Tez - Özet 2

Armistice (mütareke) Reparations and The German Questions

When allies assembled (toplanma) in paris on 12 junuary 1919, very little of the peace settlement had been agreed.
Almost all questions remained to be negotiated:
- reparations
-german disarmament
-territorial questions
-the league of nations

The german government asked Wilson for an armistice based on the peace terms announced by Wilson in speechs on january 8 (the fourteen point adress)
-this create the first serious discussion among the allies about how to end the war and the future of Germany, Allies were fighting the same war with different goals.

in late 1918 ,Wildrow Wilson was with Lloyd George and Clemenceau in the negatiations. American leader wanted agreement as a settlement before a collapse of the german military gave the allies an opportunity to take the peace settlement into their hands.

Colonel House met with the British and french leaders in Paris.
When the allies threatened to reject Wilsons Fourteen Points, House warned that th US might seek a seperate peace.
-Lloyd George objected to Wilsons "freedom of sea" commitment, arguing that the British could not give up control over seas.
-France proposed specific postwar reductions in German military armaments and called for the  occupation of the Rhineland.
   +Premier Clemenceau was arguing that Germany must provide compensations(tazminat)

The British and French leaders agreed that the peace settlement with Germany would be based on Wilson's fourteen points but this was only possible with:
- the british on freedom of the seas
-to the french on armaments, border security along the Rhine, and sweeping reparations.

House and Wilson was believing that they had achieved a great success because fourteen points would be the basis of the peace.

Representetives of twenty-seven countries met in paris for the peace conference in january 1919.
It was a continuation of the the allied conferences and pre-armistice agreements.

In the first weeks of the conference Wilson domanated and sycceeded in making agreement of the postwar League of Nations is necassary to solve the problems with various commissons of experts.

The basic struggle was between
-Wilson who sought to organize the settlement with liberal princibles,
-the other major powers who sought to make good on their own territorial and security goals and commitments(vaat) to each other.

Wilson sought to ensure the german colinial territories be determined with impartiality(tarafsızlık) and some measure of self determination, eventually involving the creation of a mandate system administrate by the new League of Nations.

French security was the focus of the Paris conference
-Clemenceau 's ambitious included the recovery of Alsace- Lorraine, the occupiton of the western border of the rhine and dismemberment of western parts of germany . but Wilson opposed this plan...

In the end France pulled back its demands and in return Britain and US agreed
-to permit a fifteen year occupation of the Rhine ,
-the permanent demilitarization of the westbank of the rhine
-and sweeping german disarmament
-they pledged (vaat) their countries for a limited period to defend france if it were attacted by germany.

the most debates of the Paris conference were the issue of reparations and indemnities. The earlier understanding was that Germany would only be responsible for civilian damages, but in paris it was demanded that it should be liable( sorumlu) for the entire costs.

Wilson argued that Germany should take the costs of disability pensions ( sakat emekli) to allied veterans ( gazi) and their families and he conceded (kabul etti) that france had right to occupy the Rhineland if Germany failed to make good its reparations(tazminat).
France wanted permanent control of the Saar
Wilson struggled allowing for a fifteen year occupation.

The leaders agreed to Article 231 of the treaty

: "The Allied and Associated Governments affirm ( doğrulamak) and Germany accepts the responsibilityof Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed(maruz kalmış) upon them by the aggression of germany and her allies."
- This sentence did not require germany to accept "war guilt", only to accept responsibility for damages done by the war.
+Germany had been alone with the responsibility of the war.

Wilson's goal was to put the League at the center of the peace treaty and take it into the entire settlement.
Wilson's insistence(ısrar) that treaty agreement reflected this view. He did not want to let the allied governmentd achieve their territorial and political goals and simply walk away from the league proposal at the end.

Commitment, Restraint, and The League

League of Nations ,in Wilson's view, An institution that would ensure peaceful settlements of disputes and reinforce( güçlendirmek) democratic governance.
Germany could be better monitoredand controlled if it were inside the league.

The British used their support for the league as a way to foster (teşvik) closer security ties
French support for the league in exchange for an American and British security guarantee.

The US would take advantage of ongoing democratic revolution to establish institutions tat would bind the democracies together and ensure a congernial world order well into the future.

Wilson was responding to the incentives (teşvik) provided by the postwar juncture to secure long-term gains.

If the leading democracies could act together to establich the new institution, traditional security commitments or territorial guarantees would be unnecassary.

But even if European leaders were not overwhelmed(bozguna uğramak) by American military power or
its role during the war, they did worry about the stability and dependability(güvenilirlik) of America in Europe.

What is needed  is "some league of nations that could relied on(güvenme) to insist that disputes between two nations must settled by arbitration(hakemlik),mediation(uzlaşma) or conference of others.

International law has had no sanction(yaptırım) so far.
The lesson of this law is that the powers must bind themselves to give it a sanction(yaptırım)

After United States entered the war, British officials continued to appeal(istemek) privately to the wilson administration to come forward with more concrete(somur) plans for a postwar peace organization.

Assistant foreign secretary Lord Robert Cecil urged(çağırdı) the US to begin planning.
and in 1918 indicated to Colonel House that the British would go forward with a commision to study specific proposals.
Wilson was still not moved.
Wilson did not want to provoke a national debate on the league idea

In march 1918 a interim report by the British planning group, Phillimore Committee, indicated the key features. These included;
-the princibles of arbitration (hakemlik) and league conciliation(yatıştırma) in the event of disputes between nations
-sanctions(yaptırım) against covenant-breaking(zösleşme bozma) states
-a staturory(kanıni) three months cooling-off(soğutma) period after the recommendation(tavsiye) of the league.

In the summer 1918 Wilson became more actively involved in the details. The president requested House to rewrite the British report, adding American thinking to the ideas, and it was the resulting document that became the basis for the American proposals at the peace conference.

Skepticism within British government remained over the workings of the League of Nations, but most officials saw it as a way to draw the United States into more active involvement in Europe.
A postwar institution would establish specific American commitments and Guarnatees.

In the third of the series of meetings between Wilson and Clemenceau in Paris on 15 december 1918, Wilson raised the League of nations proposal, and Clemenceau voiced skepticism about its workability but also said it was a worthy endeavor(çaba). Clemenceau's basic position was that French security required the sharp and permanent reduction in Germany military power.

Lloys George and his coalition were willing to support the league concept but Lloyd George also campaigned(micadele vermek) for severe(şiddetli) treatment of the Germans.