History International Relations

notes on ocr gcse history international relastions

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1

What were the aims of the Allies at the conference?

France 

§  The French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau, believed that Germany must be punished and made to pay for the cost of the War and for the humiliation suffered by France in the past.

§  Clemenceau also wanted guarantees that it could never happen again. He wanted the Rhineland to be handed over to France and Alsace-Lorraine to be returned. He wanted to make Germany pay for all the damage caused by the War.

§  Large areas of France had been destroyed in the wart. Everyone knew whom to blame, and some French politicians wanted Germany to be totally destroyed.

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2

What were the aims of the Allies at the conference?

Italy

§  The Italian Government did not join the war until 1915. Britain and France signed the secret Treaty of London, agreeing to Italy taking possession of the Adriatic coast of the Balkans as far south as Albania and also some the islands of the coast of Greece.

§  Italy had suffered very badly during the War. 460,000 soldiers had been killed and the country was heavily in debt to the USA. To most Italians it seemed to have been a disaster.

§  The Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando arrived at Versailles expecting the Allies to honour the promises that they had made in the Treaty of London. 

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3

What were the aims of the Allies at the conference?

Great Britain

§  Great Britain had not suffered the same degree of damage as France, but Britain had paid an enormous cost for victory however. In all the Great War cost £5.700,000 a day, some had been raised by increasing income tax from 6p to 30p, but most had been borrowed; now it all had to be paid back.

§  The British people expected that Germany would be made to pay for the effects of the war. The Prime Minister David Lloyd George promised to, 'Squeeze Germany until the Pips Squeak'. But when Lloyd George got to Versailles he adopted a different approach. He did not want Germany to be punished too hard, but be allowed to recover. 

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4

What were the aims of the Allies at the conference?

The USA

§  The USA had not suffered any damage during the war, apart from some fires started by German agents to destroy goods going to Britain and France. In addition American soldiers only arrived in Europe in spring 1918, so Woodrow Wilson arrived in Europe in December 1918 without any scores to settle with Germany.

§  Wilson's main concern was to try to ensure that war could never break out again. So he came with his ‘Fourteen Points’ one of which suggested the setting up of a League of Nations.

§  Wilson believed in 'Self-Determination'. This meant he wanted peoples to be able to run their own affairs. He objected to Italy taking over the Adriatic Coast.v 

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The TREATY of VERSAILLES

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