More than 100 years ago, the negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles were under way at the Paris Peace Conference. Lasting 6 months and involving 32 countries and territories, the Paris Peace Conference and its resulting treaty have always been controversial. According to some historians, the punitive clauses of the Treaty of Versailles may have contributed to the outbreak of the Second World War. How do we teach this difficult and controversial document to our students? This historical role-playing game lets students come up with their own conclusion to the war while demonstrating the difficulties of diplomatic negotiation and teaching about the conflicting hopes and expectations that shaped this important document.
This activity was first designed to accompany our travelling exhibition Regiments on the Ridge. The exhibition is available for free to your school by completing our reservation form. It should be noted that in 2025, we released a new version of our virtual exhibition, now entitled Mobilizing a Country: Canada and the First World War. The latter is also suitable for this activity.
Activity content
The activity is led in class by the teacher using the teacher’s guide. Each group of students receives a character sheet, from the character booklets, and is asked to play the role of one of the heads of state described and to present their country’s interests. The agenda helps to structure the session by asking the students questions, getting them to debate their positions, and encouraging them to propose solutions. At the end of the activity, the students will have drafted their own version of the Treaty of Versailles.
Activity objectives
The goal of these activities is to allow secondary cycle two students to have a greater understanding of World War I and Canada and Quebec’s role in the conflict. More specifically, this activity serves to better understand the importance and impact of the Treaty of Versailles in the 20th century history.
Through this activity, students will practice the intellectual skills required by the Quebec Ministry of Education’s Secondary 4 curriculum by analyzing primary and secondary historical documents. More specifically, this activity is part of the “First World War” section of the Quebec school curriculum. Finally, students will also develop their knowledge of Quebec and Canadian history through the competencies promoted by the Quebec Education Program:
- Characterizes a period in the history of Québec and Canada
- Interprets a social phenomenon
This activity is also suitable for secondary 5 students and the 20th century history course through the following competencies:
- Characterizes a historical turning point
- Interprets a social phenomenon using the historical method
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