Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts
Part of The Big Three — GCSE History
This memory aid covers Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts within The Big Three for GCSE History. Revise The Big Three in Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 5 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 10 of 13 in this topic. Use it for quick recall, then test yourself straight afterwards so the memory aid becomes usable in an answer.
Topic position
Section 10 of 13
Practice
8 questions
Recall
5 flashcards
🧠 Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts
The Big Three's aims — "CCC": Crush, Compromise, Create
- C — Clemenceau = Crush: He wanted to crush Germany permanently. 1.4 million dead French soldiers. France invaded twice in 50 years. The Tiger wanted Germany on its knees forever.
- C — Lloyd George = Compromise: Caught between "Make Germany Pay" (his voters) and "don't go too far" (his instincts). He compromised — and privately feared the result.
- C — Wilson = Create: He wanted to create a new world order based on his Fourteen Points — especially the League of Nations. He was prepared to compromise everything else to get his League.
Wilson's key Fourteen Points — "SOLD": Self-determination, Open diplomacy, League of Nations, Disarmament
- S — Self-determination: peoples choose their own government
- O — Open diplomacy: no more secret treaties
- L — League of Nations: the international organisation (Point 14)
- D — Disarmament: reduce weapons to remove the means for war
Key dates for the Paris Peace Conference:
- January 1918 — Wilson announces his Fourteen Points
- November 1918 — Armistice; war ends
- December 1918 — Lloyd George wins UK election on "Hang the Kaiser"
- January 1919 — Paris Peace Conference opens
- 28 June 1919 — Treaty of Versailles signed
- November 1919 — US Senate refuses to ratify — America stays out of League
The "25 years" prediction: Both Lloyd George and Clemenceau privately predicted another war. Lloyd George: "25 years." Clemenceau: "an armistice for 20 years." Both were roughly right. WW2 broke out in September 1939 — exactly 20 years after the treaty was signed.