In the end, the European Allies imposed harsh peace terms on Germany, forcing the nation to surrender around 10 percent of its territory and all of its overseas possessions. The other leaders saw Wilson as too naive and idealistic, and his principles were difficult to translate into policy. Wilson opposed Italian territorial demands, as well as previously existing arrangements regarding territory between the other Allies instead, he wanted to create a new world order along the lines of his Fourteen Points. For his part, Orlando wanted to expand Italy’s influence and shape it into a major power that could hold its own alongside the other great nations. Lloyd George, on the other hand, saw the rebuilding of Germany as a priority in order to reestablish the nation as a strong trading partner for Great Britain. He sought heavy reparations from Germany as a way of limiting German economic recovery after the war and minimizing this possibility. The Big Four themselves had competing objectives in Paris: Clemenceau’s main goal was to protect France from yet another attack by Germany. Also absent was Russia, which had fought as one of the Allied powers until 1917, when, following the Russian Revolution, the country’s new Bolshevik government concluded a separate peace with Germany and withdrew from the conflict.
Germany and the other defeated powers-Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey-were not represented at the Paris Peace Conference.
The “ Big Four” leaders of the victorious Western nations-Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France and, to a lesser extent, Vittorio Orlando of Italy-dominated the peace negotiations in Paris. Did WWI Lead to WWII? Treaty of Versailles Terms