When
asked how he thought he had done at the Versailles Conference,
Lloyd George replied:
"Not
badly, considering I was seated between Jesus Christ and
Napoleon."
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Links
Simple account - boring
The Paris Peace Conference - detailed information
Views of the participants (pdf) - easy-to-understand cards
 - simple description
- Giles Hill's podcast on the peace-makers
COMMENT: Why did the
victors not get everything they wanted from the Treaty?
Spidergram:
• The Big Three and the Treaty of Versailles
 What were the aims of the makers of the Treaty of Versailles?
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The three most important men at the Versailles Conference - ‘the Big Three’ - were:
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Georges Clemenceau, the Prime Minister of France (2nd right).
-
Woodrow Wilson, the President of America (far right).
-
David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Britain (far left, talking to Orlando,
the Prime Minister of Italy).
All three men wanted to stop a war ever happening again, but they did not agree about how to do this. They wanted different things from the peace, and they did not get on well.
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New Words
Colonies: overseas countries ruled by a European nation
Disarmament: where countries agree to reduce their weapons.
Self-determination: the right of nations to rule themselves.
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Georges Clemenceau
He was the Prime Minister of France.
He wanted revenge, and to punish the Germans for what they had done.
He wanted to make Germany pay for the damage done during the war.
He also wanted to weaken Germany,
so France would never be invaded again.
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Links
Spartacus
site on Clemenceau (very detailed)
JM
Keynes on Clemenceau (contemporary, but very difficult)
HAL
Fisher on Clemenceau - difficult language, but the opinion
of someone writing in 1935.
Source A
America
is far away, protected by the ocean. Not even Napoleon
himself could touch England. You are both sheltered;
we are not.
Georges Clemenceau, debating with Wilson and Lloyd George on 27 March 1919. Wilson had pressed Clemenceau for ‘moderation’.
Did
You Know?
Clemenceau
summed up
his attitude: 'There are 20 million Germans too many!'
Activity:
Imagine
you are Georges Clemenceau. What answers would you
have given to the following questions about the Versailles
Conference:
a.
What
should happen to the German army?
b.
How
much should Germany be asked to pay for the damage done during the
war?
c.
How
much land should Germany lose?
d.
Should
the Treaty blame Germany for the war?
e.
What is the best way to stop a war ever happening again?
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 Woodrow Wilson
He
was President of America.
He was a History professor. He wanted to make the world safe. He
wanted to end war by making a fair peace.
In 1918, Wilson published ‘Fourteen
Points’ saying what he wanted.
He said that he wanted disarmament, and a League of Nations (where
countries could talk out their problems, without war).
He also promised self-determination for the peoples of Eastern Europe.
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Links
Spartacus
site on Wilson (very detailed)
Woodrow
Wilson - gushingly pro-Wilson
JM
Keynes on Wilson (contemporary, but very difficult)
HAL
Fisher on Wilson
- the opinion of someone writing
in 1935.
A
modern historian's evaluation 
Source B
We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick and made the life of our own people impossible unless they were corrected and the world secure once for all against their recurrence. What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression.
Woodrow Wilson, speaking
to Congress on 8 January 1918,
introducing his 'Fourteen
Points'.
Activity:
Imagine
you are Woodrow Wilson. What answers would you
have given to the following questions about the Versailles
Conference:
a.
What
should happen to the German army?
b.
How
much should Germany be asked to pay for the damage done during the
war?
c.
How
much land should Germany lose?
d.
Should
the Treaty blame Germany for the war?
e.
What is the best way to stop a war ever happening again?
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 David Lloyd George
He was Prime Minister of Great Britain.
He said he would ‘make Germany pay’ – because he knew that was what the British people wanted to hear.
He wanted ‘justice’, but he did not want revenge. He said that the peace must not be harsh – that would just cause another war in a few years time. He
tried to get a ‘halfway point’ – a compromise between Wilson and Clemenceau.
He ALSO wanted to expand the British Empire, maintain British control of the seas, and increase Britain's trade
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Links
HAL
Fisher on Lloyd George
- difficult language, but the opinion of someone writing
in 1935.
Sources
on Lloyd George
Lloyd
George at the Conference
Source
C
We
want a peace which will be just, but not vindictive...
Above all, we want to protect the future against a
repetition of the horrors of this war.
Lloyd
George speaking to Parliament (1919) before he went off to
the Conference.
Source
D
We
propose to demand the whole cost of the war from Germany.
From
a speech by Lloyd
George,
made
in December 1918, during an election campaign.
Source
E
Lloyd
George says that Woodrow Wilson can think and talk of
nothing but his League of Nations. Wilson will
only take any interest in talks if everything centres on the
League. He has started to annoy Lloyd George by
talking of matters that have already been settled as though
they were still open for discussion.
From
the diary (March 1919) of Frances Stevenson,
Lloyd
George''s private secretary.
Activity:
Imagine
you are David Lloyd George. What answers would you
have given to the following questions about the Versailles
Conference:
a.
What
should happen to the German army?
b.
How
much should Germany be asked to pay for the damage done during the
war?
c.
How
much land should Germany lose?
d.
Should
the Treaty blame Germany for the war?
e.
What is the best way to stop a war ever happening again?
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Extra:
1.
Why did Clemenceau, Wilson and
Lloyd George have such different attitudes at the Conference?
2.
Why did the 'Big Three' disagree so violently at the Versailles
Conference?
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