US History

The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

World History

Law and Government

This collection uses primary sources to explore the impact of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I.

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Treaty of Versailles

A painting of German chancellor Otto Von Bismarck meeting French diplomats at Versailles after the Franco-Prussian War, ca. 1871.

An excerpt from a pamphlet featuring President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, 1919.

A clip of video footage of Armistice Day, November 11, 1918.

An excerpt from a speech by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge to the US Senate urging caution about the League of Nations, August 12, 1919.

An excerpt from a speech by President Woodrow Wilson in support of the League of Nations, September 5, 1919.

An advertisement for a mass meeting about the League of Nations titled “Give Her the Key and Lock Him Up,” 1919.

A 1919 map of new national boundaries in Europe as proposed by the Treaty of Versailles.

A clip of newsreel footage of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and soldiers returning home from the Great War, 1919.

A photograph of German delegates listening to the terms of the treaty at the Trianon Palace Hotel, 1919.

A photograph of German diplomats Hermann Mueller and Johannes Bell leaving Versailles after signing the Treaty of Versailles, 1919.

A political cartoon about German attitudes towards the treaty titled “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” 1919.

An excerpt from a pamphlet titled “What Everyone Should Know about the Treaty of Peace,” issued by Berlin’s National Citizens Council, 1921.

A postcard titled “A German Matter of Existence,” 1934.

A political campaign leaflet in support of the Social Democratic Party describing German inflation after the Treaty of Versailles, 1932.

A postcard titled “Never Forget the Shameful Peace at Versailles!,” 1930s.

Resources

1. [The Great War, 1914-1918: Making Peace](http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/g5/), National Archives of the United Kingdom.  
2. [The Great War: A 100-Year Legacy of World War ](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/27/world/legacy-of-world-war-i.html), The New York Times. 
3. [People’s Century: Lost Peace](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/lostpeace/), PBS. 

Overview

On June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors at the famous Palace of Versailles, officially ending World War I. World War I, or the Great War, lasted from 1914 to 1918, and claimed the lives of nearly ten million soldiers and approximately thirteen million civilians. Germany and its allies in the Central Powers had lost the war, so representatives of the victorious Allied Powers including the United States, France, and Britain negotiated the terms of the treaty. President Woodrow Wilson and his allies wanted the treaty to provide a lasting peace following Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech delivered on January 8, 1918. European powers sought peace but also wanted to punish Germany, who they blamed for causing the war. Germans also expected that the Fourteen Points would be the basis for the peace talks when they signed the armistice in November 1918. When the Allied Powers met in Paris to discuss the world after the war, however, a much more punitive plan emerged. 

The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to pay vast sums of money for the damage caused by the war, accept full responsibility for the conflict, reduce its military, and forfeit colonial territories, among other measures. The treaty also redrew the map of Europe to create buffer states, or small neutral nations situated between hostile neighboring nations, and to ensure that the Great War, or the “war to end all wars,” would indeed be just that. Germans did not receive the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles well, especially being forced to accept the guilt for the war, and the long-term economic impact of the treaty resulted in deep resentment. Little did the “Big Four” negotiators of the treaty, David Lloyd George of Britain, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy, and Georges Clemenceau of France, or Woodrow Wilson of the US, know that they were sowing the seeds for World War II, an even more devastating conflict that would consume them all once more only two decades later.

English

Treaty of Versailles and the End of World War I

treaty-versailles_15_9aad1b9fb9eaa3f03ebf8b446ad514e8.jpg

Courtesy of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections via Recollection Wisconsin.

“The treaty of Versailles,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/4d4912e42707d167df457984b69fee08. 

After World War I, the German army felt it had been stabbed in the back by those in power. The Treaty of Versailles exceeded Germany's worst expectations. The bitter resentment which many Germans felt towards the Treaty of Versailles is explicit in this postcard. High above the Rhine, where the German eagle soars, "Germania" broods. Although her sword is at rest, it is ready, and her hand is on the hilt. The text on the bottom of the postcard translates to "Never forget the shameful peace of Versailles!" 

A postcard titled “Never Forget the Shameful Peace at Versailles!,” 1930s.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 15 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Treaty of Versailles and the End of World War I