Factors at play at the end of the

war
Russian revolution
Declaration that U-Boats will destroy neutral

vessels
Hundred Days Campaign
Illness - influenza

Russia
In 1914 Russia kept the Germans busy but suffered

great losses. In 1914 Russia lost at two battles,

Tannenberg and the First Battle of the Masurian
Lakes; Russia lost two entire armies (over 250,000
men).
By mid-1915 Russia had lost fifteen percent of its

territory and twenty percent of its population. The

Russian army was being bled to death as soldiers
often went into battle without rifles, hoping to be
able to scavenge guns from fallen compatriots.

In 1916 Russia almost eliminated Austria-Hungary as

a military power and this provided relief for the

French at Verdun and the British at the Somme.
There were food riots labour unrest and immense

dissatisfaction with the war

The economic, social and political conditions in

Russia were unstable and ripe for revolution. In

1917 the tsar was overthrown in 1917 and Russia
pulled out of the war and signed the Treaty of BrestLitovsk.

Shipping
The Allies developed the convoy system

where ships travelled in groups accompanied

by the armed forces
The British passenger ship the Lusitania was

sunk in 1915
Feb 1917 Germany declares that U-Boats will
fire on neutral ships any ships that come into
the war zone
This threat prompted the USA to enter the war
New bodies!!! Equipment!!!

The American involvement was essential to

Hundred Days Campaign:

8 August to 11 November 1918
The reputation of the Canadian Corps was

such that their involvement would signal

imminent battle
A large offensive was planned in France in

August 1918 and Canadian went north to Ypres

making it seem as if a major attack was coming
there
The Canadians secretly hurried back to the
Amiens sector for the real attack
No bombardment preceded the attack and the

Germans were taken by surprise

Chinese labourers construct light railway leading to the front. To

release more soldiers to fight, armies relied on paid labourers behind
the lines. Approximately 80,000 Chinese worked on the Western
Front during the war. After the Armistice, the Chinese Labour Corps
cleared corpses and debris from the battlefields.

Armistice - November 11, 1918

11 November 1918 an armistice was

signed between representatives of German

and Allied forces effectively ending the war
(5:00 a.m.) in effect 11:00 a.m.
Paris Peace Conference - from January to

June 1919 an assembly of nations met in

Paris to draw up the new European peace.

Council of Four Prime Minister David Lloyd

George of Britain, Prime Minister Vittorio

Emanuele of Italy, Premier Georges
Clemenceau of France, President Woodrow
Wilson of the US

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles
Wilsons 14 point plan failed in the face of fervent need

to blame and make Germany and Austria-Hungary pay

for the war
He called for: open covenants of peace, openly arrived

at
Reduction of armaments
Freedom of commerce and trade
Self-determination of peoples
General association of nations to guarantee peace
(League of Nations)
Signed 28 June 1919 five years after the

assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife

Georges Clemenceau wanted to prevent a

repeat and sought to cripple Germany

Treaty of Versailles
Encouraged Peace

Discouraged Peace

War-Guilt clause (blame)

Reparations

Creation of League of Nations

No secret alliances

Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Yugoslavia, Finland,

Lithuania, Hungary, Austria and
Czechoslovakia are granted status as nationstates

Military/Arms limitations
Loss of territory (A&L, France

controls Rhineland, lose colonies)

Germany forbidden to join League of

Nations
Germany and Austria forbidden to

unite
Re-drawing of the map where new

nations had their own minorities