The Allies successfully captured a victory over the Central Powers during World War I. On January 8th, 1918, Woodrow Wilson presented a peace program called the 14 points to Congress. “The idealism expressed in them was widely acclaimed and gave Wilson a position of moral leadership among the Allied leaders (Encarta 2003)”. The Fourteen Points were designed to give Alsace-Lorraine back to Germany, to redraw Austria-Hungary’s borders, to declare Belgium as being independent, to restore Poland as a state, to enforce arms reduction, and to require all treaties to be open and transparent. The most important point was the Fourteenth point which called for the creation of a League of Nations.

On October 4th, 1918, the German government asked Wilson for a cease of fire. Peace negotiations began in October of 1918 and Wilson insisted that they be based upon

The French forced Germany into signing the Treaty of Versailles by telling them that they would march over Berlin if they did not sign it. The Treaty angered the Germans because Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France. It also included article 231, which blamed Germany for all loss of life, property, and for all the damage of the war and for starting the war. This is often referred to as the War Guilt Clause. This enraged the Germans even more. They argued that the treaty was demanding way too much reparation money and that 100,000 men was not enough protection. The Big Four purposely put harsh restrictions on Germany so that they would be unable to defend themselves or harm the world again.

After the Armistice was signed, France and Britain continued the blockade to Germany. The Armistice was designed to prevent Germany from being able to harm France. There were many positive and negative aspects of the Armistice. Italy was also able to receive the territory that they were promised, but they were not fully satisfied because they wanted a port city that became independent. Great Britain was able to resume their position as the World’s bank through the Armistice. Poland’s territory was taken from Russia and Germany and given back to them. Hungary became independent and Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were formed. Austria wanted to join Germany, but was not allowed to. The Armistice stated that “each nation has a right to their own fate.” This was referred to as self determination. Self determination was not applied toward Germany as punishment. It was only used when it benefited the Allied Powers. Self determination also forced different states to repay the United States.

The Allied Powers blame Germany for starting the war. The war was really started by Austria-Hungary. The Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Serbia on his way to Bosnia. Austria-Hungary was enraged. They sent a fourteen point ultimatum to Serbia that was designed to be rejected. When Serbia rejected

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