The Treaty of Versailles

Central Historical Question:  Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?
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November 11, 1918 - Germany Surrenders  

 

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Population (millions)	Military Deaths	Civilian deaths due to Military action	Civilian deaths due to famine & disease	Total Deaths	Total deaths as % of population	Military wounded
Entente (England,  France, Russia) 806.	5,12,397	821,757	2,853,000	9.387,136	1.19%	12,809,280
Central Powers, (Germany, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, 143.1	4,010,241	121,000	3,022,000	7,153,241	5%	8,419,533

1.   According the chart how many people total died?      a. 9,387,136     b. 15,090,013    c. 16,540,377

2.  Why would a society believe it is important for one country to be blamed for starting the war?  Explain your answer with evidence:

3. Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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“The Hand of God”: President Woodrow Wilson Presents the Treaty to the Senate

The work of the Peace Treaty Conference was led, not by the goals of strong governments, but by the hopes of small nations and peoples who had been enslaved by the country the victory had destroyed. Two great empires had been forced into political bankruptcy, and we were the receivers.

    Our task was not only to make peace with the central empires and fix the damage their armies had done. The central empires had been breaking many of the rights this war was fought over.  They dominated foreign peoples who they had no natural right to rule, enforcing, not obedience, but basically slavery, taking advantage of the weak for the benefit of those who were masters only by force of arms. There could be no peace until the whole order of central Europe was set right.

    That meant that new nations were to be created,—based on the free choice of peoples. The German colonies were to be disposed of. They had been exploited, without human rights.

We also had an opportunity to limit and regulate military establishments which were likely to be mischievous;

    No certain and uniform method of arbitration could be secured for the settlement of anticipated difficulties of final decision with regard to many matters dealt with in the treaty itself; the long-continued supervision of the task of reparation which Germany was to undertake to complete within the next generation might entirely break down;

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1.  What did American President Woodrow Wilson believe was important information for the Senate to know about the Treaty of Versailles?

1. Many countries were involved in making the treaty
2. The Germans were using their military to take advantage of weaker countries
3. The Treaty gives them the ability to regulate the military in Germany
4. None of the above.

2. Explain your answer with evidence:

3. Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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American President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 “Points” adapted - President Woodrow Wilson tried to keep the United States out of WW1.  However events including German subs attacking passenger ships and a German telegram asking Mexico to join the war forced the U.S. into WW1.  The U.S’ late entry led to fewer military casualties and the distance from the war meant few civilian deaths than other nations involved.  After the war his “14 Points” were a proposal to end the war in a way that would create global peace and cooperation

1.  No secret treaties; all international agreements should be open.

2. The seas were to be free to all countries at all times.

4. Every country should reduce its number of Armaments (weapons).

5. The people of a colony should have a say in their territories future.

6. German forces should leave Russia.

7. Belgium should be independent.

8. Alsace-Lorraine should be returned to France (Germany took it)

10. People in the countries of Eastern Europe should be able to create their own countries based on “nationalities” (known as “self-determination)

13. Poland should be independent

14. An International organization should be created to deal with international incidents and disputes (this will prevent wars from starting) – The League of Nations.

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1 **Highlight the parts of the 14 points you agree with**

2. Why did you highlight these parts of the 14 Points? Explain your answer with evidence:

3. Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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Excerpt from the Covenant of the League of Nations - Any war or threat of war, whether immediately affecting any of the members of the League or not, may be deemed wise and effectual to safeguard the peace of nations

Article 42. Germany is forbidden to maintain or construct any fortifications on their border with France.

Article 43. German military forces are not to be on the Border with France.

Article 44. If Germany violates Articles 42 or 43, she shall be regarded as committing a hostile act against the Treaty and considered a threat to the peace of the world.

Article 81. Germany, in conformity with the action already taken by the Allied and Associated Powers, recognizes the complete independence of the        Czecho-Slovak State.

Article 87. Germany, recognizes the complete independence of Poland.

Article 119. Germany renounces in favor of the principal Allied and Associated Powers all her rights and titles over her oversea possessions.

Article 160. The German Army cannot exceed 100,000 men. The Army may only be used to maintain order within the territory and to control the frontiers.

Article 198. Germany must not have any air force.

Article 231. Germany must accept the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.

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1 **Highlight the parts of the Treaty of Versailles you agree with**

2. Why did you highlight these parts of the Treaty of Versailles? Explain your answer with evidence:

3. Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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Results of the Treaty - B.A.R.T.

The Germans were forced to:

B.  Accept Blame for causing the war. (War Guilt Clause)

A.  Germany could not have an air force, submarines, and only could have 100,000 in its Army.  They also could not have military forces on France’s border

R. Germany had to pay 6,600,000 to other countries to pay for “War Damages - Called Reparations.

T.  Germany lost Territory in Europe and had to give its colonies to France and England

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1.  The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to

1. Accept Blame for the war
2. Have a smaller army than other countries
3. Pay money to other countries
4. Give up territory to other countries

2.  Why might other European leaders believe since Germany lost  the war they lost the right to influence the making of the Treaty?

Explain with Evidence:

3. Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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John Maynard Keynes, Economic Consequences of the Peace,1919.  Keynes was a British economist

German Count Brockdorff-Rantzau speech to the Versailles Peace Treaty Conference 1919  Brockdorff-Rantzau was a German representative at the Treaty of Paris.

According to the French vision of the future, European history is to be a continuing prize-fight , of which France has won this round, but of which this round is certainly not the last…. … The policy of reducing Germany to servitude for a generation of degrading the lives of millions of human beings and of depriving a whole nation of happiness should be abhorrent and detestable – abhorrent and detestable , even if it were possible even if it enriched ourselves, even if did not sow the decay of the whole civilized life of Europe.

We doubt the Delegates of the Allied Powers realize the consequences for Germany, if Germany is pushed back in the phases of her development.  Germany is an industrial state, very populated, and tied to the economic system of the world, needing a lot of raw materials and food. Their population cannot survive if their economy is taken back to where it was half a century ago. Those who sign this Treaty will sign the death sentence of many millions of German men, women and children.

1.  John Maynard Keynes, a man from Great Britain and Count Brockdorff-Rantzau a man from Germany were both against the Treaty of Versailles even though they were from the countries that fought against each other.  True / False

2.  What did John Maynard Keynes and Count Brockdorff-Rantzau believe the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles would be?  Explain your argument with evidence:

3. Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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Treaty of Versailles cartoon from a British newspaper, May 1919. The ‘Big Four’ are holding a spoon with a large pill labelled ‘Peace Terms’ up to the mouth of a man in uniform. They are saying, ‘You’ve got to swallow it whether you like it or not!’. The four men are standing on a box labelled, ‘Big Four pills – very bitter. Worth millions a box’. The man in uniform’s mouth is being forced open by a huge hand whose fingers are labelled ‘British Empire’, ‘France’, ‘America’, ‘Italy’ and ‘Japan’.

Cartoon from German magazine Simpliccimus  June 1919. The executioners were (left to right); American president Wilson, France’s Clemenceau and Britain's Lloyd George

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1. True/False.  Both the British cartoon and the German cartoon show the leaders of the countries who made the Treaty of Versailles being nice to Germany
2. Compare the changes the British and German cartoonists thought the Treaty of Versailles would lead to for Germany; Explain with Evidence:

3. Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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Peace and Future Cannon Fodder By Will Dyson Daily Herald, May 13, 1919

The Tiger: “Curious! I seem to hear a child weeping!”

   

Vocab: Cannon Fodder: soldiers regarded or treated as expendable in battle

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1. The cartoon shows:

1. a child representing the next generation happy about the Peace Treaty
2. a child representing the next generation confused about the Peace Treaty
3. a child representing the next generation unsure about the Peace Treaty
4. None of the above

2.  When making a treaty to end a war what are the rights and responsibilities of the people who make the treaty? Explain with Evidence:

3. Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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Central Historical Question:  Does the complex relationship between countries fighting against each other in a war give the country who wins the war the right to force the losing country to sign a treaty with terms that will hurt the country?

Explain your answer with three pieces of Evidence:

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Espionage and Sedition Acts in America during WW1

Central Historical Question:

Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war?

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Historical Background:

Public opinion on WWI was divided in the U.S. Some Americans, notably socialists, Christian pacifists, anarchists, women’s groups, unionists, and intellectuals, opposed the war. Some of these pacifists believed war was immoral, while “radicals” believed the government was entering war not to “make the world safe for democracy,” as Wilson claimed, but rather to serve the interest of capitalists. Other Americans strongly supported U.S. entry into the war in light of the Zimmerman telegram and the sinking of the Lusitania. In 1916 President Wilson won re-election running on the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War.” After the revelation of the Zimmerman telegram and Germany beginning a program of unrestricted submarine warfare that threatened U.S. commercial shipping, Wilson declared war in April 1917. That same month Wilson established the Committee on Public Information, a propaganda agency that galvanized public support for U.S. war aims. The president pushed through Congress the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, which suppressed anti-British, proGerman, and anti-war opinions. Over 1,500 people were prosecuted and over 1,000 convicted under these laws, many for small acts of dissent. His administration saw the arrest and deportation of many foreign-born, antiwar radicals and drew closer to pro-war unions.

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Woodrow Wilson’s Flag Day Speech April 14, 1917 Two months after the declaration of war on Germany, President Wilson gave a speech on Flag Day,1917. In the speech, Wilson stated the administration’s position on the opposition to the war.

My Fellow Citizens: We meet to celebrate Flag Day because this flag which we honor and fight for is the symbol of our unity, our power, our thought and our purpose as a nation. It has no other meaning than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the people making those choices, whether in peace or in war.

We were forced into the war. The extreme insults and aggressions of the Germans left us no choice but to take up arms in defense of our rights as a free people and of our honor as a independent country.  

    The masters of Germany use any method that helps their goal.  They are using men, in Germany and all over the world, as their spokesmen. They are using the socialists, the leaders of labor movement, and the thinkers they before tried to silence to help Germany in the war. …The evil method is being used in this country But it will not work. The traitors betray themselves always in every accent. Friends of the German Government have already been identified through these thinly disguised disloyalties.

   For us there is one choice. We have made it. Woe be to the man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way when every belief we hold dearest is to be proven and made secure for the protection of all nations.

1. According to President Woodrow Wilson the Germans have spies spokesmen helping them fight the war around the world, including;
a. Some politicians in America
b. Some leaders of the Unions
c. Some intellectuals
d. None of the above.

2. What beliefs in American Society might Woodrow Wilson be using to justify his actions as the responsibilities of the President? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Don't talk, the web is spun for you with invisible threads, keep out of it, help to destroy it--spies are listening  Boston : Walker Lith. & Pub. Co., [1918?]

1. This Poster made by the American Government might be used to justify restricting people's;
a. freedom of religion
b. freedom of speech
c. freedom to join the army
d. freedom of the press

2. How might this poster have an impact on people in America's relationships with each other?Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:
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The Sedition Act of 1918 (Modified) This is an excerpt from the Sedition Act, signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1918. Along with the Espionage Act, the law shrunk the rights of Americans. Wilson and the United States Congress claimed dissent would harm America's effort to win the war. Congress repealed the act in December 1920, two years after the end of WWI.

Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States, or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy of the United States . . . or shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any language intended to incite, provoke, or encourage resistance to the United States . . . shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or the imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. Source: The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed by the United States Congress on May 16, 1918.

1. The Sedition Act of 1918 was an American Law that made it illegal to;
a. write anything that was against what the government was doing.
b. say anything that was against what the government was doing.
c. think that was against what the government was doing.
d. all of the above

2. What might be the consequences of the U.S. Government's decision to create the Sedition Act? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Now for a round-up / W.A. Rogers. Rogers, W. A. 1918?   Uncle Sam gathering men ("Spy," "Traitor," "IWW," "German money" and "Sinn Fein") in front of United States Capital with flag, "Sedition law passed."	Swat the Fly, But Use Common Sense Literary Digest, 3/6/20. Originally from the Newark News (Pease)

1. True/False; The "Now for the Roundup" cartoon makes it look like Uncle Sam is violating the rights of the people he is dragging in his hands. True / False (explain your answer with evidence)

2. What might cause different groups of people in American society to have different beliefs about the Sedition Act? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Eugene V. Debs Speech (Modified) Eugene V. Debs was a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), U.S. presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America, and one of the most famous American socialists. This excerpt is from a speech he gave across the street from a jail, where he had just visited three socialists who were in prison for opposing the draft. Socialist leader Eugene Debs delivered this speech in June 1918.

Comrades, friends and fellow-workers,

Three of our most loyal comrades are paying the penalty for their devotion to the cause of the working class. They have come to realize, as many of us have, that it is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world. Every one of the aristocratic conspirators and would-be murderers claims to be a great patriot; every one of them insists that the war is being waged to make the world safe for democracy. What humbug! What rot! What false talk! 

These tyrants, these red-handed robbers and murderers, say they’re the “patriots,” while the men who have the courage to stand face to face with them, speak the truth, and fight for their exploited victims—they are called the disloyalists and traitors. If this be true, I want to take my place side by side with the traitors in this fight. . . . 

1. True or False. Eugene Debs knew giving this speech was illegal and that he could be arrested and put in jail for giving it. True / False

2. Why would Debs, and others who were arrested under the Espionage Act, choose to act in ways that were illegal knowing what the consequences might be? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Schenck Pamphlet (Modified) Charles Schenck was a Socialist who in 1917-1918 printed and distributed more than 15,000 anti-war pamphlets, including some to drafted American men. The excerpt below comes from one of his pamphlets.

ASSERT YOUR RIGHTS. 
The Socialist Party says that any officers of the law entrusted with the administration of conscription violate the United States Constitution when they refuse to recognize your right to express your opposition to the draft 
To draw this country into the horrors of the present war in Europe, to force the youth of our land into the bloody trenches of war-crazy nations, would be a crime the magnitude of which defies description. No pleas about a "war for democracy" can cloud the issue. 
Democracy can not be shot into a nation. It must come spontaneously and purely from within. To advocate the persecution of other peoples through the fighting of a war is an insult to every good and wholesome American tradition. You are responsible. You must do your share to maintain, support, and uphold the rights of the people of this country. In this world crisis where do you stand? Are you with the forces of liberty and light or war and darkness?

1. Charles Schenck made pamphlets arguing;
a. People should be required to sign up for the draft.
b. the draft is unconstitutional
c.  The war is to defend American traditions
d. everyone had the responsibility to defend the rights of the people in America

2. What might the American Government believe letting people like Charles Schenck be able to have complete freedom of speech be dangerous? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Schenck v. United States (Modified) The excerpt below comes from the Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion in Schenck v. United States, 1919.

OPINION BY JUSTICE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR. 

The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done. The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting “Fire!” in a theater and causing a panic. 
The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such situations and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the great evils that Congress has a right to prevent.  
When a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace are a problem to its war effort. The government cannot handle those statements as long as men are fighting in the war. No Court could regard those statements as protected by any constitutional right.

1. True or False. When Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote a man should not be protected under free speech, if what they said put other people in danger. (shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater could cause a panic that could kill people.) true / false

2. How could a belief that freedom of speech has limitations shape American society? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war?  Explain your answer with evidence:

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As Gag-Rulers Would Have It Literary Digest, 2/7/20.

Originally from the Jersey City Journal (Satterfield).

1. The creators of the cartoon "As the Gag-Rulers Would Have It" are implying the Sedition Act would prevent people from;
a. Expressing their opinions
b. Having their Freedom of Speech
c. Having their Freedom of Press
d. None of the Above

2. How might this cartoon be used to explain how some people thought the Sedition Bills would lead to long term changes in American Society? Explain your answer with evidence:

3.Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war? Explain your answer with evidence:

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Central Historical Question: 
Is it the responsibility of American citizens to give up their rights during times of war?

Use evidence to support your argument!