AICE INTERNATIONAL HISTORY

Communism

A system of government based on the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Communism is based on a classless society in which there is common ownership of the means of production.

Plebiscite

A referendum(vote) giving the opportunity to express their opinion for or against a proposal relating to constitutional issue.

Mandates

Territory taken from one of the defeated countries at the end of the first world war and given to another country, which would administer it on behalf of the League of Nations.

Reparations

Money that one country has to pay another as compensation for war damage. The war guilt clause was included in the Treaty of Versailles in order to provide legal justification for making Germany pay reparations to the victorious powers.

Self-determination

The principle that people of common nationality should have the right to form their own Nations and govern themselves. Wilson's definition of a 'nationality'(based on a common language) was too simplistic and inappropriate for the situation in Eastern Europe at the end of the first world war.

Successor States

This was the name given to the new national States(Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary.) whose existence was confirmed by the Paris peace settlement.

Dictator

An absolute ruler who controls a country without a country using democratic institutions.

Minority Group

A group of people bound together by, for example, common nationality, language, living in a country dominated by other groups. As a result, such groups often lack political rights and experience discrimination.

Genoa Conference 1922

One of the main threats to peace was the issue of German reparations. Held in Italy in 1922 and its goal to improve France and Germany had failed.

The Dawes Plan 1924

Germany was unable to fulfill its reparations and angered the french once again. Due to Germany's failure another conference was held in London 1924 chaired by an American lawyer and financier Charles Dawes. An agreement was came upon that the Germans could not pay 6.6 billion in reparations and they received a sizeable foreign loan mainly from the USA. France withdrew from the Ruhr and tensions were reduced.

Locarno Treaties 1925

The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements negotiated at Locarno, Switzerland, on 5-16 October 1925 and formally signed in London on 1 December, in which the First World War Western European Allied powers and the new states of Central and Eastern Europe sought to secure the post-war territorial settlement, and return ...

Kellog- Briand Pact 1928

A suggestion that France and the USA should sign an agreement renouncing war the US Secretary of state,Frank Kellogg, suggested that such an agreement might be extended to other countries the result of this Pact which was signed by no fewer than 65 nations the USA had not signed However the agreement broke due to the lack of attempt to take the steps listed on the agreement.

Young Plan 1929

Young Plan, (1929), second renegotiation of Germany's World War I reparation payments. A new committee, chaired by the American Owen D. Young, met in Paris on Feb. 11, 1929, to revise the Dawes Plan of 1924. Its report (June 7, 1929), accepted with minor changes, went into effect on Sept. 1, 1930.

World Disarmament Conference 1932-33

Held in Geneva during 1932 and 1933. All of Europe's leading powers and committed themselves to arms reduction both in the Treaty of Versailles and by the Covenant of the League of Nations. None of the countries actually committed to their promise except Germany for most countries, national interest and security remained the priority.

Comintern

The Third International or the Communist International (Comintern) was a communist organization founded in Moscow in 1919. It's aim was to encourage worldwide communist revolution.

Internationalism

The foreign policy favoured by President Wilson, whereby the USA would play a leading role in international affairs in order to ensure future world peace and stability. In the 1920s internationalism was replaced by the more traditional US policy of isolationism.

Shares

A means of investing money in business. Shares in a successful business rise in value. People buy shares at low prices and then sell them when the value rises.

Unemployment Benefit

Payments made by a country's government to people who are unable to find a job.

Deflation

A general decline in prices, caused by a reduction in the supply of money and credit. During the Great Depression, deflation spiralled out of control. As prices of their products fell, employers reduced their workers wages, leading to a further downward turn in prices. As unemployment increased, fewer people were able to buy products, leading to a further reduction in prices. Many businesses collapsed.

League of Nations

Created by Woodrow Wilson fourteen points speech in January 1918 and was an intergovernmental organisation founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War.

Treaty

an agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an (international) agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, pact, or exchange of letters, among other terms.

Covenants

Binding agreements made between nations.

Arbitration

Mediation between opposing sides in a disagreement. The League of Nations would investigate the dispute and consider the rights and wrongs of each party . The League would then pass judgment on how the dispute should be settled. The League's decision would be binding in both parties.

Economic sanctions

Refusing to trade with a nation that was acting in defiance of the League's judgements. It was hoped that such economic pressure would force the 'rogue nation' to back down.

Class A mandates

Countries that were considered almost ready for Independence. The role of the Mandatory was simply to provide administrative advice. Examples include Mesopotamia and Syria, whose mandatory powers were Britain and France respectively.

Class B mandates

Countries that required a greater degree of control by the Mandatory power. They were mainly the African colonies that had formerly belonged to Germany.

Class C mandates

Areas such as South-West Africa and some of the islands in the South Pacific, considered to be 'best administered under the laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory'.

General Assembly

The assembly met annually in Geneva, a location selected because Switzerland was a neutral country that had taken no part in the First World War. The states were allowed to cast one vote. The assembly's main role was to decide general policy, to deal with the admission of new members of the League and to handle the organisations finances. Any decision taken by the General Assembly had to be unanimous.

The Council

A smaller body, whose main function was to settle political disputes between nations. it held four ordinary sessions each year, with extra meetings (known as extraordinary sessions) being called in times of emergency. The council met a total of 107 times between 1920 and 1939. As with the General Assembly, decisions taken by the Council had to be unanimous. The Council was made up of permanent and non-permanent members.

Permanent members

There were four original permanent members- Britain, France, Italy, and Japan. The USA was to have been a permanent member, but decided not to join the League of Nations.

Non-permanent members

Initially, there were to be four of these, elected every three years by the General Assembly. The first non- permanent members were Belgium, Brazil, Greece, and Spain.

Secretariat

Carried out the day-to-day work of the League- preparing its agenda, publishing reports and dealing with routine but vital matters. It was based in Geneva and directed by a secretary-general, the first of whom was the British diplomat Sir Eric Drummond, who held the post from 1919 until 1933.

The Invasion of Ruhr

In 1923 German government was unable to pay the reparations required under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The French and Belgian governments responded by sending in troops to the Ruhr, the main centre of Germany's coal, iron and steel production.

Veto

a constitutional right to reject a decision or proposal made by a law-making body.

Collective security

the cooperation of several countries in an alliance to strengthen the security of each.