Defining Rights and Responsibilities After World War I: Wilson, Clemenceau, and the Treaty of Versailles

Alex Grant, Cai Baralt, Henry Walsh, Jackson Willis, and Sarah McKeage Senior Division Group Website

Process Paper Determination of Topic: When considering possible National History Day topics for this years competition, we became cognizant of the fact that this year marks the hundredth anniversary of the start of World War I. After considering different aspects the Great War and its long-lasting effects, we realized that the Treaty of Versailles not only played a major role in shaping the course of the twenty-first century, it also did so through a debate over rights and responsibilities. Conduction of Research: We conducted our research first by preliminary Internet searches so that each member of our group could establish a complete understanding of the individual facets of the topic. We also read through the resources that our school library contained addressing World War I. Thereupon, we divided up the various aspects in order for each of us to become an expert in a specific area. We consulted our public library, resources that our school contains, online national archives, and searched for scholarly opinions through the QSTOR and ProQuest collections of academic journals and articles. Thereby, we could all return with our individual research to compile a complete body of research to synthesize together into our thesis. Selection and Creation of Website: We chose to present our project as a website because it offers the greatest versatility in mediums and presentation possibilities. Since our topic occurred in the last century, the events are documented in numerous photographs and the very beginnings of silent film. We wanted to include these as well as text and other visuals from research,

which lead us to the website category. To create our project itself, we began with outlining and then writing the text first, around which the website could be built. At the same time, we created a basic format and decided upon a basic layout for the website pages. We then used note cards to draw draft layouts to show the placement of text and multimedia. From here we could assemble the website into the final project. Relationship to Theme: Our topic relates to the theme in that in the transition from a time of war to a time of peace, it becomes necessary to settle the dispute between the warring factions. With this settlement peacemakers redefine, for the conflict, the rights and responsibilities of the victors and the defeated. With the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles, peacemakers Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau, and David George were charged with ending a world-wide conflict by considering the rights and responsibilities of both the victorious Entente and the defeated Germany. Their judgment forced Germany to be responsible and neglected the basic rights owed the German civilians necessary for rebuilding. While exercising their right to set terms of peace, they overlooked their responsibility to foster future peace and prosperity for the international community.