page_title: Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)
section_title: Dominion representation
hierarchical_section_title: Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) / British approach / Dominion representation
caption_attribution_description: The Australian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I. From left to right: Lieutenant P E Deane (secretary to Billy Hughes), Miss Wood (typist), Sir Robert Garran (Solicitor-General of Australia), W E Corrigan (messenger), Captain H S Gullett (press officer), Billy Hughes (Prime Minister of Australia), R Mungovan (secretary to Sir Joseph Cook), Sir Joseph Cook (Minister for the Navy), Miss Carter (typist), Lieutenant Commander John Latham (Commander, Naval Intelligence), Lieutenant F W Eggleston (assistant to Sir Robert Garran)
context_page_description: The Paris Peace Conference was the formal meeting in 1919 and 1920 of the victorious Allies after the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. Dominated by the leaders of Britain, France, the United States and Italy, it resulted in five controversial treaties that rearranged the map of Europe and imposed financial penalties. Germany and the other losing nations had no voice which gave rise to political resentments that lasted for decades.
  The conference involved diplomats from 32 countries and nationalities, and its major decisions were the creation of the League of Nations and the five peace treaties with the defeated states; the awarding of German and Ottoman overseas possessions as "mandates," chiefly to Britain and France, the imposition of reparations upon Germany, and the drawing of new national boundaries, sometimes with plebiscites, to reflect ethnic boundaries more closely.
  The main result was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany; Article 231 of the treaty placed the whole guilt for the war on "the aggression of Germany and her allies."
context_section_description: The dominion governments were not originally given separate invitations to the conference but were expected to send representatives as part of the British delegation.
  Convinced that Canada had become a nation on the battlefields of Europe, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden demanded that it have a separate seat at the conference. That was initially opposed not only by Britain but also by the United States, which saw a Dominion delegation as an extra British vote. Borden responded by pointing out that since Canada had lost nearly 60,000 men, a far larger proportion of its men than the 50,000 American men list, it had at least the right to the representation of a "minor" power. Lloyd George eventually relented, and persuaded the reluctant Americans to accept the presence of delegations from Canada, India, Australia, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa and that those countries receive their own seats in the League of Nations.
  Canada, despite its huge losses in the war, did not ask for either reparations or mandates.
  The Australian delegation, led by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes fought greatly for its demands: reparations, the annexation of German New Guinea, and the rejection of the Racial Equality Proposal. He said that he had no objection to the proposal if it was stated in unambiguous terms that it did not confer any right to enter Australia. He was concerned by the rise of Japan. Within months of the declaration of war in 1914, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand had seized all of Germany's possessions in the Far East and the Pacific Ocean. Japan occupied German possessions with the blessings of the British, but Hughes was alarmed by the policy.
caption: The Australian delegation, with Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in the center
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