I was recently helping my fifth-grade son study for a history test and was impressed with what he was learning. Did you know that the history of World War II can actually be traced back to 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles? If not, here’s some fifth-grade history for you!

The Treaty of Versailles was a humiliating conclusion to World War I for Germany. Here is a snapshot from my son’s study guide of what it did to Hitler’s country:

• Land was taken away from Germany.

• Germany’s army was reduced to 100,000 men. (They were not allowed to have tanks.)

• Germany took ALL blame for WWI.

• Germany had to pay to rebuild Europe after WWI.

• Germany was given two choices – sign the treaty or be invaded by the Allies.

His study guide also says, “The Treaty of Versailles placed all the blame on Germany. It

included harsh punishments and eventually lead to WWII.” The treaty left a broken Germany ripe for the Nazi Party’s and Hitler’s rise to power as shown by the 1930 cartoon above, which was pictured on my son’s test. And now, you know as much as my fifth grader. By the way, he got a good grade!