History: Inter-War Years

What were Georges Clemenceaus three main aims for the Treaty of Versailles?

Cripple Germany economically and militarily / Push the border back to the Rhine / Extract huge reparations to pay for French damage

What were Woodrow Wilsons main aims for the Treaty of Versailles?

Establish a League of Nations / Self-determination for small nations / Disarmament / Freedom of the seas

What were David Lloyd Georges main aims for the Treaty of Versailles?

Keep British naval supremacy / Restart trade with Germany / Punish Germany but not so hard they seek revenge / Stop the spread of Communism

Why did Wilson and Clemenceau clash at the Paris Peace Conference?

Clemenceau thought Wilson was too idealistic because the USA had not suffered / Wilson thought Clemenceau was too harsh and would cause another war

List the exact military restrictions placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles

Army limited to 100000 men / Conscription banned / No submarines / No air force / Navy limited to 6 battleships / Rhineland demilitarised

List the major territorial losses Germany suffered in the Treaty of Versailles

Alsace-Lorraine returned to France / Polish Corridor given to Poland / Danzig made a free city / All overseas colonies taken as mandates / The Saar coalfields given to France for 15 years

What were the exact terms of reparations and the War Guilt clause in the Treaty of Versailles?

Article 231 forced Germany to accept full blame for starting the war / Reparations were set in 1921 at 6.6 billion pounds

What was the German reaction to the Treaty of Versailles?

Outrage because they were not invited to negotiate calling it a Diktat / Felt betrayed because they thought it would be based on Wilsons 14 points

What was the Kapp Putsch of 1920?

A right-wing rebellion by disgruntled German soldiers called Freikorps / They tried to overthrow the Weimar government because of the Versailles treaty / It failed when workers went on a general strike

What caused the Ruhr Crisis in 1923 and how did Germany react?

Germany failed to pay its reparation installment / French and Belgian troops invaded the industrial Ruhr region to take goods by force / German workers used passive resistance and went on strike

What was the main consequence of the Ruhr Crisis for Germany?

The government printed money to pay the striking workers / This caused massive hyperinflation / Savings became worthless and the middle class was financially ruined

What were the terms of the Treaty of St Germain 1919?

Dealt with Austria / Army limited to 30000 men / Anschluss with Germany was forbidden / Empire broken up into new states like Czechoslovakia

What were the terms of the Treaty of Trianon 1920?

Dealt with Hungary / Lost massive amounts of territory and population to Romania and Yugoslavia / Economy collapsed so they never paid their reparations

What were the terms of the Treaty of Neuilly 1919?

Dealt with Bulgaria / Army limited to 20000 men / Lost its access to the Mediterranean Sea

What were the terms of the Treaty of Sevres 1920?

Dealt with Turkey / Lost its empire in the Middle East / Strait of the Dardanelles opened to all ships / It was so harsh it caused a Turkish revolution and had to be rewritten at Lausanne in 1923

What are the main arguments that the Treaty of Versailles was justified at the time?

Germany had forced a much harsher treaty on Russia in 1918 called Brest-Litovsk / France had suffered massive devastation and desperately needed money to rebuild

What was the role of the Assembly in the League of Nations?

The Leagues parliament containing one representative from every member nation / Met only once a year / Decisions had to be completely unanimous which made action slow

What was the role of the Council in the League of Nations?

A smaller executive group containing permanent members like Britain and France / Met during emergencies / Each permanent member had a veto to block any action

What were the three main weaknesses of the Leagues structure?

The USA never joined / It had no permanent standing army / The veto power of the Council and unanimous voting in the Assembly paralyzed decision making

Describe the events of the Vilna dispute 1920

Poland seized Vilna the capital of Lithuania / The League ordered Poland to withdraw but Poland refused / Britain and France did nothing so Poland kept Vilna / Massive failure

Describe the events of the Aaland Islands dispute 1921

Both Sweden and Finland claimed the islands / The League investigated and awarded them to Finland / Sweden accepted the decision peacefully / Major success

Describe the events of the Upper Silesia dispute 1921

Industrial region claimed by both Germany and Poland / League organised a plebiscite / The League successfully and peacefully divided the region based on the voting results / Major success

Describe the events of the Corfu incident 1923

Italian general Tellini was murdered in Greece / Mussolini bombarded and occupied the Greek island of Corfu / Mussolini ignored the League and went to the Council of Ambassadors / The League was bypassed and Greece was forced to pay Italy / Major failure

Describe the events of the Bulgaria incident 1925

Greek troops invaded Bulgaria after a border clash / The League ordered Greece to withdraw and pay compensation / Greece obeyed but complained that large states like Italy were treated differently than small states / Success but exposed hypocrisy

List three specific successes of the Leagues humanitarian agencies in the 1920s

The Refugee Committee returned 400000 prisoners of war / The Slavery Commission freed 200000 slaves in Sierra Leone / The Health Committee reduced cases of malaria and leprosy

What were the limitations of the International Labour Organisation ILO?

It successfully banned poisonous white lead from paint / However it completely failed to convince member countries to adopt a maximum 48 hour working week because it would cost too much money

What was the Dawes Plan of 1924?

The USA loaned 800 million gold marks to Germany / It helped Germany pay reparations and rebuild their economy / It made Europe dangerously dependent on the American economy

What were the Locarno Treaties of 1925?

Germany voluntarily agreed to accept its western borders with France and Belgium / It paved the way for Germany to join the League in 1926 / It led to a period of optimism called the Spirit of Locarno

What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928?

An agreement signed by 65 nations / They promised never to use war to solve international disputes / It had no way of being enforced making it purely symbolic

What was the Young Plan of 1929?

It reduced the total German reparations bill / It extended the deadline for payments by 59 years / It was derailed by the Wall Street Crash later that year

How did the Great Depression affect international relations in the 1930s?

Countries became selfish and used protectionist tariffs / High unemployment led voters to support extremist dictators like Hitler / Economic sanctions became impossible because nations desperately needed to keep trading

Why did Japan invade Manchuria in 1931?

The US Depression ruined the Japanese silk trade so Japan needed raw materials like coal and iron / They used the Mukden railway explosion as an excuse to invade and set up a puppet state called Manchukuo

How did the League of Nations respond to the Manchurian Crisis?

They sent Lord Lytton who took a full year to publish his report / The report condemned Japan / Japan ignored the report and simply resigned from the League in 1933 / The League had no army and could not afford economic sanctions

Why did Mussolini invade Abyssinia in 1935?

He wanted a glorious African empire like the ancient Romans / He wanted revenge for an Italian defeat there in 1896 / He used a border clash at the Wal-Wal oasis as his excuse

Why did the Leagues economic sanctions fail during the Abyssinian crisis?

They failed to ban coal or oil because they feared losing mining jobs / Britain and France kept the Suez Canal open allowing Italian supply ships to pass easily

What was the secret Hoare-Laval Pact of 1935?

A secret agreement between British and French foreign ministers / Offered Mussolini two-thirds of Abyssinia if he stopped fighting / It was leaked to the press causing massive public outrage / Proved Britain and France prioritized self-interest over the League

What were the three main aims of Hitlers foreign policy?

Destroy the Treaty of Versailles / Unite all German speakers into a Grossdeutschland / Acquire Lebensraum or living space in Eastern Europe by defeating Communism

How did Hitler secretly and then publicly break the Treaty of Versailles regarding rearmament?

He secretly built up the army and drafted unemployed workers / In 1935 he held a massive rally publicly announcing military conscription and the creation of the Luftwaffe

What was the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935?

Britain allowed Germany to build a navy up to 35 percent the size of the British navy / Allowed Germany to build submarines / Britain did this without consulting France / Officially broke the Treaty of Versailles

How did Hitler regain the Saar region in 1935?

The League held a legal plebiscite after 15 years of French control / Over 90 percent voted to return to Germany / It gave Hitler a massive propaganda victory and rich coal resources

Why did Hitlers remilitarisation of the Rhineland succeed in 1936?

Hitler used the Franco-Soviet pact as an excuse claiming Germany was encircled / France was distracted by a political election / Britain felt Germany was only marching into its own backyard / The League was entirely distracted by the Abyssinian crisis

Describe German and Italian involvement in the Spanish Civil War 1936-39

Hitler sent the Condor Legion to support General Franco / Gave the Luftwaffe a chance to test new dive bombers / Involved the devastating carpet bombing of Guernica / Brought Hitler and Mussolini closer together forming the Rome-Berlin Axis

What was the Anti-Comintern Pact 1936-37?

An alliance signed by Germany Japan and Italy / It was specifically designed to oppose the spread of Communism and the USSR

How did Hitler achieve Anschluss with Austria in 1938?

He bullied the Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg into resigning / Sent German troops in to ensure a rigged referendum / 99 percent voted yes / Mussolini did not stop him this time due to their new alliance

Why did Hitler want the Sudetenland in 1938?

It was part of Czechoslovakia but contained three million German speakers / It contained all of the Czech border defenses forts and heavy industry

What were the exact terms of the Munich Agreement of 1938?

Signed by Britain France Germany and Italy / Handed the Sudetenland region to Germany / Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union were not invited / Hitler promised he had no more territorial demands in Europe

List the main arguments FOR the policy of Appeasement in the 1930s

Britain was not militarily ready for war and needed time to rearm / Public horror of repeating WWI / Belief that Versailles was genuinely too harsh / Fear of Communism made a strong Germany desirable as a buffer

List the main arguments AGAINST the policy of Appeasement

It encouraged Hitlers aggressive expansion / It abandoned millions of people in Austria and Czechoslovakia to Nazi rule / It alienated the USSR causing Stalin to seek an alliance with Hitler instead

Why was the invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 a major turning point?

Hitler broke the Munich Agreement / It proved Hitler was not just uniting Germans as he was now conquering non-Germans / It completely destroyed the policy of Appeasement / Britain and France guaranteed they would protect Poland next

What were the causes of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939?

Stalin tried to ally with Britain and France but they sent minor officials who took weeks to arrive / Hitler wanted to invade Poland without facing a two-front war against Russia / Stalin wanted time to build up his army

What were the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939?

A ten-year non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union / Secretly agreed to divide Poland between them / Gave Hitler the green light to start World War Two

Why did Britain and France declare war on Germany in September 1939?

Hitler invaded Poland on the 1st of September / Britain and France had explicitly guaranteed Polands borders after the invasion of Czechoslovakia / They issued an ultimatum which Hitler ignored leading to war on the 3rd of September