Exam Practise – Treaty of Versailles
END OF UNIT 2 TEST - MARKSCHEME
Relation to your IGCSE exam - on Paper 1 of your IGCSE you will write answers to 3 sets of questions
in 2 hours (120 minutes). In the end of unit assessment you were given, you were asked to complete a
single set of questions in 40 minutes.
The question set was taken from the Cambridge IGCSE 2010/13 paper
Examine the mark-scheme carefully so that you can improve you answers further….
(a) What did Lloyd George want to achieve from the peace settlement of 1919–1920?
Level 1 General answer [1–2]
e.g. ‘He wanted peace.’
‘He wanted to reduce German power.’
Level 2 Describes aims [2–5]
(One mark for each relevant point; additional mark for supporting detail.)
e.g. ‘Lloyd George wanted to protect British interests by ending the threat to the Navy and Empire.’
‘He had promised the British public to “squeeze the German lemon until the pips squeak”.
‘To ensure that France did not become too powerful.’
‘Lloyd George did not want Germany treated too harshly because he wanted Germany as an important trading
nation with Britain.’
‘Lloyd George did not want Germany treated too harshly because it may lead to future problems domestically
(communism) and internationally.’
(b) Why were German people horrified when they discovered the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?
Level 1 General answer [1]
e.g. ‘It was unfair.’
‘It was harsh.’
Level 2 Identifies why [2–4]
(One mark for each)
e.g. ‘It affected the strength and wealth of the country.’
‘They lost military power.’
‘They felt the reparations were too harsh.’
‘They resented the War Guilt Clause.’
‘Germany lost important pieces of territory.’
‘Many of the terms were not based on Wilson’s Fourteen Points.’
Level 3 Explains why [4–7]
(Award one mark for an explanation, additional mark for full explanation.)
e.g. ‘Limiting the German armed forces would create unemployment and a lack of security. The Army had been
held in high esteem by the German people and, therefore, hurt their pride.’
‘The Germans did not think that Germany was solely responsible for starting the
war as implied in Article 231 and, therefore, should not have to pay the massive reparations.’
‘Many Germans were horrified to find that part of Germany had been handed over to Poland and they were
under Polish rule. Those living in Alsace-Lorraine found themselves being governed by the French while those
living in Eupen Malmedy were now living under Belgian rule. The loss for 15 years of the Saar Basin to
France also horrified Germans as the German economy would suffer from its loss.’
(c) ‘The Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany.’ How far do you agree with the statement?
Explain your answer.
Level 1 Unsupported assertions [1]
e.g. ‘It was harsher than it might have been.’
Level 2 Identifies reasons [2–3]
e.g. ‘It was not as harsh as the treaty imposed on Russia by Germany.’
‘It did not weaken the German economy as much as the Germans indicated.’
‘It was too harsh on the ordinary German people.’
‘It was too harsh as it took away much of the armed forces.’
Level 3 Explains agreement OR disagreement [3–5]
e.g.
 ‘Many thought the peacemakers did a reasonable job considering the demand for revenge from the
public of the victors.’
 ‘The Treaty could have been as harsh as the German peace treaty with Russia at Brest-Litovsk.’
 ‘The Treaty was not as harsh as Germany argued, especially its complaints that the terms would ruin
the German economy. By 1925 German steel production was twice that of Britain’s production.’
OR
 ‘The harshness of the reparations made it extremely difficult for Germany to recover economically and,
because of the resentment caused by this, made future war likely.’
 ‘Germany felt they had been left vulnerable to future attacks by the drastic reduction in the armed
forces.’
 ‘It was harsh on the ordinary Germany people whose standard of living suffered because of the
reparations. The punishment should have been reserved for the rulers of Germany at the outbreak of
war.’
Level 4 Explains agreement AND disagreement [5–7]
Both sides of Level 3
Level 5 Explains with evaluative judgement of ‘how far’ [7–8]
After you’ve gone over your own answers, have a look at the sample answers below and think about what
mark you’d give these…
(a) What did Lloyd George want to achieve from the peace settlement of 1919–1920?
Student ‘Meadow’
a) Lloyd George wanted to restrict Germany’s navy. He also wanted to make sure that the peace settlement was not
too harsh as he was fearful of another war.
Student ‘Sal’
b) David Lloyd George wanted to punish Germany but not too harshly because he believed that if the treaty was too
harsh Germany might get revenge in the future. Lloyd George’s main concern was Germany’s navy and colonies
Germany had been competing with Britain’s navy in the time following up to the war. This threatened Britain so
Lloyd George wanted to minimise Germany’s navy. If Germany’s navy was crippled, Britain would not have to
worry about Germany and Germany would be unable to take overseas colonies. David Lloyd George also aimed
to set up a lasting peace. Although Britain’s people and economy were devastated, Britain had not been invaded.
As a result Lloyd George was fine with not punishing Germany too harshly as to cause another war in the future.
Britain also didn’t want to cripple Germany as Germany was a trading partner with Britain. If they crippled
Germany they would lose a trade partner and some people could end up unemployed.
(b) Why were German people horrified when they discovered the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?
Student ‘Tony’
c) The Treaty of Versailles was very harsh on their country. They thought that they were winning but still had to agree to
the terms. The terms stated that they had to cut down their military power so the Germans thought that they were left
defenceless against foreign invaders so they were afraid. The treaty also stated that they had to lose some of their land
and people. The Germans were forced to give up the lands that they fought for and were proud of but now they had to
lose it so it hurt their pride and were afraid to be humiliated by everyone else. To top it off Germany was made to pay a
total of 6.6 billion euros for the damage of the war. This struck the hardest because that means that they had to lose
money and starve on the little they had which will be devastating as it has shown in the cartoon where the whole
family is very thin. So the value of money would fall dramatically and this had to last for a very long time till they
finally repay the money to the world. The Germans were also terrified that the person representing Germany actually
agreed to signing the Treaty without thinking for the good of the people. The Germans would think that they were
betrayed by a con-artist that sign the treaty blindly.
Student ‘Adriana’
d) German people were horrified when they discovered the terms of the treaty because they thought
they were much too harsh. German people did not believe they were losing the war and then suddenly
they were given no choice but to agree to the terms of the treaty in humiliating circumstances.
German’s were horrified because they had not believed they were losing the war! They thought the
terms were really much to harsh.
(c) ‘The Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany.’ How far do you agree with the statement?
Explain your answer.
Student ‘Melfi’
e) On one hand the treaty was harsh on Germany as they put full blame on them. They had to pay a huge
sum of money (6,600 million) in order to pay for reparations which Germany couldn’t afford at that
time. Alot of people were starving because they hdn’t had the money to buy food to eat because their
money had been collected and would be going to the other countries. Some may also say that
Germany wasn’t able to protect herself because they were limited to 100,000 men in the army who
had to be volunteers as conscription was banned with no airforce, nor submarines and only 6 ships.
They also weren’t allowed to ally with Austria-Hungary who was separated into different countries, so
they didn’t have much to defend themselves if someone were to declare war on them. Many parts of
their territory had also been given to other countries. 12.5% of her population was taken away as well
as almost half of her coal fields and places that make a lot of money.
On the other hand Germany had been very aggressive to declare war on both Russia and France. The
war had caused many deaths especially in France and Britain which maybe made them even harsher as
they were rather emotional at the time. Germany had wanted to show off her army however they had
lost. When Russia left the war in 1917 Germany had presented them with a very harsh treaty called
Brest-Litovsk. It was extremely harsh on the Russians so it would seem that the Treaty of Versailles was
some sort of karma. The Treaty of Versailles could have also been much harsher if Clemenceau had
gotten his way with everything, so in a way, some may say Germany was lucky to have gotten a more
lenient version of the treaty. As Woodrow Wilson wanted peace between all the countries as he
wanted the League of Nations to include everyone he was much more lenient and didn’t want the
Treaty to be as harsh as it was supposed to be.
In conclusion I think that the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany as it took away almost
everything the Germans were proud of. However, they did somewhat deserve it because they had
been aggressive and were looking for a fight. I do think that the Treaty could’ve been more lenient on
the people of Germany because they didn’t have much of a choice about the war and were targeted
more towards the government and the country’s land.
Review
In this assessment I scored _______/20.
My highest Level was Level______.
Something I know I did well was______________________________________
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Something I have learnt from this review is ____________________________
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Signature __________________________________
Teacher’s Signature_________________________