Who were the big three and why did they implement the Treaty of Versailles?

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Sarah Caseberry

Who were the big three and why did they implement the Treaty of Versailles?

The big three was made up of Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson and Georges Clemenceau, and the Treaty of Versailles was a treaty that would implement reparations and rules on Germany. But to say just this would not be enough, in order to fully understand the big three and what the Treaty of Versailles was about we must look into each, much more indepthley.

As we now know who the big three actually are, lets find out what each of these stood for, and why they wanted this.

Lloyd George was the British prime minister. During 1918 he was fighting an election, and so harsh propaganda slogans such as ‘hang the Kaiser’ and ‘squeeze the Germans till the pips squeak’ were used. This led to the British public thinking that Lloyd George wanted revenge on Germany, when really “he was not as anti-German as the British had hoped and expected” 1

It seemed that by 1919 he had realised the danger of leaving Germany bitter, so although he talked with aggression towards the Germans, it was really only to make a good impression on the British public. He actually stood with Woodrow Wilson against Clemenceau on many key issues.

Britain’s main objectives, although whether these were also Lloyd Georges is debateable, was to Dramatically reduce Germany’s industrial power, take over the German naval fleet, obtain Germany’s colonies, and for the Kaiser and leaders of Germany to be put on trial. The reasons for these are also debateable. Reducing industrial power, taking away its naval fleet and its colonies would leave Germany weak, and so not much of a threat, but why put the Kaiser on trial? This would not take any more power away from Germany because there would be a new leader anyway. The only reason I can see for this is plain revenge, which did not seem Lloyd George’s style at all.

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Woodrow Wilson was the president of America. He put together 14 points that would make a fair and just peace. These 14 points, put simply, were:

  • Open diplomacy
  • Freedom of navigation
  • Free trade
  • Disarmament
  • Self-determination (which we will talk more about later)
  • Evacuation of all Russian territory
  • Belgium must be evacuated and restored (from German occupation)
  • Freeing of French territory (Alsace Lorraine)
  • Readjustment of Italian borders
  • Autonomous development for the people of Austria Hungary
  • Independence for the Balkan states
  • Securing of Turkish territory / sovereignty / the Dardanelles as a free passage.
  • The establishment of an independent Poland
  • The ...

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