World War One had been devastating for some of the European nations. The French had lost 75,000 homes and much of northern France was destroyed. Belgium was also devastated. The Allied forces has lost millions of men, with France losing 1.5 million, Russia over 1 million and the British Empire around 900,000. Many who returned from the war had life changing injuries (as we encountered in our Health and the People module). With this in mind, the three most powerful countries on the Allied side Britain, France and the USA came together to oversee the peace talks in Paris. This followed the Armistice which was stopped the war on November 11th 1918.
The Big Three were tasked with dealing with Germany following World War One. They had to decide how Germany would be punished, and how they would ensure lasting peace in Europe.
But each person had their own agenda. Georges Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister, needed to help his country rebuild and long standing tensions with the Germans following the Franco-Prussian war and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in the 19th century meant that he was not likely to be friendly towards them. David Lloyd-George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom faced a public who were set on revenge, but had an inward desire to be more lenient. Woodrow Wilson, President of the USA, who had only entered the war in 1917, aimed to keep America out of European affairs and proposed a 14 point plan for peace which he hoped would be followed during the negotiations.