HISTORY IGCSE CONTENT - 20TH CENTURY OPTION - FAIRNESS OF THE TREATIES 1919-1923: DAVID LLOYD GEORGE AND HIS ROLE

1. LLOYD GEORGE
AND HIS ROLE
IGCSE HISTORY

3. PROFILE
David Lloyd George was the prime minister of Britain during 1916
and 1922.
He was born in 1863 and died in 1945.
In his pre-political career he was a lawyer.
In his political career he entered national politics as a liberal in
1890.
He held various Cabinet positions between 1906 and 1916,
including Chancellor of the Exchequer and Minister for Munitions.

5. CHARACTER
Lloyd George was dynamic, persuasive and unconventional.
He was acclaimed as the man who won the war.
More of a realist than an idealist.
He wanted a peace which would punish Germany but not too harsh.

6. HIS VIEWS IN NOVEMBER 1918
Britain wanted a harsh peace settlement to be imposed to Germany.
Unlike the USA, Britain suffered directly because of the 1914 German
attacks directed towards Yorkshire coastal towns, and because of the
famous Zeppelin raids (1915-1918) over London and Edinburgh.
Britain had sustained heavy casualties during the war and their economy
had been disrupted, especially exports.
Britain was concerned about the security of France’s eastern frontier
(Britain’s outer defence).
The public demanded vengeance and George insisted that Germany
should pay for the full cost of the war. Britain was extremely
interested to keep the empire intact and to achieve some of the
German colonies.

7. German airship Schütte Lanz SL2 bombing Warsaw in 1914

8. HIS VIEWS FROM JANUARY 1919
Before arriving in Paris in January 1919, Lloyd George had decided
that a moderate peace settlement was in British interest.
He realised that the future economic growth of Britain depended
largely upon the economic revival of Europe, including Germany.
Germany was Britain’s most important European customer prior to
1914. If Germany was deprived of the Rhineland (major industries)
it will not be wealthy enough to buy British products. High
reparations would also affect German economy.
A weak Germany would provide a weak barrier against the spread of
Communism.
Lloyd George was convinced that a weak Germany will enhance a
sense of grievance and fury in Germany.

9. GEORGE-CLEMENCEAU RELATIONSHIP
Lloyd George managed to persuade Clemenceau to make a number
of key concessions:
- To abandon the idea of an independent Rhineland state
- To abandon the idea of naming a definite and very high figure for
reparations in the treaty
- To abandon the idea that the Saar Basin on the border shared by
Germany and France be transferred to France
- To abandon the idea that Danzig be handed over to Poland
I was in Britain’s interest to maintain a balance of power in Europe.