Practise Questions Flashcards
What did Wilson hope to achieve from the peace settlement of 1919–20? [4]
- Freedom of the seas in wartime and peacetime
- No secret treaties
- Self-determination for colonies of the defeated powers
- Creation of the League of Nations
- For all countries to work towards disarmement
Why did Clemenceau and Lloyd George disagree over how to treat Germany? [6]
Clemenceau and Lloyd George disagreed over how harsh to treat Germany economically because they had different ways of recovering from economic damage:
* France had an estimated 55 billion francs worth of WW1 caused damage as well as pre-war debt. The easiest way for them to recover was by demanding extremely harsh reparations from Germany.
* Britain was now in around £7.4 billion of debt and the best way for them to recover was to continue trade. Before the war, Germany was Britain’s third biggest trading partner, and losing them would be very economically damaging for Britain. If Germany was economically crippled from high reparations, they wouldn’t be able to trade with Britain
* This led to the 2 men disagreeing over how harsh the reparations on Germany should be, because if they were too low, France would not be able to recover, and if they were too high, Britain would not be able to trade and recover.
Clemenceau and Lloyd George disagreed over how to treat Germany militarily because of where their countries are placed geographically:
* France was bordering Germany and so they were in constant threat of an invasion. This led to Clemenceau demanding harsh military restrictions to remove them as a threat.
* Britain is separated from Germany by the North Sea, deeming them safe from future German land invasions. Other than restricting German navy (the only real German threat to the British) Lloyd George didn’t want to punish Germany too harshly militarily, in the fear they would seek revenge.
* This led to the 2 men disagreeing on how harsh the military restricitons on Germany should be because Lloyd George was able to argue for a less harsh treaty with the knowledge of safety, whereas France feared a future invasion.
‘The Treaty of Versailles was a fair settlement.’ How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer. [10]
