DBQ: How did the “War to End All
Wars” lead to World War II?
Overview: World War I, also known as the “Great War” and the “War
to End All Wars,” brought the world’s superpowers together in a
colossal power struggle for the first time in modern history. After 4
years, with many casualties and damages suffered by all involved, the
war ended decisively with safeguards to prevent future global wars. Just
20 years later, however, this “global peace” was shattered with the onset
of World War II. Your job is to look at both World Wars, comparing
and contrasting the two, and determining how these wars are connected.
Hook Exercise:
Part One: Individually or with a partner, write down the things you
know about Adolf Hitler, describing him in 3-4 sentences. Then list
5 characteristics of Adolf Hitler.
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1. ____________________
2. ____________________
3. ____________________
4. ____________________
5. ____________________
Part Two: Chances are your classmates wrote negative descriptions
of Germany’s leader during WWII. Discuss these responses as a
class. Then discuss the reasons why so many people may have opted
to support such a leader.
Document A
Source: 64 Congress, 2 Session, Senate Document No. 685: "A League
for Peace."
Excerpted from Woodrow Wilson’s Peace Without Victory Speech
“…it must be a peace without victory…Victory would mean peace
forced upon the loser, a victor's terms imposed upon the vanquished. It
would be accepted in humiliation, under duress, at an intolerable
sacrifice, and would leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory upon
which terms of peace would rest, not permanently but only as upon
quicksand. Only a peace between equals can last; only a peace, the very
principle of which is equality and a common participation in a common
benefit. The right state of mind, the right feeling between nations, is as
necessary for a lasting peace as is the just settlement of vexed questions
of territory or of racial and national allegiance.”
Document B
Source: From The Treaty of Versailles and After: Annotations of the
Text of the Treaty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office,
1944)
Article 42. Germany is forbidden to maintain or construct any
fortifications either on the left bank of the Rhine or on the right bank to
the west of a line drawn 50 kilometers to the East of the Rhine.
Article 45. As compensation for the destruction of the coal mines in the
north of France and as part payment towards the total reparation due
from Germany for the damage resulting from the war, Germany cedes to
France in full and absolute possession, with exclusive right of
exploitation, unencumbered and free from all debts and charges of any
kind, the coal mines situated in the Saar Basin…
Article 119. Germany renounces in favor of the Principal Allied and
Associated Powers all her rights and titles over her overseas possessions.
Article 159. The German military forces shall be demobilized and
reduced…
Article 231. The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and
Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for
causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated
Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence
of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her
allies.
The Allied and Associated Governments, however, require, and
Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage
done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated Powers and
to their property during the period of the belligerency of each as an
Allied or Associated Power against Germany.
Document C
Document D
Figure 1-­‐“Our last hope: Hitler” Figure 2-­‐“We want work and bread! Vote Hitler” Figure 3-­‐“Germany’s Liberation” Figure 4-­‐“We will take the fate of our nation into our own hands! Hitler for President” Document E
Underlying Causes of WWI
Underlying Causes of WWII
Above Image: Young Hitler in 1914 displaying his nationalist
pride in Munich as Germans celebrate the beginning of WWI
Above Image: “Germany Lives!”