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Two-Column Notes: The End of World War I

DIRECTIONS: Read the attached reading and complete the two-column notes template below.

Focus Question: How did World War I end?

Main Idea

Russians Start a Revolution

Details

1. Identify the two reasons that Russia wasnt prepared for WWI:

The Russian Revolution caused Russia to

pull out of the war because
2. Who were the soviets?

3. Which group of soviets began to play a crucial role in Russian

politics?
4. What three things did the Bolsheviks promise the Russian people?

5. Why did Lenin sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central
Powers?

Main Idea

The Last Year of the War

The Germans stopped fighting

the Allies when

Details

1. What caused Kaiser Wilhelm II to leave Germany?

2. What brought the fighting to an end?

Focus Question: How did World War I end?

Main Idea

The Peace Settlements Seek to

End All Wars

The League of Nations sought to

end future wars by

Details

1. What is collective security? What name was given to the association

of nations?

2. What was Clemenceau concerned about? What three things did he

want?

3.

Main Idea

The Treaty of Versailles Disarms

Germany

Why would the League of Nations prove to be weak (identify the

two reasons)?

Details

1. Who was blamed for World War I?

The Treaty of Versailles prevented

2. What were the terms of the Treaty of Versailles? Identify and
Germany from starting another war
explain at least three of the four main terms.
because

3. Explain how the seeds of WWII were sown at the Paris Peace
Conference.

4. What were some of the results of World War I (identify at least

two)?

THE END OF WORLD WAR I

Russians Start a Revolution
Russia was not prepared for WWI for many reasons; however, the biggest problems were that Czar Nicholas II and
many top military leaders had no training or ability to lead an army and Russian industry was not able to produce
the weapons needed for the army. It is said that many officers told their unarmed troops to pick up weapons from
dead Allied forces to use in battle. In addition to military difficulties, the Russian people were also suffering. Food
shortages caused by the war led the government to ration bread. Women, who were working 12 hour shifts in the
factories, were now forced to wait in long lines to get bread to feed their children.
With poor leadership and widespread military and economic problems, the Russian people demanded change. With
no support, Czar Nicholas II stepped down and a provisional government was put in place. However, the
provisional government also faced challenges to its authority the soviets. The soviets were councils of workers
and soldiers who favored communism. One group, the Bolsheviks, began to play a crucial role in Russian politics.
Vladimir Lenin led the Bolsheviks, a Socialist soviet group that told the people of Russia what they wanted to hear:
they promised to get Russia out of the war (peace), to give land to the peasants (land), and to shift control of the
economy to the workers so that there wouldnt be food shortages (bread). With general support from the people,
the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government in November of 1917.
The Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communists. Now that they were in power, they faced the difficult task
of removing Russia from WWI (remember: the Russian people wanted Russia to exit the war). In order to do this,
Russia would have to give up a lot of its territory to the Central Powers. In March of 1918, Lenin signed the Treaty
of Brest-Litovsk, which gave the Central Powers land in eastern Poland, Ukraine, Finland, and the Baltic provinces.
Even with this treaty, real peace did not come as Russia quickly sank into civil war.
END OF THE WAR
The Last Year of the War
The year 1917 had been a very difficult year for the Allied forces Russia left the war to fight a revolution at home
and the Allied offensives on the Western Front had been defeated. However, the entry of the United States into the
war gave the Allies a much needed psychological boost. In 1918, two million more American troops gave the Allies
the strength they needed to advance toward Germany. On September 29, 1918, German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II
was informed that the war was lost; however, the Kaiser wouldnt surrender. After a mutiny, or rebellion, led by the
German people, the Kaiser was forced to leave Germany. The new government signed an armistice a truce/
agreement to end the fighting in a war on November 11, 1918 and WWI came to an end.
The Peace Settlements Seek to End All Wars
Prior to the end of the war, U.S. president, Woodrow Wilson had already drafted a peace settlement. He pushed for
a general association of nations that would guarantee independence for large and small nations alike and would use
collective security a system in which a group of nations acts as one to preserve the peace of all to keep the peace
in the future. This association would be called the League of Nations.
In January 1919, representatives of 27 victorious Allied nations met in Paris to make a final settlement of the war.
President Wilson of the U.S., Premier Clemenceau of France, and Prime Minister Lloyd George of Great Britain
made up the Big Three and were responsible for the most important decisions at the Paris Peace Conference.
Germany wasnt even invited to attend and Russia couldnt be present because of civil war. In addition to accepting
Wilsons idea of a League of Nations, Clemenceau had additional requests that he wanted included in the
agreement. Geographically close to Germany, Clemenceau was mainly concerned about national security.
Clemenceau wanted Germany to be stripped of all weapons. He also wanted German reparations payments to
cover the costs of the war and a separate Rhineland as a buffer zone between France and Germany.

Unfortunately, the League of Nations would prove to be weak for two main reasons: it had no policing powers and
the U.S. Congress refused to join. Many U.S. government officials feared that the League of Nations would force
U.S. involvement in future European conflicts.
The Treaty of Versailles Disarms Germany
The final peace settlement consisted of five separate treaties with the defeated nations Germany, Austria,
Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The most important treaty was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany. It was signed
on June 28, 1919 and required the following:
a. War Guilt Clause: Germany had to accept responsibility for starting the war
b. Reparations Clause: Germany had to pay reparations for the damage done to the Allied nations
c. Disarmament Clause: Germany had to reduce its army and navy and eliminate its air force
d. Territorial Clauses:
Germany had to return Alsace and Lorraine to France
Parts of eastern Germany were given to a new Polish state
German land on both sides of the Rhine was made a demilitarized zone and stripped of all
weapons and fortifications in hope of preventing Germany from making advances toward France in
the future
The Germans signed the Treaty of Versailles because they had no other choice; however, German resentment
would last for 20 years. The seeds of WWII were sown at the Paris Peace Conference because Adolf Hitler would
remind Germans of the harsh conditions of the treaty and use its terms in his rise to power.
As a result of the war and the peace treaties, the map of Europe was redrawn. Germany and Russia lost a lot of
territory; the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires were broken up; and new nations emerged,
including Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary.
As mentioned, the Ottoman Empire was broken up by the peace settlement. To gain Arab support during the war,
the Allies had promised to recognize the independence of Arab states in the Ottoman Empire after the war.
However, the Europeans broke their promise: France took control of Lebanon and Syria and Great Britain took
control of Iraq and Palestine. These arrangements were called mandates. Under the mandate system, a nation
officially governed another nation as a mandate on behalf of the League of Nations but did not own the territory.
The purpose of the mandate system was to prepare territories for future independence.
WWI had global effects, which included:
Great loss of life
Economic problems (raising money to cover war debts and to rebuild homes and infrastructure would lead to
serious economic distress in Europe and beyond)
End of old empires
Creation of new nations (increased insecurity)
Colonies participation in the war led to increased demands for independence
The results of WWI in Germany were severe. The German people were very unhappy about the Treaty of Versailles
and thought that it was too harsh. Germany could not afford to pay reparations during the 1920s, people in
Germany were very poor. In addition, there were not many jobs and the price of food and basic goods was high.
Eventually, the German people would become so dissatisfied with their government that they would vote into
power a man who promised to rip up the Treatyhis name was Adolf Hitler.