In January 1919, the leaders of America, Britain, France, and Italy met at the Paris Peace conference to decide on the terms of the Treaty of Versailles that would be presented to Germany to pay for damages and, this treaty officially ended the most horrific war up until that point in history. At that time, the war was known as the Great War, but today we know it as World War I. Over the course of four years, World War I devastated the majority of Europe and nearly all of France. With this in mind, each leader approached the peace conference with different plans for insuring peace and extracting reparations from Germany for the destruction of Europe. President Woodrow Wilson and Premier Georges Clemenceau, of France, presented two radically different plans at the Paris conference.
             At the end of the war, many people looked to Wilson to restore peace and prosperity for Europe. Wilson responded by developing his famous fourteen-point plan for peace, justice, and self-determination in Europe. The first thirteen points outlined the implementation of three major ideals. The first ideal was a reduction of military armaments in all countries to the lowest possible level while still allowing for internal security. This was an attempt to counteract the effects of the arms race that led up to the war. The second ideal was 'even-handed' justice for the German people. The Germans would be required to return the seized territories to the rightful owners but would be able to retain the majority of their original land area. Also, the German reparations were not to be exorbitant, but would instead only account for obvious injuries against the other nations. The third ideal was self-determination for all European nationalities. Wilson suggested the creation of a Polish state, a Turkish state, redrawing the Italian borders to include the Italians in Austria-Hungary and returning the Alsace-Lorraine territory to France. The empire of Austria-Hungary wa...