Versailles Treaty Terms & SAQ’s

David Lloyd George - He was Britains's Prime Minister who guided the nation through most of WW1 and was a massive influence at the Paris Peace Conference. He promised to build a post war Britain that was "fit for heroes." This goal would cost a lot of money and he wanted the Germans to have to pay this money. He thought that the Germans should have to pay for all of the war reparations including the pensions of soldiers. He wanted to punish Germany economically and politically for the war, but not completely destroy them, like the French did. He also wanted to weaken the German navy because so then Britain would continue to have a strong navy.


Georges Clemenceau - He was France's Prime Minister and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles.His main goal was to weaken Germany so that it could never again threaten France. He wanted Germany to be severely punished to protect France from further attacks. He became the president of the peace conference since it was being held in France. He wanted Germany to pay for all the war reparations and for them to suffer economically. He also wanted Germany to take their army out of the Rhineland, which was the main area that forms the border between France and Germany along the Rhine River. They also wanted the Alsace and Lorraine territory back from Germany.


Woodrow Wilson - He was the President of the United States during WW1 adn wrothe the Fourteen Points as a way to establish and keep peace in the world. He was a mayor player at the Paris Peace Conference adn one of the Big Four.He was a dedicated reformer and was very stubborn making him at times hard to work with. He initially didn't want to get involved with WWI and remain isolationist, but was forced to enter the war when Germany sent the Zimmerman note saying they would continue to use unrestricted submarine warfare. He wanted to include all of his 14 points in the treaty and he urged for "peace without victory." His 14 points were meant to resolve territory disputes, make free trade, and create peacekeeping organization. He thought that Germany should not be treated that badly after the war. He had to compromise some of his 14 points for the treaty, however he still wanted to form the League of Nations, a group of countries that stuck together in order to keep peace. Wilson wanted to join the League of Nations, but the U.S. congress did not want to enter it and ally them selves with other countries, so the United States did not join the League of Nations.


Article 173 - This was a section of the Versailles Treaty that declared that Germany could no longer make military service a requirement. In othe words, they said that Germany could not have their own military; therefore saying that they were not allowed to protect themselves.

Article 227 - This required the arrangement of the German Emperor (William 2nd) for the offence against inernational mortality. This basically states that Germany is to blame for all the deaths during the war.


Article 231 - This is also know as the "War Guilt Clause" which forced the German nation to accept complete responsibility for iniating WW1. In all, this states that Germany is, again, responsible for starting the war and should then have to deal with the consequences.


. Some of the individual goals of Woodrow Wilson were to have "peace without victory." He wanted his 14 points to be included into the treaty of Versailles. His 14 points wanted to stop territory disputes, make free trade, and to form a peacekeeping organization. He didn't think that Germany should be punished too badly for the war. His main goal of the conference was to form the League of Nations.

2. Some of the individual goals of Georges Clemenceau were to weaken Germany so that it could not threaten France again. He wanted Germany to pay for all of the war reparations and suffer economically. He also wanted Germany to take soldiers out of the Rhineland, which was the area that separated France and Germany. They also wanted the Alsace and Lorraine territory back from Germany.

3. Some of the individual goals of David Lloyd George were to weaken Germany's army and navy, however not completely destroying the country. His main goal was to make Britain a place "fit for heroes" and he wanted Germany to pay for this and all of the war reparations. He also wanted to weaken the German navy which h would make the British navy even stronger.

4. The problem the U.S. congress saw with the League of Nations was that it made them part of an alliance. They wanted to stay independent and not get dragged into another war unwillingly. Congress did not want to ally the U.S. with any other countries because they thought that this would work against them even. Wilson wanted to join the League of Nations because he came up with the idea , however the U.S. congress would not let him.

5. The effect of article 231 on Germany was it reduced the size of their army. The power of the German army was weakened and this would effect them in wars later on. In WWII Germany was not supposed to use the draft while all other countries could, making their armies more powerful than Germany. Germany would not be able to get the numbers of soldiers that the other countries could in WWII. This would give Germany a disadvantage in WWII that was going to happen in about 20 more years.