The league of nations

The League of Nations • L/O Today you will; 1) 2) 3) 4)

Answer a GCSE question on the Treaty of Versailles.

Understand how the League of Nations came about.

Learn the aims of the League Analyse a cartoon showing someone’s opinion of the League.

Connection • Which of the following angered Germany mot about the Treaty of Versailles? (8) • The guilt clause • Disarmament • Loss of territory

Model Answer • The guilt clause made Germany angry because Germany felt it was not the only country to blame. Because Germany lost, they felt they were being made the scapegoats of the War. It was humiliating for a country of Germany’s great military strength. (2)

• Disarmament hurt a country of Germany’s strength and military history. Being based in central Europe, its land forces were essential to its security. Now Germany was defenceless. (2) • Germany’s loss of territory was humiliating. The Saar was Germany’s rich oil region and would cripple their economy. Germans were now living in countries such as Poland (Posen) and Czechoslovakia (Sudetenland). The German people were now living apart from one another. (2) • I think that the greatest injury to Germany was________________________. I think this because____________________________________________________________(2)

Origins of the League of Nations Activation • Woodrow Wilson was the American President during the First World War. He had tried to keep America out of the war.

• However in 1917, with France seemingly on the edge of defeat and American civilians being killed by German submarines, America could no longer stay out of the conflict.

• Wilson decided that if America was to join the war, then the object would be to ensure world peace for the future.

A Safer World • Wilson wanted a safer world.

He thought having an organization like the League of Nations might stop future conflicts.

• It was not a new idea, but after the carnage of the First World War, Wilson’s message of peace and cooperation struck a cord with many people.

• People hoped that the First World War would indeed be the “war to end all wars.”

Look at this image – What is the cartoonist suggesting about the League of Nations?

No Peacekeeper…….

• The call for a permanent and international peacekeeping organisation was the last of Wilson's 14 points and to him the most important.

• •There was no international organisation that could discuss problems/disputes between countries until the league of nations was set up in 1920. The next slide shows its purpose..

Review • Today you have; 1) 2) 3) 4)

Answered a GCSE question on the Treaty of Versailles.

Understood how the League of Nations came about.

Learnt the aims of the League (KEEP) Analysed a cartoon showing someone’s opinion of the League.

Next lesson, we will look at how the League was structured and why it was so weak.