The Treaty of Versailles

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  • Created by: bethedoc
  • Created on: 18-04-12 20:42

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

Clemenceau was the French Prime Minister and had seen his country been invaded twice by Germany and seen the devastation caused. From this he had two main aims; revenge and a guarantee of no German invasion again. He went to the Paris Peace Conference with this motive and knew how to achieve this. He would start with reparations to pay for the damage that Germany had caused and help the French economy to recover. This would also weaken Germany's economy, leaving it in no state to invade and Clemenceau believed that this would let the Germans know how the French had suffered during the war. He would also want Alsace-Lorraine back from the Germans and believed that German colonies should be under French control, adding to their empire and help the economy to recover. To ensure that invasion was not possible, Clemenceau wanted the German army, navy and air force to be reduced or non-existent and the land between France and Germany, the Rhineland, would to be independent and act as a buffer zone but the French would be allowed the use of the coal mines in the Saar.

Wilson was the American President at the time, and an idealist. He wanted to create a more peaceful world to avoid another conflict and believed that this could be achieved by promoting democracy. He drew up the Fourteen Points which included self-determination for countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia; for all countries to work towards disarmament and the creation of the League of Nations. The…

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