The Treaty of Versailles (Part 1- “The big 3”)

What the Big Three Wanted

1. 14 Points (know some details)

2. a better world ‘safe for democracy’
Wilson 3. fair peace
4. self-determination
5. International Co-operation (League of Nations)
1. blamed Germany = punishment/ ‘hard justice’
2. angry = revenge.
Clemenceau 3. wanted to ’make Germany pay’ for the Damage = reparations
4. threatened = wanted independent Rhineland/ get Alsace-Lorraine/
5. peace = wanted Germany weak and crippled .
1. compromise (nb Fontainbleau Memorandum)
2. had promised Parliament/November 1918 election that he would
punish/make Germany pay, but did not want revenge like France
Lloyd George 3. protect British Empire (=Mandates)/ British navy (=German navy)
4. trade
5. peace: did not want to create anger in Germany which would lead to
war in the future.

What the Big Three Got

LIKED/GOT
• League of Nations
• self-determination for Poland, Czechoslovakia etc,
DISLIKED
Wilson • many of his 14 points were ignored
• Britain opposed freedom of seas
• only defeated powers were made to disarm
• colonies were given no say in their future
LIKED/GOT
• Clause 231
• disarmament
• Reparations
Clemenceau • Getting back Alsace-Lorraine
• getting mandates
DISLIKED
• Saar (only got for 15 years)
• wanted an independent Rhineland, not just demilitarised.
LIKED/GOT
• reducing German navy
• getting German colonies as British mandates
DISLIKED
Lloyd George • Wilson’s ideas about colonies and freedom of the seas
• Clemenceau’s harshness
• JM Keynes said that reparations would cause another war
• Harold Nicolson thought the Treaty ‘neither just nor wise'.
By F. Rodríguez