The Treaty of Versailles

Question 1

What were the aims of Georges Clemenceau and France?

Answer 1

Wanted Germany to pay reparations to help rebuild areas of France.
Wanted revenge and to cripple Germany.
Wanted demilitarization of the Rhineland.

Question 2

What were the aims of Lloyd George and Britain?

Answer 2

Not too harsh- feared this would lead to another war.
Wanted to keep Germany strong for trade and to act as buffer zone to communism.
Wanted to gain German colonies and wanted naval supremacy.

Question 3

What were the aims of Woodrow Wilson and USA?

Answer 3

Wanted a fair peace, so Germany wouldn’t seek revenge.

Proposed the fourteen points, the League of Nations, self-determination and freedom of the seas.

Question 4

When was the treaty signed?

Answer 4

28th June 1919

Question 5

What did Germany nickname the treaty?

Answer 5

Diktat- dictated peace

Question 6

What was Article 231?

Answer 6

The war guilt clause- Germany had to accept sole blame for WWI.

Question 7

How much reparations did Germany owe?

Answer 7

£6,600 million

Question 8

How was Germany’s military affected?

Answer 8

Navy restricted to 15,000 men, army limited to 100,000 men and was only allowed 6 battleships.
Conscription was banned and Rhineland was demilitarized.
Germany was not allowed tanks, submarines or Luftwaffe.

Question 9

How was Germany’s land affected by the treaty?

Answer 9

Anschluss was forbidden.
Danzing was taken from Germany.
Germany was split into two by the Polish Corridor.
The Saarland was controlled by the League for 15 years.
Germany’s colonies were given to the League as mandates.

Question 10

What was Clemenceau’s reaction to the terms?

Answer 10

Clemenceau was pleased about France gaining Alsace-Lorraine and Germany’s remilitarization of the Rhineland.
He was unhappy about the amount of reparations- believed it should be more and Germany being allowed an army.

Question 11

What was Lloyd George’s reaction to the terms?

Answer 11

Lloyd George was pleased about Britain’s naval supremacy and the Empire gaining more colonies.
He was unhappy about the harsh reparations, maning Briatin would lose trade and the threat of a future war.

Question 12

What was Woodrow Wilson’s reaction to the terms?

Answer 12

Wilson was pleased about the creation of the League of Nations.
He was unhappy about the Fourteen Points being ignored and the harshness of the treaty.

Question 13

How did the French public react to the terms?

Answer 13

Many people were furious- they believed the treaty was nowhere near harsh enough.
People felt Clemenceau hadn’t done enough and he was voted out.

Question 14

How the British public react to the terms?

Answer 14

People thought the treaty was fair, but could have been harsher.
Lloyd George was hailed as a hero.

Question 15

How did Americans react to the terms?

Answer 15

Americans didn’t want revenge as harshly as Britain and France and many thought the treaty was too harsh.
USA wanted to follow isolationism and the US senate refused to allow USA to join the League of Nations.

Question 16

What did Germans call the people who signed the treaty?

Answer 16

November Criminals- They had been told they were winning the war, so felt they had been betrayed.

Question 17

Why did the German people hate the treaty so much?

Answer 17

People were living in poverty, so didn’t see how they could hope the punishments.
They felt the Kaiser had already been punished, so there was no need for further punishment.
They felt it left them vulnerable.
13% of land was lost so 6million Germans were no longer living in Germany.

Question 18

What did the Treaty of St Germain do?

Answer 18

Took land of Austria to create Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, weakend their military and Anschluss was forbidden.

Question 19

What did the Treaty of Neuilly do?

Answer 19

Bulgaria lost land to Yugoslavia and Greece, were forced to pay £100 million in reparations and weakend their army.

Question 20

What did the Treaty of Sevres do?

Answer 20

Split up Turkish Empire and weakened their military.

Question 21

What were the strengths of the treaty?

Answer 21

Reparations helped France rebuild and they regained Alsace-Lorraine.
New countries were given independence.

Question 22

What were the weaknesses of the treaty?

Answer 22

Austria and Hungary lost so much land that their economies crashed in 1921.
It was feared that the terms would lead to another war.
The Treaty of Lausanne proved that treaties could not be enforced.
None of the Big Three were satisfied with the outcome.