1. 00:12 Was World War II an imperialist war?

2. 02:24 Differences between World War II in Europe and East Asia

3. 04:45 How the Washington Conference affected China and Japan

4. 06:19 Did a sense that Japan had been “bullied by the Western powers” spread?

7. 07:00 Three Asian national awakenings from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century

8. 08:55 The influence of Japan’s call for “common union”

9. 09:50 How should we understand Greater Asianism?

World War I ended in November 1918. In January 1919, the victorious Allied powers convened the Paris Peace Conference to resolve problems created by the war and establish a postwar peace. Defeated and neutral countries were not invited, so it was a conference of victors; and because victors themselves differed in power, the proceedings were controlled by the great powers. French prime minister Georges Clemenceau, British prime minister David Lloyd George, and U.S. president Woodrow Wilson led the conference.

The Treaty of Versailles dealt with defeated Germany, while a series of separate treaties were signed with German allies including Austria, Hungary, and Turkey. Together these agreements formed the Versailles system and established a postwar international order led by the principal victors, notably France, Britain, and the United States.

The conference began amid optimism about peace. The United States, newly involved in a European war, brought President Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which initially enjoyed wide support. Wilson’s idealism was soon overwhelmed by the victors’ attempts to divide spheres of influence and seek revenge; principles such as opposition to war and national self-determination could not be realized. Although the United States signed the treaty, Congress did not ratify it, and the country did not join the League of Nations.