lloyd george

What did Lloyd George want to achieve from the peace settlement of 1919-1920?

In the Treaty of Versailles David Lloyd George was often in the middle ground between Clemenceau and Wilson. Lloyd George had huge problems with public pressure for a harsh treaty as he had just won the 1918 election in Britain by promising to ‘Make Germany pay’ and he realised the dangers of this course of action. Even though he took up a harsh stance against Germany he understood that if Germany was crippled too much they would seek revenge in the future and possibly start another war. In this way Woodrow Wilson shared the same view as Lloyd George as they both did not want to create too harsh a treaty because they wanted to prevent this from happening.

In addition, Lloyd George did not want too harsh a treaty partially because Germany was a major trading partner of Britain before the war started and did not want to ruin relations. He wanted Britain and Germany to begin trading with each other once again, however the public did not like the idea but this benefitted them as the trades created jobs for them. Furthermore, he wanted to expand the British Empire, maintain British control of the seas and increase Britain’s trade. He also wanted to protect British interests by making Germany lose its navy and colonies as Britain felt that Germany threatened the British Empire because the British didn’t want naval or colonial competition since those were their own strengths.

In private, Lloyd George was also very concerned with the rise of communism in Russia and feared it may spread to Western Europe. He believed that the spread of communism posed a greater threat than a defeated Germany. He did not want Germany to be treated with lenience but knew that only Germany could prevent the spread of communism if it burst over the frontiers of Russia. However it would have been political suicide to come out with these views.