The Treaty of Versailles articulated the compromises reached at the conference. It included the planned formation of the League of Nations , which would serve both as an international forum and an international collective security arrangement. President Woodrow Wilson was a strong advocate of the League as he believed it would prevent future wars. Negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference were complicated.
While it fought alongside the Allies, the United States was not bound to honor pre-existing agreements among the Allied Powers.
These agreements focused on postwar redistribution of territories. President Woodrow Wilson strongly opposed many of these arrangements, including Italian demands on the Adriatic. Treaty negotiations were also weakened by the absence of other important nations. Russia had fought as one of the Allies until December , when its new Bolshevik Government withdrew from the war. The Allied Powers refused to recognize the new Bolshevik Government and thus did not invite its representatives to the Peace Conference.
The pass notes that a special train was available from Paris to take her to the Palace of Versailles. Allied leaders faced a difficult task, far greater than the only comparative peace conference in that officially ended the Napoleonic Wars. Four empires—Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire—lay shattered, their people facing an uncertain future amid social and political unrest.
Those in Paris not only had to determine the articles of peace for the former Central Powers but also faced countless demands from people throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The list of participants was drawn up: as in , delegations were invited from the States taking part in the negotiations. The British dominions of Australia, Canada and South Africa were to be represented separately from Great Britain, with two representatives each, along with India, which also had two representatives.
New Zealand had one representative. Montenegro would be allowed a seat once the situation was cleared up, while the issue of Russian representation was left pending. The defeated powers, however, were not invited. The fate of the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires would be settled in their absence, unlike that of France when it was defeated in , as Talleyrand had successfully influenced negotiations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs represented almost a quarter of the French delegation and, through its diplomats, played a very active role both within the decision-making bodies of the Conference and in the many committees and commissions. In addition to plenipotentiary delegates such as diplomat Jules Cambon, who chaired the credentials committee, there were technical advisers and specialists in political, legal and economic issues.
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