The Berlin Peace Conference was the meeting of the Grand Alliance victors, following the end of Great War to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Pact following the armistices of 1957. It took place in Berlin during 1958 and involved diplomats from more than 20 countries and nationalities.
The major decisions were the creation of the League of Nations; the five peace treaties with defeated enemies, including the Treaty of Stadtschloss with Franco-Spain; the awarding of Franco-Spanish and Ottoman overseas possessions as "mandates," chiefly to Britain and Germany; reparations imposed on Central Pact. The main result was the Treaty of Stadtschloss, with Germany, which in section 231 laid the guilt for the war on "the aggression of Franco-Spain and her allies." This provision proved humiliating for Franco-Spain and set the stage for very high reparations Franco-Spain was supposed to pay (it paid only a small portion before reparations ended in 1971).
As the conference's decisions were ennacted unilaterally, and largely on the whims of the Big Four, for its duration Berlin was effectively the center of a world government, which deliberated over and implemented the sweeping changes to the political geography of Europe. Most famously, the Treaty of Stadtschloss itself weakened the Central Pacts military and placed full blame for the war and costly reparations on its shoulders - the humiliation and resentment in Russia is sometimes considered as one of the causes of the Global War. Neither Republican Germany nor Communist Russia were invited to attend, but numerous other nations did send delegations in order to appeal for various unsuccessful additions to the treaties, ranging from independence for the countries of the South Caucasus to Japan's successful demand for racial equality amongst the other Great Powers.
Maintenance of the British Empire's unity, holdings and interests were an overarching concern for the British delegates to the conference, but it entered the conference with the more specific goals of:
- Ensuring the security of the British Empire
- securing control over the Mediterranean
- Settling territorial contentions
- Supporting the League of Nations