Treaty of Versailles Multiple Choice Quiz | Specialized History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28th June 1919 - exactly five years after which significant event?

Answer: The assassination of Franz Ferdinand

On 28th June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo by the Serbian Black Hand. This was one of the main short-term causes of World War I.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28th July 1914; Germany invaded Belgium on 4th August 1914 and the UK declared war on Germany later the same day.

2. Although Italy was involved in determining the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, there were three main countries that decided the conditions, collectively called the "Big Three". Which countries were they?

Answer: Britain, France, America

Germany lost the war and was not allowed to negotiate. The "Big Three" nations were America, France and Britain, led by Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau and David Lloyd George, respectively.

3. Which of these terms of the Treaty would Woodrow Wilson NOT have supported?

Answer: Germany having to pay large reparations

Woodrow Wilson, representing America, had summed up his views in a statement called his "Fourteen Points". He came up with the idea for a League of Nations, wanted Poland to gain access to the sea (the Polish Corridor gave them access to the Baltic Sea) and wanted France to be given back Alsace-Lorraine (Germany had taken it from them in 1871 when they lost the Franco-Prussian War).

However, he did not want to punish Germany, so would not have supported large reparations or vast areas of land taken from Germany. The Fourteen Points had included a call for peace without victors or vanquished. The U.S. did not sign the treaty and instead signed a separate peace treaty with Germany later.

4. In the Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost all of their colonies and roughly 15% of their land. Which of these places did they NOT lose?

Answer: Rhineland

Although Germany kept the Rhineland, it was demilitarized because it was on the border with France, which was worried about getting attacked by Germany. Together with bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Rhine opposite Cologne and Mainz, the Rhineland was occupied by Britain and France till 1930.

Malmedy, along with Eupen, was given to Belgium, North Schleswig went to Denmark, and most of Posen and West Prussia (including the Polish Corridor) and a part of Upper Silesia was given to Poland. Alsace-Lorraine was given back to France.

5. How much did the Treaty of Versailles say Germany had to pay in reparations?

Answer: 132 billion gold marks

Germany were told to pay 132 billion gold marks - worth roughly $33 billion or �6.6 billion at the time. It would have taken until roughly 1984 to pay back that amount if payments hadn't been suspended in 1931. By this stage they had paid about 20 billion marks ($5 billion or �1 billion).

After World War II the Federal Republic resumed reduced reparation payments in 1953, and the last payment was made in October 2010(!).

6. Which of these is NOT a restriction applied to Germany's army, navy or air force?

Answer: Only 50,000 men in the navy

Germany were allowed just 15,000 men in the navy, 6 pre-dreadnought battleships, 100,000 men in the army and were not allowed to have any air force at all. The dreaded German General Staff was abolished. The Rhineland was demilitarized, and limits were imposed on the weapons Germany could manufacture, stockpile or trade.

7. Clause #231 of the Treaty of Versailles is widely called what?

Answer: War Guilt Clause

Article 231 forced Germany to accept full responsibility for starting the war, and causing all the damage during it. It was the basis and reasoning behind making Germany pay such large reparations.

8. The League of Nations was set up as part of the Treaty of Versailles. Which of these countries was a member from the outset?

Answer: France

France did join the League of Nations, but the other countries did not join originally. Germany had lost the war and were not allowed to join, and the Soviet Union had not yet come into existence. Later, was not allowed to join till 1934 because it was Communist.

Germany was later allowed to join, and did so in 1926, but left in 1933 soon after Hitler came to power. Russia joined in 1934. In any case, the League as originally set up, lacked three key international 'players'.

America chose not join the League. This is ironic, since the American leader (Woodrow Wilson) was the person who originally came up with the idea and basis for the League.

9. The Treaty was extremely unpopular in Germany. What nickname was given by hardline nationalists to the German leaders who, acting on orders from the German military, signed the Armistice to end the fighting in World War I?

Answer: November Criminals

The Armistice to end the war was signed on 11th November 1918, so the leaders were called "November Criminals", or "Novemberverbrecher" in German by hardline nationalists.

In Germany, there was a myth in Germany that their army had not actually lost World War I but had been "stabbed in the back" civilian subversives (allegedly Jewish). Throughout the war, propaganda told Germans that they were doing well and winning the war, so it was a big surprise to most Germans when they found out they had lost the war - despite the increasingly desperate shortage of food from 1916-17 onwards.

10. Germany probably never complied fully with the treaty, but in the 1930s it embarked on a series of flagrant breaches of the Treaty of Versailles - by massive rearmament, by establishing an air force and by reintroducing compulsory military service. In 1936 German troops entered the Rhineland. Which man, the German leader, was mostly responsible for this?

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Kaiser Wilhelm II was the leader of Germany in World War I. Mussolini ruled Italy and Stalin was a Russian (Soviet) dictator.

Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 when he was elected Chancellor of Germany. He ruled Germany until his death in 1945 and is responsible for breaking the Treaty of Versailles, starting World War II and the Holocaust.

Source: Author AdamM7

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Treaty of Versailles Trivia Quiz

How much do you know about the Treaty of Versailles, beyond the fact that it ended World War I for Germany?

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