The End of the War:
The devastation of The Great War was very obvious. Other than clear physical destruction, which was most visible in northern France and Belgium, the war killed, disabled, orphaned, and rendered millions of people homeless. The war killed 15 million and wounded 20 million. Millions suffered the effects of starvation, malnutrition, and epidemic diseases. The Great War also led to the spread of the Influenza pandemic.
The Paris Peace Conference:
Wilson's Fourteen Points were generally agreed upon during the conference within the Allies. However, the same allies also opposed some points of his formula, because they compromised the secret wartime agreements by which they had agreed to distribute among themselves territories and possessions of the defeated nations. The defeated powers later felt betrayed, and in turn violated the spirit of the Fourteen Points.
Result of the Treaties:
- The Treaty of Versailles (1919)- The Germans were denied a navy and an air force, and were forced to limit the size of the army to 100,000 troops. The Allies prohibited Germany and Austria from entering into any sort of alliance or political union. The French and the British also agreed that the defeated Central Powers were to pay for the war costs in any method possible.
- The Treaty of Neuilly (1919)- Bulgaria ceded only small portions of territory, because the Allies feared that major territorial changes would destabilize the region.
- Peacemakers recognized recognized the territorial breakup of the Austria-Hungary Empire into two separate treaties the Treaty of St. Germain (1919) between the Allies and the Republic of Austria, and the Treaty of Trianon (1920) between the allies and the kingdom of Hungary, which led to severe losses of territory for both regions.
New Countries After WWI:
Nine new nations emerged after World War I: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Hungary
The Middle East:
The Treaty of Sevres (1920) dissolved the Ottoman Empire calling for the surrender of Ottoman Balkan and Arab provinces and the occupation of eastern and southern Anatolia by foreign powers. The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) was later recognized by the Allied Powers as the Republic of Turkey.