AQA GCSE History:Conflict & Tension: Lessons 1-5 - Treaty of Versailles set of lessons

Bundle of lessons for the new GCSE specification: Conflict and Tension.

Lessons begin by looking at the state of the major countries at the end of World War One. This is then used to explain the differing viewpoints and rationales of the ‘Big 3’ at the the Versailles Conference. Students create a ‘Revenge-o-meter’ in order to understand clearly how the views of the 3 differ.

In the second lesson the class begin to look at the potential problems involved with trying to reach a compromise.

Lesson 3 looks at the terms of the treaty, linking these to a mnemonic to aid revision. There is also source work at the end of the PPT, using a commonly used exam source. This is recapped in lesson 4 which then uses 4 sources where pupils interpret cartoons to judge how each country felt about the resulting treaty. This is then consolidated using textbook work.

Lesson 5 finishes the theme by examining how pleased each of the Big 3 were with the treaty before looking at how other losing countries were treated after the war. Students are encouraged to make comparisons between this treatment and the treatment of Germany. Finally the lesson uses information about Poland, textbook work and a source to look at possible future problems for the Allies, created by Versailles.

All lessons have printout versions of worksheets at the end of the presentation.

Lesson 1 makes use of the Modern World History for AQA: Core Students Book New Edition (AQA Modern World History 2009) - if not available this can be replaced by other source/video material.

Lessons also use the new Oxford AQA Conflict and Tension textbook (green cover)