Post War Peace -even though Wilsons conception was considered idealistic, it was the best approach for sustaining the post-war peace
by
chaningtoop (student)
To what extent do I agree with the Thesis?
The Allied victors following the end of World War I had a job to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. The main countries and leaders involved were France- Clemenceau, Britain- Lloyd George and America- Wilson: the big three. They held Paris peace conferences were they deliberated and discussed their own ideas and views about what should be done; now the war was over. However, all three men were very opinionated and tended not to agree on many things, which concludes why it took a little over five months for the treaty of Versailles to be formed. The thesis formulated here advocates that even though Wilson’s conception was considered idealistic, it was the best approach for sustaining the post-war peace.
An issue that Wilson was passionate about was self-determination; he believed that every country should be ruled by their own people. He strongly disagreed with empires and colonies, and believed that the people of the country should choose their leader. But, with the collapse of the Austrian empire it was possible that in the future Austria may look for support from Germany- join forces to become a union. Traditionally, even though they are both German speaking countries these two countries had separate empires, and Austria tended to be the strongest of the pair.
So, because Wilson was determined to allow self-determination for all Europeans, to him if Austria wanted to create a union with Germany they should be allowed. However, Clemenceau’s view was very much different. He wanted to keep Germany as weak and small as possible. Consequently, if they were to join forces with Austria- a powerful country- they would be able to rise and be strong once more. Lloyd George was not too concerned regarding this issue, he, himself did not see the problem of the two countries combining. However, Lloyd George knew the people of Britain would not be keen on the two countries joining a union.
In my opinion, Wilson’s view would not restore lasting peace. I believe if Germany and Austria were to join forces it would raise tensions between the European countries once again which could possibly lead to conflict. Hence, that’s why I agree with Lloyd George and Clemenceau that it would be better to keep the countries separate.
Another issue which once involved the matter of self-determination was whether Germany should be split into two, to give Poland access to the sea. The newly independent Poland had problems gaining access to the sea and the poles demanded a corridor through Germany, to resolve the issue.
Wilson wanted Poland to be strong, and achieve self-determination by having access to the sea so they will be able to trade effectively and easily. However, he was concerned that if Poland was given a corridor through Germany, he would be forcing Germans to live outside Germany under Polish control- which Wilson definitely did not agree with.
Obviously, Clemenceau liked the idea of seeing Germany split in two, as it separated Germany into two parts which could potentially harm the strength of the country. Therefore, he gave his full support to the Polish people’s demands. Lloyd ...
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Wilson wanted Poland to be strong, and achieve self-determination by having access to the sea so they will be able to trade effectively and easily. However, he was concerned that if Poland was given a corridor through Germany, he would be forcing Germans to live outside Germany under Polish control- which Wilson definitely did not agree with.
Obviously, Clemenceau liked the idea of seeing Germany split in two, as it separated Germany into two parts which could potentially harm the strength of the country. Therefore, he gave his full support to the Polish people’s demands. Lloyd George although had very similar views to Wilson on this issue, also knew that splitting Germany in two would give him support at home.
On this matter, I agree with Wilson. I believe that in order for one country to gain access to the sea one cannot harm the people of another country; the German people who were to live were. If the land was split, they would ultimately be under polish control.
The Rhine border sparked a lot of controversy too. Many say that Clemenceau was crazy to think that he would be able to seize that part of land since it had been under German control for so long. Clemenceau believed that as he had seen his country being invaded he wanted protection and a very strong French border, for this not to repeat. The Rhine is a valuable for attacking France, so while it was under German control, France was prone to attack. This is because the river has few bridges, unlike most rivers, which made it easier for the Germans to invade. So, for protection purposes Clemenceau wanted to take the piece of land so France couldn’t be targeted easily. However, Wilson was very much against it. He did not want France to rule over land which wasn’t rightfully theirs and did not want to force the Germans living in the area to live under French control.
This was not a priority for Lloyd George, but he did want to help the German economy and industry, as they were a potential trading partner for Britain and at this time Britain was facing economic problems. This is because they had to supply all the soldiers wounded from the war and the widowers with pensions. However, he did not want Clemenceau to become too powerful because over the centuries traditionally France had been Britain’s enemy.
Wilson was very much in the right for this issue. Most of the industry, which without Germany wouldn’t be able to hardly function, was on this piece of land. So, it was fundamental that the Rhine stayed as a part of Germany because the country would collapse immediately, which Wilson did not want happening. With this piece of land France, although in a fatal condition after the war, could also become very powerful, which could cause repercussions.
Another controversial issue that the big three deliberated about was how much Germany should pay to the allies as reparations for the damage and loss of life caused in the war.
It was clear that France suffered the most casualties during the war followed by Britain, whereas America only suffered marginally. So, after seeing so many young men not return from the trenches on the western front, Clemenceau and his people wanted revenge against the German through the peace settlement. He wanted to ensure that his country and its people would never be destroyed by German aggression again. Therefore, he demanded very high reparations- 200 billion gold francs- so Germany would never have the means to harm France again. Since, unlike in America and Britain, the German troops had managed to do a lot of damage to the French industry for example flooding coal mines, and destroying farm machinery. But, most importantly the war had obliterated the French economy, their economic state was very poor at the time and Clemenceau wanted to use the money he received in reparations, to get France back on its feet.
However, Lloyd George was only following popular sentiment back in Britain when he fought for harsher terms than Wilson. He, himself was much more reserved on this issue and like Wilson did not want too much from Germany. He did not want the German industry to cripple, because he ultimately believed a weak Germany would damage the British economy as Germany was considered a very useful trading partner. But, during the election period Lloyd George promised the British people that he would “squeeze Germany”, as there was a strong anti-German sentiment in Britain at the time. So, as Lloyd George was a quintessential leader, who put the public’s interest first and his personal convictions second, he therefore in turn demanded more than he thought necessary from Germany.
Wilson’s proposal was very different to the other two, and with good reason. Although, being against the war guilt clause that he had to oblige to because of pressure from Clemenceau and Lloyd George (as he was afraid of future resentment) he did not concern himself with demands for compensation. As, in effect, America had not suffered nearly as much as the European allies and even made money out of the war. This is because while Germany, Britain, France, Russia, etc. were fighting the countries that normally traded with those countries looked to America to supply them. Wilson did not want to weaken the German economy too much and was very much against Britain and France demanding a lot of money.
Hence, in this case I believe that Wilson’s vision was not the best for this particular issue, because of the state France and Britain were left in after the war. Wilson’s vision was also very idealistic too, as in hindsight Germany was at some fault and did have to compensate France and Britain for the suffering and physical damage the war caused. But, saying that Clemenceau’s initial demand of 200 billion francs was far too much. In this event, Lloyd George’s attitude was the best, as he was the middle ground- a compromise between Clemenceau and Wilson.
The next contentious issues that the big three discussed were how big the German military force on land and on water should be. During the build up to the First World War Germany had invested heavily in building a strong navy and aimed to challenge the British, who were the most powerful at the time. Germany had accumulated 85 compared to Britain’s 122 battleships. They had also during the war accumulated 2.2 million troops compared to Britain’s 711,000 and France’s’ 1.25 million. Therefore, Germany had been the most powerful and organised of all the countries.
Wilson didn’t want to damage the military force both on land and in water too much. He believed every country should have enough force to defend herself, but not be able to attack others. Wilson definitely did not want the Germans to resent the allies for taking too much of their powers away too, he believed that it was mostly the Kaiser’s wrong doing and the German people should not be punished in consequence. Most importantly, he believed that if Germany was too weak they would be vulnerable to uprisings and could allow communism to take control. He was particularly scared because there was an uprising in Russia which led to communism control and was still big event and fresh in many of people’s minds. Wilson was adamant that it should not spread. This is because communism contested the kind of government Wilson ran and what he believed in.
On the other hand, Clemenceau was completely against this and Lloyd George too. Even though, they too detested communism, they wanted to rid Germany of their battleships and their vast military force - weakening them at sea and on land. Clemenceau had witnessed his country being invaded by Germany and was determined for this not to happen again. Clemenceau also believed that the German armed forces should be weakened so it wouldn’t be able to attack France again.
Lloyd George had many reason too, he did not want Germany to challenge the power of the British navy, as they wanted to remain the greatest force at sea. It loses had been great at sea during the war and the German submarines had almost brought Britain to her knees, so Lloyd George was defiant in weakening the German navy force. However, Lloyd George wasn’t too concerned about military troops on land because the threat to Britain wasn’t very much as they were protected by the English Channel. He also wanted Germany to be able to protect herself in an event of an emergency.
I believe that Wilson’s was the best approach, because Germany was in no state after the war to attack again, and by weakening the military force both on land and on sea substantially, could spark revolts and possibly another war in the future. Although, if Germany were to attack they would have a weakened force- and so Britain and France would be able to control the situation, if Germany wasn’t weakened dramatically in the first place, I highly there would be a purpose or reason for Germany to invade again. However, I do believe that the military should have been reduced- especially the army- as they had more than 2 million, which was more than any country, needs to defend themselves.
Overall, I believe that Wilson and Clemenceau were both extreme. Their views were very much either side of the scale whereas Lloyd George seemed to be sometimes in agreement with Wilson and other times with Clemenceau. So, in effect Wilson’s views were idealistic and I believe that Lloyd George had the common ground and was right for most of the issues.
However, if the treaty of Versailles contained the proposals that Wilson wanted, I do believe that there may not have been a second world war. This is because the German people would have not felt suppressed and would not support the rise of a leader like Hitler. So, even though I think that Lloyd George had the best approach considering the circumstances, the German people would still be repressed immensely if his terms were agreed to. Therefore, in hindsight I do agree with the thesis that Wilson did have the best approach for the sake of long lasting peace.