HUMANITIES

PARIS, 1919

How did people react when the Allies presented the Treaty of Versailles to Germany?

As part of a deeper dive into the causes and aftermath of World War 1, our Year 11 Historians undertook an analysis of primary sources (speeches, documents, images etc.) made in and around the Paris Peace Conference in May to June 1919.

 

They had a dossier (a fancy name for a cardboard folder) filled with primary sources and were tasked to find out what motivated the victorious Allied powers to severely punish their vanquished Germany enemies. What attempts were made towards leniency by some of the victors? How was this peace perceived by the international press? How did those affected express their feelings towards this world-order-shaping agreement?

Have you ever been asked “if you could go back in history, who would you have dinner with?” The wonderful thing about using primary sources (direct accounts or reflections of an event at the time the event happened) is that it is the closest we can get to finding out the thoughts, feelings and reflections of people who lived through that event.

 

The students, displaying excellent teamwork and communication skills, used these sources to try and form judgements about who the negotiators were, who got their way? Were these terms justified? How did this impact the people who had to sign this treaty?

 

Hopefully there is more lovely weather where the students can sit outside and work with physical pages (yes! physical pages!) to do historians work - looking into the past and piecing together the puzzle of history. 

 

Josh Cukierman

History Teacher