C+THE+AFTERMATH+OF+WW1



[|This is cool]

[|This is an excellent tool to understand the T of V]

This is really where the course starts to get going.

The peacemakers had a huge responsibility and the cartoon below is rare because it gives some indication of what might happen in the future in the opinion of the cartoonist. It is a predictive cartoon rather than a cartoon about the past.




 * [|Verdicts on the Treaty]**

> THE FOURTEEN POINTS KEY IDEAS - > Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen points were how the United States was to approach the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920, and how Wilson wanted the negotiations to be guided by. Wilson was facing opposition from the US public who wanted out from European affairs, which had dragged them into World War I. Eventually the US would become isolationist in world affairs, but that was after Wilson's tenure as President. Anyway, the first main point was >> > //I believe this is a main point because secret alliances and treaties had contributed to the outbreak of World War I, or at least contributed to the spreading of the war. An example would be the France-Italy alliance, which was signed in secret by the two countries, even though Italy was initially a member of the Central Powers. Italy promised to remain neutral in the event France was attacked by Germany - and that's exactly what happened. Italy would later join the allies. Another major secret treaty was the German-Ottoman alliance between the German and Ottoman Empires - the Ottomans agreed to enter a war on the side of the central powers.// > >> > This was a demand from quite a number of Allied leaders. Europe and the world did not want to see an aggressive Germany once again expand into it's neighbors and start another world war - as such the allies demanded that Germany reduce it's armed forces. As Wilson was facing calls for isolationism from Congress and the public, he wanted peace and Germany having a small armed forces reduced the threat of them ever invading countries again. Or that's how it would seem, until Hitler came along. > >> > People living under occupation and being able to choose their nation and government would reduce the threat of uprisings like Warsaw during World War II and many Yugoslav countries in the 90s, and so on. Again the idea of a stable peace - something Wilson fought hard for at the Paris Peace Conference. > >> > This would eventually culminate in the creation of the League of Nations, but ironically the US was not included in it and so it hugely failed to protect countries - and would fail to stop Italy from invading Ethiopia in 1935 - and of course would fail to stop the world down the track of World War II. The idea had a big legacy, in that the United Nations, it's successor, was created out of the rubble of the second world war. The idea of an international forum where countries could safely negotiate again contributed to Wilson's idea of long lasting peace and would satisfy the US public's calls for non-intervention. > //And of course the 14 points affected New Zealand because we must have agreed by them!// > Sources: THE FIRST WORLD WAR, Mags 11 History booklet, by John Ray > Stuff I already knew. > WHY DID PEACEMAKERS HAVE TO COMPROMISE? > Time was a big factor. Because a series of events in the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman Empires had lead to the fracturing up of those countries, a big number of new nations were already asking for independence and were in need of settling their own borders with the rest of Europe. The agreement that had ended World War I - the Armistice - was temporary and had not set out the specific terms of surrender for the Central Powers nor of the victory for the Allies. Because the borders of Europe were to be completely redrawn, the Allies needed to act fast. The threat of exported revolutions was another player. The Allied leaders were worried greatly because the revolution of 1917 in Russia, which lead to the establishment of a communist government, would be "exported" to Germany if an agreement was not settled quickly. Germany had already experienced an attempt at a communist revolution, which was suppressed, so the Allies again needed to act fast to achieve peace. > All the countries signing the Peace treaties would have had their own demands for settlement so compromise was absolutely necessary to make everyone happy. Except the Germans, of course. > Sources: THE FIRST WORLD WAR, Mags 11 History booklet, by John Ray > Wholy crappola I hope that all wasn't to big. > Cheers > Sam Button
 * Sam B's answers to the homework**
 *  Countries should stop making secret treaties with one another. The peace should be negotiated in the open. After that there should be no more secret diplomacy.
 *  They should reduce their weapons and armed forces.
 *  People living under the rule of foreign countries should be allowed to form their own nations and choose their own type of government. Wilson called this the principle of self-determination.
 *  Countries should belong to a new organization to be set up to protect the independence of all states.

=The legacy of war - First World War overview - Significance for New Zealand=

'The legacy of war - First World War overview', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/legacy-of-first-world-war, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 5-May-2010

 * N[|ew Zealand and the First World War]
 * [| Origins of the war]
 * [| Preparing for war]
 * [| New Zealand goes to war]
 * [| The war at home]
 * [| The legacy of war]
 * [| Further information]

Media gallery

 * [|First World War - overview Media Gallery]

Map Locations

 * [|Versailles]

The price of security
New Zealand played a small but useful part in the British Empire’s war effort. The defeat of the Central Powers in late 1918 ensured New Zealand’s physical and economic security. Superior Allied sea power had made the risk of any significant danger to New Zealand's territory remote. The defeat of the German squadron in the Pacific at the outset of the war meant that New Zealand suffered little more than raider incursions. There were a couple of high-profile incidents, and German armed merchantmen laid mines in New Zealand waters in 1917. Only the triumph of the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea might have changed the picture. Although Germany claimed victory in the crucial naval Battle of Jutland in 1916 (on the basis that they destroyed more British ships), its fleet never again put to sea to challenge the Royal Navy. During 1917 German submarines seriously threatened Britain’s supply routes but failed to sever them. New Zealand farmers enjoyed the benefits of relatively good prices for their produce under commandeer arrangements. But the price of security was high: more than 18,000 New Zealanders were killed while serving overseas.

New Zealand in the world
The war had a major impact on constitutional arrangements within the British Empire, and it affected New Zealand’s international status. Tentative moves had been made before the war to involve the self-governing dominions in imperial decision-making. This process was accelerated by their contribution to the empire’s war effort. An Imperial War Conference was called in 1917 and an Imperial War Cabinet was established. The dominions saw such events as foreshadowing a more co-operative post-war imperial system. In 1919 the dominions signed, in their own right, the Treaty of Versailles, the peace agreement officially ending the war. The dominions also became full members of the newly established League of Nations. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 established the equal status of Britain and its self-governing dominions, and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster embodied this principle in law. The First World War seemed to have further strengthened the British Empire. Imperial resources were successfully marshalled in the common cause, and the empire’s territory was extended by the acquisition of German and Turkish colonies in Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific (as mandates of the League of Nations). By contrast, rival empires in Europe were in disarray. The Treaty of Versailles had crushed Germany, which fell into revolutionary unrest. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, breaking into a number of smaller states. Russia was racked by civil war following the Bolshevik coup in November 1917, which had led to its early withdrawal from the war. France was simply exhausted.

The diminishing British Empire
Appearances can be deceptive. Although it was not immediately apparent, the war had seriously undermined the British Empire’s strategic position and, with it, the security system upon which New Zealand relied. New potential rivals outside Europe had emerged, in particular the United States and Japan. Communist Russia represented a fundamentally antagonistic and unstable ingredient in international relations. The war had left Britain financially drained and unable to sustain the level of armaments required to protect its worldwide empire. Its position was further weakened by the termination of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1921. Increasingly Britain relied on political action to maintain the status quo, an approach that would fall apart in the 1930s. At first sight, the prolonged and costly conflict did not affect New Zealand attitudes to war. When, in 1922, a new conflict with Turkey seemed possible during the Chanak crisis, thousands of men rapidly came forward to form a new expeditionary force. Ultimately, however, the heavy toll of lives and the seemingly futile nature of many of the battles, especially on the Western Front, did affect opinion in New Zealand, as in other Commonwealth countries. Pacifism was boosted. The war, especially the Gallipoli campaign, also had a marked influence on the development of a distinctive New Zealand national identity.