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DOCUMENT BASED QUESTION
| Assess the validity of the following statement: The Treaty of Versailles created more porblems than it solved and laid the foundations for World War II. |
DOCUMENT 1
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| selected points from Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen
Points (Jan.,1918) 1) Open covenatns of peace, openly arrived at, after which thee shall be no private internation understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view 3) The removal, so far possible, of all economic barriers.... 6) The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and feest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opprotunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome intot he society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. |
| National aspirations must be respected; people may now be
dominated and governed only by their own consetn. "Self determination" is not a
mere phrase. It is an imperative principle of action, which statesmen will henceforth
ignore at their peril. This war had its roots in the disrefard of the rights of small
nations and of nationalitites whihc lacked the union and the force to make good their
claim to determine their ownallegiances and their own forms of political life. Covenants
must now be entered into which will render such things impossible for the future; and
those covenants must be backed by the unite force of all nations that love justice and are
willing to maintain it at any cost... excerpt from speech by Woodrow Wilson to Congress |
| Today's
artist lives in an era of dissolution, without guidance. He stands alone. The old forms
are in ruins, the benumbed world is hsaken up, the old human spirit is invalidated and in
flux toward a new form. We float in space and cannot yet perceive the new order. Recollections from an architect on the
postwar scene, |
portrait done by German artist (1920's) |
| And so it had
all been in vain...Was it for this that the German soldier had stood fast in the sun's
heat and in snowstorms, hungry, thirsty, and freezing, weary from sleepless nights and
endless marches? The more I tried to [understand] the monstrous event in this hour, the
more the shame of inidignation and disgrace burned my brow...There followed terrible days
and even worse night - I knew that ll was lost...In these nights hatred grew in me, hared
for those responsilbe for this deed. Hitler, Mein Kampf |
| What does the
Day of National Mourning mean today? Floods of tears for the fallen. Are we to remain
pacifist for ever and live for ever on the Treaty of Versailles? The British pay homage to
Shakespeare and swear on the Bible, but they keep battleships to rule the seas. Their
hypocrisy should be unmasked before our people.....We cannot capture oru political power
without our movement and without a reawakening in Germany; without tha we cannot bring the
Germanic peoples together or secure our people's lebensraum...As I have already
explained to you, we are interested neither in a civil war not in a military showdown with
our neighbors. excerpt from speech made by Hitler after World War I: |
| I just
sat unobtrusively in the background. I remember Rosenberg was there. Hitler explained why
he hadn't spoken. 'No Frenchman is going to lose sleep over the kind of harmless take,' he
said. 'You've got to have bayonets to back up your threats.' Well, that was what I
wanted to hear. He wanted to build up a party that would make Germany strong and smash the
Treaty of Versailles. God damn it! That's my meat. Quote from Hermann Georing after attending |
| How can
we hope to master the economic crisis that already is so great and the miseries of the
coming winter that widespread unemployment will bring unless all decent men work together,
regardless of faith position, or party? How else can we eradicate the blind, ragin hatred
for our fellow Jewish citizens and toher ethnic groups, a hatred that flies through the
land screaming 'Guilt!', but never asking proof? And how else can we avoid a civil war,
which would wreak new, untold desolation and seal the ruin of our poor nation in the blood
of self-inflicted wounds. In
a letter from the archbisop of Munic, |
