4 BIG LEADERS

Lesson 4:
Here is what we looked at today
Lesson Objective
Survey - an overview of the peace treaties which ended World War I and their
consequences
Research the Big Four leaders. What were their reputations? What did they
hope to achieve at the conference?
The Paris Peace Conference was an international meeting convened in January 1919 at Versailles just outside Paris.
The purpose of the meeting was to establish the terms of the peace after World War. Though nearly thirty nations
participated, the representatives of Britain or the President Lloyd George, France; president Georges
Clemenceau, the United States; president Woodrow Wilson, and Italy; president Vittorio Orlando became
known as the "Big Four." The "Big Four" would dominate the proceedings that led to the formulation of the
Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that brought about the reparations to the Allied nations was seen as being
humiliation to the German people after the conference. The Treaty of Versailles was seen by many to have
been much harsh on Germany.
The Treaty of Versailles included a plan to form a League of Nations that would serve as an international forum and
an international collective security arrangement. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was a strong advocate of the
League as he believed it would prevent future wars.

View the scene in the film ‘Wilson’ which portrays the four leaders meeting. Compare the portrayal of the leaders
with other sources. ?
Outline the contribution that each of the Big Four made to the Paris
Conference.
The US President came to the Paris Peace Conference with the greatest moral authority of the Big Four. After years of slaughter,
Wilson seemed to offer a vision for the future that included the League of Nations. Wilson also held the United States aloof from the
other leaders by calling his country an Associated Power.

Lloyd George became the British Prime Minister at the head of a right-wing coalition government (known as the ‘Knock-Out Blow’
coalition) in December 1916, due to its determination to make the war a fight to the finish and to shun all talk of an early peace. Lloyd
George was under pressure from the hard-right factions of his party not to show leniency towards the Germans, though this went
against his own instincts. Though British Prime Minister Lloyd George had been instrumental in shaping the Treaty of Versailles, he
later had misgivings that its terms had been too harsh on Germany. Though he had won a ‘khaki election’ in December 1918 (by
advocating for severe treatment of Germany), Lloyd George showed little enthusiasm for enforcing the provisions of the Treaty and he
failed to support France when it did so.

The French Prime Minister had a tough no-nonsense reputation. His main aim was to ensure France’s future security. This involved
imposing limitations on Germany, which due to its natural advantages in terms of population size, industrial production and
geopolitical position in Europe, was seen as posing a future theat.the French were left with a nagging doubt as to whether the security
guarantees in the Treaty would be enough to keep them safe from a resurgent Germany at some point in the future. In the 1920s, France
saw their financial and physical security gradually dissipate.

Italy had stayed neutral in the war until the Allies enticed themto enter the war in 1915 with the promise of territorial rewards detailed
in a secret treaty. However, the war was a near disaster for the Italians. Their territorial gains were modest compared to the massive loss
of life. They looked to the Paris Peace Conference to receive the territorial compensation that they believed was due to them. Though
Prime Minister Orlando was one of the Big Four involved in making many of the key decisions, he suddenly left the conference on 20
April 1919.