World War I was the most terrifying carnage humanity had ever known. At the end of the 52 months of war, the statistics were shattering: over 9 million lives lost, with probably the same number of people suffering from some kind of illness or disability after the battles.
Some of the greatest multinational empires disappeared. Tsarist Russia, which at one point ruled 200 peoples and nationalities, disappeared. The great scale of human and material loss made the survival of the Romanov Empire impossible. The collapse of Tsarist Russia led to the genesis of the first communist state, after the so-called “October Revolution”, which was actually a Bolshevik coup.
The proud Dual Monarchy, Austria-Hungary, was the first of the Great Powers to initiate hostilities in World War I. In a strange irony, it was also the first to try to find a way to leave the war honorably, in order to save itself from imminent destruction.
The speech given by the American president Woodrow Wilson before the US Congress was called ‘The 14 points’. These were a peace proposal, validated by the American legislature and addressed both to the conquerors and the conquered.
Germany had obtained victory on the eastern front, through the armistices signed with Russia and Romania. The offensive begun on the western front was one step away from success. Towards the end of the war, Germany controlled a vast territory, from Belgium to Ukraine. For these reasons, it didn’t want to negotiate a reasonable peace plan. Their foreign policy only changed when Allied troops came close to Germany’s borders.
The principles of political realism triumphed. Britain no longer had permanent friends or enemies. The only eternal things were the interests of Great Britain, said Lord Palmerston. Even so, England and France could not ignore the ascension of the United States. They owed the USA considerable sums of money, in the form of war loans.
The Paris Peace Conference was the most representative multilateral international meeting ever held until that date. Delegates from more than 30 countries participated. The initiators of the Versailles Treaty were determined not to repeat the mistakes of the Vienna Congress.
In the impressive decor of the Mirror Room in the Versailles Palace, the first and most important peace treaty was signed between the Entente Powers and Germany. The location of this important event was not a coincidence. Here, almost half a century earlier, Bismarck’s Prussia had obtained total and humiliating victory over the France of Napoleon the Third. France was on the rise again. It had managed to get its revenge on Germany.
The Treaty of Versailles was a voluminous and complex document, with over 450 articles. It included the problem of frontiers and safeguards which must be taken against Germany.
The Treaty of Versailles with Germany was the most important deal of the Paris Peace Conference for Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe. Still, the treaties signed with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were also significant.
The Treaty of Sevres, signed by Turkey, contained a series of territorial measures which led to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty also contained punitive measures for the Turks, blamed for old and more recent evils.
Although it was the most important international reunion until that point, the most democratic and the most representative, the Paris Peace Conference was not a complete success. This was due to the conflicts and lack of cohesion in the Allied camp. These countries did not manage to reach a common platform concerning a new international order.