Why was Versailles only signed in June 1919?

The conference had to settle territory, reparations and war guilt, which took more than seven months after the guns stopped.

Why did the United States stay out of the League?

The Senate feared Article X would draw America into European conflicts, so it rejected the treaty.

S5 History The First World War, Paper 3: the 1918 ending and the treaty legacy

2026-11-02

Tutor Prep Guide · Primary English

Paper 3 covers the 1918 armistice, Brest-Litovsk, Versailles and the League, counting the 229 days to the treaty, 66 years of reparations and a 9.3 per cent French death rate, and ends on the myth of American membership.

Reminders　Armistice and treaty are different dates, the death-rate denominator is those mobilised, and treaty dates often carry symbolism.

01　Paper details (check answers afterwards)

Item	Detail
Questions	10
Suggested time	25
Difficulty mix	Foundation 4 · Intermediate 3 · Challenge 2 · Error redo 1
Chapter	Chapter: S5 History: The First World War
Level	S5

02　Questions (10 items)

FoundationWhen did the First World War end?
FoundationWhich treaty took Russia out of the war in 1918?
FoundationOn what date was the Treaty of Versailles signed?
FoundationWhen was the League of Nations founded and which great power stayed out?
IntermediateThe armistice was in November 1918 and the treaty signed in June 1919. How many days apart?
IntermediateGermany owed 132 billion gold marks. At 2 billion a year, how many years would repayment take?
IntermediateFrance mobilised 14 million men and lost about 1.3 million dead. What was the death rate?
ChallengeThe Sarajevo assassination was on 28 June 1914 and the treaty signed on 28 June 1919. How many years apart?
ChallengeLeague membership rose from about 42 states in 1920 to about 58 in 1934. How many more states?
Error redoA student writes: “The United States joined the League of Nations in 1920.” What is wrong?

03　Answers and one-line notes

#	Answer	One-line note
1	At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918	The armistice took effect at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, a date that became the memory marker.
2	The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk	After the October Revolution the Bolsheviks ceded territory and made a separate peace with Germany to survive.
3	28 June 1919	Signing on the fifth anniversary of the assassination was a deliberate symbolic choice.
4	Founded in 1920; the United States never joined	The Senate refused ratification, so the League was without enforcement power from the start.
5	229 days	The real dates differ by 229 days, and the long wait fed German claims of betrayal.
6	66 years	1320 divided by 20 is 66, more than three generations of payments, which is why Germany demanded revision.
7	About 9.3 per cent	130 divided by 1400 times 100 is 9.3 per cent; the denominator must be the number mobilised.
8	5 years	1919 minus 1914 is five, and the day and month match, so the signing fell exactly on the fifth anniversary.
9	16 states	58 minus 42 is 16; membership grew but without the United States the League could not punish aggression.
10	The Senate rejected the treaty and the United States never joined	Washington proposed the League but stayed out, the biggest gap in the post-war security system.

04　What to do after marking

After marking, redo only the wrong items and write down which step went wrong (formula, unit, or misread number).
Repeat the same item two days later; move to the next paper only when both attempts are correct.
Parents only need the answer and note columns; there is no need to explain every item.

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Questions and answers are written originally by the TutorZone team and are not taken from any school, publisher or examination authority paper. Every value is checked by computer.