Prepare for a simulation of peace talks after the war:
Besides knowing the basics for all groups, you should write out full, well informed responses to the following questions (1-5) from the perspective of your assigned group:
1. What were the costs of the war? Were there any atrocities, war crimes, or genocide committed? (How many people died and what were casualties? How much money did it cost and do you have any debts? What’s the difference between fighting war and committing a crime or genocide?) Who committed the most egregious offences and how? Did the war accomplish anything?
How do you feel at the end of the War?
2. *What did your group want and seek to accomplish in the talks?
Who is to blame for the war? Should they be punished and if so how?
a. How would like to see the map of Europe and the world? (see Map)
Should any territory of Germany, Austria- Hungary, or Turkey be taken away and transferred to any other country or should any new country be created?
Consider territory in Europe, Middle East, and overseas colonies in Africa and SE Asia/Oceana. Draw a map the way you want it.
(How happy were you with the actual political lines drawn on the map after the Peace conference in Paris and treaties such as Versailles?)
b. Should the Central Powers be restricted?
Should the Central Powers’ be allowed heavy industry or any capacity to make military equipment, or have a military?
Should all nations have freedom of the seas?
Should all trade and tariffs barriers be eliminated?
Should the central powers pay reparations? How much? For how long?
Should the world including the winners disarm?
c. What are the minimum requirements that each group would accept?
3. What needs to be done to prevent future wars and create a lasting peace?
Can nationalism coexist with human rights?
Should there be an international organization to keep peace?
How should it be structured? One nation, one vote? Have its own army?
4. What did each group actually get or give?
(Declarations of guilt, land on the map, payments of reparations or debts to pay, political power and prestige, national aspirations, etc. . .)
5. How do the results of the treaty lay the seeds for future problems and conflict?
6. To what extent do you agree or disagree with these words from Machiavelli, “You can either crush a foe or make friends with him; what is most dangerous is to insult him and let him go free…”
Rules:
1. All groups need to be well prepared to present their views and may be critical of the other groups' views.
2. For the purposes of the simulation all groups will be allowed to speak, even though all groups were not actually present in the original Paris Peace Talks. Nevertheless, the more powerful you were the more time you will be given to talk.
3. Only the groups who were actually present will be allowed to vote in the talks.
4. Each group will be graded on the depth of their preparation and the skill with which they represent the views of their assigned group, not on whether they win or lose.
5. Each group should create a sign/placard to identify themselves.
Evaluation/grade:
Quantity of Preparation.
Quality of Presentation content.
Quality of Participation and speaking.
Recommended Resources:
The Huffington Library online database—Encyclopedia Britannica
The War:http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/ especially http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/ch4_overview.html
The specifics:
Treaty of Versailles
A German view of the Treaty of Versailles:
Maps:
Paris 1919 : Six Months That Changed the World
by MARGARET MACMILLAN
by MARGARET MACMILLAN
The notable British economist John Maynard Keynes denounced the Treaty of Versailles declaring, “The Treaty includes no provisions for the economic rehabilitation of Europe—nothing to make the defeated Central Empires into good neighbors, nothing to stabilize the new States of Europe, nothing to reclaim Russia; nor does it promote in any way a compact of economic solidarity amongst the Allies themselves; no arrangement was reached at Paris for restoring the disordered finances of France and Italy, or to adjust the systems of the Old World and the New.” (Keynes, 1920, 211)
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