Cambridge IGCSE Modern World History: Option B Study Guide

Leaders and Motives
- Woodrow Wilson (USA): An idealist. He proposed the "Fourteen Points," which included self-determination for eastern European nations, disarmament, and the creation of a League of Nations. He wanted a just peace to prevent future wars and discouraged treating Germany too harshly for fear of future revenge.
- David Lloyd George (Great Britain): A realist who occupied the middle ground. Publicly, he promised to "make Germany pay," but privately he feared a weak Germany would fall to Communism or be unable to trade with Britain. He wanted to protect the British Empire by stripping Germany of its navy and colonies.
- Georges Clemenceau (France): Uncompromising and determined to cripple Germany. Having seen France invaded twice (1870, 1914), he demanded heavy reparations and a demilitarised Rhineland to ensure French security. He wanted Germany broken into smaller states.
Clashes and Compromises
- Wilson and Clemenceau clashed over the Rhineland and Saar; Wilson eventually gave way in exchange for concessions on self-determination in eastern Europe.
- Lloyd George opposed Wilson’s point on "freedom of the seas" as it threatened British naval supremacy.

War Guilt: Clause 231 forced Germany to accept 100% blame for starting the war.
Reparations: Set in 1921 at $£6,600\,million$ . Payments were intended to last until 1984.
Territorial Losses:
- Europe: 10% of land lost, including Alsace-Lorraine (to France), West Prussia and Posen (to Poland), and Upper Silesia. Danzig became a Free City.
- Colonies: All overseas colonies became mandates controlled by the League (essentially Britain and France).
Demilitarisation:
- Army limited to $100,000\,men$ . No tanks, aircraft, or submarines.
- Navy limited to $6\,battleships$ . Conscription was banned.
- Rhineland became a demilitarised zone (no German troops allowed).
Anschluss: Union between Germany and Austria was forbidden.

The "Diktat": Germans called it a dictated peace because they were excluded from negotiations.
Hyperinflation (1923): Due to the failure to pay reparations, France occupied the Ruhr. Industrial strikes followed, the government printed excess money, and the German mark became worthless.
Political Violence: Triggered revolts like the Kapp Putsch (Right-wing) and Munich Putsch (Hitler).

Aims (AC/DC): (A)ggression discouraged; (C)o-operation encouraged; (D)isarmament; (C)onditions of life/work improved.
The Assembly: Met once a year; all members had one vote. Decisions had to be unanimous.
The Council: Met about five times a year. Permanent members (Britain, France, Italy, Japan) had a power of veto.
Absence of the USA: Despite being Wilson's idea, the US Senate voted against joining. This left the League without its wealthiest backer and made sanctions less effective.

Successes: Aaland Islands (1921) and Bulgarian border dispute (1925). Humanitarian work included returning $400,000\,prisoners\,of\,war$ and reducing the death rate of African workers on the Tanganyika railway from $50\,\%$ to $4\,\%$ .
Failures: Vilna (1920) and the Corfu Crisis (1923), where Italy defied the League and forced Greece to pay compensation.

Manchurian Crisis (1931–33): Japan invaded Manchuria. The League took a year to write the Lytton Report. Japan resigned, and the League did nothing, proving it was powerless against a major aggressor.
Abyssinian Crisis (1935–36): Mussolini invaded Abyssinia. Britain and France secretly drafted the Hoare-Laval Pact to give Mussolini land, betraying the League's principles of collective security. Sanctions were too slow and excluded oil.

Rearmament: Hitler openly reintroduced conscription in 1936.
Rhineland (1936): Hitler moved troops into the demilitarised zone while the League was busy with Abyssinia.
Anschluss (1938): Forced a plebiscite to unite Germany and Austria.
The Munich Agreement (1938): Britain (Chamberlain) and France allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in return for a promise of peace. This is the peak of Appeasement.
Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939): Hitler and Stalin agreed not to attack each other and to divide Poland. This freed Hitler from a two-front war.

Ideology: USA (Capitalism/Democracy) vs. USSR (Communism/One-party state).
Yalta (Feb 1945): Agreements on dividing Germany and setting up the UN.
Potsdam (July 1945): Tensions rose as Truman revealed the atomic bomb and Stalin began placing puppet governments in Eastern Europe (the "Iron Curtain").

Truman Doctrine (1947): The USA would support any nation resisting Communism (e.g., Greece).
Marshall Plan: Offered $17\,billion in aid to rebuild Europe and prevent the spread of Communism through poverty.
Berlin Blockade (1948–49): Stalin cut off road/rail access to West Berlin. The Allies responded with the Berlin Airlift, flying in supplies for $11\,months$ .

UN forces (mostly US) led by General MacArthur pushed North Korean forces back to the 38th Parallel. It showed Communism could be stopped but led to stalemate.

The USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade. The crisis was resolved when Khrushchev agreed to remove missiles from Cuba in exchange for the USA removing missiles from Turkey (secretly).

US involvement started with "advisers" and escalated to over $500,000\,troops$ . The US failed due to the Viet Cong's guerrilla tactics, the unpopularity of the South Vietnamese regime, and massive anti-war protests at home (e.g., following the My Lai massacre).

The Prague Spring (1968): Dubček tried to introduce "Socialism with a human face." Brezhnev sent tanks to crush the reforms, leading to the Brezhnev Doctrine.
Solidarity in Poland (1980): Lech Walesa led a trade union that challenged Communist control. It was suppressed by martial law but weakened Soviet authority.
Gorbachev’s Reforms (1985–91):
- Glasnost: Openness/freedom of speech.
- Perestroika: Restructuring the economy.
- Sinatra Doctrine: Gorbachev told Eastern European states they must solve their own problems without Red Army intervention. This led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Saddam Hussein: Came to power in Iraq in 1979. He used oil wealth for infrastructure but used terror against opponents (Kurds/Shiites).
Iran-Iraq War (1980–88): Saddam invaded Iran to seize the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Ended in stalemate after $1\,million\,deaths$ .
The Gulf War (1991): Iraq invaded Kuwait for oil. A US-led multi-national force liberated Kuwait using superior air technology. UN sanctions followed to force Iraq to destroy WMDs.