Germany is "Punished" by the Big Three at Versailles

1. Using information and sources on pages 14 - 17, summarize the aims of the three leaders at the Paris Peace Conference. 

Georges Clemenceau (France)

Attitude towards Germany: 
He felt threatened by france, because Germany destroyed most of there country and wounded or killed 2/3's of the french army. Also a whole generation was inflicted with terror because of germany.


Main Aim: To cripple germany so that they could no longer damage france. Also to break germany up into many smaller and separate states. The goal was to weaken germany as much as possible.

How he felt about the treaty: Clemenceau was a realist that wanted to support france's popular opinion but he was forced to compromise on some issues but he felt like Germany was crippled enough with the treaty even though he would have rather of completely destroyed germany.


Woodrow Wilson (United States)

Attitude towards Germany: Believed that Germany should be punished for what they did but not too harshly because he believed in a world of peace. He wanted to strengthen democracy rather than beat them down because he knew that Germany would someday want revenge.

Main Aim: To achieve world peace through the 14 points document, the most important point being the 14th which stated that a league of nations should be achieved and every nation should take part in it. He also believed that countries should rule themselves rather than be under rule from someone else.

How he felt about the treaty He felt like the treaty was much too harsh on the germans and that one day the germans would seek revenge because of it. Also Wilson felt like his contributions to the treaty were changed and that his 14 points were not what he had originally wanted. 


David Lloyd George (Great Britain)

Attitude towards Germany: George was in the middle of Wilson and Clemenceau because he thought that germany should lose its navy and colonies because they posed a threat to the british empire but at the same time thought the germans should not be punished too severely.  

Main Aim: to punish germany but no severely that they will seek revenge, also he wanted germany to trade with the british again because Germany was britain's second largest trade partner before the war.

How he felt about the treaty: He felt the treaty went pretty well except for the fact that germany was punished to harshly and that  they would not trade with britain so they lost some money. Also he got a lot of his points across in the treaty.

Main Terms of the Treaty of Versailles against Germany

2. Read pages 18 - 19. Summarize the main terms of the Treaty of Versailles: 

War Guilt: War guilt is 

Reparations: Germany had to repay all the allied forces for eveything that they have done to the allies

German Territories and Colonies: Germany must give up all territories and colonies to the ally's

Germany's Armed Forces: Germany had to reduce there army to 100,000 men and it had to be strictly for defensive maneuvers 

League of Nations: the 14th point in wilson's 14 points document. a group of countries from a round the world get together to keep world peace. This was incorporated into the treaty and was not very successful, precursor to the UN