5. The end of the war: Treaties of Peace
There were several peace treaties that put this war to an end.
The first peace agreement was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which was signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers.
The main peace treaties were negotiated in the Paris Peace Conference.
There were two main positions
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- The revenge led by France and its Prime Minister Clemenceau
- The reconciliation represented by the president of the USA Wilson
Other main characters were Lloyd George for UK and Orlando for Italy
Different treaties were signed by the allies with the defeated countries
Treaty of Versalles: signed with Germany. It stablished a hard peace conditions for Germany.
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- Germany returned Alsace and Lorraine to France.
- The areas of Éupen and Malmédy were yielded to Belgium.
- Schleswig should be returned to Denmark.
- Memel is ceded to Lithuania.
- Some lands (Pomeranian) were given to the newly created state of Poland.
- The city of Danzig would be internationally controlled and it became the Polish exit to the Baltic Sea.
- All the German colonies were ceded to France, Great Britain, Japan or the USA as mandates.
- The German army should not have more than 100,000 soldiers.
- The West bank of the river Rhine could not be militarised.
- The mining region of Saar should be occupied by France until 1934.
This treaty was considered a humiliation and nicknamed as the Diktat by the Germans.
Other treaties were signed :
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- Saint Germain with Austria. It meant the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
- Trianon with Hungary
- Neully with Bulgaria
- Sevrés with Turkey