WGBH CPB
The Challenges of Making Peace | The Great War

Conducting Peace in the World
“Il est plus facile de faire la guerre que la paix." (“It is easier to make war than peace.”)—Georges Clemenceau, French Prime Minister

By early 1919, World War I was almost over. For President Woodrow Wilson, the major task now was to get the former combatants to agree to terms that would lead to peace and prevent future war.
Woodrow Wilson conducts the “World Peace Symphony."

Lesson Goals

In this lesson, you will watch videos and analyze primary sources that will help you understand why it was so difficult to make peace at the end of the Great War. You will examine the terms that Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States wanted to include in a peace treaty. You will also learn how each country was influenced by its wartime experience.

As you go through the lesson, pay attention to text that describes key ideas or provides evidence about:

  • the number of people injured or killed in the war
  • the economic impact of the war
  • destruction to land and property
  • what each country needed from a peace agreement

At the end of the lesson, you will use this information to complete a chart that reflects your understanding of the following question:

How did the U.S. and European leaders differ in their goals for a postwar peace treaty?