George Clemenceau had main aims which he wanted to have included in the Paris Peace negotiations. One was to protect France. France had already been invaded in 1914 and 1867, so he did not want this to happen again. With Clemenceau’s suggestion of cutting down Germany’s army to 100,000 men, France would no longer have to feel threatened by Germany’s military. Secondly, Clemenceau wanted revenge on Germany for all the destruction and losses. A lot of the fighting had taken place in France, so they had suffered the highest amount of deaths. He wanted to fulfil this point by giving Germany all blame for a war which they alone were not responsible for. Lastly, he wanted compensation from Germany to start rebuilding the country and so that France could start repaying the loan they had taken from America. Through blaming Germany for the war, they could also hold Germany accountable for the damage caused. Therefore they were able to demand high reparations of 6,600 million marks. This would be enough to repay America and give France a better economy. Protecting France, taking revenge on Germany and getting compensation was George Clemenceau’s three main aims in the Paris Peace conference.
Lloyd George had two main items on his agenda which he wanted to have included in the Paris Peace negotiations. Firstly, he wanted to safeguard Britain’s naval supremacy. Before WW1, Germany had a strong navy with 93 warships. Lloyd George wanted to see this number cut down to 6 warships. This would just be enough for Germany to defend herself if she was attacked, but would not be enough for her to be a threat to any other country with their navy, e.g. Britain. This point is similar to Clemenceau’s point about cutting down the Germany army, because they are both about military restrictions. Another of Lloyd George’s wishes was to have a ‘just’ peace. This meant that he wanted to ‘make Germany pay’, but leave Germany strong enough to trade. After WW1, Britain was in debt and needed to start trading again. Germany was a good trading partner and it would benefit Britain.
Woodrow Wilson’s agenda was based upon three main aims at the Paris Peace negotiations. First of all, he wanted to create the League of Nations. He believed that this would help countries in the future talk through their problems instead of creating war. Woodrow Wilson was horrified by the deaths of WW1 and didn’t want a repetition of the war. Secondly he didn’t want Germany to take blame for the war (which was not entirely their fault) because he thought that this would be bound to create retaliation from the Germans. This was completely different to Clemenceau’s view of Germany taking all the war guilt. Woodrow Wilson’s last point was that Germany should not be destroyed. He wanted Germany to be able to fend for herself. Many people thought that America was too involved with the affairs of Europe and didn’t want to be dragged into another war. Lloyd George like Woodrow Wilson didn’t want Germany to be weakened too much, but they wanted this for different reasons. Lloyd George didn’t Germany to be weakened too much so he could have Germany as a good trading partner, whilst Woodrow Wilson just wanted Germany to be able to defend herself. Clemenceau’s aim was different to the other two because he wanted to cripple Germany’s army completely.
Lloyd George and Clemenceau both wanted military restrictions, so this is a similarity in their views. Woodrow Wilson disagreed entirely with Clemenceau about the War guilt clause. Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson didn’t want Germany to be weakened too much, but Clemenceau wanted to cripple Germany completely. In conclusion, George Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson shared some of the same views in the Paris Peace negotiations; however there were more points on which they disagreed.
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