3. Treaty Of Versailles

Question 1

When were the terms of the Treaty first proposed to the Germans? How did people react ? (3)

Answer 1

• draft terms presented May 1919
• national shock and outrage.
• Germans believed that the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were far too harsh and had been dictated to them by France and Britain rather than negotiated

Question 2

What did President Wilson want from the Versailles talks? (3)

Answer 2

• to bring about international disarmament
• to apply the principle of self determination
• to create a League of Nations in order to maintain international peace

Question 3

What did Clemenceau want from the Versailles talks? (4)

Answer 3

• to annex the Rhineland and create a ‘buffer state’
• to impose the major disarmament of Germany
• to impose heavy reparations in order to weaken Germany
• to get recompense from the damage of the war in order to finance re-building

Question 4

What did Lloyd George want from the peace talks ?(3)

Answer 4

• He was keen to uphold british national interests
• Initially wanted revenge
• Recognised there would have to be compromise

Question 5

How come the Allies obliged an embittered Reichstag to accept the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 5

Germany simply did not have the military capacity to resist

Question 6

When was the Treaty signed and where?

Answer 6

28th June 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

Question 7

Who led the German representatives on 28th June

Answer 7

Hermann Müller

Question 8

Name the three powers’ leaders who had the decisive negotiations

Answer 8

• Woodrow Wilson
• Georges Clemenceau
• Lloyd George

Question 9

Explain the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (5)

Answer 9

• Territorial Arrangements, such as Germany returning Alsace-Lorraine to France and forbidding the reunification of Germany and Austria
• Germany is forced to sign the War Guilt clause accepting blame for causing war
• Reparations : to be fixed later in summer 1921
• Disarmament : Germany to abolish conscription and reduce its army to 100,000. Rhineland is to be demilitarised
• Maintaining peace : the Treaty set out the Covenant of the League of Nation. Germany had to accept the League but couldn’t join initially

Question 10

Why did the Germans view the Treaty as unfair?

Answer 10

The Germans felt the Treaty was ‘diktat’ (a dictated peace) and was imposed without negotiation

Question 11

What were Germany’s main complaints about the Treaty. (5)

Answer 11

• It was very different to Wilson’s Fourteen Points. The loss of Germany’s colonies was not in line with the fifth of the Fourteen Points.
• Germany found it impossible to accept the War Guilt clause which was the Allies’ justification for demanding the payment of reparations and they fought for defensive reasons
• Germans considered the Allied demand for extensive reparations as totally unreasonable and being forced to sign a ‘blank cheque’
• the Disarmament clauses were seen as grossly unfair as Britain and France were still heavily armed
• Germany’s treatment by the Allies was undignified and unworthy of a great power

Question 12

How could the Treaty undermine the new Weimar Republic

Answer 12

Blame for how the Treaty was dictating the future of Germany could be passed to the new Weimar Republic in addition to expectation of the new Republic to build Germany back up