Paris Peace Conference | National WWI Museum and Memorial

On January 18, 1919, the Paris Peace Conference (aka the Versailles Peace Conference) opened to draw up the treaties to formally end WWI. From the article:

"Negotiating the End of the War
Formally opened on January 18, 1919, the Paris Peace Conference was the international meeting that established the terms of peace after World War I. Peacemaking occurred in several stages, with the Council of Four, also known as the “Big Four”—Prime Ministers Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, Vittorio Orlando of Italy and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson—acting as the primary decisionmakers for the first six months, and their foreign ministers and ambassadors overseeing the remainder of the conference.

By the time the Allies formalized peace with the former Central Powers through a series of treaties, including an additional negotiation with the new nation of Turkey in 1923, the fragmented process of “making peace” had lasted longer than the war.

Allied leaders faced a difficult task, far greater than the only comparative peace conference in 1815 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. There were also calls for new states based on Woodrow Wilson’s principle of self‑determination.

Self-determination

“… one thing is clear: as Wilson arrived in France in December, 1918, he ignited great hopes throughout the world with his stirring Fourteen Points – especially the groundbreaking concept of ‘self-determination.’ Yet, Wilson … seemed vague as to what his own phrase actually meant.”
— Diplomat Richard Holbrooke, writing in the foreword of Margaret MacMillian’s book, Paris 1919.

No clear explanation of “self-determination” was ever provided by Woodrow Wilson. Many inspirationally perceived it to mean an identified grouping of people should have the liberty to create the government it would like. Deep conflict occurs upon implementation when determinations must be made on what identifies a “grouping of people” and what rights are provided with 'liberty.'”