The Treaty of Versailles Flashcards
Why was Versailles chosen as the place were negotiations took place
Versailles was chosen as the location of the negotiations because the delegates would have to travel through some of the most destroyed areas in France and Belgium in order to see the scale of destruction
Who was the main negotiator
The main negotiator was Woodrow Wilson, as he was less harsh and more unbiased
What is the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty that officially ended WW1
What was the treaty designed for
The treaty was designed to make Germany accept full responsibility for causing the war and pay reparations
How did the Germans react to the treaty
The German people felt that they had been ‘stabbed in the back’, as most of them still did not accept the fact that they had lost the war. They also called the treaty “diktat”, because they were forced to accept it
What did Germany lose in the treaty
Germany lost 10% of its land and 12.5% of its population
What is an armistice
An armistice is a request to stop the war until a peace agreement is reached
Who was Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson was America’s president who was an idealist
What did Woodrow Wilson want from the treaty and what did he do?
Wilson wanted fair peace for all and wanted Germany to be treated fairly. He created a list of 14 points that would help to prevent future wars and end all empires.
What were Wilson’s 14 points
Wilson’s 14 points indicated that Germany would be treated fairly after the war. They also included making a League of Nations that would help prevent future wars
What did Clemenceau want from the Treaty
Clemenceau hated Germany a lot for what they did and wanted revenge. He wanted Germany to take the blame for the war, pay money for everything they destroyed and have them weakened economically so they wouldn’t threaten Germany again
What did George want from the Treaty
Lloyd George wanted to punish Germany for everything they did, but he also had other things in mind. He was afraid of weakening Germany too much as communism could potentially spread from Russia to Germany and then to the rest of Europe. He also wanted to keep Germany as a strong trade partner
What is self-determination
Self-determination is the granting of independence to nations
How would self-determination help prevent future wars
Self-determination would help prevent wars as it would mean the end of big empires. All the countries would be independent, meaning that countries would stop fighting over who’s going to take over another country as a colony. Nationalism would also stop being a problem, as people from a different ethnicity would have their own nation-state, rather than being a part of an empire
What were the five terms of the Treaty
The five terms of the treaty were B.L.A.M.E
Blame - Germany would have to accept full responsibility for starting the war
Land- Germany lost Alscase Lorraine, Danzig and the Saar coalfields
Army- Germany was now allowed to only have 100 000 men in the army, their navy could have only 6 battleships and they weren’t allowed to have an air-force
Money- They were force to pay 6.6 billion for reparations to the allies
Empire- They lost control of their empire to the League of Nations
They were also forbidden to unite with Austria (Anschluss)
