Jgst. 8 The Treaty of Versailles

M 1.1 Folie: Armistice
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The Treaty of Versailles
MATERIALIEN
New York Times 11/11/1918
Jgst. 8

M 1.2 Folie: Casualties of World War I
Allies of World
War I
Total (Entente
Powers)
Central Powers
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The Treaty of Versailles
Population
(millions)
Casualties of World War I
Military
deaths
Civilian
deaths
Total deaths
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Military
wounded
790.2 5,711,696 3,674,757 9,386,453 12,809,280
Population
(millions)
Military
deaths
Civilian
deaths
Total deaths
Military
wounded
Total (Central
Powers)
Neutral nations
143.1 4,010,241 3,143,000 7,153,241 8,419,533
Grand total 944.0 9,721,937 6,821,248 16,543,185 21,228,813

M 1.3 Folie: Casualties of World War I
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The Treaty of Versailles
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties
Jgst. 8

L 1.1
Questions and possible answers
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The Treaty of Versailles
Task: Read the headline. What does it tell you about November 11th, 1918?
L 1.2
Jgst. 8
• armistice, therefore no more fighting
• armistice signed by the Germans, therefore official acceptance of German defeat and defeat
of the Central powers
• revolution in Berlin
• chancellor wants to restore order
• Wilhelm II has fled Germany
• now in Holland
• Germany is now a republic
Tasks:
1. Look at the table and find all the information about the cost of World War I.
• information about casualties of the Allied Forces, the Central Powers and other nations
• information about the number of dead (about 10 mio) and wounded soldiers (ca. 20 mio )
• number of military and civilian casualties (about 7 mio)
Millions of wounded soldiers on both sides
Also millions of dead civilians
2. Look at the diagram. Read out the data given in the diagram.
Find out which side had more military losses.
Find out which side had more civilian losses.
• The Entente powers had more military losses, the Central powers had more dead civilians at
the end of the war
3. Look at the two diagrams. Read out what it says.
Name the countries which had suffered most.
• Russia, France, British Empire
• Germany, Austria-Hungary
4. Find reasons why these countries lost the most soldiers.
• major powers before and during the war
• nations with big armies
• war in the trenches with millions of casualties (Verdun, Somme)
• new weapons with fatal effects ( machine guns, tanks, bombs etc.)
Further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties

M 2.1
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The Treaty of Versailles
The Rules
Jgst. 8
1. You are a member of a delegation to the Paris Peace
Conference. Therefore you have to behave like a highranking
diplomat: A diplomat does not raise his/her
voice to answer a question or discuss a point.
2. No conferring with (=talking to) other delegations. Your
delegation will discuss the treaty “behind closed
doors”.
3. Your delegation has to consider the well-being and the
interests of your country after the end of World War I.
Follow that in your discussion.
4. Appoint a speaker for your delegation and a keeper of
the minutes (=Protokollant).
5. Look at all the materials carefully. Discuss them in
your delegation.
6. Discuss the aims of your delegation and your Prime
Minister's / President's ideas.
7. The keeper of the minutes will write them down on
worksheet M 2.7 .
8. Read the questions on worksheet M 2.8. Discuss them
in your delegation and agree on the answers.
9. Fill in worksheet M 2.8. This is your paper for the
negotiations.

M 2.2
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The Treaty of Versailles
The Background
Jgst. 8
- The Allied powers meet in Paris to decide on the major issues of a peace treaty.
- The countries that take part in the conferences are the 27 Allied Powers.
- Some countries are excluded from the conferences:
- Russia (because of the Treaty of Brest-Litowsk and many leaders do not trust the
Bolsheviks)
- the Central Powers (because they lost the war)
- The delegations have to decide who is to pay for the war damages and what is to
become of Germany, Austria and Europe as a whole.
- They have to consider what the real cost was, who suffered most and what their
countries want to achieve at the conferences.
- The peacemakers have to work quickly as Europe needs peace and security.
- Compromises have to be made to agree on a treaty.
You are one of the “Big Four” meeting in Versailles (January 8 th , 1919) to discuss the
peace treaty with Germany.
Lloyd George Orlando Clemenceau Wilson
(Great Britain) (Italy) (France) (USA)

M 2.3
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The Treaty of Versailles
The United States and Woodrow Wilson
(December 28, 1856–February 3, 1924)
Wison entered politics in 1910 and was President by 1912.
• He was an idealist and reformer.
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• In 1916 he was re-elected under a pledge to remain out of the war but in 1917 he declared
war on Germany.
• Wilson wanted the United States to enter the world arena to fight for democracy,
progressiveness and liberalism.
• Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity.
Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, on
April 2nd, 1917, Western civilization itself could be destroyed.
• His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for
peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction.
• This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points (see M 2.9). Wilson hoped that the
Fourteen Points would lead to an end to war and achieve peace for all the nations.
• In the late stages of the war, Wilson took personal control of negotiations with Germany,
including the armistice.
• He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles.
He wanted to make new modern democratic nations out of old empires.
• He spent six months in Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S.
president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan.
What Wilson wants to achieve at the peace conference
- Wilson wants a Europe that was saved from war but can also trade with the United States. The
U.S. see trade as a key part of any peace deal (There are at least 4 points that deal with trade -
can you spot them in the Fourteen Points?).
- Wilson wants the League of Nations to look after the former colonies or they should become
independent.
- However, Wilson is prepared to compromise so that he can get the League of Nations.

M 2.4
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The Treaty of Versailles
France and Georges Clemenceau
(28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929)
Clemenceau entered politics in 1871 and was Prime Minister from 1906 to 1909.
• In 1917 he was elected again as Prime Minister (1917 - 1920).
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• He was commonly nicknamed le Tigre (the Tiger) and le Père-la-Victoire (Father Victory) for
his determination as a wartime leader.
• He supported the policy of "la guerre jusqu'au bout" (war until the end).
• In 1918, Clemenceau thought that France should adopt Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
(see M 2.9) although he believed that some were utopian (because one of the points called
for the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France). Clemenceau did not believe in the idea of a
League of Nations.
• After signing the armistice, it was decided that the peace conference would be held in Paris.
The Allies thought that Clemenceau would be the most appropriate president of the
conference. He spoke both English and French, the official languages of the conference.
• He was 77 when the talks began in 1919. He had seen France be invaded by the Germans in
1870 and again in 1914. Almost 2 mio Frenchmen had died in the war. Parts of France had
been destroyed by the battles and lay in ruins. Clemenceau was a hard uncompromising man.
He wanted to make sure that Germany would never threaten France again.
• Clemenceau was shot and wounded by an anarchist ‘assassin’ on 19 February 1919. It was
discovered that if the bullet had entered a millimeter to the left or right, it would have been
fatal.
What Clemenceau wants to achieve at the peace conference
- He wants French troops in the Rhine area to prevent France against any future German attacks.
- He wants Alsace-Lorraine back from Germany.
- He wants Germany to pay for the damage done and to weaken Germany.
- He wants German territory for France, especially industrial areas, but also some of the colonies.
- France does not want the old powers (= the Kaiser and his followers) to come into power again.
- Clemenceau believes that France is entitled to German coal mines after Germany deliberately
damaged the coal mines in Northern France.

M 2.5
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The Treaty of Versailles
Britain and David Lloyd George
(17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945)
• The only Welsh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom: He was also the only one to have
spoken English as a second language (Welsh was his first).
• He entered politics in 1890.
• Prime Minister (1916-1922)
• Lloyd George was a realist.
• At the end of the war Lloyd George's reputation stood at its zenith.
• Britain expects Germany to pay the entire cost of the war, including pensions.
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• Lloyd George represented Britain at the Versailles Peace Conference. He did not agree with
Clemenceau and Wilson.
• Lloyd George was in a difficult situation. On the one hand as a realist he knew he had to
compromise. However, he had just won an election, and the British public expected
reparations and punishment (especially of Wilhelm II).
• A lot of British soldiers had died in the war so the British expected a lot of him.
What Lloyd George wants to achieve at the peace conference
- He disagrees with point two of Wilson’s Fourteen Points .(Can you find out why?)
- He wants Germany’s colonies.
- The British want to see Germany weakened in some way. But it should not be weakened too
much because this would lead to new problems.
- He wants reparations.
- The British want Kaiser Wilhelm II and those responsible for the war punished in a trial.
- He doesn’t want France to get too strong.

M 2.6
• Prime Minister from 1917 to 1919
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The Treaty of Versailles
Italy and Vittorio Orlando
(19 May 1860 – 1 December 1952)
Jgst. 8
• After the Italian military disaster at Caporetto on October 25, 1917 Orlando became Prime
Minister. He had supported Italy's entry in the war.
• The Allies had made secret promises to Italy (significant Italian territorial gains in Dalmatia)
• Orlando was called "Premier of Victory” because he was on the winning side in 1918.
• He was the head of the Italian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.
• Orlando (a liberal) could not speak English so he had a problem communicating.
• His political position at home was not very strong. So the conservative foreign minister, the
half-Welsh Sidney Sonnino, played a more important role. Orlando could not control him.
• He was opposing U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's policy of national self-determination (see
M 2.9).
• Orlando dramatically left the conference early in April 1919. He returned briefly the following
month. He had to resign just days before the signing of the Treaty of Versailles because he
had not managed to secure Italian interests at the Paris Peace Conference.
• French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau called him "The Weeper".
What Orlando wants to achieve at the peace conference
- He wants to get territory in Dalmatia which the Allies had promised when Italy joined the war)
- If he cannot get Dalmatia, he wants to have Fiume (Rijeka), an important port
- If he cannot get what he wants, he will leave the conference