Appeasement And Stuff Flashcards
(16 cards)
Q: What is meant by the policy of “appeasement” in the 1930s?
A: It refers to Britain and France’s strategy of making concessions to totalitarian regimes like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to avoid another war.
. Q: How did Britain and France respond to Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931?
A: They did nothing effective — no economic sanctions were enforced, showing early weakness of the League of Nations.
Q: Why were sanctions against Italy in 1935 limited?
A: Britain allowed coal and oil exports to continue to protect British miners’ jobs, allowing Italy’s military to continue its invasion of Abyssinia.
Q: What was the Munich Agreement of 1938?
A: Britain and France agreed to allow Hitler to annex the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, hoping it would secure peace.
Q: What was the result of Britain and France’s failure to act against aggression?
A: It encouraged further expansion by totalitarian powers and failed to halt the rise of fascist tyranny.
Q: Why was Britain reluctant to confront fascist powers in the 1930s?
A: The Great Depression had left Britain economically weak, with high unemployment and political instability; there was no public support for war.
Q: How did WWI debt influence Britain’s foreign policy?
A: Britain owed huge debts to the USA, and by 1929 had only repaid a small part. U.S. resentment led to financial restrictions and isolationism.
Q: What did the U.S. Johnson Act of 1934 do?
A: It banned future loans to countries (like Britain and France) that had defaulted on their WWI debts.
Q: What did the U.S. Neutrality Act of 1936 do?
A: It prohibited the sale of weapons to countries still in debt to the U.S., cutting off vital support for Britain and France.
Q: Why couldn’t Britain fight another total war without the U.S.?
A: The scale of WWI had shown that such wars required American financial and industrial support, which was no longer available.
Q: What physical damage did France suffer in WWI?
A: 800,000 houses were destroyed, 2 million people displaced, and massive damage to roads and railways.
Q: What was the cost of France’s reconstruction after WWI?
A: It amounted to 34 billion francs in gold.
Q: What demographic crisis did France face after WWI?
A: Falling birth rates and higher death rates led to fears of national decline and inability to sustain future wars.
Q: How politically stable was France between 1918 and 1940?
A: Extremely unstable — there were 34 different prime ministers in just 22 years.
Q: What was the Maginot Line?
A: A vast system of fortifications built by France along the German border to defend against future invasion.
Q: Why was the Maginot Line ultimately ineffective?
A: It didn’t cover the Belgian border, and in 1940 Germany simply bypassed it by invading through the Ardennes.
