12th Grade IB History HL Year Two: The Cold War
Summer Reading Guidelines
Title: Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed The World
Author: Margaret MacMillan
ISBN#: 978-0-375-76052-5
Topic: The Versailles Peace Conference
Connection to Course
IB History HL includes the study of one “Prescribed Topic” (a.k.a. REALLY important stuff).
That topic is: “Peacemaking, peacekeeping - international relations, 1918-1936.”
Essentially, this topic is key to not only your understanding of subsequent units on World
War Two and the Cold War, but it is also the topic of Paper One (the first of your IB exams).
Instructions
First and foremost, you do not have to read the entire book!
This information is an important component of our first Year 2 topic. When we begin our
first unit in August, the teacher will provide more specific information on the treaties
signed in Paris 1919-1920 as well as the rise of nationalism, militarism, and irredentism in
the 1930s. Know that any of the material from Paris 1919 could be on the first unit test.
(Note: Chapter names or page numbers are provided for each question.)
The teacher will collect this assignment during the first week of class and assign a
completion grade (category: homework). Your assignment should be composed on a Word
document and include a proper MLA heading. You will upload it to turnitin.com, so be sure
your responses are in your own words and use page number citations for any direct
quotations from the author.
1. “It is much easier to make war than peace.” – Georges Clemenceau. Provide support from the
Introduction to explain this quotation.
2. Why is self-determination such a difficult goal? (11-13)
3. Chapter 6 highlights general fears of Bolshevism. Who is afraid of Bolshevism? Why is it
dangerous?
4. The League of Nations = failure. Explain. (83)
5. In your 10th grade World History II class, you learned about the Nuremberg Trials. The
trials resulted in imprisonment or execution of Nazi officials convicted of crimes against
humanity during WWII. How did the Allies punish German leaders at the end of WWI?
(165)
6. The German army had been decisively defeated before the armistice (11/11/18). Explain.
(157-158)
7. Why was the issue of reparations wrought with complications? Provide Allied perspectives
while also citing criticism made by British economist John Maynard Keynes. (180-182)
8. Provide the “grand total” charged to Germany. (192)
9. John Foster Dulles served as President Dwight Eisenhower’s Secretary of State in the 1950s.
What is his relation to Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles? (193)
10. Identify the following: Danzig (218-219); Silesia (219); Curzon Line (221); Treaty of Riga
(228).
11. Polish gains from WWI came at a high cost. Explain. (225)
12. Identify: Teschen. (238)
13. Describe postwar conditions in Austria. (248)
14. Explain why Anschluss is related to Chapter 19.
15. Record Japan’s proposed racial equality clause. (317-318) What factors contributed to
Japan’s desire for this? (316-317) Why didn’t the amendment pass? (320) What were the
long-term results of this omission from the treaty? (321)
16. How did China contribute to the Allied war effort? (322) Still, China lost territory (Shantung
Province) to the Japanese as a result of the Paris Peace Conference. How did this affect
Chinese nationalism? (339-341)
17. Make a list of reactions (quotations) to the Versailles Treaty. Include multiple, varying
perspectives. (Chapter 30)
18. The author writes: “The Treaty of Versailles is not to blame.” (482) True or false?
19. How was Wilson’s health affected by his determination to garner support for US
membership in the League of Nations? (488-492)
20. Identify: Article X. (489)
21. At the end of the book, the author expresses that it is unfair to place blame on the 1919
peacemakers for the disastrous events of the following decades. Explain MacMillan’s views
on this. (Conclusion)
22. Read Wilson’s Fourteen Points in the Appendix. Rewrite them using one short phrase for
each.