The Paris Peace Conference began on January 18, 1919 with 21 nations in attendance. France's primary objective was to
ensure her security. In 1814, 1815, 1870, and again in 1914German armies had swarmed across France's borders. France
sought a peace treaty that would assure that her homeland would never again be invaded by her German neighbor.
Additionally, as the war had been fought on French soil, the French looked to the Germans to pay for the restoration of her
devastated homeland.