Peace efforts during World War I

Peace efforts during World War I were made mainly by Pope Benedict XV, US President Woodrow Wilson and, from 1916, the two main members of the Triple Alliance (Germany and Austria-Hungary) to bring the conflict to an end. European socialists, taking advantage of their relations on opposing sides through the Political International, also tried to open up the prospect of peace.

Even though the various social groups in the belligerent countries grew tired of the war after 1916 (the Battle of Verdun, which claimed more than 300,000 lives, marked a turning point in the war), peace proposals were aimed more at protecting national interests than at securing a lasting peace between the belligerents. The historian Jean-Baptiste Duroselle uses the term "secret negotiations" rather than attempts at peace.^[1]

None of the attempts at peace succeeded, such as those by Austrian Emperor Charles I and mediated by Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma and all triggered waves of controversy,^[1] demonstrating their ambivalent nature. The peace demonstrations of 1918 were the last signs of the general will to make peace. Peace efforts were most often led by politicians or private individuals who were not, or were no longer, in power: Aristide Briand, in 1917, was no longer President of the Council, or Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, then serving in the Belgian army, which enabled governments and leaders to avoid losing face in the event of failure.But it was indeed Belgian King Albert I who was pushing for peace, just as Aristide Briand was doing in France.^[2] The aim was to obtain from Germany the full restoration of Belgian independence and the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. But German intransigence dashed all hopes, as the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Czernin, a German ally, sabotaged the peace attempt by publicly revealing the existence of a letter from French Prime Minister Clemenceau. Clemenceau strongly denied this, while the Belgian Foreign Minister, Charles de Broqueville, resigned.

At the end of the war, Germany, judged by the Allies to be responsible for the war, was confronted with its responsibilities, including the failure of peace attempts, a confrontation that quickly turned into a nationalist revision. The study of peace efforts is a predominantly German field of research,^{[citation needed]} within the broader scope of the war guilt question.