The three main countries that participated in the meeting were; Great Britain (David Lloyd-George), France (George Clemenceau) and The U.S.A (Woodrow Wilson). The opinions of how each leader wanted to deal with Germany varied greatly. At one extreme Clemenceau wanted to cripple Germany so that France was never threatened again. Lloyd-George wanted to punish Germany but not too much that they would seek revenge. Wilson wanted to help Germany so that there was no resentment and there would be no future wars.
The result of this meeting was ‘The Treaty of Versailles’ which turned out to be very harsh on Germany, who not only had to accept the blame for WW1 but also had land taken off them. Germany was forced to pay reparations of £6.6 billion, it lost its Empire and it had to virtually disarm all of its army.
Germany had not been allowed to participate at the Treaty, and in effect the Treaty was imposed at the point of the bayonet. Most of the territorial losses could be justified: though they amounted, to about 28,000 square miles. The drastic limitation of German armaments and the demilitarisation of the Rhineland were reasonable if, as was expected in 1919, the League of Nations promoted effective disarmament and collective security.
The people of Germany detested the Treaty and resented everything to do with it. They had never really accepted defeat let alone accept guilt for the war many Germans thought this unfair because of their allies in the war were not treated as harshly and did not have to accept a guilt clause.
They did not see how they could pay the ridiculous reparations when its main industrial areas had been taken off them and it was also in an economic crisis because of this the Germans wanted more that ever their land back.
Many Germans were living in foreign countries and Germany had lost its entire Empire this meant that German citizens were now living under foreign rule, separated from friends and family.
This anger inside the German people led to them wanting revenge. Therefore the “Treaty Of Versailles” which was supposed to bring peace inevitably brought the Second World War.
