International relations, 1918–1939
After the First World War the victors held the Paris Peace Conference (18 January 1919 – 21 January 1920), where the “Big Three” – Wilson, Lloyd George and Clemenceau – played the leading role. The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, held Germany responsible for the war and required it to pay large reparations; separate treaties were made with the other defeated states. At Wilson’s initiative the League of Nations was created to keep peace and security, while former German colonies and Ottoman lands were placed under the mandate system, administered by states such as Great Britain and France. The Washington Conference of 1921–1922 dealt with Pacific questions and limits on naval arms, and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) fixed Turkey’s borders. Together these agreements are called the Versailles–Washington system. Its weakness was that the defeated states saw it as unjust, while the League lacked several great powers and had no army of its own to enforce its decisions.
A role-play “Paris Conference” in class: groups write the interests of France, Great Britain, the USA and Germany, draft a settlement in 10 minutes, then compare it with the real Versailles terms.