Conflict & Tension Topic 1: Peacemaking

Key Words Treaty of Versailles:

Armistice Initial agreement to stop fighting before working out peace  Big Three: Georges Clemenceau France, David Lloyd George Great Britain, &
treaty. Woodrow Wilson USA.
Conscription Compulsory military service.  Different aims. GC was harshest, wanted to cripple Germany & prevent GER
being able to fight another war. DLG medium, wanted a weakened GER navy
Diktat A forced treaty, dictated to without the chance to negotiate. but rich enough to trade. WW the most lenient, wanted to prevent future wars
Hyperinflation When money became worthless. through disarmament and self-determination.
 Clemenceau Vs Lloyd George – GC wanted reparations to financially cripple
Idealist A person who is guided more by ideals than by practical GER, DLG wanted to trade with GER so less reparations.
considerations.  Clemenceau Vs Wilson – GC wanted to punish GER severely, WW wanted to
Self- That countries should be allowed to govern themselves prevent another war.
Determination rather than being in an empire  Lloyd George Vs Wilson – WW wanted self-determination, whereas DLG
Treaty A formal, lawful agreement. believed in Empires. GER colonies were shared between GBR and FRA.

Main terms – ways to remember. Other Treaties - All of them followed a similar pattern to ToV:

CRAWL 1. The defeated countries had to disarm.

Conscription banned, army limited to 100,000 men. 2. They had to pay reparations.
Reparations. 3. They lost land.
Anschluss with Austria banned. 4. New countries were formed.
War guilt.
Land lost – Alsace Lorraine = France, Polish corridor = Poland, Rhineland =  The Treaty of St Germain – Austria.
Remilitarized).  The Treaty of Trianon – Hungary.
 The Treaty of Neuilly – Bulgaria.
GARGLE  The Treaty of Sèvres – Turkey.
Guilt.  The Treaty of Lausanne – Turkey. *
Army.
Reparations. * Sèvres was so severe that Turkey had to be given a new treaty, Lausanne.
Germany lost land. Military restrictions & reparations cancelled, & some land returned.
League of Nations.
Extra points – banned from union with Austria.
Conflict & Tension Topic 2: League of Nations
Key Words Structure
 The assembly met once a year, every country had an equal vote & in order to pass
Assembly Members of the League of nations who met once a year about the decision had to be unanimous.
to discuss & vote on.  The assembly was too large & did not meet enough times to react quickly in an
Council Group of powerful countries which ran the League of emergency. Council met more frequently & had four permanent members. They had
Nations; Britain, France, Italy & Japan were permanent the power of veto.
members.  The League set up the permanent Court of international justice whose job it was to
Depression An economic state; When our country has little or no settle international arguments. They could advise only.
money.  The League had no army of its own but relied on the council for one.
Economic Punishing the country by stopping trade with them.  The League also contained special commissions that tackled specific issues the
Sanctions League was worried about.
Isolationism A policy in which a country does not get involved in Strengths: Weaknesses:
foreign affairs.  It was written into all of the peace  Many important countries did not or
Moral To tell someone that they are in the wrong. treaties at the end of WW1, so all would not join. The USA, for example,
Condemnation nations involved have signed an never joined. This meant that if a country
Veto The right to reject a proposal. agreement that recognised the faced economic sanctions because still
organisation. trade was some of the most powerful
 It had a vast membership, over 50 richest countries.
countries.  Germany was not allowed to join, & the
 As there were so many members, USSR was not welcome due to it being
economic sanctions & moral communist.
condemnation work daunting
punishments from many countries.

Successes Failures:
 Upper Silesia (Germany & Poland): Plebiscite/referendum held, rural areas  Vilna (Poland & Lithuania): POL army took Vilna, League asked POL to withdraw, they
to GER, industrial to POL. No war but neither side completely satisfied, & refused. The League did not act because FRA wanted POL as an ally.
tension remained.  Corfu Crisis (Italy & Greece): Italian general was murdered, ITA used its strength as a
 Aaland islands (Sweden & Finland): Both countries agreed to League’s Council member to force the League to punish Greece & fine them.
solution. League successfully avoided war.  War of the Stray Dog (Greece & Bulgaria): Greece was again fined for fighting but felt
 The Slavery Commission: Ended slavery in Sierra Leone, & freed 200,000 as if it was being picked on for being a minor country.
slaves.  Manchuria (Japan & Manchuria/China): The League responded slowly to Japan’s
 The Commission for Refugees: Freed 427,000 prisoners of war & helped aggression. & Japan ignored the Lytton Report & eventually left the League. Japan
find 1.5 million people new homes. gained land & was not stopped. This inspired other countries.
 International Labour Organisation: 77 countries agreed to set a minimum  Abyssinia (Italy & Abyssinia): Economic sanctions proved worthless as oil was not
wage. included due to USA not being a member. Mussolini later said that if oil had been
 The Health Committee: Started an international campaign to stop the banned, he would have been stopped. Also, GBR & FRA did not close the Suez Canal.
spread of malaria & yellow fever. They still wanted ITA on their side against GER.
Conflict & Tension Topic 3: Origin & Outbreak of WW2
Key Words Hitler’s aims:
Anschluss Union between Germany & Austria.
 Overturn the ToV – Hitler felt the treaty humiliated Germany.
Appeasement Policy of giving someone what they want in the hope of  Rearm Germany – Make GER strong again & create jobs in munitions factories &
avoiding war. the army.
Communism A country where everyone is believed to be equal & where  Take lebensraum – the ToV had taken 13% of German land so Hitler wanted to
everyone works for the good of the state. make sure that Germans had enough land to live on & farm.
Fascism A country where everyone is strongly nationalistic, & which  Unite Volksdeutsche – 10% of the GER population were living outside GER. Some
is usually ruled by a dictator. had been persecuted.
Lebensraum Living space in Eastern Europe.  Unite Germany & Austria – Anschluss.
 Destroy Communism – Karl Marx, a Jew, had developed the idea of Communism.
Persecute To treat someone badly especially because of their race or Hitler hated Jews & felt they were ruining GER, so he believed he should destroy
political or religious beliefs. communism before it destroyed GER
Volksdeutsche People with German blood.

Reasons for appeasement: Reasons for war:

1. Many people felt the ToV had been too harsh on Germany and they should be  Hitler’s actions such as the Re-militarisation of the Rhineland and the Sudeten
allowed to undo some its terms.
2. No one wanted another war – WW1 had been terrible.
3. Hitler kept telling the British that he was a man of peace. They believed him.
4. Many of Hitler’s actions gave the people what they wanted, e.g. Anschluss 99%
voted ‘Yes’.
5. The Great Depression meant countries were too poor to fight.
6. Countries were more afraid of Communism & wanted Hitler to be strong enough
to stop it spreading.
7. GBR militarily wasn’t ready to fight & needed time to rearm.
8. USA was still following a policy of isolationism – GBR & FRA couldn’t win on their
own.
Crisis: Hitler demanded land from Czechoslovakia, Neville Chamberlain agreed at
the Munich Conference but allied with Poland, the next target of Hitler’s
expansion due to Poland having been made out of GER. Next time GBR & FRA
would not appease.
 Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler, The Nazi-Soviet Pact. This meant
that they would not fight each other & Hitler would not have to fight a war on
two fronts like WW1, when GER lost. The invasion of Poland led to Britain and
France declaring war on Germany to protect Poland.
 Ultimately war was inevitable as the only way for Hitler to achieve his aims
(overturn the ToV, take lebensraum and unite Volksdeutsche) was to invade and
take over other countries. Once GBR & FRA had stopped following appeasement,
Hitler would have to back down and fail to complete his aims, or GBR & FRA
would declare war.
 Appeasement made Hitler stronger