What problems did the peacemakers of 1919 face?

Answer 1

Problems began almost immediately when some countries were excluded from the peace process.

Difference in opinions made compromise difficult.

Each victor had to make the treaty work for them as well as their public.

The Brits and the French public wanted to "hang the Kaiser"

the American public wanted to go back to "isolationism" and to stay out of the rest of the worlds business.

The victors had to work with this and satisfy their own aims which made compromise difficult.

Clemenceu

-wanted revenge because much of the fighting had taken place on French soil

-high reparations to pay for damage in infrastructure

-Wanted to break Germany into smaller states so it would be more manageable

-feared another invasion from Germany and so wanted Germany crushed, never to rise or attack france again.

Lloyd George

-didnt want Germany to be too weak as if communism was to spread from Russia to Western Europe then Germany was the buffer in-between to stop it reaching western europe. if germany fell then western Europe would fall.

-didnt want germany to be treated so harsh it would want revenge on the allies (which it did and hitler started ww2!)

-wanted a fair and just treaty, not too harsh. in the middle

-had to try and please the britsih public as well

Wilson

-wanted a treaty based on his 14 points

-didnt want germany to want revenge

-wanted a very nice treaty, not harsh at all

-he was an idealist

as you can see, they all had very different aims and motives which made compromise insanely difficult.

eventually they agreed pm a treaty that nobody was satisfied with.

Lloyd George was welcomed home a hero

Clemencau was kicked out of office cuz the treaty wasn't harsh enough

America was not hppy with wilson and never joined the league of nations