Paris Peace Conference

(1919–20) Meeting that inaugurated the international settlement after World War I.

It opened on Jan. 12, 1919, with representatives from more than 30 countries. The principal delegates were France's Georges Clemenceau, Britain's David Lloyd George, the U.S.'s Woodrow Wilson, and Italy's Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, who with their foreign ministers formed a Supreme Council. Commissions were appointed to study specific financial and territorial questions, including reparations. The major products of the conference were the League of Nations; the Treaty of Versailles, presented to Germany; the Treaty of Saint-Germain, presented to Austria; and the Treaty of Neuilly, presented to Bulgaria. The inauguration of the League of Nations on Jan. 16, 1920, brought the conference to a close. Treaties were subsequently concluded with Hungary (Treaty of Trianon, 1920) and Turkey (Treaties of Sèvres, 1920, and Lausanne, 1923).

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▪ 1919–20

      (1919–20), the meeting that inaugurated the international settlement after World War I.

      Although hostilities had been brought formally to an end by a series of armistices between the Allies and their adversaries—that of Salonika (Thessaloníka) with Bulgaria on Sept. 29, 1918, that of Mudros (Mudros, Armistice of) with Turkey (Ottoman Empire) on October 30, that of Villa Giusti with Austria-Hungary on November 3, and that of Rethondes with Germany on November 11—the conference did not open until Jan. 18, 1919. This delay was attributable chiefly to the British prime minister, David Lloyd George (Lloyd George, David), who chose to have his mandate confirmed by a general election before entering into negotiations.

      Lloyd George's arrival in Paris was followed on Jan. 12, 1919, by a preliminary meeting of the French, British, U.S., and Italian heads of government and foreign ministers—respectively Georges Clemenceau (Clemenceau, Georges) and Stephen Pichon; Lloyd George and Arthur James Balfour; (Balfour, Arthur James Balfour, 1st earl of, Viscount Traprain) Woodrow Wilson (Wilson, Woodrow) and Robert Lansing; (Lansing, Robert) and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele) and Sidney Sonnino (Sonnino, Sidney, Barone)—at which it was decided that they themselves, with the Japanese plenipotentiaries, would constitute a Supreme Council, or Council of Ten, to monopolize all the major decision making. In March, however, the Supreme Council was, for reasons of convenience, reduced to a Council of Four, numbering only the Western heads of government, as the chief Japanese plenipotentiary, Prince Saionji Kimmochi, abstained from concerning himself with matters of no interest to Japan. The foreign ministers continued to meet as a Council of Five dealing with secondary matters.

      The five Great Powers likewise controlled the Supreme Economic Council, created in February 1919 to advise the conference on economic measures to be taken pending the negotiation of peace. Specialized commissions were appointed to study particular problems: the organization of a League of Nations (Nations, League of) and the drafting of its Covenant; the determination of responsibility for the war and guarantees against a renewal of it; reparations; international labour legislation; international ports, waterways, and railroads; financial questions; economic questions of a permanent sort; aviation; naval and military matters; and territorial questions.

      Major products of the conference were (1) the Covenant of the League of Nations, which was submitted in a first draft on Feb. 14, 1919, and finally approved, in a revised version, on April 28, (2) the Treaty of Versailles (Versailles, Treaty of), presented at last to a German delegation on May 7, 1919, and signed, after their remonstrances, on June 28, (3) the Treaty of Saint-Germain (Saint-Germain, Treaty of), presented to an Austrian delegation in a rough draft on June 2, 1919, and in a fuller version on July 20 and signed on September 10, and (4) the Treaty of Neuilly (Neuilly, Treaty of), presented to a Bulgarian delegation on Sept. 19, 1919, and signed on November 27. There had been wrangling among the Allies over both the treaties with Germany and those with Austria. Concerning the former, the Americans and the British resisted French demands affecting Germany's western frontier and the Polish demand, supported by France, for Danzig ( Gdańsk), while the Americans also objected to Japanese claims to Germany's special privileges in Shantung, China. Concerning the latter treaty, the Italians and the Yugoslavs (Yugoslavia) quarreled over the partition of Austria's former possessions on the Adriatic Sea.

      The formal inauguration of the League of Nations on Jan. 16, 1920, brought the Paris conference to an end, before the conclusion of treaties with Turkey (1920, 1923) or with Hungary (1920).

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