Worksheet for the role-play lesson plan at www.activehistory.co.

uk / 1
THE SCRAP OVER TERRITORY AT VERSAILLES!

Discussion Points (re-cap):

 What did each of the Big Three aim for generally?
 What do you think they would therefore want with regard to territory?

Saar
Rich iron-producing area, the
industrial heartland of
Germany.
Colonies
Mainly in Africa, cause of
great rivalry with GB.
Rhineland
The border area between
Germany and France,
heavily defended.
A B C
Have a plebiscite to allow Give it to France for 15 Give it to France
the inhabitants self- years, then a plebiscite
determination.
Give them all to Britain Have plebiscites in each Make them “Mandates” –
one to see if they want divide them between the
independence winners, who rule them
under supervision of the
League.
Demilitarise it Make it a “Mandate” of Turn it into an
permanently, but leave it the League, under independent State
as part of Germany French control.

Turn it into an Have a plebiscite to see if Return it to France

Alsace-Lorraine
Taken from France in 1870
Polish Corridor
A strip of land which would
give Poland access to the
sea, but split Germany into
two sections.
independent state it wants to be French or
German
Give it to Poland to allow Have a plebiscite to see
the country access to the what they want in the
sea area
Make it a mandate under
direct control of the
League so that everyone
can use it as a sea-route.

Definition Example
Plebiscite ??? ???
Mandate ??? ???
Self-Determination ??? ???

“To what extent do you agree that the decisions reached by the Big 3 with relation to territory
were a sensible compromise?”:

Answer the above question by completing the following two sentences using as many key
words as you can.

In some respects, the decisions reached at Versailles about territory were a sensible
compromise. Firstly, ??? was a sensible decision because ???. Secondly, …???

In other respects, however, the decisions reached regarding territory cannot be

regarded as a sensible compromise. For example, ??? was not a sensible compromise
because ???. Similarly, …???

Consolidation
• Once the role-play negotiations have finished, each member of the class will read out their
score.
• Your teacher will then tell you what decisions were eventually reached – keep a score of
how many your group of three got right!

Discussion point:
What issues were the most controversial?