Conflict Exam prep

• History
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Source E: Cartoon from 1919 depicting the winners attitude to the German acceptance of the peace terms.

Source F: Cartoon from 1919 predicting what the Treaty of Versailles will do in 20 years time. The figures represent Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson.  

How useful are sources E and F to an historian studying opinions about the Treaty of Versailles?

Manchuria is an area of China

The Japanese wanted the land there

They created an incident on the Mukden Railway and blamed the Chinese

The Japanese colonised Manchuria

The LON failed to stop this but sent Lord Lytton to investigate

Japan was found to be in the wrong and was asked to leave Manchuria, instead they left the League. 

Conflict and Tension Q4

Hitler was the main reason for the outbreak of the Second World War. 

How far do you agree with this statement? 

Explain your answer. 

16 marks + 4 marks SPAG

Outbreak of War question: paragraph 1 Hitler

A main reason for the outbreak of World War 2 was Hitler. HIs aims were to abolish the Treaty of Versailles, to reunite the German speaking people (volksdeutsche) and to gain more land for Germany,  (lebensraum). Hitler believed that the TOV was extremely unfair and by the 1930s the other European politicians agreed that it was too harsh. Hitler called the politicians that had signed the treaty 'the November Criminals' and was determined to rebuild Germany to it's pre war strength. To do this he had to recover lost German territory and people. He did this by re-militarising the Rhineland, uniting with Austria and taking areas of Czechoslovakia that he believed he had a right to. His goal was to expand into eastern Europe and re-unite all German speaking people. 

Outbreak of War question: paragraph 2 Appeasement

Appeasement was a further cause of the outbreak of World War 2. Britain and France did not want to go to war again. This was because WW1 had been horrific and cost countries lives, money and land. Britain was beginning to understand that the terms of the Treaty of versailles had been too harsh and wanted to alleviate German suffering. Unfortunately Chamberlain's policy of appeasement meant that Hitler became more confident as he was not stopped entering the Rhineland, uniting with Austria or taking the Sudetenland. Furthermore The Munich Agreement alienated Stalin leading to the Nazi Soviet pact and more support for Hitler. For these reasons the policy of appeasement led to the outbreak of World War 2. 

Outbreak of War question: paragraph 3 substantiated conclusion

I have shown that it was both Hitler and the policy of appeasement that led to the outbreak of World War 2. Hitler wanted to overturn the Treaty of Versailles and did this by breaking it's terms. However, he could have been stopped by Britain and France. By following the policy of Appeasement Britain and France allowed Hitler to become overconfident, in that they would never resist him. He believed that he could continue attacking other countries with no threat of resistance. If Britain and France had not followed the policy of Appeasement Hitler could have been stopped entering the Rhineland, uniting with Austria and creating the Nazi-Soviet pact which could have stopped the outbreak of World War 2.