In GCSE History World War One and its aftermath is one of the topics looked at. One aspect of it studied is the peace settlements and treaties signed after the war's end. This is the second of four quizzes on that subject and it looks specifically at the reactions of the major powers to the peace settlement.
The peace treaty that was signed at Versailles in June 1919, bringing World War One to its close, was inevitably a compromise. None of the major signatory powers was very pleased with the settlement, and reactions in Germany were especially bitter, as she had not been allowed to take any part in the negotiations.
Discover more about the reactions of the major powers to the peace settlement, in this quiz.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Paris Peace Treaties and the League of Nations, to 1933
Many British officials felt that the treaty was so harsh as to be unworkable. Britain had suffered less than Belgium and France, and - once naval and colonial questions had been resolved - was keen to resume trading relations with Germany
|
The Kaiser was widely regarded as a war criminal, guilty of having started the war and answerable for atrocities committed by German forces over more than four years of fighting. The fact that he was related to the British Royal Family counted for very little
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
The French government wanted to be sure that the wartime alliance would extend beyond the war: indeed for all time
|
Distrust of Germany lingered long in French minds after the war. After the failure of Britain and the United States to persuade their parliaments to safeguard the terms of Versailles by armed force, the French were determined to take action on their own or assisted by their Belgian allies
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
President Woodrow Wilson ruined his health by undertaking a nationwide speaking campaign to persuade Americans to embrace League membership. His political opponents in the Republican Party rapidly gathered support for hostility to the treaty and the League
|
This policy was even supported by Charles Lindbergh, the US pilot famous for his solo flight across the Atlantic in the 1920s
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
This was a town with a substantial Italian population, which Italy claimed to have been promised in the Treaty of London of May 1915
|
The elected Italian government could do little to prevent this defiance of the terms of the 1919-20 settlements, although many Italians felt strongly that they had been cheated of the spoils of war, and betrayed by their allies
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Very few Germans were prepared to accept the terms of Versailles, which they felt had been imposed on them. Those who did eventually sign were threatened with assassination
|
Some Germans were prepared to accept a measure of blame for the outbreak of war, but they expected other states to agree to some blame themselves. This clause was seen as "victor's justice"
|