The Treaty of Versailles Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

Article 119 stated:
Germany renounces in favour of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers all her rights and titles over her oversea possessions.

Source Material: The World War One Document Archive http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/versa/versa3.html

Answer: Wilson, Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Orlando

The Big Four were the leaders of the principal Allied nations - American President Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Premier Georges Clemenceau, and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando. These men were responsible for creating the Treaty of Versailles. (Originally, Russia had also been one of the leading Entente Powers, but had been defeated by Germany).

Answer: False

Article 42 explicitly forbade German construction or maintenance of fortifications on the left bank of the Rhine and in a 50 km zone on the right bank. Under the terms of Article 43, that Rhine zone was demilitarized--no German military allowed, which worked until March, 1936.
The French insisted on the demilitarization of the Rhine as a means to protect their eastern border from any more German incursions into French territory, as had happened in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, and World War One.

Answer: Articles 231-247 and Annexes

Articles 31-117 dealt with political clauses for Europe, 400-427 handled procedure, and 1-30 was the Covenant of the League of Nations.

The section on reparations begins with the notorious 'war guilt clause' (231), in which Germany was forced to accept sole responsibility for starting the war.

Answer: The German Army was reduced to a strength of 100,000 men and officers. Also, the General Staff was abolished, and importation of arms and munitions was strictly forbidden.

In fact, Germany did not reduce the strength of its army to 100,000 and after the Treaty of Rapallo (1922) kept a large number of troops in the Soviet Union.
Germany was forbidden to have an air force of any kind, and its navy was severely restricted.
Articles 159-213 deal with the German Armed Forces.

Answer: Strong German resentment

The Germans resented the terms of the Treaty of Versailles because they were never allowed to engage in meaningful negotiations. The Germans always called Versailles a 'Diktat', as opposed to a treaty, because it was unilaterally imposed on the German people.

Moreover, many war veterans refused to believe that Germany had been defeated and it is hard to see what kind of peace treaty, if any, they would have considered just.

Answer: The United States

France regained the important provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which they had lost in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. Denmark received some of the far northern territory of Germany, and Poland received most of the provinces of Posen and West Prussia, and part of Upper Silesia. Britain, France and Belgium gained various former German overseas colonies, as did also Japan.

Answer: True

All war colleges and academies were disbanded except for that number necessary to train the number of officers stipulated in the treaty.

Answer: Paris

The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 included separate treaties with Austria (Saint-German), Hungary (Trianon), Bulgaria (Neuilly) and the Ottoman Empire (Sèvres). However, the 'folks back home' in Turkey refused to accept the Treaty of Sèvres and reopened the fighting.

Answer: yes

Article 227 was the article in which the "Allied and Associated Powers publicly arraign William II of Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, for a supreme offence against international morality and the sanctity of treaties". However, he had fled to the Netherlands, and the Dutch refused to extradite him, so it was a "dead letter".

David Lloyd George had famously promised in the 1918 General Election in Britain to 'hang the Kaiser' but he wasn't availalbe for trial - or hanging.