In the Treaty of Versailles it was decided that Germany would lose all of its colonies and territories. The League of Nations was set up and was put in charge of Germany for 15 years. The SAAR was put under the League of Nations control for 15 years. France was given the production of the SAAR coalfields as part of reparations payment. A reparations commission was set up and in 1921 it was decided that Germany would have to pay back £6600 million. Germany was also forced to accept responsibility for causing all the loss and damage caused by the war this was also called Article 231 of the treaty. Their military was restricted, they were not allowed any air force, the navy was limited to 15,000 men, the army was limited to 100,000 men and conscription was not allowed. Also they were not allowed tanks or submarines, and the size and number of naval ships were limited. An Anschluss (union) between Germany and Austria was forbidden. The Rhineland was going to be permanently demilitarised and the allies would occupy for 15 years. Alsace-Lorraine was given back to France after it was taken during the Franco-Prussian war.
Clemenceau did not get everything he wanted from the Treaty of Versailles because he thought that Germany was not punished severely enough, he also thought that article 231 was not harsh enough on Germany. Another thing he wanted was Germany to be spilt up into smaller countries but this would have been going against Woodrow Wilson’s self determination. He got his way, as he wanted Germany’s military to be reduced so that there was no way they could ever invade France again.
David Lloyd George got the German navy disbanded but he wanted it for a different reason than France, he wanted Britain to remain the strongest navy in the world. In some ways he didn’t really get what he wanted as Germany were still punished pretty severely. Also he still was able to trade with Germany. Britain also gained some of Germany’s colonies which were one of their main aims, like France they also wanted Germany’s military forces reduced but like the navy it was for a different reason, this was because before the war Germany wanted to expand there borders by winning new colonies the reduction of the armed forces meant that they could not do that.
Woodrow Wilson wanted Germany not to be punished too severely again he did not get this. Although he didn’t get any trade barriers and countries were available to gain access to the sea, the League of Nations was set up and this was Woodrow’s idea. Woodrow Wilson did not like the Treaty of Versailles and in the end did not sign it. He wanted self determination but he did not get this as David Lloyd George wanted to keep their overseas colonies, also Germany’s colonies were split up and divided amongst the allies. Meaning that no one adopted his idea of self determination.
In conclusion it would be fair to say that none of the “big” three achieved all of their aims at Versailles. George Clemenceau wasn’t satisfied that France only got control of the SAAR coalfields for 15 years, and he was angry that the Rhineland was only demilitarised. He also thought that the reparations payment was not high enough; George Clemenceau wanted Germany to be economically crippled, all in all he wanted the treaty to be harsher on Germany. David Lloyd George got what he wanted because Germany’s navy was disbanded. He also did not like the League of Nations; also he did not like self determination, thinking that it would only cause problems in the future. The only main thing that Woodrow Wilson got out of the Treaty of Versailles was the inclusion of the League of Nations. All in all the Treaty was really a compromise for all parties. You can easily see that the “big” three got something out of the treaty, some receiving land and some receiving money for the damages done to them during the war.