Military Monday No.6

With Germany and her allies defeated, a treaty would need to be set up to decide what the outcome of the war would be. The result was, the Treaty of Versailles.

Named after the Palace near Paris in which it was held, the big three Triple Entente politicians all attended: David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson. The fate of Germany was to be decided here. Here is a summary of the three politician’s views:

David lloyd George

The British Prime Minister believed in a hard line on the defeated Germany in public but in private was fearful of making Germany too weak and vengeful in the wake of the rise of communism in Russia. He saw the nation as a barrier to stopping the spread of extreme left wing politics.

Georges Clemenceau

The French Prime Minister was much more hardline than Lloyd George. He, along with the French public wanted Germany put to the sword and brought to its knees so it could never devastate France in way it did, again.

Woodrow Wilson

With the Atlantic divide, The U.S. president held much more a backseat and wanted America to be left out of future European conflicts. He did however put forward the idea of the ‘League of Nations.’

The terms:
The main points of the treaty are as follows:

– Germany stripped of its colonies and acquired lands such as the Alsace-Lorriane, the Saarland and areas of Prussia.

– Germany’s army to be reduced to 100,000 men

– Forbidden to unite with Austria

– Large financial and economical reparations

– Germany was blamed for the war

Although the world was now at peace, the response in Germany was not positive. Add to the mix that Italy was also dissatisfied at being marginalised in proceedings, led to the melting pot that was the inter-war period.