Why did the the victors fail to get everything they wanted at Versailles?

Answer 1

Compromise between the Big 3 was inevitable:

•Clemenceau's clash:
- Clemenceau criticised Britain for being too lenient on Germany in Europe, and only harsh when it came to German colonies and the navy.

•Lloyd George's clash:
- Lloyd George was unhappy about Wilson's insistence on access to the sea for all nations.

•Wilson's clash:
-Wilson had to agree to French plans for the Rhineland and Saar - USA had not suffered as badly as France, which explains Clemenceau's harsher attitude to Germany.

•Clemenceau and Lloyd George's clash:
-Britain and France did not want a League of Nations, Wilson did.
-Clemenceau and Lloyd George had to agree to Wilson's plans for self-determination for eastern European countries, despite the fact that this would mean losing various overseas colonies.

•Lloyd George and Wilson's clash:
-Clemenceau wanted crippling reparations, Wilson and Lloyd George didn't.

Wilson's ideal of self determination was always likely to be diluted by British and French war-time commitments:
-For example, the Treaty of London which promised Italy territory from Austria-Hungary in any post-war settlement.

You can't please all of the people all of the time:
-The Big Three made the peace amidst a clamour of demands, many of which were directly conflicting i.e. American Zionists who wanted Palestine for the Jews, versus Arab delegates who wanted Palestine for the Arabs.

The Big 3 were constrained by domestic public opinion:
- Lloyd George was constantly under pressure to take a tougher stance against Germany because public opinion at home was very anti-German.

The Big 3 had to accept certain strategic and political realities:
- For example, the collapse of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires at the end of World War 1.
-Even if the Big 3 had wanted to, such empires could not be constructed because in central Europe, 'the genie of nationalism' had been let out of the bottle.