David Lloyd George- Prime Minister of Britain
At the Peace Conference, Lloyd George often took the middle grounds of Woodrow Wilson and Georges Clemenceau. He was a realist, and an experienced politician, and he knew that there would have to be compromise. David wanted Germany to be punished, but not too harsh like how France wanted to punish Germany. He wanted Germany to lose their navy and its colonies though, because Britain thought they somehow threatened the British Empire. Lloyd George was also worried by Woodrow Wilson's proposal for "self-determination" and, like the French, wanted to preserve his own nation's empire. Also, like the French, Lloyd George supported secret treaties and naval blockades. However, Lloyd George didn’t want to punish Germany too harshly. One of the reasons for this was that before the war, Germany had been Britain’s second largest trading partner, so Britain wanted to start trading with Germany again.
Woodrow Wilson- President of the USA
The USA had only declared war in April 1917 and so experienced far fewer casualties compared to France or Germany. Also, most Americans were just eager to get themselves out of all European affairs. Wilson was an idealist, whose aim was to build a better and a peaceful world. He thought that the war wasn’t all Germany’s fault, and that it shouldn’t be punished too harshly, because it can lead to another conflict. He believed Germany should be treated fairly and that a 'League of Nations' should be set up to settle future disputes between countries. Wilson also published his ‘Fourteen Points’ in January 1918, to help achieve his aims.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points was as follows (in simple words):
- No secret treaties
- Free access to the seas in peacetime or wartime
- Free trade between countries
- All countries to work towards disarmament.
- Colonies to have a say in their own future
- German troops to leave Russia
- Independence for Belgium
- France to regain Alsace-Lorraine
- Frontier between Austria and Italy to be adjusted
- Self-determination for the peoples of eastern Europe
- Serbia to have access to the sea
- Self-determination for the people in the Turkish Empire
- Poland to become an independent state with access to the sea
- League of Nations to be set up
You can probably guess now, that the talks at Versailles weren’t easily agreed, because all of them had different opinions. That’s because the USA had not suffered as bad as France, and Britain also didn’t suffer as much as France, as but suffered more than the USA. Clemenceau disagreed to Wilson’s kind attitude towards Germany. There were many disagreements, between the Big Three; for example, Britain particularly disagreed with point 2 of the Fourteen Points, which allowed everyone to be able to have access to the seas. Other examples might be disagreements between Wilson and Clemenceau about what to do with the Rhineland, Clemenceau and Lloyd George disagreeing with self-determination because this didn’t seem practical and also because allowing people to rule themselves were somewhat threatening to Britain, and last of all, also disagreements on point 4 of the fourteen points, where it says all countries to work towards disarmament.
The Paris Peace Conference continued, for long time because of many disagreements. After months of negotiation, all of them had to accept some of the other aims, even though if they didn’t want to, because otherwise, there would never have been a treaty. The main terms of the treaty can be divided into five areas. This is what the treaty of Versailles actually is, signed on 28 June 1919:
- War Guilt
This said that Germany had to take full responsibility for starting the war. This was simple, but was very harsh for Germans.
- Reparations
It was agreed that Germany had to pay reparations to the Allies for damages caused by the war. This was set to 6600 million pounds later in 1921. (If it wasn’t for the Young Plan, Germany wouldn’t have finished paying until 1984).
- German territories and colonies
All of Germany’s overseas empire was taken away. It had been one of the reasons for bad relations between Britain. The German colonies became mandates, controlled by the League of Nations. Also, many of the Germany’s European territories had been taken away, and the Treaty also forbade Germany to form anschluss with Austria. These are the lands taken away from Germany:
Alsace-Lorraine (given to France)
Eupen and Malmedy (given to Belgium)
Northern Schleswig (given to Denmark)
Hultschin (given to Czechoslovakia)
West Prussia, Posen and Upper Silesia (given to Poland)
The Saar, Danzig and Memel were put under the control of the League of Nations and the people of these regions would be allowed to vote to stay in Germany or not in a future referendum.
Germany also lost colonies in Africa. They were Togoland and Cameroon which went to Britain and France, German South West Africa which went to South Africa, and German East Africa which went to Britain. In addition to this, New Guinea went to Australia, Samoa went to New Zealand, and The Marshall, Mariana and Caroline Islands went to Japan.
- Germany’s Armed Forces
There was strong restriction for the size of the German army, because it had been a major concern of all the powers before the war. These were the restrictions:
- The army was limited to 100,000 men
- Conscription was banned
- Germany was not allowed armored vehicles, submarines or aircraft
- The navy could build only six battleships
- The Rhineland became a demilitarized zone, meaning that German troops were not allowed into that area.
- League of Nations
League of Nations was set up as an international police force, for keeping peace.
In total, this treaty meant Germany lost 10% of its land, all of its overseas colonies, 12.5% of its population, and 16% of its coalfields, and almost half of its iron and steel industry. The treaty and its terms were announced on 7 May in Germany, and this horrified and outraged the Germans. For example, Germans were angry for the war guilt and reparations. Germany was already corrupt in its economy, because it spent so much money in the war. It would cripple them if they had to pay that much for reparations. Also, the disarmament terms upset the Germans, because the size of their armies had been their pride. Same went to the lost territories. This made them lose their pride. Most of all, they were very angry because they weren’t even invited to the Paris Peace Conference, and that their government was not represented at the talks, and that they were forced to accept a harsh treaty.
