The Paris Peace Conference, 1919

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At the end of World War One what problems
remained that needed solving?
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Problem, problems!

• Here are some of the problems facing world
  leaders at the end of WWI. What advice would you
  offer them?
• 1. The war had brought massive destruction,
  especially to buildings and farming land in
  France. How could all this damage be repaired?
• 2. From Eastern Europe to Ireland and throughout
  the world, nationalist groups were keener than
  ever to rule themselves and to be free from the
  empires which had controlled them.
• 3.The First World War had cost twenty million
  lives. The world had never seen a war like it.
  How could future wars be prevented?

3
The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of
Versailles, 1919

• How fair was the treaty of Versailles?

4
Did the Paris Peace Conference make a sensible
settlement?

• On 28 June 1919, exactly 5 years after the
  murders at Sarajevo, which had sparked off the
  First World War, the most powerful men in the
  world met in a magnificent palace just outside
  Paris. The agreement they signed became known as
  the Treaty of Versailles.

Palace of Versailles
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US President, Woodrow Wilson
French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau
British Prime Minister, Lloyd-George
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? Your task

• Read your role card and note down in a table
  similar to the one below, what you want to
  achieve at the Paris Peace Conference. Complete
  your table by speaking to the other two people in
  your group. Decide if everyone wanted the same
  things

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? Your task

• In your groups read through the options on your
  question sheet and try to decide what to do.
  Remain in character as you discuss the options
  and try to persuade the others in the group that
  your view is best.

Options sheet
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(No Transcript)
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June 1919
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? Your task

• How do you think the German people reacted to
  the Treaty of Versailles? Today when people are
  unhappy about things the government does they
  sometimes write a letter to The Times newspaper.
  Imagine you are a German citizen. Write a similar
  letter of complaint to a real or invented German
  newspaper.

Letter of complaint template
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? Role play

• Imagine your are an ordinary German living in
  1919 and have just purchased a copy of the Treaty
  of Versailles. You read the contents and are so
  horrified you go back to the shop (which is run
  by either a Britain, a French person or an
  American), to get your money back. Explain why
  you are not happy and try to convince the
  shopkeeper to give you a refund or at least an
  exchange!