 The Americans , British , and French all differed on the issue of reparations settlement . The Western Front had been fought in France , and that countryside had been heavily scarred in the fighting . France 's most industrialized region in the north @-@ east had been laid to waste during the German retreat . Hundreds of mines and factories were destroyed along with railroads , bridges and villages . Georges Clemenceau , the Prime Minister of France , thought it appropriate that any just peace required Germany to pay reparations for the damage they had caused . He also saw reparations as a means to ensure that Germany could not again threaten France and as well to weaken the German ability to compete with France 's industrialization . Reparations would also go towards the reconstruction costs in other countries , such as Belgium , also directly affected by the war . British Prime Minister David Lloyd George opposed harsh reparations in favour of a less crippling reparations settlement so that the German economy could remain a viable economic power and British trading partner . He furthermore argued that reparations should include war pensions for disabled veterans and allowances to be paid to war widows , which would , reserve a larger share of the reparations for the British Empire . Wilson opposed these positions , and was adamant that there be no indemnity imposed upon Germany . 
