The Treaty of Versailles.

Daniel Clark 10BH

The Treaty of Versailles

After the Treaty of Versailles was signed, in 1919, none of the allied leaders could truly say, they had gotten what they wanted. Although to some extent, they had all gotten something. Whether it was wealth, land, or power.

The French prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, felt that he had suffered the most during the war, because a lot of it was fought in his country. The only thing he wanted to do, was to completely destroy Germany, to take revenge. While talking to the French parliament he said “...My home policy? I wage war. My foreign policy? I wage war...always, everywhere i shall wage war...”. On the border of France is the Rineland, controlled by Germany. This was handed over to France, and German soldiers were not allowed to occupy it. Clemenceau was pleased by this because the Germans could not invade France easily, but if he wanted it, Clemenceau had an easy entrance to envade Germany. The German army was reduced to a mere 100,000 soldiers. Also they were not allowed any tanks, planes, submarines, and only a small number of ships. This did not only mean that Germany did not have the forces to start a war. They didn’t hve enough forces to put up much resistance, if France were to attack them. Clemenceau was also pleased by the Germans having to pay reparations for war damage, and the were humiliated infront of the world.

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The thing that most displeased Clemenceau, was the fact that he thought Germany, had gotten off lightly. He thought that this would be a good chance for revenge, for the conflict between France and Germany, in 1870. France had to suffer, their army being destroyed in sedan, the bombing of Paris by the Prussians. But possibly the worst thing of all, was the decleration of the German empire, at the palace of Versailles.

President, Woodrow Wilson of the United States, had his own ideas about the treaty. He had a list of 14 points written up. Out of the ...

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President, Woodrow Wilson of the United States, had his own ideas about the treaty. He had a list of 14 points written up. Out of the 14 points, only 4 were fully achieved, and only another 3 were partially achieved. The rest were abandoned. Wilson was happy that he had managed to gain independance, for certain new countries, for example Poland. This was partly so that the size of the German nation was reduced, and the people of these countries could act freely from Germany. Wilson was one of the allied leaders, that thought the punishments should not be too hard on Germany. Otherwise they may, one day, start another war, as an act of vengeance. Wilson was also happy that he had manged to ‘create’ a League of Nations., although some people had said “...the presidents’ obsession with with the league, blinds him from everything else...”.

President Wilson however, was not pleased that he had not achieved many of his 14 points, because now the punishments for Germany, would end up being more severe, and Germany may be later coaxed into war. In the end, despite the League of Nations being Wilsons’ creation, he did not join it. This was because he found the eventual outcome of the treaty, to be too hard on Germany.

To conclude, i do not think that i could say that these two leaders were ‘very pleased’ with the Treaty of Versailles. Both of them had accomplished something, for example; Georges Clemenceau was pleased that the German army was reduced to a small amount, and the Germans were not permitted to occupy the Rhineland, on the French border. Woodrow Wilson was happy that he had managed to form a League of Nations, and gained independance for some new countries. But both of these leaders had opposite reactions, as to being unhappy about the treaty. Clemenceau thought that Germany was getting off lightly with the treaty, but Wilson thought that the treaty was too hard. Although Clemenceau may have had slightly more to be pleased abot than Wilson, i do not think either of these two men were very happy with the outcome, to the Treaty of Versaiiles.