Why was Germany treated harshly by the big Four after WWI essays

Why was Germany treated harshly by the big Four after WWI essays Germany was treated harshly to prevent it from ever being a threat to the Big Four. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles was put forth by the Big Four mainly to exert revenge and to safeguard their territorial interests, for fear that Germany will become a determined aggressor once again to start another war. Firstly, Germany was the country that started the war on the big scale, bounded by its alliance with Austria, hence dragging the rest off Europe into a long war. Therefore, the Big Four put the blame of the casualties and devastation of the countries involved in the war on Germany. 1.4 million French soldiers were killed, 9hundred thousand British soldiers were killed and many more from the Allies. As a result, they saw it reasonable for Germany to be punished. Among the Big Four, it was the French prime minister who wanted the Germany to be treated as harshly as possible. Georges Clemenceau had revenge on mind as France incurred heavy casualties. The war had been fought mostly on French soil, which took a heavy toll on both the land and the economy. Hence, Clemenceau wanted Germany thoroughly weakened such that it would never again be a threat to France. This was extremely important to France as Germany lies on the border of France. By imposing huge reparation fee on Germany would make sure that Germany would not have extra funds for military weapons and soldiers. At the same time it will also ensure that the destruction that France incurred would be paid overtime. Hence, this explains the harsh reparation fee of 6.6 million pounds. Lloyd George, prime minister of Britain, did not want to see Germany punished too severely for he feared that a weakened Germany might be a serious threat. However, he had promised the British people in his election campaign that he would make Germany pay for starting the war. His main concern was in ensuring that the German navy would never emerge as a threat to the British navy since t...