Task Booklet
The Treaty of Versailles
and
The League of Nations
Name ________________________
Form _____________
The Versailles Treaty (1919)
Task One - The First World War (1914-18)
Source One - A 10 year old girl in Berlin in the last year of the war.
In the end we could hardly buy a pea without a ration card. No fat, no milk,
no eggs. Fritz and I needed them so urgently. Our growing bones were bare
of flesh and only covered with a greyish skin. Day after day we had to queue
up for the barest necessities of life. Shivering with cold and weariness, I
looked more like a scarecrow than a little girl.
Source Two - Extract from a British textbook published in 1998
Britain was financially ruined by the war. The National Debt (the money the
country owed) had risen by 1200 percent. Britain owed the USA £1,000
million.
Source Three - Numbers of casualties in the First World War
Source Four - David Lloyd George British Prime-Minister in 1918
We propose to demand the whole cost of the war from Germany.
2
Source Five - Extract from a school History text-book published in 2001
The impact of the war on France
• 2 million people homeless
• 750,000 homes destroyed
• many roads, railways and factories destroyed
• much farmland ruined
Questions (Advice: Use Sources 1-5 to help you answer the questions.
Remember to refer to the source in your answers,
use them as evidence to support your answer).
a) According to these sources how did the First World War
affect Europe?
b) Why might people in America feel differently about the war to
people who had lived in France?
3
Task Two - The Paris Peace Conference
Role-playing exercise - Your teacher will give you extra materials to help you
to make five important decisions about the future of Europe after the end of
the First World War.
Decision One - German territory
Should Germany have land taken away from them?
This would weaken Germany and create buffer-zones that would make it
more difficult for her to attack other countries like France.
However, this would mean that German speaking people who want to remain
part of Germany would be separated from their friends and family back in
Germany.
Option A - leave Germany as it is, take no land away from Germany
Option B - only take away land if the people who live there vote to be
removed in a plebiscite
Option C - Germany should be split from Austria but other pieces of territory
should not be taken away
Option D - Sweeping territorial changes. Germany should lose Alsace
Lorraine to France, the Polish corridor to Poland, the Saar region
of Germany should be controlled by the League of Nations and the
Rhineland area of Germany should be de-militarised.
Decision Two - Military restrictions
Should the German armed forces be weakened?
This would stop Germany from attacking other countries in the future and
might help to keep the peace in Europe.
However, it would be unfair to force Germany to dis-arm if other countries in
Europe were still allowed to have strong armed forces. Germany would be
vulnerable to attack in the future.
4
Option A - Leave the German armed forces alone so that the Germans can
protect themselves in the future
Option B - Force all countries in Europe to dis-arm now that the war is over
Option C - Reduce the size of the German army to 100,000 men but leave
their navy and airforce untouched
Option D - The German navy would not be allowed to build U-boats, no
German airforce, no tanks and an army of just 100,000 men
Decision Three - Reparations
Should Germany be made to compensate the allied countries for the
damage caused during the war?
Large areas of France and Belgium had been destroyed by the war and now
needed to be re-built, Britain had huge debts as a result of the conflict, and
thousands of widows and orphans also needed to be supported now the war
was over. Many people felt that Germany should pay these costs.
However, Germany was not the only country who played a part in the start of
the war so why should she have to pay for all, the damages caused ? A large
compensation bill could cause economic problems in Germany that might
lead to the growth in support for extremist parties like the fascists (Nazis) or
the communists.
Option A - Germany should not be asked to pay reparations to the allies
Option B - Germany and other countries should be made to contribute to a
fund to be used to compensate all the injured parties
Option C - Germany should be presented with a reparations bill of £3,300
million
Option D - Germany should be asked to pay reparations of £6,600 million
5
Decision Four - War Guilt
Should Germany be forced to accept sole responsibility for the start of
World War One?
Germany played a major role in the outbreak of the First World War and can
be blamed for the devastating effects of the conflict However, other countries
including Austria, Russia, Serbia, Britain and France also played a part in the
outbreak of war so it would be unfair to just blame Germany.
Option A - all countries should accept their share of the blame for the start of
the war
Option B - Germany should accept sole responsibility for the start of the war
Decision Five - The League of Nations
Should a League of Nations be established to try to keep the peace in the
future?
All countries would belong to a League of Nations and this would mean that
they could discuss disagreements at the League rather than going to war in
the future
However, the League might not be able to prevent aggressive countries from
causing problems in the future
Option A - set up a League of Nations with its own armed force to be used to
enforce its decisions
Option B - establish a League where problems can be discussed but without
its own armed force
Option C - decide not to set up the League
6
Decision time:
Your group should discuss the different options for each of the five
decisions above. Write your final decisions in the table below but remember
that all members of your group must accept each decision.
Task Three - The Versailles Treaty
a) Read the final, settlement that emerged from the Paris Peace Conference,
think back to what Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd-George wanted.
i) Make a list for each of the leaders. Say which part of the
Versailles treaty they would be happy with.
ii) Pick one thing that would make each of them unhappy, and
explain why.
b) Imagine that you are a German citizen learning about your country’s
humiliation after reading the “Deutsche Zeitung” newspaper. Write a letter to
the paper explaining how angry you are and why you feel that Germany has
been treated unfairly.
7
Task Four - Verdicts on the Versailles Settlement
Read through the different verdicts on the Versailles settlement in your
information booklet (page 8-9). Then attempt to complete the table below.
8
The League of Nations
Task One - Setting up the League of Nations
Here are some of the problems that the League of Nations had right from the
start, try to complete the table by explaining how they could damage the
League’s chances of success.
9
9
Task Two: The Manchurian Crisis
Opinions about the Japanese invasion of Manchuria
Below are five different opinions about the Japanese expansion into
Manchuria and the response from the League of Nations. Read the section
in your information booklet (pages 13 - 15) about the Manchurian crisis,
and then read these opinions.
Opinion 1 - The League did all it could during the Manchuria crisis.
Member nations were not prepared to use military force against Japan they
were more concerned with problems in their own countries as a result of the
worldwide economic depression.
Opinion 2 - Japan should be allowed to keep
Manchuria. Britain had gained an empire by invading smaller countries why
couldn’t Japan act in the same way.
Opinion 3 - The League was too weak during the crisis. It should have
forced the members of the League to use military sanctions against Japan.
Opinion 4 - Japan should be blamed for the Manchuria crisis not the
League of Nations. Japan was acting aggressively and then refused to
accept the decision of the League.
Opinion 5 - The problem for the League was not the Japanese invasion of
Manchuria it was the weaknesses in its organisation from when it was first
set up.
Activity:
a) You will each be given an opinion to research. You will be asked to
interview at least three other people who have researched the same
opinion, to find their views about it. Record the views you get in the
box below.
10
10
b) Once you have completed this first activity you will then be asked to find
a student who has researched a different opinion to yourself. You must
explain the views you have gathered to this student, and they will explain
the views they have gathered. If you finish before everyone else repeat
this exercise with another student.
11
Task Three: The Abyssinian Crisis
Exam style questions (Paper 1)
Study the Punch cartoon on page 18 of the Information Booklet then answer
the questions:
a) According to the cartoon how did France and England react to
Italy's invasion of Abyssinia? (3 marks)
b) How reliable is the cartoon to an historian writing about the
Abyssinia crisis? Use the cartoon and your own knowledge to
explain your answer. (6 marks)
c) Describe how the League of Nations tried to solve the Abyssinia
crisis. (6 marks)
d) Was the Abyssinia crisis the most important reason for the failure
of the League of Nations? Explain your answer. (10 marks)
Mussolini addressing a rally. He adopted the name Il Duce (Leader)
12
12
Reinforcement activities
These two activities are designed to help you if you find this topic difficult.
Activity 1: The Treaty of Versailles
Below is a list of possible terms of the Versailles treaty but only six of them
are real. You must place a tick in the boxes with the correct terms.
13
Activity 2: The League of Nations
Use the keywords below to fill in the gaps in the following paragraphs. If you
get stuck look in your information booklet for help.
14
14
Extension activities
These two activities are meant to challenge you to think more carefully about
this topic and some of the historical issues connected to it.
Activity 1: The Treaty of Versailles
Read carefully the historical opinion below regarding the Versailles Treaty.
Think about the main arguments that the historian puts forward to support his
view about the treaty then write a counter- argument in the box provided
below.
The Treaty of Versailles was a disgraceful peace settlement that had
more to do with vengeance than with keeping the peace. Dis-arming
Germany was unfair as it left her weak and vulnerable especially as other
European powers still had strong armed forces. By removing territory
such as West Prussia from Germany and giving it to Poland, it meant that
German speaking people were not allowed to remain part of Germany even
though they wanted to. The reparations settlement was far too high and
crippled the German economy, this caused poverty which in the long run
made Germans vulnerable to the promises that Hitler made. Germany
should not have been blamed solely for the start of the war as many
nations played some part in the start of the war. The setting up of the
League of Nations was a noble attempt to maintain peace in the future,
but this was immediately undermined by barring German membership, this
seemed petty and unreasonable. The resentment and anger caused by the
treaty in Germany played a large part in Hitler’s rise to power and the
start of the Second World War.
A British historian’s viewpoint on the Versailles treaty written in 2001.
15
15
Activity 2: The League of Nations
Listed below in no particular order are the main factors behind the failure of
the League of Nations. Try to arrange these in what you feel is there order of
importance (i.e. most important = 1, and least important = 5) and then write a
short paragraph in the box at the bottom of the page to explain your choices.
Try to explain why you have placed your top factor at number one.
Then, discuss your choices with a partner who has also completed this activity,
compare your lists where and why have you disagreed?
Reasons for the failure
of the League of Nations
Order of importance
Japan and Italy’s aggression
1.
Wall Street Crash and the depression
2.
USA refused to join
3.
The League had no army
4.
Germany and the USSR were refused
membership of the League
5.
Explanation of your choices
16
16
GLOSSARY of key terms for this topic
Allies, the victorious countries in World War One, i.e. France, Great Britain
and the USA.
“Big Three”, the 3 Leaders who made most of the important decisions at
Versailles, Georges Clemenceau, David Lloyd-George and
Woodrow Wilson.
Collective security, countries join together for protection against aggression.
Conscription, when all men in a country have to serve time in the armed forces.
Crisis, a time of danger or conflict.
De-militarised zone, an area without any troops or fortifications.
Economic depression, problems in an economy often leading to
unemployment and poverty for many people.
Economic sanctions, to stop trading with a country.
Fourteen points, Woodrow Wilson’s original ideas for a fair peace settlement
at the end of World War One.
Kaiser, the German king.
League of Nations, an international peacekeeping organisation created after
the First World War.
Militarism, focus on war, armed forces and the professional soldier.
Paris Peace Conference, the meeting that took place at the Palace of
Versailles to negotiate the peace treaty.
Raw materials, e.g. Timber, oil, coal etc.. that are needed for industrial
production.
Reparations, money I compensation for the damage caused by World War One.
Unanimous, where everyone agrees with a decision.
Versailles Treaty, the peace treaty that decided how Germany should be
punished for their defeat in the First World War.
17