Peace Settlements of World War 1

Read the following excerpt from chapter 8. 

• The Peace Settlements (page 449)
In January 1919, representatives of 27 victorious Allied nations met in Paris
to make a final settlement of the war. Idealistic reasons for fighting World War
I had replaced the original reasons for starting the war. Even before the war
ended, the U.S. president, Woodrow Wilson, had presented his “Fourteen
Points” to the U.S. Congress. These points were his basis for a peace settlement.
His proposals included reaching the peace agreements openly rather
than through secret diplomacy, reducing armaments (military forces) to a
“point consistent with domestic safety,” and ensuring self-determination
(the right of each people to have its own nation). He also pushed for a
general association of nations that would guarantee independence for
large and small nations alike.
When the delegations met at the Paris Peace Conference, it became
obvious that secret treaties and agreements had been made before the war.
These agreements had raised the hopes of European nations for territorial
gains. These hopes could not be totally ignored, even if they were in conflict
with the principle of self-determination. David Lloyd George, prime minister
of Great Britain, was determined to make Germany pay for the war. Georges
Clemenceau, the premier of France, was mainly concerned about national
security. Clemenceau wanted Germany to be stripped of all weapons. He also
wanted German reparations (payments to cover the costs of the war) and a
separate Rhineland as a buffer zone between France and Germany.
Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau made the most important decisions
at the Paris Peace Conference. Germany was not even invited to attend, and
Russia could not be present because of civil war. On January 25, 1919, the conference
accepted Wilson’s idea of a League of Nations. In return, Wilson agreed
to make compromises on territorial arrangements. He did this because he
believed that the League could later fix any unfair arrangements. Clemenceau
also compromised. He gave up France’s wish for a separate Rhineland.
The final peace settlement consisted of five separate treaties with the
defeated nations (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey). The
most important treaty was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany. It was
signed on June 28, 1919. The War Guilt Clause said that Germany and Austria were responsible for starting the war. It ordered Germany to pay
reparations for the damage done to the Allied nations. Germany also had to
reduce its army and navy and eliminate its air force. Alsace and Lorraine were
returned to France. Parts of eastern Germany were given to a new Polish
state. German land on both sides of the Rhine was made a demilitarized zone
and stripped of all weapons and fortifications. It was hoped that this would
prevent Germany from making advances toward France.
As a result of the war and the peace treaties, the map of Europe was
redrawn. Both the German and Russian empires lost much territory. 
The Austro-Hungarian Empire disappeared. New nations emerged: Finland,
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary.
Romania acquired additional lands from Russia, Hungary, and Bulgaria.
Serbia became part of a new nation, called Yugoslavia. 
The principle of self-determination supposedly guided the Paris Peace Conference, but
the mixtures of peoples in Eastern Europe made it impossible to draw boundaries
totally along ethnic lines. As a result, almost every Eastern European
country still had ethnic minorities. The problem of ethnic minorities would
lead to later conflicts.
The Ottoman Empire was also broken up by the peace settlement. To gain
Arab support during the war, the Allies had promised to recognize the independence
of Arab states in the Ottoman Empire. After the war, however,
France took control of Lebanon and Syria, and Britain took control of Iraq and
Palestine. These arrangements were called mandates. Under the mandate system,
a nation officially governed another nation as a mandate from the
League of Nations but did not own the territory.
World War I had other results as well. The death of so many people undermined
the idea of progress. This war had been a total war that required a
complete mobilization of people and resources. The power of governments
increased. The turmoil created by the war led to even more insecurity.
Revolutions broke up old empires. New states were created, which led to new
problems.

Prompt: Discuss Wilson's 14 points and how this plan enabled new nations to emerge.  In your answer, specifically address the concepts of "self-determination" and "mandates", and how these principles played out in the final settlement of the war. Finally, discuss how the concept of "total war" and the idea of "reparations" created an environment that made the Peace Settlement a point of contention for many nations.