The Big Three had differing views about what an acceptable peace settlement looked like and each had different aims.  While some of their aims were achieved all three leaders walked away unhappy with the treaty.

One of the key problems with the peace settlement was the conflicting aims and therefore it was difficult to achieve a peace settlement acceptable to all, each leader had to make huge compromises.

Comment on the 'Clever Lili' revision website

Woodrow Wilson

Wilson got:

1.    A League of Nations

2.    Self-determination for the peoples of Eastern Europe

  

But he was disappointed by some outcomes:

a.    Most of his Fourteen Points didn't get into the Treaty

•     Which?
  • 1.  No more secret treaties.
  • 2.  Freedom of the seas.
  • 3.  An end to customs duties.
  • 4.  Disarmament (only the defeated countries were made to disarm).
  • 5.  Freedom for colonies.

b.    When Wilson went back to America, the Senate refused to join the League of Nations, and even refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

 

Source A

Do not think of this treaty of peace as merely a settlement with Germany; it is a readjustment of those great injustices which underlie the whole structure of European and Asiatic society. 

For nothing less depends upon this decision, nothing less than the liberation and salvation of the world.

Woodrow Wilson, speaking on 25 September 1919.

Georges Clemenceau

... probably liked in the Treaty:

1.    Reparations (would repair the damage to France)

2.    The tiny German army, and

3.    The demilitarised zone in the Rhineland (both would protect France)

   

But he was probably disappointed by some outcomes:

a.    He wanted to annex the coal-mining area of the Saar

b.    He wanted the demilitarised zone to be an independent country

c.    He wanted Germany to be split up into smaller countries (so that France would be fully protected in the future).

 

Source B

The policy of Germany has merely been to gather up every chance weapon that could enable her to evade the Treaty...  Their trouble is that they see the future only through the blood-red mists of a civilization grafted upon the survival of barbarism.

Georges Clemenceau, in the Introduction he wrote for Andre Tardieu, The Truth About the Treaty (1921).

Source C

The treaty, with all its complex clauses, will only be worth what you are worth; it will be what you make it.

Do you think that one could make a treaty which would do away with the need for vigilance among the nations of Europe who only yesterday were pouring out their blood in battle?  I cannot say for how many years, how many centuries, the crisis which has begun will continue. Yes, this treaty will bring us burdens, troubles, miseries, difficulties, and that will continue for long years

Georges Clemenceau, in the Introduction he wrote for Andre Tardieu, The Truth About the Treaty (1921).

David Lloyd George

... probably liked in the Treaty:

1.    The fact that Britain got some German colonies (expanded the British Empire)

2.    The small German navy (helped Britain to continue to 'rule the waves')

   

But he was sceptical about:

a.    He thought that the Treaty was too harsh and would ruin Germany

a.    He suspected it would cause another war in 25 years time (see Source A).

 

Source D

We shall have to fight another war again in 25 years time.

Lloyd George, talking about the Treaty of Versailles.

Source E

The terms are in many respects terrible terms to impose upon a country. Terrible were the deeds which it requites... Germany not merely provoked, but planned the most devastating war the earth has ever seen... She deliberately embarked upon it, not to defend herself against assailants, but to aggrandise herself at the expense of her neighbours. I cannot think of a worse crime.

[The aim of the Treaty is] to compel Germany, in so far as it is in her power, to restore, to repair and to redress. Yes, and to take every possible precaution of every kind that is in our power against the recurrence of another such crime – to make such an example as will discourage ambitious peoples from ever attempting to repeat the infamy.

Lloyd George, speaking in Parliament (3 July 1919).

Consider:

1.  Taking each of Sources A-E in turn, work out its message, purpose and reliability. 

2.  Using Sources A-E as evidence, explain how biased sources can be very useful to historians.

3. Taking in turn Clemenceau, Wilson and Lloyd George, suggest (and explain) what each might have thought about:
•  Article 231 Blaming Germany
•  £6,600 Reparations for the damage done during the war.
•  The German Army set at 100,000 men and the German navy disbanded
•  The Territories (including Alsace-Lorraine, other land in Europe, and all her colonies) lost by Germany.

4. Using the same framework, now you have studied the Treaty of Versailles, construct a 'Personal Judgement on the Treaty', saying what YOU think about the Treaty.