Were the Peace Treaties of 1919-1923 fair?

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What were the motives and the aims of the Big Three at the Versailles?

        'You hold in your hands the future of the world' with these words the president of France opened the Paris Peace Conference on January 18th 1919. National leaders and their delegations from 32 countries had to decide what should happen now that the First World War was over.

        The delegation worked for six months to produce the Treaty of Versailles, but this Treaty only related to Germany, the lead country of the Central Powers. Of all the countries that were represented at at Paris, the leaders of the US, Britain and France were the most important decision makers.

Knowing that the French Public was behind him, Clemenceau demanded tough measures to hurt Germany. His aims included:

  • the disarmament of Germany's army, navy and Air Force.
  • high reparation to pay all the damages.
  • the return of Alsace and Loraine.
  • the Rhineland to be made an independent state so that there was a 'buffer' between France and Germany.
  • some German colonies to be handed to France.
However Llyord Georg and Wilson shared neither Clemenceau's motives or his aims.

DAVID LIYORD GEORG, PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN

        During the election campaign of late 1918, Llyord George promised that he would make sure Germany paid the full cost of the war. However, when he got to Paris in January 1919, he simply aimed for a moderate peace treaty, one that was in Britain's interests. The British Prime Minister was motivated not by revenge but by national self. He wanted to see the continuing growth and success of the British Empire. This meant that Lloyd George aimed to:
  • Re Establish a balance of power in Europe so that no single great power could dominate the continent.
  • Return to trading patterns with Europe and the Empire that had made Britain so wealthy before the First World war.
  • Preserve British Naval supremacy.
WOODROW WILSON, PRESIDENT OF THE US
        Wilson arrived in Paris with wish to punish. He believed Nations should work together to eliminate the causes of war. Published in January 1918, Wilson's aims were different from those of Clemenceau or Lloyd George. The American president presented the Versailles Peace Conference with his fourteen points on removing the causes of the war.

What were the key points of the Treaty of Versailles?

        Article 231 said that Germany and the other Central powers had to accept full responsibility for causing the war in 1914. As a result, Germany would have to pay money and goods for France and Britain and the other Allied powers.

To ensure it could not cause another war, the Treaty said that Germany
  • was limited to 100,000 soldiers
  • was excluded from the arms trade
  • was limited in the type and quality of weapons it could hold
  • could not make or stockpile chemical weapons
  • lost its air force
  • was limited to six battleships
Why did the victors not get everything they wanted?

            None of the Big Three left Paris entirely satisfied with the treaty that the Germans signed on 28 June 1919 in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, just outside Paris. The final document was full of compromises that each of the Big Three had to make when negotiating with the others.

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