End of the War and Paris Peace Conference
The war ended when the Central powers suffered from food shortages as a result of the British blockade, and increasing numbers of people took to the streets to rebel against declining food rations. These riots caused governments to react harshly by pouncing on strikers, suppressing demonstrators, and jailing dissidents. Also there was a breakdown in military discipline as German sailors revolted in the spring of 1917 and the fall of 1918. In the wake of another failed offensive during the spring of 1917, resulting in a high amount of casualties, French soldiers lost confidence in their leadership. Against the background of civilian disillusionment and collapsing economic conditions, Germany took the risk of throwing its remaining might at the western front I the spring of 1918. The gamble failed and as the offensive petered out, the Allies broke through the front and started pushing the Germans back. Germany had exhausted its human and material means to wage war. Meanwhile Bulgaria surrendered to the invading Allies on September 30, The ottomans on October 30, Austria-Hungary on November 4, and the Germans accepted an armistice on November 11, 1918. At the Paris peace conference the French desired the destruction or the permanent weakening of German power. Many of the Allied powers demanded a reduction in the military potential of the former central powers. Britain desired that the defeated Central powers must pay for the cost of the war and required the payment of reparations either in money or in kind.
Peace Treaties
The result of the treaty of Versallies denied the German a navy and an Air Force and limited the size of the German army to 100,000 troops. Allies prohibited Germany and Austria from entering into any sort of political union. It also demanded that the defeated Central powers must pay for the cost of the war and required the payment of reparations either in money or in kind. In the treaty of Neuilly, Bulgaria ceded only small portions of territory because the Allies feared that major territorial changes in the Balkans would destabilize the region. The treaties of St. Germain and Trianon recognized the territorial breakup of the former empire into two separate kingdoms/republics. Though these treaties, Austria and Hungary suffered severe territorial losses. The treaty of Sèvres effectively dissolved the Ottoman Empire calling for the surrender of Balkan and Arab provinces and the occupation of eastern and southern Anatolia by foreign powers. In the treaty of Lausanne, the Allied powers officially recognized the Republic of Turkey in a final peace agreement
What happened in the Middle East is Mustafa Kemal as the president of the republic of Turkey instituted an ambitious program of modernization that emphasized economic development and secularism. Government support of critical industries and businesses and other forms of state intervention in the economy designed to ensure rapid economic development. The government's policy of secularism dictated the complete separation between the existing Muslim religious establishment and the state. The policy resulted in the replacement of religious with secular institution of education and justice, the emancipation of women including their right to vote, the adoption of European derived law, Hindu-arabic numeral, Roman alphabet, and western clothing. This collapse of the Ottoman empire allowed new states to form in the Mesopotamian area. It created the formation of Iraq, Palestine, Kuwait, Syria and Lebanon.