history mocks: Flashcards
what were the outcomes of the first world war?
-US joined the war late, lost a few soldiers, were far away from the battlefield-only losses were from German navy attacking ships
-Britain suffered during the war, over a million people had been killed during the war and country was in a huge debt
-France had the highest death toll, both civilian and military and therefore bore a huge brunt of the war, in particular on infrastructure
-Germany, despite losing the war, had not suffered as much as others, the main problem during the war was blockade
who were the ‘Big Three’?
-Lloyd George, British PM
-Clemenceau, French PM
-Woodrow Wilson, US President
what were Clemenceau’s aims?
-Demanded revenge against Germany
-Wanted G army dismantled
-Massive reparations to punish G economy and used to rebuild France/pay off its debts
-Wanted the Rhinlenad to be an independent state-key border
-Regain Alsace Lorraine, share of G colonies and possibly break up G altogether
what were Lloyd George’s aims?
-wanted g to pay but not excessively, so that is was powerful enough to keep Brit + G trading system
-agreed with dividing colonies but not breaking up G
-wanted reasonable reparations to pay off war damage, but not cripple G and risk revolution
-reduce army but not destroy, and reduce threat of G navy
what were Wilson’s aims?
-Naturally idealistic leader, wanting to keep new world order based on his 14 points
-Main aim is creation of the League of Nations to mantain peace
-All countries should disarm and dismantle armies, not just Germany
-Believed in self-determination of all nations of Europe via plebiscite
-G should pay reparations but again, not crippling amount
what were the actual terms of the Treaty?
-Land-> lost 13% of land their land, rhineland demilitarised
-Army->lost 100,000 soldiers, 6 battleships, no airforce, conscription banned
-Money-> $6.6 billion in reparations
-Blame-> germany took full blame for the war
what was the Treaty Of Neuilly?
1919: Bulgaria
Land-> forced to cede occupied eastern Serbian land of Yugoslavia
Army-> reduced to 20,000 men
Money-> $100 million for reparations (didn’t pay all)
Blame-> took almost none of the blame
what was the Treaty of St Germain?
September 1919: Austria (helped ending the war)
Land-> lost 2/3 of land
Army-> restricted 30,000 men, forbidden to ever reunite with germany
Money-> forced to pay for all reparations of war damage
what was the Treaty of Trianon?
1920: Hungary
Land-> lost 2/3 of their land
Army-> restricted to 35,000 men
Money-> pay few reparations
Blame-> didn’t take any of the blame
what was the Treaty of Sevres?
August 1920: Ottoman Empire/Turkey
Land-> lost 83% of land 70% of population
Army-> limited to 50,000 troops, navy strictly limited, no air force
Money-> reparations were never set because of an unstable empire, economy controlled by the allies
Blame-> didn’t take any of the blame
what was the German opinion of the Treaty?
-Felt that the treaty was too harsh and objected it
-double punishments to pay reparations and lose vital resources
-argued that the treaty was a diktat, as they were excluded from negotiations and had no choice but to accpet
-felt that the War Guilt Clause was an unfair justification for harshness of the treaty as war was not all their fault
what was the Political impact of the treaty?
-caused political instability
-treaty caused violence fistly because it created so much resentment among public, especially nationalists and made gov unpopular
-in weakening G’s armed forces, the Treaty made it more difficult to deal with political violence as well
what was the Ruhr Crisis?
First major crisis caused by Treaty in 1923 after failure by germans to pay second instalment of reparations
-french/belgian soldiers went into Ruhr to take payment in form of raw materials and goods
-german gov. ordered workers to go on strike so no goods were produced
-french army harshly responded, killing 100 workers
-production in the Ruhr shut down as a result
what was the Economic Crisis?
-German gov. paid workers during strike by printing off money however this created hyperinflation
-value of money became virtually worthless which was disaster for many G, pensioners, middle class families with savings etc
-with exception of big industrialists who used situation to pay off debts, had a terrible impact and left bitter memory even after economy recovered
was the treaty fair on Germany? (reasons for)
-G was the most aggressive country during WW1, it was only fair that their army, navy and air force be targeted
-Alsace-Lorraine went back to F after G annexed it in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian Wars
-In March 1918, G forced an extremely harsh treaty on Russia when it wanted to leave the war
-G had given Austria a “Blank Cheque” to start off war as well as commencing the Schlieffen Plan, therefore deserved War Guilt
was the treaty too harsh on Germany? (reasons against)
-The assassination of Archduke FF was the spark that started the war and this had nothing to do with G
-Many G citizens felt that they were being punished for the mistakes of the G gov. in August 1914 as it was the gov. that declared war not the people
-Some of the Big Three had personal interests at heart. Britain only wanted a reduced Navy so that G could not compete with them
-By restricting the army to only 100,000 the treaty left G defenceless and vulnerable meant keeping order was difficult
what were the aims of the league?
-discouraging aggression from any nation and promote disarmament
-encourage nations to co-operate in areas like buisness trade
-improve living conditions of people accross the world
-Article 10 of League Covenant, essentially called the collective security
what was the league membership?
-Was open to all countries, prividing they signed the Covenant of the League
-G not allowed to join due to WWI and had to rpove they were peace loving nation, were allowed to join in 1926
-USSR prevented from joining for being communist and didn’t want to join either, allowed in 1934
-USA did not join due to opposition back home, congress voted against them joining and they NEVER join
what was the Structure of the league?
The Council: met three times a year, there were 4 permament members (Britain, France, Italy and Japan, G became 5th in 1926), they took most important decisions, however every decision could be vetoed by another permament member
-The Assembly: had representatives of all members and they met once a year however decisions had to be unanimous
-The Permanent Court of Justice: Was set up to settle disputes between countries, but both sides had to agree to take a dispute to the Court; so many issues never reached it and could not enforce rulings
what were some league successes in the 1920s?
-Greece invaded Bulgaria, which did not fight back, but appeales to the League. The League ordered Greece to withdraw, which it did
-The League settled a dispute between Germany and Poland-it had a plebiscite and suggested a partition; Germany and Poland agreed
what were some league successes in the 1920s? (living conditions)
-the Refugees Comittee: took charge of returning refugees and prisoners of war to their own countries, about 400,000 were returned safely due to creation of Nansen Passport
-the International Labour Organisation: the ILO brought together employees, its aim was to improve living conditions, and it tried to persuade member countries to adopt its suggestions
-The Slavery Commission: worked to abolish slavery around the world particularly in East Africa + helped workers who were treated as slaves but weren’t actually
-the Health Commitee: the WHO tried to prevent epidemic diseases such as cholera, typhoid and malaria through mosquito examination campaigns
what was the Ruhr occupation? league failure
-F responded to G refusal to continue reparations payments by invading Ruhr in 1923 and took control of production
-League took no effective action against F in response
-Supported idea of the League being a victors club from the war who could simply do as they pleased
what was Corfu? league failure
-Represents biggest failure
-Mussolini orders occupation of Greek island in 1923 after murder of Italian general on borde. Ordered the invasion after Greece refused to pay compensation and could not locate culprits
-League condemned the invasion but matter instead went to Conference of Ambassadors
-They ordered Greece to pay the excessive compensation in exchange for I withdrawing troops- Italian bullying tactics had paid off and undermined the reputation of the League
-Role of I itself, as permanent member, was a problem, showed that wrong countries had too much influence
how did the Great Depression affect the League?
-It destroyed the relative prosperity of the 1920s. In g it wiped out the recovery that had taken place since 1924
-this created massive unemployment and poverty, which in turn led to desperation and despair
-this led increased support for extremist parties, who used violence and adopted aggressive policies
-in J, I and G, militarism became more influential
-Major powers in the League, like Br + F no longer saw it as a priority
what was the Manchurian Incident?
-the population began to grow rapidly and Japan needed more land and raw materials
-Manchuria had vast resources of coal and iron that J lacked
-In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, which was a province of China, claiming that they were acting in self-defence
-It claimed that a railway had been blown up at Mukden on 18th September. This was their public reason for invading
why did the LofN fail with Manchuria?
-The lack of an army meant that countries had to be persuaded to declare war on Japan
-Manchuria was remote and military action would be very difficult
-The League discussed economic sanctions but it was powerless without USA main trading partner-League failed to even agree on arms sanctions on Japan
what was the Invasion of Abyssinia?
-On October 1935, the Italian armed forces invaded the African state of Abassynia (Ethiopia)
-At first, the Italians faced considerable opposition,as the Abyssinians avoided a pitched battle and retreated slowly
-In early 1936, however, the Italians began to use poison gas, along with their air power, this led to the collapse of the Abyssinian forces
-In May 1936 the capital Addis Adaba was occupied and the Emperor Hailee Selassie fled to Britain
