David Lloyd George - He was Britains's Prime Minister who guided the nation through most of WW1 and was a massive influence at the Paris Peace Conference. He promised to build a post war Britain that was "fit for heroes." This goal would cost a lot of money and he wanted the Germans to have to pay this money. He thought that the Germans should have to pay for all of the war reparations including the pensions of soldiers. He wanted to punish Germany economically and politically for the war, but not completely destroy them, like the French did. He also wanted to weaken the German navy because so then Britain would continue to have a strong navy.
Georges Clemenceau - He was France's Prime Minister and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles.His main goal was to weaken Germany so that it could never again threaten France. He wanted Germany to be severely punished to protect France from further attacks. He became the president of the peace conference since it was being held in France. He wanted Germany to pay for all the war reparations and for them to suffer economically. He also wanted Germany to take their army out of the Rhineland, which was the main area that forms the border between France and Germany along the Rhine River. They also wanted the Alsace and Lorraine territory back from Germany.
Woodrow Wilson - He was the President of the United States during WW1 adn wrothe the Fourteen Points as a way to establish and keep peace in the world. He was a mayor player at the Paris Peace Conference adn one of the Big Four.He was a dedicated reformer and was very stubborn making him at times hard to work with. He initially didn't want to get involved with WWI and remain isolationist, but was forced to enter the war when Germany sent the Zimmerman note saying they would continue to use unrestricted submarine warfare. He wanted to include all of his 14 points in the treaty and he urged for "peace without victory." His 14 points were meant to resolve territory disputes, make free trade, and create peacekeeping organization. He thought that Germany should not be treated that badly after the war. He had to compromise some of his 14 points for the treaty, however he still wanted to form the League of Nations, a group of countries that stuck together in order to keep peace. Wilson wanted to join the League of Nations, but the U.S. congress did not want to enter it and ally them selves with other countries, so the United States did not join the League of Nations.
Article 173 - This was a section of the Versailles Treaty that declared that Germany could no longer make military service a requirement. In othe words, they said that Germany could not have their own military; therefore saying that they were not allowed to protect themselves.
Article 227 - This required the arrangement of the German Emperor (William 2nd) for the offence against inernational mortality. This basically states that Germany is to blame for all the deaths during the war.
Article 231 - This is also know as the "War Guilt Clause" which forced the German nation to accept complete responsibility for iniating WW1. In all, this states that Germany is, again, responsible for starting the war and should then have to deal with the consequences.
. Some of the individual goals of Woodrow Wilson were to have "peace without victory." He wanted his 14 points to be included into the treaty of Versailles. His 14 points wanted to stop territory disputes, make free trade, and to form a peacekeeping organization. He didn't think that Germany should be punished too badly for the war. His main goal of the conference was to form the League of Nations.
2. Some of the individual goals of Georges Clemenceau were to weaken Germany so that it could not threaten France again. He wanted Germany to pay for all of the war reparations and suffer economically. He also wanted Germany to take soldiers out of the Rhineland, which was the area that separated France and Germany. They also wanted the Alsace and Lorraine territory back from Germany.
3. Some of the individual goals of David Lloyd George were to weaken Germany's army and navy, however not completely destroying the country. His main goal was to make Britain a place "fit for heroes" and he wanted Germany to pay for this and all of the war reparations. He also wanted to weaken the German navy which h would make the British navy even stronger.
4. The problem the U.S. congress saw with the League of Nations was that it made them part of an alliance. They wanted to stay independent and not get dragged into another war unwillingly. Congress did not want to ally the U.S. with any other countries because they thought that this would work against them even. Wilson wanted to join the League of Nations because he came up with the idea , however the U.S. congress would not let him.
5. The effect of article 231 on Germany was it reduced the size of their army. The power of the German army was weakened and this would effect them in wars later on. In WWII Germany was not supposed to use the draft while all other countries could, making their armies more powerful than Germany. Germany would not be able to get the numbers of soldiers that the other countries could in WWII. This would give Germany a disadvantage in WWII that was going to happen in about 20 more years.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
WWI Casualties Analysis
1) It seems a tad ridiculous that so many of these people were fighting someones else's fight. The alliances formed, I assume, were STRONG ones considering the amount of solders pulled from these two countries. In the end, there were thousands killed from both sides and a treaty was signed.
2)Geographically, Austria-Hungary is directly in the middle Russia and France. The fact they were in the center of so many fighting countries could be the reason their casualty rates were so high. Another reason would be that Russia and France had two fronts which would force Austria-Hungary to separate their army and therefore weaken it, resulting in higher numbers of casualties.
3)I presume "missing" soldiers as men who decieded to run-away or were shunned from their countries. The ones that fled were probably those who saw and experienced the horrors of war and began to question the purpose. The Russians too shared this feeling most likely had little faith in their country as a whole and what they were able to do. This may have influenced the start of the Russian Revolution because Russia was a separated country. There was no trust and the government had just collapsed under the stress of the war.
4)The number of soldiers America rallied up just shows how much it was philanthropized throughour the United States. America could have brought in even more if they needed to. They were really the decideing factor that brought an end to the war because both sides were pretty pooped. Although America procrastinated on joining the war, they went in full force and got what they were after.
5) In all, the allies had a far more countries involved than the central powers. These numbers show that the Allies fought smart. Meaning, they were probably better supplied, better trained, and as a result they had fewer casualties. Also, over time more and more countries started joining the war, putting more pressure on the Central Powers until there was a mutual agreement to stop fighting. Plus, since a lot of countries joined late for the Allies, their attitude about the war remained undaunted for a while longer during the time the Central Powers were beginning to doubt their involvement.
6) My overall thoughts of the casualties of WWI are that they were mostly pointless since the countries were only in the war because of their allies.The chart tells me that both of the sides were exhausting their resources in order to win the war that most countries did not know what they were fighting for. The chart does not tell me how many of the men went crazy when they went home or were greatly affected by the war (mentally). This would probably be worse than actually being physically wounded.
2)Geographically, Austria-Hungary is directly in the middle Russia and France. The fact they were in the center of so many fighting countries could be the reason their casualty rates were so high. Another reason would be that Russia and France had two fronts which would force Austria-Hungary to separate their army and therefore weaken it, resulting in higher numbers of casualties.
3)I presume "missing" soldiers as men who decieded to run-away or were shunned from their countries. The ones that fled were probably those who saw and experienced the horrors of war and began to question the purpose. The Russians too shared this feeling most likely had little faith in their country as a whole and what they were able to do. This may have influenced the start of the Russian Revolution because Russia was a separated country. There was no trust and the government had just collapsed under the stress of the war.
4)The number of soldiers America rallied up just shows how much it was philanthropized throughour the United States. America could have brought in even more if they needed to. They were really the decideing factor that brought an end to the war because both sides were pretty pooped. Although America procrastinated on joining the war, they went in full force and got what they were after.
5) In all, the allies had a far more countries involved than the central powers. These numbers show that the Allies fought smart. Meaning, they were probably better supplied, better trained, and as a result they had fewer casualties. Also, over time more and more countries started joining the war, putting more pressure on the Central Powers until there was a mutual agreement to stop fighting. Plus, since a lot of countries joined late for the Allies, their attitude about the war remained undaunted for a while longer during the time the Central Powers were beginning to doubt their involvement.
6) My overall thoughts of the casualties of WWI are that they were mostly pointless since the countries were only in the war because of their allies.The chart tells me that both of the sides were exhausting their resources in order to win the war that most countries did not know what they were fighting for. The chart does not tell me how many of the men went crazy when they went home or were greatly affected by the war (mentally). This would probably be worse than actually being physically wounded.
Monday, February 15, 2010
WWI Letters Home
Dear Folks
It has been six days since I wrote you last but it is only because we moved a lot since then. I am now in a dugout near the front line in trenches with several other men. We control the telephone connections from here. It is now 3:30 in the morning. The other boys are all asleep and it is my turn to be on duty. I thought it would be a good time to write. We are all well. We are feeling fine. We get plenty to eat. We eat with the French, and you can't beat the French cooks. The French soldiers are the best pals. I think they are the finest kind of fellows. I can understand a bunch of their lingo already. Although, American candy sounds so good right now. I haven't had any since i left home. I must light a new candle soon. We are OK so long as we can get candles. I am surely glad I brought lots of paper with me. It seems foolish always to be carrying such stuff as paper around on my back from place to place but it comes in mighty handy down here. What is going on in the good old U.S.A. any way? Where is my sister now? When I get back to the USA, I'm never going to leave again. But I've gotten used to it here. It's all a matter of course. Well, I must close. I hope you are all well and happy. Write often. Send my love to everyone.
Your son,
Harold
It has been six days since I wrote you last but it is only because we moved a lot since then. I am now in a dugout near the front line in trenches with several other men. We control the telephone connections from here. It is now 3:30 in the morning. The other boys are all asleep and it is my turn to be on duty. I thought it would be a good time to write. We are all well. We are feeling fine. We get plenty to eat. We eat with the French, and you can't beat the French cooks. The French soldiers are the best pals. I think they are the finest kind of fellows. I can understand a bunch of their lingo already. Although, American candy sounds so good right now. I haven't had any since i left home. I must light a new candle soon. We are OK so long as we can get candles. I am surely glad I brought lots of paper with me. It seems foolish always to be carrying such stuff as paper around on my back from place to place but it comes in mighty handy down here. What is going on in the good old U.S.A. any way? Where is my sister now? When I get back to the USA, I'm never going to leave again. But I've gotten used to it here. It's all a matter of course. Well, I must close. I hope you are all well and happy. Write often. Send my love to everyone.
Your son,
Harold
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