J14P11 MSQn 5(c) Was Germany’s reaction to the Treaty of Versailles justified? Explain your answer.

Level 0 No evidence submitted or response does not address the question [0] 

Level 1 General answer lacking specific contextual knowledge [1]
 e.g. 

‘German reaction was justified because the Treaty affected Germany badly.’ 

Level 2 Identifies AND/OR describes reasons [2] 

(One mark for each point) 
e.g. 
‘They thought it was a dictated peace.’ 
‘They thought the reparations were harsh.’ 
‘They thought it left their armed forces depleted.’ 
‘They thought it was too harsh on ordinary Germans.’ 
‘The Allies thought Germany treated Russia worse.’ 
‘The Allies said Germany had agreed to the terms of the Armistice.’ 
‘The Allies believed Germany would have imposed a harsh treaty if they had won.’ 

Level 3 Explanation of justification OR not justified [3–5] 
e.g. ‘The German reaction was justified because Germany was forced to disarm to an extent that no other nation was. Its army was reduced to 100 000 men, a very small number for a country of Germany’s size. The Germans felt that this would leave them vulnerable to attack.’ 
OR 
e.g. ‘The German reaction was not justified because they had treated Russia more harshly in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Under the terms of this treaty, Russia lost 32% of their agricultural land and 54% of their industry, and was fined 300 million gold roubles. The Germans had little cause for complaint given their treatment of Russia.’ 

Level 4 Explanation of justification AND not justified [5–7] 

Both sides of level 3. 

Level 5 Explains with evaluation of ‘how justified’ [8]