The Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh terms on Germany following World War 1. It forced Germany to accept war guilt, pay extensive reparations, lost territory, and faced military restrictions. While the Allies saw this as punishment for Germany's role in starting the war, Germany viewed the terms as unfair and crippling. The treaty dismantled Germany's military and economy but did little to foster lasting peace, sowing seeds of resentment that contributed to World War 2.

1. Name: __________________________ ( ) Date: __________________
Class: ________________
Chapter 1: Impact of World War One in Europe, Part II
(Paris Peace Conference& Treatyof Versailles)
Topic Inquiry Question: “To what extent was the Treaty of Versailles (TOV) a fair treaty?”
The Paris Peace Conference
 Background
- War ended in November 1918 when Germany agreed to sign an armistice
o Germany didn’t feel that it had been defeated and expected to be consulted on the terms of the treaty
 However,Germany was not invited to the Paris Peace Conference
- Conference was dominated by the ‘Big Three’: USA, France and Britain
 Aims and Motivations of the Participants
Country What did it want? Why? How did it feel towards
Germany at the end of the war?
(1=loved, 3=meh, 5=hated)
Germany - Wanted to minimise losses and a fairer
treaty
- Wanted to remain a united nation
(principle of self-determination)
- War ended with an armistice – Germany wasn’t
defeated
- Germany was devastated after the war –
concerned that terms would cripple recovery
- New government not responsible for the war –
An armistice isa formal agreementof
warringpartiesto stopfighting.

2. blamed the Kaiser
USA - Lasting peace and international
cooperation (President Wilson’s
Fourteen Points).
- Keep out of any future foreign
entanglements.
- Strong isolationist sentiments
1 2 3 4 5
France - Reclaim Alsace-Lorraine
- Revenge for the war (Germany should
accept total blame), and hence pay
heavy reparations
- Lost Alsace-Lorraine to Germany in 1871
- Wanted compensation for French war losses
1 2 3 4 5
Britain - Weaken German navy
- Germany to be able to recover
economically from the war
- Britain’s own position of naval superiority was
previously threatened by German naval
armaments
- Feared an unfair peace would lead to another war
1 2 3 4 5
Italy - Gain control of the territories that it had
been promised.
- It was promised control of certain territories
through the London Pact.
1 2 3 4 5
Japan - To be seen as a world power
- Control over certain territories
- Honoured the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and
helped the Allies win World War One
1 2 3 4 5
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShRA8HRMR4Q (Summary of Conference)

3. Terms of the Treaty of Versailles
 GARGLS
Terms Details Why did they do this?
G Guilt Clause - Germany had to accept blame for causing WWI
- Guilty  pay reparations!!
- Ensure that Germany would be punished for
the damage that had been done during WWI.
A Armed forces and
naval restrictions
- Rhineland demilitarised - Impact?
- Germany’s army reduced to 100,000 soldiers
- Conscription prohibited
- Germany would never be able to build up a
large reserve force, which it could call up in
the event of war.
- Weak German military = less able to start a
war
R Reparations - Germany had to pay for the damages caused by the
war
o 269 billion gold Reichmarks – paid through
ongoing payments and through the surrender of
coal and other resources
- Effect on Germany:
- They needed money to repair all the damage
done during WWI, and since they held
Germany responsible for the War, Germany
had to fund the repairs.
G German territorial
losses
- Rhineland demilitarised
- Alsace-Lorraine returned to France
- Saar to be run by League of Nations until 1934 – all
profits from the industries to be given to France
- Austria and Germany not allowed to unite
- ‘Polish Corridor’ created – East Prussia separated
- This was an effective way to punish Germany
for WWI, since this would not only make
Germany weaker, but would also benefit the
Allies through the land, people and resources
that they would gain by taking over these
territories.

4. from rest of Germany
- Germany lost all colonies
o Africa – divided between Britain and France
o Asia-Pac – most given up to Japan
L League of Nations - League of Nations (LON) was to be established - To prevent future armed conflicts by giving
countries opportunities to resolve their
disputes without going to war
S Self-determination - Principle of Self-Determination called for the creation
of independent nation states for the various ethnic
groups within Central Europe
- 9 new states were created:
Austria Hungary Czechoslovakia
Yugoslavia Finland Estonia
Latvia Lithuania Poland
- Problem with self-determination:
The idea was difficult to put in place as the different
ethnic groups intermingled and this made it impossible
to form states with only one ethnic group
- They wanted to give people who shared a
common culture, history and language the
right to form and run their own country.

5. Responsesto the TOV
Many in Germany were angry and humiliated at being made to sign the TOV. They felt that the treaty was too harsh and unfair.
Sections of the population even felt that the German representatives who signed the treaty had ‘stabbed Germany in the back’
What were the
terms of the
Treaty?
Why did the Big Three think this was fair? Why did Germany think this was unfair?
Guilt Clause  Germany had contributed to the start of WWI. Hence, it
had to take responsibility for the massive amount of
death and destruction that the Allies had suffered.
 It did not have any say in how it would be dealt with by
the Big Three, since it was not invited to the Paris Peace
Conference.
 The Allies had also contributed to the events that started
WWI, but yet Germany had to take all the blame. Hence
Germany felt greatly humiliated and wronged.
 Germany’s old government had brought Germany into
WWI, so the new German government was not at all
responsible for WWI.
Evaluation
Germany did not surrender and to place a greater portion of the blame on Germany than on powers like Britain and France
is, in retrospect, unreasonable as these powers’ involvement in the war played a big part in escalating the conflict.
Armed forces
and naval
restrictions
 Germany’s military had to be kept weak, since
previously a strong German military had caused much
death and destruction to the Allies during WWI.
 By demilitarising the Rhineland, Germany would find it
much harder to attack France again.
 Germany was now very vulnerable to an attack by its
neighbours, especially France, since it was now greatly
limited in its ability to defend itself.
Evaluation
It seemed reasonable to limit the German military after it had caused great damage to the countries invaded. France, for
instance, was invaded and lost many men as a result of conflict with the German troops. However, the terms were
unreasonable insofar as it did not allow Germany to maintain a sufficient force for self-defence and this violated its
national sovereignty, planting the seeds for discontentment on the part of the German people.

6. Reparations  Since Germany was to blame for WWI, it was only right
for them to pay for all the damage that the War had
caused.
 Germany’s economy was already suffering badly, and
having to pay reparations damaged it further, making its
economic recovery even more difficult.
 Germany had suffered more war casualties than the
French, yet no one compensated Germany for its own
losses.
Evaluation
To pay 269 billion gold Reichmarks was too much, considering Germany didn’t surrender. Even British advisors at the
conference thought it was too much to pay!
German
territorial
losses
 Germany had to be kept weak, so that it could not rise up
to challenge the power of Britain and France ever again.
 German also imposed harsh terms in terms of territorial
acquisitions during the Treaty of Brest-Litosk
 These territorial losses hurt German pride and damaged
Germany’s economy significantly, at a time when it was
facing much economic difficulty.
Evaluation
Germany imposed a harsh diktat (dictated peace) on Russia when it withdrew from WWI so it would seem fair to do the
same to Germany
Self-
Determination
 While self-determination is important, it should not
apply to Germany since if this were to be done, Germany
would become a stronger country, and hence more likely
to start another war.
 Germany was limited in its ability to recover from the war
since instead of gaining territories, which should have
taken place had self-determination been applied
consistently, it lost territories.
Evaluation
Enforced territorial changes actually did much to go against the principle of self-determination. For instance, the
Sudetenland, where the majority of people were German-speaking, was attached to Czechoslovakia.