Aims of the Big Three at Paris

Question 1

Who were the ‘Big Three’ at the Paris Peace Conference?

Answer 1

Woodrow Wilson (US President), David Lloyd George (British PM), George Clemenceau (French PM)

Question 2

What job had Wilson held before becoming president and how did this influence him?

Answer 2

A professor at Princeton University.

This made him an idealist

Question 3

What is an idealist?

Answer 3

A person who believes in ideals (rather than harsh reality).

Question 4

What principles guided Wilson?

Answer 4

Those set out in his Fourteen Points

Question 5

What did Wilson believe about Germany?

Answer 5

That Germany should not be punished too harshly because when it grew strong again it would want revenge.

Question 6

What did Wilson believe about democracy?

Answer 6

That democracy should be installed in defeated countries (e.g. Germany) as the people would not allow their leaders to take them to war again

Question 7

What did Wilson want for people that had once been under imperial rule (e.g. Serbians, Croats)?

Answer 7

Self-determination e.g. he wanted Poles and Croats to rule themselves, not be ruled by Austria-Hungary

Question 8

Where did the Paris Peace Conference take place?

Answer 8

At the Palace of Versailles just outside Paris

Question 9

What was the most important of Wilson’s Fourteen Points?

Answer 9

That a League of Nations should be established where disputes could be peacefully resolved

Question 10

Why was Wilson more idealistic than Lloyd George and Clemenceau?

Answer 10

The USA suffered FAR few casualties than Britain and France.

Also, no fighting took place in the USA.

And they joined the war in 1917.

Question 11

What did David Lloyd George want to do to Germany?

Answer 11

DLG wanted to punish Germany, but not too harshly.

Question 12

What was trade like between Germany and Britain before the war?

Answer 12

Good - Germany was Britain’s second largest trading partner before WWI

Question 13

What was DLG keen to see Germany lose AND why?

Answer 13

Germany’s navy and colonies were both threats to the strength of the British Empire

Question 14

What pressures were on DLG?

Answer 14

There was huge pressure on DLG from the British public because he had won the 1918 general election promising to ‘make Germany pay’.

Question 15

What did Clemenceau want to achieve in Paris?

Answer 15

He wanted to destroy Germany so it could never threaten France again

Question 16

Why did Clemenceau personally want to destroy Germany?

Answer 16

He had seen his country invaded twice by Germany, in 1871 and 1914

Question 17

How had the war affected France? (2)

Answer 17

1. Two-thirds of men who had served in the French army had either died or were injured
2. Much of the fighting had taken place in France, ruining its land and its industry

Question 18

What did the French president, Poincare, want?

Answer 18

He wanted to see Germany broken up into a series of smaller states.

(Although Clemenceau knew DLG and Wilson would never agree to this)

Question 19

How many troops did the USA lose during the war?

Answer 19

110,000

Question 20

Did any fighting take place in the USA during WWI?

Answer 20

No - so there was less public pressure on Wilson than in, say, France

Question 21

How many British soldiers died in the war?

Answer 21

Approx. 750,000

Question 22

How many French died in the war?

Answer 22

Approx. 1.3 million

Question 23

Why did Lloyd George fear an overly punitive (punishing) treaty?

Answer 23

He feared the Germans would one day seek revenge

Question 24

What did Lloyd George fear an overly punitive treaty might lead to (as in Russia)?

Answer 24

A Communist revolution (like in Russia in 1917)

Question 25

Lloyd George wanted Germany to bounce back economically after the war. Why?

Answer 25

So Britain could start trading with Germany again (and make both countries richer)

Question 26

How had propaganda during the war contributed to anti-German feeling in Britain?

Answer 26

The propaganda Britons had been fed was strongly anti-German.

Therefore, many Britons thought Germans were evil.

Question 27

How had wartime conditions in Britain contributed to British anger towards Germany?

Answer 27

The British had had to endure food shortages and felt Germans should now endure the same (or similar)

Question 28

What example did the British people point to to justify a harsh treaty?

Answer 28

The harsh treaty Germany had inflicted on Russia (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)

Question 29

How many casualties (deaths + wounded) had Britain suffered?

Answer 29

Approx one million

Question 30

What percentage of its population had Russia lost as part of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Answer 30

34% (or: one-third, 1/3)

Question 31

What percentage of its COAL mines had Russia lost as part of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Answer 31

89% (nearly 90%!)

Question 32

What percentage of its coal mines had Russia lost as part of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Answer 32

25% (one quarter)

Question 33

How many gold roubles did Russia have to pay as part of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Answer 33

300 million gold roubles

Question 34

What was Clemenceau fundamentally trying to achieve?

Answer 34

The future security of France

Question 35

What only enhanced France’s desire for revenge?

Answer 35

The fact that when the German army were retreating at the end of the war they had caused deliberate damage of towns, railways and villages