What Each Country Wanted from the Treaty of Versailles
1. France
Georges Clemenceau and France had a great hatred from the Germans and wanted to make them suffer as much as possible for the damage they had caused in the war. Their first demand was to make Germany admit that it had started the war and they accepted responsibility for it. With this established they could then charge Germany for every single incurred cost due to the war. The cost of human life (widow’s pensions), the cost of armaments and the cost of destroyed industry were totalled up by France to be a colossal $200 billion and they wanted German to pay it back over a period of time. The final goal of the French delegation was to weaken Germany and this was to be achieved in many ways. firstly the military was heavily restricted. Only 100,000 troops were allowed and there is no conscription. Tanks, heavy artillery, military aircraft and submarines were prohibited and finally the navy was only allowed 12 destroyers, 6 cruisers and 6 small battleships. France wanted to greatly reduce Germany’s land as well. They wanted back Alsace-Lorraine (a centre for the textiles industry), which had been so humiliating taken in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1 and they also wanted the Rhineland as compensation but they had to compromise, for only getting it demilitarised. Other land the French wanted the Germans to give up was that to recreate Poland. This land included West Prussia (the homeland of Germany). The final territorial demand was related to overseas colonies. They wanted to take control of some of these territories like Cameroon and Togoland. However America (once a colony itself) didn’t like the ideas of colonial rule and so in the end, places like Cameroon and Togoland were given to the League of Nations who then asked Britain and France to run these lands on its behalf.