The Treaty of Versailles (ToV)

What were the consequences of WW1 for the UK?

• around 900,000 British soldiers died

• almost every family lost a member in the war

What were the consequences of WW1 for France?

• 300,000 homes on the Wester Front were destroyed beyond repair

• over 1.7mil soldiers and civilians died

What were the consequences of WW1 for the USA?

• 117,000 American soldiers killed

• no fighting on US soil

• emerged as a leading world power

What were the consequences of WW1 for the Allies?

• people were determined that there would never be another war like it

• people’s sense that the world was constantly improving had been undermined by the war

Aims of David Lloyd George

• wanted Germany to be punished but not too harshly

• lose navy and colonies because he thought it threatened the British Empire

• didn’t want Germany to become Communist or seek revenge and start another war

• “make Germany pay”

• keep Germany as a stable trading partner

Aims of Georges Clemenceau

• determined to not let Germany devastate France again

• saw Germany as a powerful and threatening power

• weaken Germany as much as possible

• saw the treaty as an opportunity to cripple Germany so it couldn’t get back at France again

Aims of Woodrow Wilson

• punish Germany but not too harsh as Germany would seek revenge

• follow the 14 points

Wilson’s Fourteen Points

• no secret treaties

• all countries work towards disarmament

• free trade between countries

• League of Nations to be set up

Land reperations

• lost all overseas empire

• lost 13% of territory and 12% of its population

Military reperations

• army limited to 100,000 men

• conscription banned

• navy could only build 6 battleships

• the Rhineland became a demilitarised zone

Money reperations

• had to pay £6.6 bil

• Germany would’ve still been paying this off in 1984 had the terms not been changed

• the annual reparations were estimated to be about 7% of Germany’s national income

War Guilt

• Germany was forced to accept blame for starting the war

• expected to pay for all the damages caused by the war

Germany’s reaction to the ToV

• didn’t believe they should accept all blame for the war

• weren’t invited to the conference

• gov refused to sign however allies threatened to restart the war

Wilson and the USA’s reaction to the ToV

• pleased the LoN was accepted

• found the rest of his 14 points were ignored

• Senate refused to accept the treaty or join the LoN

• thought the treaty was too harsh

• most Americans didn’t want any involvement in Europe

Lloyd George and UK’s reaction to the ToV

• liked the reduction of the Germany navy and the fact that Britain got the German colonies

• thought the treaty was too harsh and another war would start eventually

• neither “just nor wise”

Clemenceau and France’s reaction to the ToV

• liked the harshness of the treaty, small German army and the demilitarisation of the Rhineland

• wanted the treaty to be harsher

• many wanted an independent, not demilitarised Rhineland