Interwar years · 1919-1920

Versailles 1919 and the new map of Europe

In 1919 the winners met in Paris to make peace. Three empires had fallen, and new states filled the map from Finland to Yugoslavia. Students compare the 1914 and 1920 borders and judge whether the peacemakers built a lasting peace.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1920
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 1919 the winners met in Paris to make peace. Three empires had fallen, and new states filled the map from Finland to Yugoslavia. Students compare the 1914 and 1920 borders and judge whether the peacemakers built a lasting peace.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Name the Big Three at the peace conference and what each of them wanted.
  • Compare the maps of 1914 and 1920 and name five new states in Europe.
  • Explain why many Germans saw the Treaty of Versailles as unfair.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1920

Before and after

Open the map in 1914, then move the slider to 1920. Watch Austria-Hungary and the western Russian Empire. Write down every new state you can find.

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1920

Germany's new borders

Stay in 1920 and zoom in on Germany. Find East Prussia, cut off from the rest of Germany by a strip of Polish land. How would someone in Königsberg travel to Berlin?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1920

Peace in Geneva

Travel to Geneva in Switzerland. Ask the atlas: "What was the League of Nations?" Why do you think a neutral country was chosen for its headquarters?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The treaty was signed in the Hall of Mirrors, where the German Empire had been proclaimed in 1871. Why would France choose that room?
  2. Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson wanted different things. Which of them got most of what he wanted?
  3. Germany had to accept blame for the war and pay reparations. Why did that make so many Germans angry?
  4. Wilson spoke of self-determination: peoples choosing their own state. Why was that so hard to do in central Europe?
  5. Some historians say Versailles was too harsh, others say it was too weak. What do you think?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Napoleon Bonaparte, who also redrew the map of Europe. Then compare: how did the peacemakers of 1919 try to make a map that would last, and why did it not?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.