IB HL History

🧠 Paper 1: The Move to Global War

🇯🇵 Japan (1931–41)

Flashcard 1
Front: What were the main causes of Japanese expansionism between 1931–41?
Back: Economic: Need for resources after the Great Depression. Political: Rise of militarist factions. Ideological: Belief in Japanese superiority and right to rule Asia. Nationalism: Desire for a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."

Flashcard 2
Front: What was the Manchurian Crisis (1931)?
Back: Japan invaded Manchuria after the Mukden Incident, establishing Manchukuo. The League of Nations condemned it but took no military action, showing its weakness.

Flashcard 3
Front: What were the consequences of the Invasion of China in 1937?
Back: Full-scale war with China (Second Sino-Japanese War), atrocities like the Nanjing Massacre, and further international condemnation.

🇩🇪 Germany (1933–39)

Flashcard 4
Front: How did Hitler justify German expansionism?
Back: Lebensraum, reversal of Versailles Treaty, anti-communism, and unification of German-speaking peoples.

Flashcard 5
Front: What was the significance of the remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936)?
Back: Direct violation of Versailles. Britain and France did not intervene, encouraging Hitler's further aggression.

Flashcard 6
Front: What was the Sudeten Crisis (1938)?
Back: Hitler demanded Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia; Chamberlain pursued appeasement at the Munich Conference, giving in without Czech input.

🇮🇹 Italy (1935–41)

Flashcard 7
Front: What caused the Abyssinian Crisis (1935)?
Back: Mussolini aimed to expand Italian Empire. Invaded Ethiopia. League of Nations imposed sanctions, but they were ineffective; Britain and France appeased Mussolini.

Flashcard 8
Front: How did nationalism and militarism affect Italian policy?
Back: Mussolini promoted Roman imperial revival, glorified war, and used military force to project strength and distract from domestic issues.

🌍 Thematic and Analytical

Flashcard 9
Front: How did the Great Depression contribute to expansionism?
Back: Economic hardship increased militarism and nationalism in Japan, Germany, and Italy; governments used expansion to access resources and unite people.

Flashcard 10
Front: How effective were the responses of the League of Nations, US, and Britain?
Back: Largely ineffective. The League lacked enforcement power. The US followed isolationism. Britain often appeased aggressors to avoid war.

Flashcard 11
Front: What was the role of the Treaty of Versailles in the rise of German aggression?
Back: Harsh terms created resentment; Hitler used it as a tool to gain popular support and justify rearmament and expansion.

Flashcard 12
Front: What are the key skills in Paper 1 source analysis?
Back: OPVL: Origin, Purpose, Value, Limitation. Consider bias, context, authorship, and usefulness to historians.

🔥 Paper 2: Cold War – Superpower Tensions and Rivalries

🧊 Origins (1945–49)

Flashcard 13
Front: What was decided at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences?
Back: Yalta: post-war Europe plans, UN creation. Potsdam: divisions over Germany, growing US-Soviet tension due to atomic bomb and differing ideologies.

Flashcard 14
Front: What was the Truman Doctrine (1947)?
Back: US commitment to contain communism by supporting nations resisting Soviet influence; key in starting Cold War rivalry.

Flashcard 15
Front: What caused the Berlin Blockade (1948–49)?
Back: USSR blocked Allied access to West Berlin to oppose West’s currency reform. Led to Berlin Airlift—successful Western response.

🚀 Cold War Crises

Flashcard 16
Front: What triggered the Korean War (1950–53)?
Back: North Korea invaded South Korea; UN/US intervened. China later joined on the North's side. Resulted in stalemate and division at the 38th parallel.

Flashcard 17
Front: What happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)?
Back: USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. US blockaded island. Crisis ended with Soviet withdrawal in exchange for US missile removal from Turkey.

Flashcard 18
Front: What was the significance of the Vietnam War?
Back: Demonstrated limits of US power; heavy losses and public opposition. North Vietnam ultimately won in 1975.

✌ Détente and End of Cold War

Flashcard 19
Front: What was SALT?
Back: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (1972): US and USSR agreed to limit certain types of nuclear weapons. Marked a thaw in Cold War tensions.

Flashcard 20
Front: Who was Gorbachev and how did he contribute to the Cold War’s end?
Back: Soviet leader who introduced reforms (glasnost, perestroika). Withdrew from Afghanistan, promoted disarmament, didn’t suppress revolutions in Eastern Europe.

🔍 Cold War Themes

Flashcard 21
Front: How did ideological conflict shape the Cold War?
Back: Clash between capitalism and communism defined foreign policy, alliances (NATO vs Warsaw Pact), and global interventions.

Flashcard 22
Front: What role did nuclear weapons play in the Cold War?
Back: Maintained peace via Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), but led to intense arms race and diplomatic tension.

🌎 Paper 3: History of the Americas

⚔ Civil War and Reconstruction

Flashcard 23
Front: What were the main causes of the Civil War?
Back: Slavery, states' rights, sectional economic differences, breakdown of political compromise.

Flashcard 24
Front: What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
Back: Freed slaves in Confederate states (1863), gave the war a moral cause, prevented European support for the South.

Flashcard 25
Front: What were key Reconstruction policies?
Back: Freedmen’s Bureau, Civil Rights Acts, 14th/15th Amendments. Met with resistance: Black Codes, KKK, and Jim Crow laws.

📉 Great Depression and New Deal

Flashcard 26
Front: What caused the Great Depression?
Back: Stock market crash, banking failures, overproduction, uneven wealth distribution, weak global trade.

Flashcard 27
Front: What were key New Deal programs?
Back: CCC, WPA (employment), SSA (social security), FDIC (banking reform), TVA (infrastructure). Aimed at relief, recovery, reform.

Flashcard 28
Front: Who opposed the New Deal and why?
Back: Conservatives: too much government. Radicals (e.g., Huey Long): not enough redistribution. Supreme Court initially struck down some programs.

✊ Civil Rights Movement

Flashcard 29
Front: What were the major civil rights milestones from 1954–1970s?
Back: Brown v. Board (1954), Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955), Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965), March on Washington (1963).

Flashcard 30
Front: Compare MLK Jr. and Malcolm X’s approaches.
Back: MLK: nonviolence, integration. Malcolm X: Black pride, self-defense, separation from white society (early), later moderation.

🌐 US Foreign Policy (1898–1990)

Flashcard 31
Front: What was the significance of the Spanish-American War (1898)?
Back: US gained overseas territories (Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico), marked start of US imperialism.

Flashcard 32
Front: How did the US act in Latin America during the Cold War?
Back: Intervened to prevent communism: Cuba (Bay of Pigs, embargo), Guatemala (1954 coup), Chile (1973 Pinochet coup with CIA help).

👑 Paper 2: Authoritarian States

🧍‍♂ Key Themes

Flashcard 33
Front: What were common methods of rise to power for authoritarian leaders?
Back: Exploiting crises, propaganda, use of violence, legal appointments (e.g., Hitler), revolutionary movements (e.g., Castro, Mao).

Flashcard 34
Front: How was propaganda used to maintain control?
Back: Cult of personality, censorship, media control. Examples: Hitler’s rallies, Mao’s Little Red Book, Stalin’s rewriting of history.

Flashcard 35
Front: How did authoritarian states impact women and minorities?
Back: Varied. Nazi Germany: women as mothers. Mao: promoted gender equality in theory. Stalin: women entered workforce but still marginalized.