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Georges
Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France
France
suffered enormous damage to its land, industry, people and its self-confidence. 2/3 of the French soldiers were either wounded
or killed. To most French people Germany seemed a powerful and threatening country.
Since 1870, France felt threatened by its powerful neighbour, Germany the war increased this feeling. Clemenceau and other French leaders saw the Peace Treaty an opportunity
to cripple Germany so that it couldn't attack France
again. The President (Poincare) even wanted Germany broken up
into a collection of smaller states; Clemeceau knew British and Americans wouldn't agree to this. Georges was a realist
and knew he would have to compromise on some issues. However, he had to show he was aware what French people wanted, so he
demanded as much as possible to cripple Germany.
Woodrow Wilson, President of the USA
Wilson
is seen as an idealist whose aim was to build a better and more peaceful world from the Great War. Although this is true,
Wilson still believed Germany should be punished, but not to be too harsh on Germany. He believed if the treatment of Germany was too harsh, then it would recover and want revenge.
In January 1918 he published his Fourteen Points to help achieve this. The most important point was the fourteenth, the proposal
of an international body called the League
of Nations.
He believed in self-determination, he wanted the different people of Eastern Europe
to rule themselves rather than be part of Austria
- Hungary’s empire. Many English and French people disagreed with
the ideas in Wilson's Fourteen Points.
David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain
At
Peace talks Lloyd George was often the man in the middle, not as peaceful as Wilson and not as harsh as Clemenceau. He wanted Germany to be justly punished but not too harshly. He wanted Germany to lose its navy and its colonies because these threatened Britain and its British Empire. Like Wilson, Lloyd George didn't want Germany to seek revenge in the future and the possibility of another war. He was also keen for Britain and Germany to begin trading with each other. Germany was Britain's second largest trading partner before the war. The population
of Britain may dislike that fact but it created jobs for them because of
it.
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