TREATY OF VERSAILLES

Question 1

WHO were the ‘Big Four’?

Answer 1

Britain, France, Italy and the USA

Question 2

WHY did the French want to permanently weaken Germany after WW1?

Answer 2

• They had been attacked by Germany twice in living memory (1871 and 1914)
• They had been damaged the most during WW1

Question 3

WHEN was Germany shown the final terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 3

7th May 1919

Question 4

HOW MUCH say did Germany have about the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 4

The German government suggested changes but the Allies agreed to very few. The German population called it a ‘Diktat’

Question 5

WHEN was the Treaty of Versailles signed?

Answer 5

28th June 1919

Question 6

WHICH article was the war guilt article of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 6

Article 231

Question 7

WHICH article was the reparations article of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 7

Article 232 (following the War Guilt Article)

Question 8

WHEN was the total reparations amount fixed and at HOW MUCH?

Answer 8

April 1921 at £6.6 billion / 132 billion gold marks

Question 9

HOW MUCH land did Germany lose after the Treaty of Versailles? (km² and %)

Answer 9

70,000 km² / 13%

Question 10

WHICH regions were given/returned to France after the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 10

Alsace-Lorraine and the Saarland (an area rich in coal)

Question 11

WHAT were the demilitarisation terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 11

• Army restricted to 100,000 men
• Navy: 15,000 men, 6 battleships and no submarines
• Air force: banned
• The Rhineland was demilitarised with Allied troops monitoring them for 15 years

Question 12

WHAT did historian Andrew Barros say about the French and the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 12

The ‘French definition of disarmament [was] “moral disarmament”’

Question 13

HOW MANY Germans found themselves living outside of German territory after the Versailles Treaty?

Answer 13

7 million

Question 14

WHAT is the ‘dolchstoss’?

Answer 14

The ‘stab-in-the-back’ myth that the Weimar Republic had betrayed the public by signing the armistice and Versailles treaty.

Question 15

WHAT did German democrat Hugo Preuss say about the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 15

That the “Reich constitution was born with a curse upon it”

Question 16

WHAT did historian Anthony Nicholls say about the effect of the Versailles Treaty on the Weimar Republic?

Answer 16

That it “continued to poison the political atmosphere in Germany for many years.”

Question 17

WHAT would happen if Germany rejected the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 17

Fighting would restart (the German army High Command advised that military resistance would be futile).

Question 18

HOW did the left regard the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 18

• That there was no alternative to signing it and Germany was too weak to resist
• ‘Fulfilment’: Germany would outwardly comply with the terms, whilst trying to modify/get around it

Question 19

HOW did the right regard the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 19

Another act of betrayal from the Weimar Republic (labelled ‘November Criminals’), and start of the stab-in-the-back myth

Question 20

HOW did the Big Three feel about the Versailles Treaty?

Answer 20

• USA: many believed it was too harsh, and thought they should stop being involved in European squabbles
• Britain: general satisfaction with the Treaty, with some reservations about the fairness of it
• France: many believed Germany had been treated too leniently and that the Treaty should be strictly enforced as a result

Question 21

WHAT are some reasons as to why Germans hated the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 21

• Reparations: many worried about the economic consequences
• Loss of land: some Germans found themselves living outside German territory
• Occupation: the Rhineland and Saarland
• Military restrictions: loss of prestige and ability to defend oneself
• Diktat: many resented the fact that they had no choice but to sign the treaty
• War guilt: many believed that Germany was not solely to blame for the war