Geneva Peace Conference, 1919 (Age of Kings)

The Geneva Peace Conference was the meeting of the various powers that fought in  in order to reach an acceptable peace to end the war. The Conference was hosted in Geneva, Switzerland by the governments of Switzerland, the, and , all of which were neutral over the course of the war. Involving diplomats from many nations throughout the world, the major decisions was the creation of the League of Nations, peace treaties between the warring states, and the redrawing of state borders, sometimes after plebiscites, to better represent ethnic realities.

Representatives from and  dominated the side of the Central Powers, with smaller delegations from  and. , which had essentially started the war, was increasingly distracted by its internal collapse and did not see the Conference through. For the Entente, Britain and Japan had the largest delegations, with smaller parties representing Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Ottoman Empire. Controversially, France was not allowed to attend the Conference until treaties between Germany and Britain were signed, a fact that sparked enormous French resentment and accusations that the British had sold out France.

Overview
The following treaties were prepared at the Geneva Peace Conference (with, in parentheses, the affected countries):
 * Treaty of Geneva, 28 June 1919 (All other nations)
 * Treaty of Cologny, 10 September 1919 (Serbia)
 * Treaty of Carouge, 27 November 1919 (Bulgaria)
 * Treaty of Pregny-Chambésy, 4 June 1920 (France)
 * Treaty of Versoix, 10 August 1920 (Ottoman Empire)

German Approach
Generally speaking, the German delegation entered the negotiations with the goal of supporting German hegemony in Central Europe. Much more specifically, it had the following criteria in mind, in order of priority:
 * Ensuring the security of Germany, especially by weakening France
 * Removing the threat of the British Fleet
 * Gaining international recognition of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and Germany's eastern client states
 * Promoting the Mitteleuropa plan to all interested European nations

The German delegation was split between those that wanted a peace no matter how little Germany gained and those that wanted dramatic gains that justified the many Germans that had died during the war. The increasingly powerful Social Democrats led by Friedrich Ebert and some of the nobility led by Prince Maximilian of Baden supported the first one while the Kaiser and Ludendorff backed the maximum gains possible. Ultimately, the minimalist faction won out as Ludendorff was forced to retire and Germany's ability to keep the lid on social unrest became more uncertain.

As Austria-Hungary began to collapse throughout 1919, the Austrian delegation became increasingly assimilated by Germany's. The conference eventually recognized the integration of Austria into Germany as had happened in late 1919, while Hungary and its delegation emerged as a separate negotiator for the remainder of the conference.

British Approach
Conversely, the most important priority for the British was maintaining the territorial and diplomatic integrity of the British Empire, which was made difficult by the demands of its dominions and German and American support for Irish devolution. More specifically, it had the following goals, in order of priority:
 * Protecting France and Belgium from German territorial demands
 * Removing the threat of the German Fleet
 * Protecting British economic independence
 * Preventing Italian dominance over much of the Mediterranean