The armistice, aims of the peacemakers

• The Paris Peace conference

  • In January 1919, representatives from 32 winning countries met in the Palace of Versailles near Paris for what became known as the Paris Peace Conference
  • The discussions were led by the leaders of the most powerful victorious countries : Britain, France and the USA
  • The leaders of these countries were David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France and Woodrow Wilson, president of the USA
  • Collectively, they were known as the Big Three
• Georges Clemenceau

  • Much of the fighting that took place during the war was in France, particularly the north-east
  • The Germans destroyed many mines, railways, factories, bridges and farmland
  • The French also suffered the most deaths
  • Many French people wanted revenge and put Clemenceau under a lot of pressure to make it happen
  • Clemenceau wanted to cripple Germany to make sure that it was never powerful enough to attack France again
  • He also wanted to have its armed forces dramatically reduced and Germany's border to be pushed back to the Rhine in Eastern Germany, taking away its defences and making France less vulnerable to attack
  • Clemenceau needed money to help rebuild France and thought Germany should have to pay compensation for the damage
  • He was willing to compromise with the other leaders, but preared to fight for what his people wanted
• David Lloyd George

  • Lloyd George was elected by the British public because he promised to 'make Germany pay'
  • Many young British men died in the trenches and many people of Britain wanted revenge
  • However, Lloyd George was more cautious than Clemenceau
  • He was concerned that if Germany was treated too harshly, it could lead to Germans wanting revenge and starting another war
  • Lloyd George also wanted to keep Germany quite strong so that Britain could trade with it, and to stop other countries in Europe from becoming too powerful
  • The British Empire was also an important source of income, so Lloyd George was determined to gain German Colonies if he got the opportunity
  • And to make sure that the Empire was safe, he need to keep the British navy powerful
  • He saw the peace talks as a good opportunity to reduce the German navy to stop it from rivalling Britain's
• Woodrow Wilson

  • During the war no fighting took place on American soil
  • America made lots of money selling weapons to the Allies, so most Americans didn't see the need for revenge
  • Like Lloyd George, Wilson was concerned about being too strict with the Germans, which could lead to another war
  • He was also an idealist; many people said that he was a dreamer who wasn't very practical
  • He wanted a future where everyone would be treated fairly
  • He suggested that a world parliament called the League of Nations was set up, where countries could work and trade together so that war was less likely
  • He also believed in self-determination, allowing countries the freedom to rule themselves
  • Another of his ideas was 'freedom of the seas', which meant that everyone could sail trading ships wherever they wanted
  • In fact, he had many ideas for a better world - these are known as the Fourteen Points
• Armistice

  • When Germany and its allies first surrendered, they had agreed to sign an armistice
  • This is the agreement that countries at war make to stop fighting immediately
  • Politicians then meet to agree a final peace treaty
  • The armistice at the end of the First World War included Germany agreeing to pay reparations, giving the Alsace-Lorraine region back to France and moving its army out of the Rhineland
  • Clemenceau used the fact that Germany had agreed to these principles in the armistice to argue that they should also appear in the final treaty
• Prior agreements

  • During the war the Allies (Britain, France and the USA) had made lots of promises to different countries in return for their support
  • At the end of the war, these countries wanted to claim what they saw as being rightfully theirs, but this creating something else for the Big Three to argue over
  • For example, Italy had promised land from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Japan had been told that hteir claims on land in China would be supported
• Time constraints

  • The Big Three met in Versailles in January 1919
  • The Treaty of Versailles was signed in June, but the conference lasted 12 months
  • There were diplomats from 32 countries at the conference
  • They discussed each point in great detail, but were pressured to come to a decision quickly by the victorious countries, who were keen to be given reparations so that they could start rebuilding their economies, towns and lives
  • As such, it could be argued that the discussions of the Big Three were hurried
• A changing Europe

  • Since the start of the war Europe had changed considerably and the politics and economies of many countries had become very unstable
  • Austria-Hungary had owned a huge empire in Eastern Europe before the war, but now countries were breaking away and declaring independence
  • In Russia, a revolution had broken out in 1917, where the Tsar and his family had been assassinated and the Communists had taken over
  • Communists believed that all wealth and land should be shared equally, and all towns and cities should be run by elected councils
  • Europe lay in tatters and people feared that poverty caused by the war, along with instability in the way countries were governed, could easily lead to more trouble
  • The Big Three needed to agree their treaties as quickly as possible
• Some of the Fourteen Points

  • No secret treaties
  • Ships of all nations have the right to sail the seas without interference
  • Disarmament
  • Alsace-Lorraine returned to France
  • Self-determinations in the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires
  • Independence to be given to Romania, Serbia and Montenegro
  • An independent Polish state to be created, with access to the sea
  • The League of Nations to be formed - a group of countries that could work together to encourage trade and peace