A Description of a Study Needed for a Level English

France-

The majority of the fighting of the war took place in France and the country was badly affected, therefore, the people of France were determined to give Germany a severe punishment. The French were satisfied overall with the treaty.

 They were pleased that they were no longer threatened by the German army in the Rhineland- the German army and navy was reduced, Germany were no longer allowed to have tanks; submarines or aeroplanes, the Rhineland was demilitarised and Germany could not unite with Austria (as the last thing they wanted was another war). However, many French people still felt as though Germany should not be allowed an army at all. Many of the French also felt as though the Rhineland should have been completely taken away and made into an individual, small, powerless state.

The French were given control of the Saar area (Germanys rich coal fields) for fifteen years (which would help them when dealing with the financial traumas of the war). Although, many people (including Clemenceau) thought that France should have been the Saar permanently rather than for just 15 years.

The reparations, when they were finally settled, were set at £6,600 million. The majority of people felt like this was too little, especially since France was the most heavily damaged country in the war. As well as this, the war had cost France 200 billion France and the reparations didn’t even nearly cover this cost. France also lost more soldiers than any other country during the war, and money couldn’t make up for the lives lost.

So overall, France were quite satisfied with the aspects of the treaty but just felt that the reparations should be greater, or the punishments bigger.

America-

America had only joined the war in 1917 and, since they were not near the battle sights and didn’t suffer the same damage as other countries included in the war, which meant that, rather than reparations for damage taken during the war, they, instead, wanted a long lasting peace- which many felt they had got the opposite of. The American government felt as though, since the treaty had not been at all based on the fourteen points, that it was not in America’s best interests to sign it at all, however, this meant that the USA could not join the league of nations that Wilson so desperately wanted.

Wilson was pleased that the league of nations had been created but his other thirteen points had been ignored. He also campaigned around America, to get the USA to join the league of nations but died before he managed to.

America had managed to get the self determination for the countries in eastern Europe. They also managed to give many independences to the nations of the Austro- Hungarian empire. However, self determination was not wholly achieved, as parts of the German empire were given to the league of nations as mandates (although in reality, Britain and France ran them).