How satisfied were the Allied Leaders with the Treaty of Versailles?

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Jess Kimber

How satisfied were the Allied Leaders with Treaty of Versailles?

The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that officially ended World War l. The three most influential people who decided what how harsh the restrictions were on Germany, politically, militarily and economically were Clemenceau of France, Lloyd George of Britain and Woodrow Wilson of America        

        Even before meeting in Versailles, the leaders of Britain, France and the United States had stated their different aims and objectives for the peace conference. France had wanted Germany to be punished, Britain wanted a relatively strong but economically viable Germany and the United States wanted the creation of permanent peace as soon a possible but with financial compensation for its military expenditures. The result of these contradictory goals among the three leaders was a compromise, which ultimately left none of them completely satisfied.

        The leader of France, Clemenceau, largely represented the people of France in that he wanted revenge upon the German nation as much of the war had been fought mostly on French land, which left the country in ruins. Also, Germany had deliberately blown up many of the French railways. Therefore, Clemenceau wanted a harsh treaty; he wanted Germany to pay all the damaged caused during the war. He also wanted Germany to be permanently weakened so as never to be able to invade France again and also by moving the German border west to the river Rhine to prevent a future attack. Clemenceau wanted the treaty to impose military restrictions upon the German army, as he believed if the army grew strong, they might want revenge in the near future. One of the main demands by Clemenceau was that he wanted Alsace Lorraine back, as it had been taken by German in 1890 during a previous war.

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        However, Clemenceau was disappointed with the treaty, although harsh military restrictions and a large amount of reparations had been imposed on Germany, he still wanted the treaty to of been harsher. For example, he wanted Germany to be split up into smaller countries and also the fact that the German border to be pushed back, it only became demilitarised, which did not totally fulfil his aim. The French people believed that Clemenceau did not get Germany punished enough and therefore he was voted out during the following election.

        The leader of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, had his 14 points ...

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