History & Civics
The final act of the long-drawn-out negotiations took place at Versailles on Saturday afternoon, and to-day Germany and the Allies - always with the exception of America - are at peace. Peace is a blessed word, and both the word and the fact are welcome to-day. So far as Germany is concerned there is for the present an end of strife, and at least a formal return to the decent relations of civilised states.
Editorial: Peace in force (12 January 1920)
The Guardian
(a) Mention any three causes of the World War which ended with the signing of the treaty being discussed in the passage above.
(b) Name the organisation which was established in 1920 to maintain peace after this war. Mention any two of its objectives.
(c) Mention any four clauses of the Treaty which affected Germany.
Answer
(a) Three causes of the First World War were —
- Division of Europe into two hostile groups — the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente.
- The armament race, in which every major power began stockpiling arms in the name of self-defence.
- Militant/aggressive nationalism and imperialism, which filled the atmosphere with mutual hatred and international rivalry. (The immediate cause was the Sarajevo Crisis.)
(b) The organisation established in 1920 to maintain peace after the war was the League of Nations. Two of its objectives were —
- To maintain international peace and security and establish international relations based on justice and honour.
- To promote material and intellectual co-operation between the nations of the world so that people's life may become happier and nobler.
(c) Four clauses of the Treaty of Versailles which affected Germany were —
- Germany and her allies were held guilty for aggression and hence she was forced to cede certain parts of her pre-war territories to Denmark, Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia.
- Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France, and the Saar Valley was ceded to France for 15 years.
- Germany had to lose all her colonial empire, which was divided among the victors.
- The German army was reduced to 1,00,000, she was deprived of any air force and submarines, and she was compelled to pay 33 billion dollars as war-indemnity.
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