History learning outcomes

1 Were the peace treaties of 1919–23 fair?

• What were the motives and aims of the Big Three at Versailles?

Leader Country Motives Aims

Georges Clemenceau France He wanted to make sure that all of • Disbarment of Germanys army, navy
his aims would be met to benefit and air force
• High reparations to be played for all
France, he also wanted to ensure damage done to France
that France would be safe from • The return of provinces Alsace and
and invasion by German as had Lorraine
happened previously in 1870 and • The Saarland to be handed to
1914 France (area of land around the saar
river)
• The Rhineland to be made and
independent state so there was a
buffer between France and Germany
• Some German colonies to be
handed to France

David Lloyd George Britain Was motivated by continued • Re-establish a balance of power in
growth and success of the British Europe so that no single great power
could dominate the continent
empire • Return to trading patterns with
Europe and the empire that had
made Britain so wealthy before the
war
• Preserve British naval supremacy so
it could guard the British empire and
its shipping lanes

Woodrow Wilson America He wanted to achieve world piece 1. No more secret treaty’s
and punish making this the war to 2. Should be no restricted ships
lanes during war or peace
end all wars, he wanted to 3. Barriers to freed trade between
eliminate the causes this war nations reflect and create an
economic power struggle, they
should be dismantled
4. Armaments lowers to only those
need for self defence
5. Colony disputes must be settled
by a peoples vote
6. German troops leave Russia
7. Belgiums independence be
restored
8. Alsace and Lorraine be returned
to France
9. Frontiers around Italy must be
adjusted to reflect the peoples
nationalities
10. Different ethnic groups must be
given self-determination in the
Austro-Hungarian empire
11. Romania, Serbia and Montenegro
should be freed and Serbia should
have access to the sea
12. Turkish and other nationalists with
in the ottoman empire should be
allowed to form there own county
13. Independent Poland to be created
with access to the sea
14. A league of nations should be
formed to guarantee all countries
independence and secure borders

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• Why did all the victors not get everything they wanted?

America the concept of free navigation of the sees was unacceptable to Britain given the navy
was Britain's main form of protecting the British empire as well as British and French empires had
grown as a result of the treat and germanys colonies where taken from her and where to be ruled
by the league of nations which negated the principle of nation self determination. For France even
with most all of her aims met she was still left unprotected do to amendments made to her aims
to please all county’s. For Britain most all aims where met and press had given lloyd the unofficial
title of “winer of the war” because ultimately he was granted the most favourable outcome

• What was the impact of the peace treaty on Germany up to 1923?

Main issues Germany had with Sectors of issues Impacts in these areas
he treaty

The peace treaty where a Politics (political violence) Due to the massive cute in the
diakat and German politicians armies a large group of ex
had little choice but to sign or soldiers joined bands of ex-
the naval blockade would servicemen that hated the
remain weimar republic for signing the
treaty. They staged multiple
coups though non successful,
and assassinated 2 members of
the weimar government, Walter
Rathenau in June 1922 and
Matthias Erberger in 1921

Many where mad at the war Economic (conflict in the Ruhr) When Germany failed to meet their
guild clause second instalment of reparations in
1922, Belgian and French troops
invaded and occupied the Ruhr
region in 1923 to collect the
outstanding amount. It is important
to note here, the Ruhr region was
the Industrial Hub of Germany - an
important contributor to the
economy. With the occupation of the
Ruhr region, German workers were
told by the German government to
stop working so that France and
Belgium cannot take any advantage
of the Ruhr occupation.
Therefore, when the workers stopped
production, the economy of Germany
suffered even more.

The reparations where insane Hyperinflation Due to the war reparations that
and cause a lot of damage to Germany had to pay, there was a
the German economy shortage in money and the country
was plummeted into an Economic
Depression. To solve the shortage in
money, the Weimar government
printed more German Marks. This
lead to the German Mark becoming
practically worthless

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History learning outcomes

Main issues Germany had with Sectors of issues Impacts in these areas
he treaty

The tiny army meant Germany The rise of hitler

was unable to defend its self
against France and Poland

• Could the treaties be justified at the time?

Its hard to say as history is written by the winners some could be justified but some may be best
not to justify.

• The peace treaties of 1919–23: all with the allied powers as these countries where allied
with Germany

Treaty’s Terms of the treaty’s

Treat of versailles 28 June 1919 - The surrender of all German colonies as

League of Nations mandates.
- he return of Alsace-Lorraine to France.
- Cession of Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium,
Memel to Lithuania, the Hultschin district
Czechoslovakia.
Treaty with Trianon with Hungary 4 June 1920 - Army limited to 350,000 and it no longer had a
navy
- Reparations had to be payed
- Most Hungarians took the treaty as an insult to
their national honour

Treaty of saint Germain with Austria 10 - When the satellite states where created many
September 1919 German speaking people where a part of
Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia
- Austria was forbidden to join with Germany
- Army decreased to 30,000 soldiers
- Reparations where never set as Austria went
bankrupt

Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria 27 November - Bulgaria lost territory to Greece, Yugoslavia and
1919 Romania
- Army reduced to 20,000 and no air force
- 100mE in reparations
- This treaty was known as “the second national
tragedy”

Treaty of Lausanne with turkey 24 July 1923 - Boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria and turkey
where settled
- Turkey gave up its claims to Cyprus, Egypt, syria
and Iraq
- No reparations demanded
- No military restrictions
Treaty of sevres with turkey 10 august 1920 - Huge parts of the ottoman empire where
awarded to Britain, France, Greece and Italy
- Army reduced to 50,700 me
- The allies where to control finances including
supervising the national budget and total control
over the ottoman bank

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Key bitches in the treaty’s:

- Georges Clemenceau (Big 3); prime minister of France: nickname, the tiger, cause of
his aggressive political debate style.
- David Lloyd George: prime minister of Britain (Big 3)
- Woodrow Willson: president of the USA (Big 3)
- Matthias Erberger; German finance minister murdered by right wing activists
organisation consul in 1921
- Walter Rathenau; foreign minister assassinated by the same organisation in June 1922

Terminology Meaning

Coalition government A government made up of several different parties.

This was needed because no party had majority in
the Reichstag

Democracy I mean its a free voting country with parties

Dolchstoss German word meaning stab in the back

Hyperinflation Prices increase rapidly

Right - wing Opposed to socialism

Republic State with no monarchy

Successor states New states formed following the break up of of an

older one

Congress The us elected laws making body, helps govern the

country

Mandates The country’s that asked the great powers to

administrate

Scuttle To deliberately sink a ship, your on ship

Diktat A dictated peace treaty

Plebiscite A popular vote on a specific question

Commission A committee who investigate an issue and produce

conclusions

Tariff A tax imposed by the government that has to be

payed on imports or exports

Self determination That a certain ethnic group has the right over their
own country rather then being the minority of a
bigger country

League of Nations An orginisation made up of of the nations to help

solve possible war causing disputes to avoid a war
(1920-1947)

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History learning outcomes

2 To what extent was the League of Nations a success?

• How successful was the League in the 1920s?

- successes and failures in peacekeeping during the 1920s
Lets take a look at this threw a few case studies

Case study A; Aland island

The Alands are an island located between Finland and Sweden under Finnish rule while 95% of
the population are swedes. The issue was referred to the league of nations in June 1920, it was
resolved the Finland would remain in control but the swedes would have more autonomy to
preserve their traditions and customs, e.g. the Swedish language should be taught in schools

Results where as follows

successes concerns

The development of autonomy was important and This dispute raised an important question in
Swedish costumes where preserved it was only a relation to president Wilsons principle of national
formality that people of the Aland where Finnish self-determination and how far the principle should
citizens be supplied

Finland had preserved its boarders so there was no

precedent which might lead to countless other
ethnic claims thus destroying the Paris peace
settlement

Case study B: the corfu incident, 1923

In the 1920 Italian general Tellini and 4 of his assistants who where asking out new borders
between Albania and Greece for the conference of ambassadors when they where murdered.
Greece was unable to arrest anyone for the murders so in august 1923 Benito Mussolini ordered
occupation of the greek island corfu, the league was Brought in and on the 25 of September 1923
they ruled there was no evidence greek authorities didn’t investigate the murder properly so Italian
forces where extracted and Greece was made to pay 50 million lire as compensation

Results where as follows

Successes Concerns

Greece was able to appeal to the council when it Italy committed an act of war but this was not
felt it was not being treated fairly by the conference punished by the other great powers
of ambassadors

Italy and Greece did not go to war and Italian The league did not have much involvement it was
forces did not stay in greek territory for long brought to attention that the conference of
ambassadors was more important

Case study C; Greco-Bulgarian confrontation, 1925

two greek boarder guards where killed On the 19th of October 1925 on the greek boarder with
Bulgaria. The report on the incident was over exaggerated and made to seem like a Bulgarian
invasion of Greece. As a response Greece ordered an attack on Bulgaria. The Belgian foreign
minister informed the league of nations who ordered the withdrawal of both countries to behind
their own boarders. After an investigation was carried out Greece was found to have taken cattle
and crops from Bulgaria in their retreat and where made to pay a sum of 1 million Bulgarian levas.
While this conflict is considered an success for the league of nations we need to contextualise it.
Both countries where not in a position to laugh and large military force. Greece had a million
refugees from turkey and Bulgaria was mostly demilitarised.

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History learning outcomes

Successes

The councils demand to end military action was obeyed

The council investigated and reported small boarder

incidents like this had started wars in the past

With these 3 case studies we can see that while the league had its successes it defiantly could
have done better, in conclusion they where rather successful but there was much room for
improvement

• How far did weaknesses in the League’s organisation make failure inevitable?
– strengths and weaknesses in its structure and organisation: work of the League’s
agencies/ humanitarian work

The league of nations and where all member represented

Secretariat
- This was the administration of the league they worked all year round and was run by general
secretary chief sir Eric Drummond in the beginning, they performed all of the administrative
tasks ie. organising conferences, monitoring budgets and circulating reports (most members
where represented it had 700 officials from different countries)

Assembly
- The assembly met once a year to make dissuasions, they had to be unanimous and everyone
could vote once, new members where admitted, this was kind of an International parliament
(everyone was represented here

Council
- This was the decision making part of the league when a crisis developed it had to be acted on
based on a unanimous decision it met 4 times a year and more during a crisis (only permanent
members and some non permanent members where represented

Member who joined and left the league

- USA: never joined

- Germany: joined in 1926 and left in 1933 cause hitler thought of it as a winners club of ww1
- Soviet Union: 1934 they joined and in 1939 they where expelled for invading Finland in the
beginning of ww2
- Japan: was one of the original members but left after the Manchurian crisis in 1933
- Italy: was an original member but lest in 1937 following the economic sanctions imposed on
them after Abyssinia
- Britain and France: where the only members who where there from the birth to the death and
managed most of the leagues responsibility

The international labor organisation

- Created In 1919 and fought for social justices such as safe, health and fair working
environments
- They included issues about work hours and the protection of women children and the elderly
- By 1939 they had made 67 conventions
- After the death of the league they became an agency of the united nation in 1946
Slavery commission
- Main aim was to abolish slavery
- Their main success was ending slavery in the mandates
- Abyssinia: 1942
- Afghanistan: 1923
- Iraq: 1924
- Nepal: 1926
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- Transjordan and Persia: 1929

- Bahrain: 1937
The health organisation
- Under the leader ship of Ludwig Rajchman this organisation became one of the most sucsesful
agencies of the league by establishing relationships with countries not belonging to the league
- After the second world war they became members of the united nations and was renamed ‘the
world health organisation’
In conclusion the league’s agency’s where more successful then the actual league and due to the
operation systems the league had in place they stood no chance of staying relevant in the years
after ww2

• How far did the Depression make the work of the League more difficult?
- the impact of the world depression on the work of the League after 1929
With the massive economy drop and the banking systems failing unemployment numbers had
never been so high and poverty so prominent, the politicians now had to prioritise fixing
unemployment and poverty any thing happening in other countries came second

• How successful was the League in the 1930s?

- the failures of the League in the 1930s, including Manchuria and Abyssinia
Manchurian crisis in 1931
- During the great depression Japan lost trade with other countries and Japan as a
country was not self sufficient when it came to food so they had an issue of vital
Importance
- Japan knew that Manchuria had fertile soil and plenty of land for overflow population to
settle so the Kwangtung army followed the trade routes into Manchuria and began to
occupy the railway above the town of mukden
- Japan had trade agreements with Korea and Manchuria and had every right to occupy
the railway
- But when they slowly started to invade and take control of towns and cities threw out
Manchuria it became clear that this was an act of war by Japan as they where
occupying illegally
- The large of nations did nothing to stop Japan while they where still settling and only
made a tiny step forward in 1932 when Japan was fully settled and where unable to
remove japans forces following japans exit from the league of nations

The Abyssinian crisis 1935-1936

- This was a territory incentivised aggression by Italy as they had had their eye on
Abyssinia since 1896
- In December 1934 tally and Abyssinia had a skirmish on the border region between the
2 countries.
- Italy lost 30 soldiers and Abyssinia lost 3 times that
- After this the league imposed economic sanctions that did nothing to damage Italy as
nothing was placed on the export of oil and Cole
- Due to this in January 1936 Italy invaded again this time with the use of mustard gas
and the capital was taken on the 5 of may 1936
- And then in 1937 Mussolini’s Italy withdrew from the league

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History learning outcomes

3 Why had international peace collapsed by 1939?

• What were the long-term consequences of the peace treaties of 1919–23?

Italy
- Italy had joined the allied powers in 1915 and was promised territorial rewards for doing so
- However the Adriatic port was not given to Italy and nor did they get enough of germanys
colonies
- Italy felt hard done by
Germany
- Versailles took 25000 square miles of German territory and 7 million people
- Germany may have been disarmed but it still had resources
- Union with German speaking Austria was forbidden
- Hitlers foreign police Was to rip up the treaty of Versailles
- Events that transpired
- 1936 - start of German rearmament and re militarisation of the Rhineland
- 1938 - the Anschluss (union) with Austria
- 1938 - the transfer of Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia
- 1939 - the invasion of Prague
- 1939 - seizure of Memel
- 1929 - the claims made over Danzig and the polish corridor
Effects on Britain and France opinion
- The general British public thought that the treaty was to harsh and once the depression set in it
was the duty of the British government to help Germany make a peaceful revision of the treaty
- The French however though it was not harsh enough but due to the moves Germany was
making it became apparent that a peaceful reform was needed but first France built a line of
fortes along the border with Germany to stop another invasion and then help make peaceful
reforms

• What were the consequences of the failures of the League in the 1930s?

Manchuria
- Proved that the league was unable to stop an aggressive country from making territorial gains
Abyssinia
- This was a humiliation for the league cause it showed Britain and France playing a double
game
- The supported the application of the sanctions while negotiating behind the back of the league
with Italy
- But this proved futile as Italy eventually signed the anti comintern pact with Germany and
Japan to act as a united front against communists

The failures of the league

- Britain and France where never fully into he idea of the league
- During the great depression neither country had thought about rearming their country’s but was
this the way to go with how Germany was behaving?
- Public opinion was no, they had more faith in the leagues approach of collective security then
the politicians did

• How far was Hitler’s foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in 1939?
– the Saar
– remilitarisation of the Rhineland
– Anschluss with Austria
- Involvement in Spanish civil war
3 foreign policy aims
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1. To create German reich in which all German speaking people lived

2. Destroy the treaty of Versailles and restore German pride and power
3. Seek lebensraum in the east

The saar plebiscite

- The saar was a portion of German that was given to france but had been under he rule of the
league of nations for 15 years
- The saar plebiscite was a vote made by members of the saar region on weather to retain there
independent status, join France or join Germany
- Germany ultimately won this vote
Effects of the saar
- The fact that the league didn’t complain about the violence demonstrated weakness
- Those in favour of rejoining Germany told the world about how they felt about the treaty
- This boosted support for hitler and made it easier to bring about the third reich and set a
precedent for unification with Austria and for demands of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia

The Rheinland
- This was the remilitarisation of the Rhineland that was prohibited in the treaty of Versailles
- This happened in 1936
- It was also not opposed by the league of nations or Britain or France because they did not
want to risk peace

The Spanish revolution

- Hitler and his allies saw this as a good way to test out there new armaments and the strength of
their army’s

Anschluss with Austria

- Hitler was encouraged to do this case none of the allied powers did anything to stop him
- This was apart of his unifying the German speaking population of the world but austria was
forbidden under Versailles
- In 1934 he tried but was stopped by mussolini but by 1938 they where allies
- Hitler and Austrian leaders cause political instability in austria and then proposed that an
Anschluss with germany was the only way to solve this issue
- Britain and france didn’t intervene even when asked
- In march 1938 unification with germany won by 95,75%
- This lead to
- More soldiers
- Weapons
- Machinery
- Natural resources
• Was the policy of appeasement justified?
– appeasement

- Appeasement - political policy of trying to appease aggressors

- Britain and France had this policy with Germany from 1936
Pros of appeasement
- They thought they could trust hitler (eeeeeehhhhh)
- Fear of comminusim B+F thought of germany as a buffer
- Fear of war
- British armed forces where not ready for war
- American isolation from European politics
- The unfairness of the treaty of Versailles
- Weak economy of Britain and France
- No guarantied public support for B+F if there was a war
Cons of appeasement
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History learning outcomes

- Hitler couldn’t be fully trusted

- Nations should take a stand against hitler
- German armed forces could grow faster
- Germany could get away with directly violating the treaty of Versailles
- Sent a strong message that the ussr would not be helped if it was invaded
- Japan and Italy where very aggressive and allied with germany
- Allowing open aggression from germany internationally

• How important was the Nazi–Soviet Pact?

– crises over Czechoslovakia and Poland

Background: Stalin was alarmed by Hitler!s aggression as he had openly stated his intent to
destroy communism. Stalin joined LON in 1934 for security purposes but it was soon powerless.
France and Britain had not resisted German Rearmament or expansion in east Europe, failed to
stand up to Hitler in Rhineland and Czechoslovakia. Stalin signed mutual Defense treaty with
France in 1935 but did not trust France. Attempts to form alliance with Britain and France failed in
March 1939 as Chamberlain did not trust Stalin. Stalin did not trust Hitler, saw Britain!s Polish
guarantee, which was intended to warn Hitler, as support for USSR!s potential enemies

Nazi Soviet Pact signed between Molotov and Ribbentrop on 24th August 1939.Stalin signed
because:
- Could not rely on Britain and France for defense against Hitler due to appeasement
- Hitler would led Stalin expand control into Baltic States which Britain and France would never
allow
- Allowed USSR to buy time to prepare for war
Significance:
- Cleared the way for German invasion of Poland
- Poland fell
- Guaranteed war with Britain and France
- Established that appeasement had failed

• Why did Britain and France declare war on Germany in September 1939?
– the outbreak of war

- Hitler!s actions and policies- Hitler was determined to undo Treaty of Versailles from very
beginning, would happen sooner or later
- League of the Nations failed after Manchuria, Abyssinia and unsuccessful disarmament
attempts.
- Appeasement intensified Hitler!s aggression. Britain and France unprepared for war and had
little other choice
- Nazi Soviet Pact paved way for the invasion of Poland gave USSR time in rearm
- Violation of the Munich Pact & Polish guarantee led to war

However other important factors also played a role in starting the war:

- Appeasement also very important in causing war by encouraging Hitler!s aggression

- Failure of League caused by Great Depression meant appeasement inevitable & Hitler
aggression unchecked
- Polish guaranteed invasion would certainly result in war
- Treaty of Versailles inspired Hitler!s revenge therefore very large role to play

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History learning outcomes

4 Who was to blame for the Cold War?

• Why did the US–Soviet alliance begin to break down in 1945?

– the 1945 summit conferences and the breakdown of the US–Soviet alliance in 1945–46

- Ideological differences: politics, lifestyle, post-war aims: USSR - communist with dictator, one
party state with secret police, totalitarian, terror, propaganda, no civil liberties, USA had
capitalism, multiparty elections, freedom

- And civil liberties. USSR wanted weak Germany, sphere of influence and reparations, USA
wanted strong Germany and no reparations.

- Hostility in the past: white counter-revolutionary forces tried to destroy USSR in 1917 Russian
Revolution and Polish invasion in 1921, USSR signed Nazi-Soviet pact + USSR signed Nazi-
Soviet pact

increasing tension due to:

- Stalin refusing to join UN
Delay of D-Day and opening a second front

• How had the USSR gained control of Eastern Europe by 1948?

– Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe to 1948,

- Trigger: political vacuum (in political science and political history, the term power vacuum, also known as a power void, is
an analogy between a physical vacuum to the political condition "when someone in a place of power, has lost control of something
and no one has replaced them) and anarchy, want to restore law and order

- Red Army had occupied Eastern Europe according to Percentages Agreement (right) spheres of
influence. However, Stalin Wanted to occupy more and wanted a buffer zone after loss of 20
million lives.

- By July 1945, USSR controlled Baltic States, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Bulgaria, Romania.

- In 1945, communists took power in Albania, Bulgaria (elected by coalition, executed

opposition), & East Germany

- In 1947, communists took over Romania (abolished monarchy), Poland (arrested opposition,
won by election)

- Hungary – arrested and executed opposition using secret police, churches were attacked.
- In 1948, communist leader Gottwald took power in Czechoslovakia by controlling the radio,
army, police and arresting opposition. Non-communist minister Masaryk committed suicide.

- 1949, GDR (German democratic republic) was established

• How did the United States react to Soviet expansionism?
- American reactions to it
- US gave aid to Greece and Turkey during their civil wars when Britain withdrew (Feb 1947) to
prevent

- The Truman doctrine (12th March 1947) introduced containment* and marshal plan to extenuate
Soviet foothold in Europe, prevent breeding ground for totalitarianism by eliminating poverty.
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Containment: USA accepted Eastern Europe as communist sphere but would "contain!#any
further expansion. Prepared to send money, equipment and advice to any country under
communist threat e.g. Greece and Czechoslovakia. Initially not approved by congress, when
communists won the civil war in Czechoslovakia (1948), Marshall Aid worth $17 billion was
released. (March 1948).

- Marshall Aid offered to all countries including USSR & discussed during Paris Conference (July
1947), but Stalin forbade communists to go. Started Cominform (Oct 1947) and COMECON to
support iron curtain economies.

- Iron curtain speech led to an atmosphere of tension, recrimination and mutual demonization.
What were the aims of the Marshall Plan?

To aid rebuilding of Europe

- To restore economy and curb communism!s appeal and spread capitalism
Form allies close to USSR & extenuate their foothold
Expand markets to prevent worldwide slump
Dominate Europe by making them dependent on $

Cominform aims:

- Spread revolution and provide assistance to Soviet satellites & communist parties
- Defend satellites against US influence
- Keep a close eye on satellites
Ensure loyalty
All Eastern European countries must be communist

Cominform = was the official central organization of the International Communist Movement from
1947 to 1956, as an inexplicit successor to the Comintern Third International. Cominform was a
supranational alliance of Marxist-Leninist communist parties in Europe to coordinate their activity
under the direction of the Soviet Union during the early Cold War.

• What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade?

– the occupation of Germany and the Berlin Blockade

- Background: As Marshall Aid (response to Czech communists – paranoia) was started in March
1948, Stalin began partial blockage on roadways to Berlin. Aim: to stamp his authority on Berlin
as he was helpless about everything else, force allies out of Berlin, making West Berlin
dependent on USSR, he wanted to destroy Germany & saw Marshall Aid as dollar imperialism
which was a threat to USSR, also to stop Germany recovering to prevent threat to USSR. On
1st June 1948, West Germany was a new country – FDR and on 23rd June had a new currency
= which led to economic crisis for USSR.

- Consequences: Germany permanently divided. Iron curtain concept strengthened. An open

confrontation of the cold war, tensions got much worse. NATO formed in 1949 and Warsaw
Pact in 1955 - two armed camps. Arms race also began set up a "tense balance!#with no hot
war which was symbolic of the cold war period. Tensions increased as allies merged zones
(1946 – Trizonia), new currency/new countries/iron curtain speech, Berlin blockade, Marshall
Aid. (1945- 1949)

- Destalinization: Policy started by Khrushchev during the era of peaceful coexistence. Tito
(Yugoslavia) was allowed autonomy to ease relations, who then left Warsaw Pact. Closed down
Cominform as a part of his policy of reconciliation with Tito. Khrushchev thought Stalin was
inhumane, so he invited Tito to Moscow and dismissed Molotov, executed Beria (head of state
secret police), set free political prisoners, pulled out of Austria, met western leaders at post war
summits (July !55) and criticized Stalin!s Purges, terror, tyranny on 20th party congress, eased
relation with China, reduced arms expenditure, improved living standards. Main aim did not

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change: must create buffer against attack from West through Warsaw Pact.

• Who was the more to blame for starting the Cold War: the United States or the USSR?
- NATO pact and the Warsaw Pact
- Blame USSR for radical ideology dedicated to world revolution and justifies perception of threat
- Blame USA for underestimating USSR!s loss and misperceiving defence as hostility
- Blame both for miscommunication, tension, and ideological differences.
- The Warsaw Treaty Organisation, officially the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual
Assistance, commonly known as the Warsaw Pact, was a collective defence treaty signed in
Warsaw, Poland between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics of
Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955, during the Cold War.

Who signed:
- Soviet Union
- Albania,
- Bulgaria,
- Czechoslovakia,
- East Germany,
- Hungary,
- Poland,
- Romania.

- The United States and 11 other nations establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
a mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet expansion 1949

Who signed
- Belgium,
- Canada,
- Denmark,
- France,
- Iceland,
- Italy,
- Luxembourg,
- the Netherlands,
- Norway,
- Portugal,
- the United Kingdom
- the United States

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5 How effectively did the United States contain the spread of Communism?

This Key Question will be explored through case

studies of the following:

• The United States and events in Korea, 1950–53

– American reactions to North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, involvement of the UN,
course of the war to 1953

background:

- korea was ruled by Japan but once Japan lost WW2 they lost korea as a territory. (1910 - 1945)
- North Korea was liberated by the USSR
- South Korea was liberated by the USA
- The teritiry line between north and south Lorea was called the 38th parallel
- Due to the USA in the south and the USSR in the north korea became a hot bed for cold war
tension.
- Korea was the first time the USA and USSR engaged in a proxy war
- North Korea = the democratic peoples republic of korea
- South Korea was called the republic of korea
- The first leader of north korea was called Kim ill sun
- The first president of south korea was called syngman Rhee
- North Korea invaded south korea in 1950 which was brought about by intense hostility between
the two countries

United Nations resolution 83

- Truman used the US’s influence in the un security council to further his agenda of Communism
containment in alignment with his new foreign policy
- The soviet union had the power had the power to veto but was boycotting the UN due to
disagreement over communist china
- USA = biggest financial contributor to the UN
- Involvement in korea was under the auspice of a UN sponsored operation
UN involvement

- Under the resolution UN committed to using member armies to drive north out of the south
- UN forces stormed Inchon- September 1950
- At the same time other UN forces and south korean troops advanced from Pusan
- By October 1950 the UN had achieved its goal of removing the north korean troops from south
korea

Invade china?

- The USA considered this option when they reached the Yalu river during the north korean push
back but Chinese troops equip with soviet equipment joined north korea which meant the UN
was forces back into south korea

Winter 1950 - 1951

- President Truman said soldiers would be home by Christmas they where not
- It was very cold and terrain unfamiliar to them

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April - June 1951

- General MacAurther who was leading the south korean and America troops wanted to go as far
as nuking and invading china to win
- Truman said no because the policy was containment not eradication and fired macaurther
- The June 1951 peace talks began but fighting didn’t stop

July 1953

- Truman was replaced by Eisenhower

- Stalin died leave the north korean and Chinese troops less confident
- The new boarder between the 2 countries was not much different at all
Consequences of Korean War

- At the end of WW2 the USA came up with the policy of containment that dictated foreign
relations
- Truman had sent, advisors, supplies and war ships to south Korea
- The un sent troops to aid in south korea
- The total casualties was 1.4 million
Outcomes

- Korea showed the USA had the will and the means to control Communism
- Showed the limits of the policy- north remained communist
- Highlighted tension in america and showed how far anticommunists wanted to go
- North Korea became and communist dictator ship and a nuclear power
- To this day they are a pain in the USA’s ass

Methods of containment

- Alliances with anticommunist countries

- Building nuclear weapons

• The United States and events in Cuba, 1959–62

– American reactions to the Cuban revolution, including the missile crisis and its aftermath

- American reaction to Cuban revolution (1958, led by Fidel Castro Castro-claimed he

wanted to merely run Cuba without American interference. However, by summer 1960
he was receiving arms from USSR)

- Aftermath: Bay of Pigs fiasco encouraged spread of communism, consolidated

Castro’s power & popularity, led to Cuba being aligned with Moscow. May 1962: USSR
publicly announced military support for Cuba. July 1962: Cuba best equipped army in
Latin America. On 11th Sept., US warned USSR against nuclearization of Cuba

Cuban Missile Crisis:

- Ongoing tensions at all time high: competition, space race, arms race, nuclear testing,
Vietnam war, failed Vietnam summit and Berlin Wall

- On 14th Oct 1962, an American U-2 spy plane flew over Cuba and discovered nuclear
missile bases, also 20 ships carrying missiles from USSR

Kennedy’s options:

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- Do nothing: would be very dangerous to overreact but did not want to show weakness
- Surgical air attack: destroy missiles but if any were left they may be used in counter
attack and There may be soviet collateral damage. Attack without advance warning
was immoral.

- Invade Cuba by sea and air: would guarantee soviet response to protect Cuba or within
soviet sphere of influence

- Diplomatic pressures through UN: would avoid conflict but US would look weak
- Blockade/quarantine: show US was serious but not an act of war, but would not get rid
of existing missiles

Khrushchev’s intent:

- To defend Cuba
- To rest American strength – whether they would back off or face up
- To trap the USA into nuclear war – he did not even try to hide them
- To get upper hand in arms race due to concern over missile gap would prevent US ever
launching 1st strike

- To bargain with USA for concessions: remove military bases in Turkey & Italy (events of
pg. 350 = important!)

- Aftermath: helped to thaw relations and allayed pursuit of brinkmanship. White House
to Kremlin hotline sets up, 1963 – Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

• American involvement in Vietnam.

– American involvement in the Vietnam War, e.g. reasons for involvement, tactics/strategy,
reasons for withdrawal

Who were the Viet Minh?

•
- During the Second World War, when France (ex-colonial ruler of Vietnam) was defeated by
Germany, Japan took control of Vietnamese resources (coal, rice, rubber, railways, roads) which
led to the formation of a strong anti-Japanese resistance movement called Viet Minh, led by
communist Ho Chi Minh, who inspired Vietnamese peasants to flight for an independent
Vietnam. In 1945 they entered Hanoi and declared independence this led to war in 1946
between the French and Viet Minh. When communists took over in China, American paranoia
grew, and they spent $500 million a year to keep up anti-Viet Minh effort and keep Vietnam
non-communist.

What was the domino theory?

•
- American theory that USSR trying to spread communism all over Asia; Laos, Cambodia,
Thailand, Burma, India may fall to communism one after the other like a row of dominoes after
Vietnam, the first domino.

What were the Geneva agreements of 1954?

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- They split up Indochina into different countries like Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand
- Split Vietnam at 17th parallel.
- Vietminh pulled out of south (replaced by Diem), French pulled out of north (replaced by Ho Chi
Minh)

- Free elections to take place July 1956

Why did US get involved?

•
- Containment: domino theory – paranoia about Indochina, China had turned communist in 1949
- Viet Minh seen as Chinese puppets and containment in Korea failed had to compete with
USSR.

- French army (AVRN) too weak, ill equipped and inefficient to defeat Viet Cong (Viet Minh) and
could not cope with guerrilla warfare. South Vietnam could not win by itself.

- US had been attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats – USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin
(August 1964); February 1965 –Vietcong had attacked US airbases, US soldiers killed

How did the US get involved?

•
- US was attacked and needed to face up to communism
- Had been pouring in $500 million to support the French against Viet Minh communists already
- Supported Diem!s (He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam, and then served as
President of South Vietnam from 1955 until he was captured and assassinated during the 1963
military coup) corrupt and inefficient government who would have to give in to communists on
their own.

How did US get out?

•
- Pressure on USSR and China – they had fallen out of an alliance, USA tried to improve relations
with them individually (SALT with USSR, Feb 1972 Nixon visited China) to persuade them to
pressure North Vietnam to end the war

- Peace negotiations with North Vietnam – early 1969 – Henry Kissinger met with Vietnamese Le
Duc Tho

- Vietnamization of the war effort – building up South Vietnamese forces and withdrawing 400,
000 US troops from April 1969 to end of 1971

- Bombing – increased bombing campaigns against North Vietnam to show he was not weak.
Also, invaded Viet Cong bases in Cambodia.

Why did US fail to defeat the Viet Minh?

•
- US had hi-tech tactics that used B-52 bombers, artillery and helicopters and killed innocent
people demoralizing their own troops and losing local support (South Vietnamese peasants)
whereas the Viet Minh used guerrilla warfare tactics, which were appropriate to the nature of
the war and the relief features of Vietnam – they used booby traps, land mines, did not wear
uniform and mixed with and helped the peasants which made it difficult to distinguish them and

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they won local support.

- American troops were inexperienced and South Vietnamese government was inefficient and
corrupt, whereas Viet Cong represented people well and had been fighting with Japan since
World War 2 and later on with the French. They were determined to achieve independence and
victory, whatever the cost. American troops had hit rock bottom morale, it was an unpopular
war – whereas Viet Cong was motivated for unification.

- US had supplies coming from 8000 miles away whereas Viet Cong were supplied weapons by
USSR and China through HO Chi Minh trail. Could not attack this trial without escalating the
war.

Why did the war rouse so much opposition in America?

•
- Casualties, fighting for their country 8000 miles away – public did not buy it, failures & horrors
of war and My Lai massacre publicized. Johnson had to cancel "The Great Society!#reform plan
due to the cost. Even Martin Luther King opposed the war. Containment had failed and 58, 000
casualties. 1973 Truman Doctrine abandoned.

Vietnam & containment: A failure

•
- Militarily
- Politically = sped up domino effect. By 1975, both Laos and Cambodia were communist

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6 How secure was the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe, 1948–c.1989?

• Why was there opposition to Soviet control in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in
1968, and how did the USSR react to this opposition?
- resistance to Soviet power in Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968)

Hungary 1956: Stalin had died, Nikita Khrushchev had come into power and had done so by
openly criticising Stalin and created problems for stalinist governments. 200 000 people took to
the streets of Budapest to protest stalinist control by Moscow in Hungary. Hungarian soldiers took
the side of the protesters who where being strongly encouraged by radio free Europe and gave
the impression that western powers would come help. The prime minister at the time Imry Nagy
also announced that Hungary was leaving the Warsaw Pact and announced its neutrality

Soviet response; Krushchev did not accept Hungary leaving the Warsaw Pact and sent
thousands of troops and tanks back into Budapest The Hungarians fought against the Russian
Army for 2 weeks Even though Hungary called out to the West for help - The West did not want to
get involved and risk a full-scale war Many people were killed in the fight but eventually the
Soviet Army defeated the Hungarian rebels Nagy and his fellow leaders were captured and
executed

Czechoslovakia 1968: the Prague spring was caused by Czechoslovakias leader, dubceks want
for reforms such as, freedom of speech, workers councils and trade unions, new freely elected
parliament. The event happened in august when dubcek sent in 200 000 troops and 2000 tanks
to capture Prague, 72 protesters where killed and the government was toppled. Dubcek was
arrested but not executed.

Soviet response; The Soviet Army together with Polish and East German troops carried out
training exercises right on the Czech border to warn Dubcek of their continued power and
strength, Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, Dubcek was removed from power -
replaced by a hard-line supporter of the USSR, The Bezhnev Doctrine was established - the
Soviet Leader stated that Iron Curtain countries would not be allowed to abandon Communism
and would consequently rule as one-party states as members of the Warsaw Pact

• How similar were events in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968?

S Causes: opposed government control by Moscow and a battle between leaders close to
Moscow and leaders sympathetic to to public opinion.

D causes: hungry = an reaction to events such as Stalins death and and Poland, the protests
began as sympathy for the poles and escalated into demand for their freedom
Prague= economic weakness and poor living standard
The events where also 12 years apart, Hungarians thought they could leave Warsaw Czechs new
that it wasn’t possible so they went for less drastic reforms

S events: there was alliance between those who wanted communist reform and those who where
more nationalistic. Students where central to both events in Budapest and Prague. The USSR
allowed escalation to a point then used lethal force to crush the opposition

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D events: Prague spring was less of a threat then nags reforms, Dubcek never threatened to leave
Warsaw while Nagy did and appealed to united nations, the Hungarians believe I outside support
and consequently it was farm more violent.

S consequences: both cases lead to a strengthening on Moscow’s control on the buffer zone,
popularity of the west decreased cause of failure to support both revolutions, both courts had to
wait till late 80s to oppose Communism again

D consequences: Budapest death toll was far higher then Prague. Brezhnev used Warsaw forces
while Khrushchev used USSR forces.

• Why was the Berlin Wall built in 1961?

– the Berlin Wall

Thousands of people where leaving east Germany and going to the west for a better life. Kennedy
refused to remove troops from Berlin after khruschevs demands to do so. The wall was built in the
early. Morning hours Sunday the 13th of august 1961. All free movement d=from east to west was
ended. One check point, check point Charlie,
Berlin was divided between East and West since the end of World War II, with the Western powers
occupying the Western portion and the Soviet Union occupying the East.
After increasing tensions between the Soviets and the Western powers during the first 15 years of
the Cold War, the Soviet Union decided to build a physical barrier between East and West Berlin,
thereby creating a real counterpoint to the symbolic “Iron Curtain” that had divided East and West
since 1945.
The main purpose of the Wall was to prevent East Germans from fleeing, thus stopping an
economically disastrous migration of workers

• What was the significance of ‘Solidarity’ in Poland for the decline of Soviet influence in
Eastern Europe?
‘ –Solidarity’ in Poland

Background to Solidarity:
- Regular protests in Poland usually about low wages or high food prices
- In the late 1970!s the economy hit crisis & government could not solve the problems with
propaganda.
- 1976 – 1979 were terrible years for Polish industry, 1979 being the worst.
- Small independent trade unions were set up and strikes broke out all over the country.
- 1980 free trade union (Solidarity started by Lech Walesa) they wanted free trade unions &
right to strike
- Government agreed all 21 of their demands.
- Membership of solidarity grew to 9.4 mill. (Jan 1981)
- Poland sinks into chaos.
- December 1981 Brezhnev orders Red Army manoeuvres on Polish border, introduces Martial
Law imprison Lech Walesa and 10,000 others & suspends solidarity.

Why Soviet/Polish government accepted Solidarity in 1980:

- Union was strongest in most important industries – ship building and heavy industry –
general strike would cripple economy.
- Not seen as a threat to communist party. Only 5% members thought Solidarity
plans> government
- Lech Walesa tried to avoid provoking any disputes and portrayed and accepted as folk hero.
- Solidarity spirit attracted West & was good propaganda
Why Soviet/Polish government clamped down by martial law on Solidarity in December 1981:
- Increasing signs Solidarity acting as a political party – more of a threat. Talked of setting up
new government without communist party.
- Poland sinking into chaos – food shortages, rationing, rising unemployment, strikes out of
control. Russia worried people would turn to Solidarity and not communism.
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- Solidarity was also sinking into chaos. Many different groups in the union, one group issued
a statement that Poles were fighting $for your freedom and ours”. Groups threatened to pull
Solidarity apart – Lech Walesa unable or unwilling to control them. Threat to Russia

• How far was Gorbachev personally responsible or the collapse of Soviet control over
Eastern Europe? Gorbachev and the collapse of Soviet control over Eastern Europe

Role of Gorbachev:

- Brezhnev ignored the needs for reforms in the 1980s, internal corruption, USSR in crisis, locked
in costly and unwinnable war in Afghanistan ("Soviet Vietnam!), economy did not generate
growth, chronic alcoholism and demotivation amongst workers draining economy, too much
money spent on arms race, genuinely wanted to introduce economic reform and recovery.

- Introduced "Perestroika!#(restructuring) open debate on economy, "Glasnost!#(openness) made it

legal to buy and sell for profit

- Abandoned Brezhnev doctrine

- Encouraged nationalism in soviet sphere
Role of other factors:
- Arms race/costs of competing with USA, industrially, militarily and in proxy wars, especially
Afghanistan, cause too much strain
- Nationalism in satellite states and rise of Solidarity in Poland
- There were also spiritual influences from the Pope and Islam and the attraction of western
consumption due to reduction in censorship
- Drastic fall in oil prices in the 1980s which deprived the Soviet Union of resources that were
necessary at a critical time.

Hungry key bitches Key bitches

• Josef Tito: was the leader of Yugoslavia and inspiration to many on leading as a communist
party not under USSR control. Allied with USSR till 1948
• Stalin: was the leader of the USSR. Through ww2. In office from 3 April 1922 - 16 October 1953
(his death) and the creator of the buffer zone.
• Matyas Rakosi: was a ruthless communist leader favoured by Stalin and was an avid stalinist.
He lost his position to Imry Nagy after Stalins death. Removed from any semblance of power in
July 1956
• Laszlo Rajk: foreign minister of Hungarian communist party. Executed by Matyas Rakosi in
1946. There was a funeral from him in 1956 on oct 6th which became a public demonstration by
200000 people against stalinist control in Hungary by Moscow
• Imry Nagy: was not a stalinist spent WW2 in Moscow and wanted reforms, but was removed
from his prime minister of the Hungarian communist party position in 1955 threw opposition
from general secretary Rakosi. Him and his colleagues where executed in secret in 1958
• Nitita Krushchev: leader of the USSR rose to power in 1956. His deciding factor on his win was
his “secret speech” in which he openly admitted that stale had made mistakes and openly
criticised the former dictator. Removed from power in 1964
• Erno Gero: Rakosis replacement, a stalinist. He was unable to control a campaign in Hungarian
party to correct the error of the the purges in 1949
• Janos kadar: replacement of Imry Nagy rules for 3 decades.

Czechoslovakia key bitches

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• Jan Masaryk: son of Czechoslovakias founder and foreign minister was the only non communist
left in the government and died mysteriously after Stalins ordered complete government take
over
• Vaclav Havel: wrote totalitarian plays in 1960s and was imprisoned twice for his outspoken
political views.
• Antoni novotny: leader of Czechoslovakia since Gottwalds death in 1953 replaced by Alexander
dubcek in 1968 as first secretary
• Alexander dubcek: first secretary of czech, and communist reformer. Had many reforms but did
not intend to end communism or leave Warsaw Pact. To brave and was arrested in 1968 after
his invasion and tried take over of Prague. But returned to politics in 1989 when Communism
collapsed in czech
• Leonid Brezhnev: successor of Khrushchev.

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7 Why did events in the Gulf matter, c.1970–2000?

• Saddam Husseins rise to power in Iraq

1. He had a strong power base

- Saddam ensured he maintained control over important political positions in the ruling Baath
Party. He also controlled the most important departments in the government and the army.

- Saddam placed family and friends in positions of political power (political nepotism).
- Saddam placed friends and allies in important positions in the Iraqi army = military power
2. He was popular with the people

- Under Saddam's rule, Iraq nationalised its oil industry in 1972 (taking power and money away
from the British). This was a popular move.

- Using the wealth from oil, Iraq's education, health, and welfare sectors saw massive
improvements!

- Under Saddam's early rule, Iraq's economy and infrastructure improved significantly: electricity,
agriculture, road networks, etc

3. He increased his control

- Saddam and the Baathists extended their control in Iraqi society: Trade unions, schools, and
sports clubs came under government control.

- Members of Saddam's Baath political party were given the best positions in government.
- Education featured propaganda: to save the youth from the influence of foreign (Western)
culture and promote Arab pride and nationalism

4. He used political repression

- The Iraqi armed forces were kept under control by means of: indoctrination, the rotation of
officers, as well as the imprisonment and execution of anybody suspected of disloyalty to
Saddam and his government.

- The secret police maintained control over members of the Baath party and the army.
- Saddam's political enemies and dissenters were silenced
• What was the nature of Saddam Husseins rule in Iraq

In 1979 he was a general in the Iraq armed forces

He became president in 1979
He was the head of the nationalistic Baath party of Iraq
He was in power from 1979 - 2003 (25 years)

What he did while in power

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Good
- He made improvements in education, health and welfare

Bad
- Any who opposed him was killed
- He had televised trials of his political opponents
- Propaganda that grossly glorified him
- He used chemical weaponry for mass executions of the Kurdish people of northern Iraq
- From 1980-1981 he deported 200000 shite muslims because he thought he couldn’t trust their
loyalty; he was a Sunni Muslim

• Why was there a revolution in Iraq 1979

Iran in the 20th century

- Was an independently country who had a shah (supreme leader) and their oil industry was
controlled by Britain
- After ww2 they wanted more control over their oil industry, Mohommed Mossadeq became
prime minister In 1951, when he nationalised Iran oil industry
- The British where not happy so they applied international pressure on the industry to regain
control

Overthrow of Mossadeq

- He was popular at first and was seen as anti western because his iron assertion of Iran
independence

Britain and use VS Mossadeq

- Britain lost control of Iran oil industry when Mossadeq came into power cause it was
nationalised and put in control of the Iranian government
- 1953 Britain fought back against losing control of the oil industry
- Britain convinced USA Iran was a communist threat to get their help over throwing Mossadeq
- This was at the height of the cold war so it was easy to USA to help especially since Iran
shared a lengthy boarder with Russia

After Mossadeq

- Shah was replaced with a pro western prime minister

- Mossadeq imprisoned and the Iranian parliament was shut down
- Western oil companies negotiated 40% of profits from oil industry
- Shah was an ally to western powers to increase their control over the oil companies
- Irans wealth grew and so did their infrastructure and society
- There was still a huge wage gap that would help fuel the revolution

The fall of the last shah

- 1970 shah faced major opposition to his power because

I. The suspension of parliament
II. Mullahs (religious heads) criticism
III. Critiques where on wealth, luxury, corruption, being a western puppet and supporting the
state of Israel
- He responded to the critiques by exercising his power, his secret police arrested, executed and
torched any one who opposed his power
- Ayatollah Khomeini was a religious leader who lead the opposition
- Ayatollah Khomeini was sent into exile but still inspired a revolution

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Beginning of the revolution

- I978 there where hungriest of strikes, protests and demonstrations calling for the abdication of
the shah. This was met with the military suppressing and killing protesters. There seemed to be
never ending protesters however

Revolution time line

October 1978 Strikes brought the Iranian industry to a stand still
End of 1978 Even soldiers started sympathising with the protesters
January 1979 Shah left Iran and didn’t return
February 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile and declared a revolution
March 1979 Public forum was held and itv was declared that Iran could become an islamic
republic

Iran as an islamic state

- Ayatollah Khomeini became supreme leader by 1982

- Shiite was dominant
- New laws based on the koran where introduced
- Western culture was out lawed
- No alcohol
- Ayatollah Khomeini wanted to spread the revolution to other parts of the islamic world (the
middle east)

Storming the US embassy

- USA known as “the great Satan” because they where the ally of the last shah
- When the shah was allowed rot enter the USA Iranian students stormed the US embassy in
Tehran and took 50 American hostages, the US condemned the actions of Iran
- Ayatollah Khomeini was praised by millions in the middle ease for taking a stand against the
west

• What where the causes and consequences of the Iran Iraq war 1980 - 1988

Causes
- October 22 1980 Iraq invades Iranian province of Hosenstan
Why
1. Ayatollah Khomeini said Iraq where not good enough muslims, Saddam Hussein was a sunni
and Ayatollah Khomeini was a shiite
2. Saddam had evidence that Iran was involved in the assassination of Baath party members
and was afraid he was next
3. Saddam wanted to expand Iraq and though the considering the revolution Iran was weak
4. Iraq thought they could gain control of oil rich lands and would that it would grant them better
access to the sea

Ceasefire

- July 1988 Iranians accepted a ceasefire

- This was a brutal war the cause the death of millions including civilians
Consequences

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For Iraq For iran

Economy and society damaged Ayatollah Khomeini pushed the war to its
limits
Went into debt of 80 million dollars Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989 and was still
respected by millions of shiite muslims
Estimated 500000 people killed Economy destroyed

Unemployment became a problem 1 million died

Oil industry and decreased value Failed to spread shiite outside of Iran

There was lots of civil unrest the leaded to rebellion

and attempted over throw of Saddam

• Why did the first gulf war take place

Invasion of Kuwait

- Kuwait financially supported drag during the war but when it was over Iraq could not repay
Kuwait and this sparked conflict between the two
- 1988 drag expressed concerns regarding oil prices stating that higher prices would help there
increase revenue and repay their debts
- There was a financial crisis in bagdad and Kuwaits refusal to reduce its oil production was seen
as an act of aggression
- This caused Iraq to move its troops to the southern boarder of Kuwait
- Iraq invaded Kuwait the war lasted 2 days and ended in an Iraqi win and the death of a Kuwaiti
prince
- In 1991 operation desert storm was launched by the coalition forces to force Iraq out of Kuwait
- On February 27th Iraq removed its forced from Kuwait but not before destroying 20billion
dollars worth of oil and starting a fire that lasted for several months

Responses

- United Nations: condemned Iraq and implemented economic sanctions that prevented Iraq
from trading with any country’s across the world
- USA; was worried they would get control over Saudi Arabias oil fields as well and made sure
the sent air force back up to Saudi Arabia to aid in the conflict to prevent this from happening

Saddam’s response

- He ignored the worlds responses

Gulf War 1990 Causes and Effects

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Causes Effects
• The Gulf War actually started when Iraq was at war with Iran. During this • Most of the economic costs were incurred by Iraq.
war Iran was not only attacking Iraq but also attacking oil tankers from Losses in military equipment alone totaled over $50
Kuwait at sea too. To support the ending of the war Kuwait financially aided billion. The cost of the war to the United States was
Iraq by lending the country 14 Billion US Dollars. Iraq tried to convince calculated by the U.S. Congress to be $61.1 billion.
Kuwait to dissolve the debt as Iraq had done Kuwait a favour by being at
war with Iran, Kuwait declined and this caused a rift between the two • Over 1,000 Kuwaiti civilians were killed by Iraqis.
countries. More than 600 Kuwaitis went missing during Iraq's
occupation.
• Next Iraq started alleging that Kuwait was drilling in a diagonal manner into
Iraq oil field territory over the border; this would mean that Kuwait was • 146 American soldiers died and 47 British soldiers.
stealing Iraq’s oil.

• On 23 January, Iraq dumped 400 million US gallons

• Saddam Hussein decided that he had no other option but military might so of crude oil into the Persian Gulf, causing the largest
he stationed 100,000 troops on the border and in early August invaded offshore oil spill in history at that time.
Kuwait. As the Iraqi forces invaded and took over Kuwait they set fire to
hundreds of Kuwaiti oil fields on the way.
• The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by the Iraqi military
setting fire to 700 oil wells as part of a scorched
earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991
after conquering the country but being driven out by
Coalition forces. The fires started in January and
February 1991 and the last one was extinguished by
November 1991.

- He declared Kuwait a province of Iraq

Depth Study B: Germany, 1918–45

1 Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start?

• How did Germany emerge from defeat at the end of the First World War?

Revolution of 1918 and the establishment of the republic

- End of 1918 Germany was losing to war
- While to army was retreating under the attach of the British and French kaiser Wilhelm
II ordered the Germany navy on a suicide mission to attach the allies
- This caused the sailors based at Kiel to mutiny on the ninth of November, this is what
started the revolution
- Believing he could no longer trust his army the Kaiser abdicated, he handed power to
the chancellor who handed it to Friedrich Ebert head of the largest party in the
Reichstag the social democrats
- Ebert needed the support of the military support so he formed the Ebert-Groener pact
where in the new government would receive military support and the military would
receive support from the new government
- On 11 November Matthias Erzberger signed the armistice with the allies
- Germany was forced to retreat from France but they had to leave all heavy weapons
The Weimar constitution
- In 1919 the new constitution was signed, this new system was called the Weimar
Republic and was a democratic institution
- Many thought this would lesson any punishment that may as it was directly in line with
Woodrow Wilsons 14 points

Democracy Everyone over the age of 20 could vote. Political parties where represented in a
parliament called the Reichstag. Voting in elections was by ‘proportional
representation

Rights Every German citizen had freedom of speech, freedom of religion and equality
before the law

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Chancellor Appointed ministers who ran the government on a daily basis the support of the
Reichstag was needed for this position so usefully the head of the largest party
was appointed chancellor

President Head of the state could appoint and dismiss the chancellor and article 48
allowed for them to let chancellor pass emergency decrees

Regions Germany was made up of 17 individual states called ‘lander’ which had power
over things like police and education

Justice The press appointed judges. Anyone who tried to over throw the new
constitution could be charged with treason

• What was the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on the Republic?

German reactions
- May 1919 germanys new government was given the provisional peace terms to reject
or accept, Willson had not kept his promises
- Germany was to be heavily punished they also had to take responsibility for starting the
war
- The germans had no choice but to accept
- Germany was face with possible mutiny, revolution, economic collapse, a continuing
blockade and invasion.
- The treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28th 1919
- Common phrases in Germany at the time where:
- Many ex-soldiers believed that the war was not lost on the battle field but by corrupt
politicians it was referred to as “the stab in the back”
- The politicians who signed the armistice in November 1918 where called the
“November criminals
- Versailles was referred to as a diktat
- The league of nations was referred to as the “league of victors” and was beloved that
it existed only to keep Germany week

At the end of the war Germany was divided into 3 main groups of political opinion

Left Centre left and centre right Right

Beliefs An equal society based on Democracy and a new constitution. Return of the monarchy,
communism, they where They wanted reform and protection of private property,
inspired by Lenin’s bolsheviks in democracy, not revolution. defeat of communism, strong
Russia who achieved a government, rebuilt German
revolution in 1917 prosperity and power

Suppoters The working class and the poor, Working and middle classes. Conservatives, nationalists,
reped by the spartacists (later Included social democrats centre monarchists, big businesses, the
the KPD) various liberal and conservative army and the freikorps, people
party’s who lost money during hyper
inflation and hush unemployment

Left-wing political developments

- January 1919 the spartacist party lead by rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
attempted to take control of the government buildings but where stoped by the army
under the Ebert-Groener pact

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- February 1919 Bavaria’s leader was killed and the communists seized power. By march
the army had regained control of the area and around 600 communists where killed
- In 1920 a communist take over was attempted in the Ruhr, it gained 50,000 members
but where defeated by the Friekorps and the army, 1000 workers where lost 250 police
men and soldiers killed
- The communists continued to cause trouble up until 1923

Right-wing political developments

- Friekorps supported government in 1918 and 1919 cause many ex-soldiers hated
communists
- Once the threat of a communist revolution seemed over president Ebert orders them to
disband in 1920
- One Friekorps leader, general Luttwitz refused and joined forces with the leader of the
patriotic fatherland party, Wolfgang Kapp
- 12000 Friekorps they marched on Berlin in the Kapp putsch, the Ebert-Groener pact
failed; the army refused to shoot on ex-soldiers who they fought with in the war
- Kapp was made chancellor of the new militaristic government but it had little support
- Berlin workers opposed to Kapp organised a general strike, the putsch failed after only
4 days and Kapp fled to Sweden to and never returned
- Hitler found out in 1923 that many judges sympathised with the right wing
- The Friekops made a new association called the organisation consul which
assassinated government officials
- By 1923 they had killed 354 politicians including Matthias Erzberger and Walther
Rathenau
- One 28 convictions for these killings with one death penalty
The French occupation of the Ruhr 1923
- In April 1921 the reparations Germany was made to pay where set. The amount was
6.6 billion euros
- In 1922 the government could not afford to pay the next instalment
- No one would grant concessions and when the payment deadline wasn’t met in
January 1923 French and Belgian troops stormed and took the Ruhr to seize good in
payment
- The government ordered a policy of passive resistance not fighting but not cooperating
either But when no support arrived the people got antsy and started to oppose the
occupation forces, French soldiers killed roughly 100 protesters and expelled 100,000
from the region
- The government panicked and started printing more money, short term this worked as
they payed off 2.2 billion but with time it created a hyperinflation issue
- Many people benefited at they could pay off loans and mortgages
- Others lost out as wages did not raise with the increasing costs and savings became
useless and old people with fixed monthly pension became thrust into poverty
- Gustave Stresseman became chancellor in august 1923 and ended the passive
resistance, he resumed the reparations payments and abolished the worthless currency
- The French and Belgian forces retreated from the Ruhr.
- Stresseman was unliked as he gave into the French and resigned as chancellor in
November, he later became the foreign minister of the new government

• To what extent did the Republic recover after 1923?

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- Stressemans role as foreign minister allowed him to rebuild relations with other
European countries
- The French action over the Ruhr was widely seen as extreme and Stresseman had
compromised, this opened up chances of discussing germanys future with other
governments
- In 1923 Rtresseman recalled all the old useless currency and replaced it with the
Rentenmark which was replaced with the Reichsmark in 1924 which solved Germanys
money problem
- In 1924 the Dawes plan with the reparations committee that meant Germany wild pay
reparations when they where able to and the occupation of the Ruhr would be ended
- America loved germany 800 million Reichmarks with help kick start germanys
economic growth and by 1928 the German industry was back to where it was in 1914
- In 1929 there was a mother deal that the reparations would be cut to 1.85 billion and
more loans where to be given, by the time this agreement came into action stresseman
had died and and the American economy had bombed cause of the wall street crash of
October 1929
- By 1929 Germany had been largely rehabilitated

• What were the achievements of the Weimar period?

- In the 1924 elections the supporters got 52% of the seats in the Reichstag and
opponents got 39.4
- In 1928 support was at 72.8% and opposition was at 13.3%
- The culture shifted as well, places like Berlin became more liberal, it was a city of night
clubs, cabarets, and tolerance of different life styles and cinema became popular.
Modern music and jazz where also adopted
- However there where still problems including, economic recovery was based on
American finances, and while reparations has been reduce versailles had not been
changed
- Ebert a centre left died in 1925 and was replaced with right wing Paul von Hindenburg

2 Why was Hitler able to dominate Germany by 1934?

• What did the Nazi Party stand for in the 1920s?

Jan 1919 Anton Drexler founded the ‘German workers party’ (DAP). In September of 1919 Adolf
hitler who worked as an informant in the army joined and was later put in charge of propaganda
and in 1920 he became the leader.

Nazi ideas and methods in DAP 1920-1921

- Hitler changed the name to national socialist German workers party (Nazi)
- Helped write 25- point programme in 1920
- Introduced swastika as as party symbol
- Set up Sturm Abteilung (SA) as the paramilitary wing
- Bought Munich newspaper Volkischer Beobacher to spread propaganda
- Introduced the salute- “Heil Hitler”

• Why did the Nazis have little success before 1930?

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Munich putsch 1923

- 1923 nazi had 20,000 members… hitler wanted to seize power
- Needed Bavarian state government (Gustav Von Kahr) support and the army (general Otto Von
Lossow)
- 8 November 1923 Kahr was giving a speech in the Munich beer hall
- Hitler marched in and fired a gun having the SA surround the building
- The leaders when not convinced and hitler was convinced to stand down
- 9 November hitler + 2000 nazis marched towards the city centre
- Kahr and Lossow had alerted the police and army
- 6 nazis where killed and the leaders arrested
Hitlers trial and sentence
- Went in February 1924
- In 1924 elections nazis won 32 seats in the Reichstag with 6.5% of the vote cause hitler was
known out side of Bavaria for the first time
- Guilty of high treason and given a lenient sentence from the right wing judge
- He served 9 month of a 5 year sentence and wrote “Mein Kampf” which set out his political
beliefs

Changing methods: the legal strategy

- Hitler released in December 1924 and the nazis had called into disarray
- He reorganised and announced his new strategy which was to campaign and become the most
popular party in Germany
- Hitler divided Germany into Gaus and each would have a Gauleiter responsible for spreading
the party message
- He also came up with the organisations:
A. The hitler youth
B. The order of German women
C. The Nazi teachers association
D. The union of nazi lawyers
- 1925- 1928 party increased from 27,000 to 108,000
- 1926 hitler implemented Furhrerprinzip making his authority unquestionable
- The was important as some more let-wing member like Gregor and Otto Strasser argued
against some of the right wing policies

The work of the SA and SS

- SA formed in 1920 as a unit to protect nazi speakers at meetings, lead by Ernst Rohms it was
heavily involved in street fighting in 1920-1923 after Munich Rohms left rot Bolivia and hitler
had to reestablish SA in 1925
- In 1925 hitler created his SS which where personal bodyguards lead from 1929 by Herich
Himmler

Campaign against the young plan

- Nazis only won 12 seats in the 1928 elections
- The young plan was to spread out reparation payments and but this implied acceptance of the
war guilt clause
- The nazis along with German national peoples party fought against it and therefore won the
publicity and respectability they needed in the 1930s

Leading the nazis

- Hitler was well supported by important people
- Ernst Rohm: ww1 caption and leader of SA
- Joseph Goebbels: head of propaganda and deputy in Reichstag. He edited the newspaper Der
angriff and became Gauleiter of Berlin
- Herman Goring: ww1 pilot was a deputy in Reichstag and helped hitler make business
decisions.
- Henrich Himmler: head of SS from 1929 and assisted with propaganda
• Why was Hitler able to become Chancellor by 1933?

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Impact of the depression on Germany (Economic Crash)

- Hitler’s message in the 20’s was that Germany should not take money from the USA after the
crash, this made him look clever to all Germans. Hitler won more votes in the election because
it seemed like he would make good decisions about the economy which was in crisis.
- Recovery built on borrowing from US banks
- US stock market crashed in 1929 and called on their loans - they wanted their money back
- 1931 a Austrian bank also crashed making deepened crisis and increased unemployment
- 1.4million in 1929 unemployed by 1933 6mill
- He used a variety of methods to exploit the peoples worry about the depression
- Propaganda
- Goebbels used cinema and radio to spread Nazi messages and posters were put up
everywhere depicting Hitler as the man who could save Germany
- Speeches
- Hitler was a persuasive speaker who seemed to speak directly to the worries of the
average German.
- Their policies were flexible so there was something that could appeal to everyone
- 6000 party members were also trained to delivery messages that people could relate to
- Political Violence
- Rohm returned in 1931 to lead the SA and expand members.
- By 1932 they had increased to the point where they were over 4 times the size of the
army
- They beat up communists and broke up meetings (1932, 82 people died in street
fighting in Berlin)

Weimar Chancellors 1930-1933

- Muller was in-charge. His govt. disagreed on how to handle the US depression so he resigned
in 1930 leaving Germany with no clear leadership – the gap left an opportunity for Hitler
The 1932 presidential Elections
- Hitler challenged Hindenburg in the 1932 elections
- Goebbels organised a campaign and Hitler flew to many cities on the same day to make
speeches
- No candidate won enough votes (50% or more) so a second round was held with the 3 top
candidates. In the second round results were:
- Hindenburg (53%)
- Hitler (36.8%)
- Ernest Thalmann (10.2%)
SUMMARY: STEPS TO SUCCESS
• Gap left by Muller’s resignation in 1930 left weak leadership
• Hitler’s outspoken stance against the US borrowing which led to the economic crash
• persuasive speeches
• Powerful propaganda campaign radio, cinema and posters all with the message that Hitler
would be the man to save Germany
• Growth of the SA and political violence and unrest

How did Hitler become chancellor?

- July 1932 Nazi’s won 230 seats but Hindenburg still refused to make Hitler chancellor
- Von Papen who he did select was not popular
- Von Papen resigned shortly after his appointment
- Von Schleicher was next selected. He has a plan to split the Nazi’s – those who preferred the
Strasser brothers or Hitler. He offered Gregor Strasser the role of Vice Chancellor but he did
not take it
- By Nov Nazi’s lost popularity and dropped to 196 seats
- Election campaigns left the party short of money
- Strasser then wanted to take the job because Nazi’s had lost popularity and run out of money
which weakened Hitler’s position

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- At a Nazi meeting in 1932 Hitler made emotional appeal for support. Attacked Strasser’s
disloyalty and won the support of the Gauleiters
- Strasser brothers resigned from the party and Schleicher’s plan failed
- Von Papen saw this is an opportunity to get back at Schleicher he went to Hindenburg and told
him to make Hitler Chancellor and himself (Von Papen) vice chancellor.
- They thought there could only be one of two consequences either Hilter would do well and
financial crisis would end (Hindenburg would look good) or Hitler would do badly and
financial crisis would get worse = nazi support collapse (also good for Hindenburg).
- Hitler was invited by Hindenburg to form a govt 30 January 1933. Only 9 years after being in
prison for treason.

•How did Hitler consolidate his power in 1933–34?

Limitations to Hitlers power at first

- Hindenburg had the power to sack him

- He didn’t have control of the army
- There were only 3 Nazi’s in the cabinet of 14 ministers (Hitler, Goring & Wilheim Frick)
- The economy was still weak
- With 196 of the 584 seats he lacked the majority in the Reichstag
Despite all this he still managed to turn Germany into a dictatorship by 1934 – 4 steps that
destroyed the Weimar Republic and turned Germany into the Third Reich

1. The Reichstag fire

His first act as chancellor was to call a new election in the hopes of winning the majority
27 February – one week before the election – the Reichstag burnt down
A dutch communist (Marius Van De Lubbe) was found at the scene and confessed
Hitler used this to get Hindenburg to sighn decree for the protection of people and state on
the 28th of February 1933
- This cut individual rights and gave govt more power.
- Leaders of the KPD were arrested as Hitler used this to say they were attempting a
revolution
- 100’s of Nazi opponents were arrested
Hitler won the election gaining 288 seats too few to rule without a coalition and less than
the 434 seats needed to change the constitution

2. The Enabling Act

When the Reichstag deputies met in the corall Opera House on March 23rd 1933 Hitler
proposed a measuer to grant dictatorial power to the govt for the next 4 years.
He made a speech to the deputies in an atmosphere of intimidation with SA men surrounding
the building.
The SPD opposed
The KPD was banned and could not take part
The DNVP supported the Nazi’s but Hitler needed 2/3 majority to change the constitution
Catholic Centre Party was left holding the power – Hitler promised to protect Ctholic churches
and school so the act passed 23rd March 1933.
The act gave Hitler huge power – he didn’t need the Reichstag to make decisions just
Hindenburg’s backing.

3. The night of the long knives

Once in power radical Nazi members expected action vs: Jews; Treaty of Versailles & Big
Business
Hitler knew it was too soon as it would alarm foreign governments and business leaders
The SA was not happy with his caution. They had 2.5mill members by 1934 and Rohm was
increasingly critical in his speaches.
Himler hated Rohm and fed Hitler rumours of his disloyalty and claimed Rohm was planning a
putch and even forged documents to prove
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June 30th 1934 The SA were given a holiday. Rohm and his men were at a hotel in Bavaria.
Hitler went there with a group of SS men and arrested Rohm and executed him. Est. 200
people were killed including Schleicher, Gregor Strasser and Von Kahr
Cabinet ruled that all was legal and necessary for defence of the state – he had legalised
murder.

4. The Presidency

When Hindenburg died – August 2nd 1934 – Hitler became president and stayed as Chancellor
He became Fuhrer
Approved in a country wide referendum by over 90% of those who voted
Army signed an oath of alliance to Hitler personally – last obstacle to complete power now
removed.

3 The Nazi regime

(A) How effectively did the Nazis control Germany, 1933–45?

• How much opposition was there to the Nazi regime?

• How effectively did the Nazis deal with their political opponents?
• How did the Nazis use culture and the mass media to control the people?
• Why did the Nazis persecute many groups in German society?
• Was Nazi Germany a totalitarian state?

(b) What was it like to live in Nazi Germany?

• How did young people react to the Nazi regime?

• How successful were Nazi policies towards women and the family?
• Did most people in Germany benefit from Nazi rule?
• How did the coming of war change life in Nazi Germany?

Extended outcomes (should all be above)

• The Revolution of 1918 and the establishment of the Republic

• The Versailles Settlement and German reactions to it
• The Weimar Constitution, the main political divisions, the role of the army

• Political disorder, 1919–23:

– economic crises and hyper-inflation
– the occupation of the Ruhr

• The Stressemann era

• Cultural achievements of the Weimar period

• The early years of the Nazi Party:

– Nazi ideas and methods
– the Munich Putsch
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– the roles of Hitler and other Nazi leaders

• The impact of the Depression on Germany:

– political, economic and social crisis of 1930–33
– reasons for the Nazis’ rise to power
– Hitler takes power
– the Reichstag Fire and the election of 1933

• Nazi rule in Germany:

– the Enabling Act
– the Night of the Long Knives
– the death of Hindenburg
– the removal of opposition
– methods of control and repression
– use of culture and the mass media

• Economic policy including re-armament

• Different experiences of Nazi rule:

– women and young people
– anti-Semitism
– persecution of minorities
– opposition to Nazi rule
• Impact of the Second World War on Germany:
– the conversion to a war economy
– the Final Solution

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