany. He played a decisive and effective role, in the Peace Conference. His main aim in the conference was to secure, the boundaries of France as they were before 1870, and to change the, decisions of the Treaty of Frankfort of 1871. He was the foll i h, policy of Bismarck. He had no faith in the fourteen points of Wilken. His, personality was more effective than that of his colleagues. a, , 4, Orlando. Orlando was the Prime Mini, & } ] inister of Italy. i, apeat 706, Hitt, He took interest in those problems ale, hich wee, gig eck y malate es ee . why, he could not occupy decisive place, od of the decision, persons, namely Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd Coos on tate, The Base of the Treaty of Paris 4, Thu: isi, io ihe ne of the Peace Conference were fully centralized, eae a arose anaie, the delesse eae Tie ee, . 1g es in t inni, the real base of the decisions should be. ¥ Wilson bad ae dope tenctoan, , , , f war in future and to establish

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The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Paris | 119, points colton Bie Powers. Th ese points included those terms on which, Germany ha SIZNCC the armustice in 1918, After a long discussion, it was, decided that aout cen points of President Wilson should be the basis, { the treaty. Phe programme of Wilson included. accord} 1D, a ihe following clauses ed, according to C. D., “There should be no secret underst, diplomacy of the future should, impartial adjustment of all colonial claims. Belgian, French and, Russian territories should be evacuated, the wrong done to France, by Germany in 1871 in the matter of Alsace and Lorraine should be, righted...the nationalities of the Turkish empire should receive, autonomy, ...there should be formed a general association of nations, , for the purpose of securing the independence and territorial, integrity of great and small states alike.”, , The Treaty of Paris, , On the basis of the above pronouncements, the Peace Conference, of Paris started its functioning. After the discussion and investigation, spread over several months, the Big Powers succeeded in completing the, draft of the Treaty of Versailles which was concluded with Germany., Germany signed on this treaty on June 28, 1919. After this, the treaties, were also concluded with other defeated countries, viz. Austria,, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey. All the above treaties including the Treaty of, Versailles were combined into one treaty and that was called the Treaty, of Paris. The provisions regarding establishment of the League of Nations, were included in all the treaties., , The Treaty of Versailles, , After the discussion of about four months, the Allies completed the, draft of a treaty which was to be concluded with Germany. On May 7,, 1919, this draft was submitted before the representatives of the German, government to study the document and give their suggestions if any. After, a thorough study of the draft of the treaty, the German government gave, afew suggestions to modify and amend the provisions, te1ims and clauses, of the draft. Out of these suggestions, some were accepted and the, amended document was again submitted to Germany on June 16, with the, condition that the document should be accepted in toto latest by June 23., Itwas also made clear that in case Germany did not accept the draft within, due date, an attack would be made upon Germany. The National, Assembly of German Weimar Republic agreed to sign the peace, document., , At last, Germany signed the draft on June 28, 1919. After that, other, delegates of ‘different countries also signed. Tbus, the Treaty of Ve; rsailles, Was formalized. It was the same place, from where Prince Bismarck fan, Proclaimed the German Empire in 1870, i.e., forty-eight years befor, 11, Was the same date on which Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the Prince f, Austria was assassinated five years before in 1914 at Sarajevo, the cq ita, of Bosnia. As regards the significance of this historical event, Cp a al, Temarks : + tazen, , andings or treaties, but that the, be open, there should be an

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120 | World History (1871-1966), “This historic event occurred in the same Hall of Mirrors in the, Palmar Wensdilles where forty-cight years before Secon, Empire had been proclaimed, Time had broug Ls i a coo revenge. By an appropriate coincidence eek ae, Versailles was signed on the 28th of June, the fift ae ry, of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke, aneis, Ferdinand, at Sarajevo, which had been made to have suc!, , amazing and lamentable consequences., , Main Provisions of the Treaty of Versailles ., , The treaty of Versailles was the biggest and the most important of, all treaties. It ‘consisted of fifteen chapters, four hundred (4irty nine, clauses and eighty thousand words. It was written in English and French, languages. Following were the main provisions of this treaty :, , The Territorial Provisions, (i) The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine were taken away from, Germany and they were given back to France., (ii) Germany had to abandon Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium., , (iii) The province of Posen, most of West Prussia and a part of, Upper Silesia were given to Poland., , (iv) According to the decision taken by a plebiscite, northern part, of Schleswig was given to Denmark, while the southern part, remained under the control of Germany., , (v) Germany had to renounce the province of Memel to the Allies., , (vi) The Polish territories were taken back from the possession of, Germany, Austria and Russia. In this way, Poland again came, to be established as an entity. A corridor was also given to, Poland for reaching the Baltic Sea., , (vii) The port of Danzig was also snatched away from the possession, , of Germany and it was taken under the protection of the, League of Nations., , (viii) During the course of war, Germany had destroyed the coal, mines of France situated in the northern part of the country., France was, therefore, willing to take over the Saar Basin from, Germany. This territory was very prosperous in coal. Keeping, in view the destruction of the coal mines of France by Germany, and with a view to compensating her, it was decided that France, would have the right to use the coal mines of the Saar Basin., but this territory would remain under the protection of the, erage wt Natit for fifteen years, After a period of fifteen, rh eee of this territory would be decided on the basis, , 1x a i, (ix) rd ba ee: arose in the conference on the issue of, mal ae ccording to the treaty of 1898, Germany was, granted the right from China to exercise her control over, , Shantung. In the world war, Ja, antung, rl , Japan had fought i, » Allies with the condition that Shantung would be eats Is apa