An American History

774 ★ CHAPTER 19 Safe for Democracy: The United States and WWI

Middle East. Nguyen That Thanh, a young Vietnamese patriot working in Paris,

pressed his people’s claim for greater rights within the French empire. Citing

the Declaration of Independence, he appealed unsuccessfully to Wilson to help

bring an end to French rule in Vietnam. W. E. B. Du Bois organized a Pan- African

Congress in Paris that put forward the idea of a self- governing nation to be

carved out of Germany’s African colonies. Koreans, Indians, Irish, and others

also pressed claims for self- determination.

The British and French, however, had no intention of applying this prin-

ciple to their own empires. They rebuffed the pleas of colonial peoples for

self- rule. During the war, the British had encouraged Arab nationalism as a

weapon against the Ottoman empire and had also pledged to create a home-

land in Palestine for the persecuted Jews of Europe. In fact, the victors of World

War I divided Ottoman territory into a series of new territories, including Syria,

Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine, controlled by the victorious Allies under League

of Nations “mandates.” South Africa, Australia, and Japan acquired former

German colonies in Africa and Asia. Nor did Ireland achieve its independence

at Versailles. Only at the end of 1921 did Britain finally agree to the creation

(Free City)Danzig

Rhineland

Saar

GREAT

BRITAIN

FRANCE

BELGIUM

NETHERLANDS

DENMARK

NORWAY

FINLAND

SWEDEN

SPAIN

PORTUGAL ITALY

SWITZERLAND

GERMANY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

ALBANIA

GREECE

TURKEY

RUSSIA

LUXEMBOURG

ESTONIA

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

EAST PRUSSIA(GERMANY)

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

AUSTRIA HUNGARY

POLAND

YUGOSLAVIA

Sicily

Crete Cyprus

Lorrai

ne^

Alsac

e^

Sardinia(It.)

Corsica(Fr.)

DodecaneseIs. (Italy)

North

Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Balt

ic^ S

ea^

Black^ Sea^

Atlantic

Ocean

0

0

250

250

500 miles

500 kilometers

New nationsDemilitarized or Allied occupied zone

EUROPE IN 1919