interwar period/ long term causes

Question 1

The Locarno Conference

Answer 1

This was a 1925 meeting that dealt with territorial disputes. It was decided that Germany would solve further territorial disputes diplomatically. Germany was invited to join the League of Nations. This led to a sense of cooperation. This meeting was not run by the League of Nations, and contributed to a growing feeling that the League was not an effective means of solving international conflict.

Question 2

Dawes Plan

Answer 2

It allowed for Germany to reschedule its reparations after the Ruhr Crisis. America would lend Germany money, Germany would use that money to pay the Allied Powers money it owed in reparations, and the Allied Powers, mainly France and Britain, would then repay their debt to the USA.

Question 3

The Ruhr Crisis

Answer 3

In 1923, France was upset that Germany was not paying reparations, and so it invaded an industrial area of Germany to seize factories to ensure payments. The workers went on strike and the German government printed money to be able to pay them (supporting the protest). This led to hyperinflation. The Americans stepped in with the Dawes Plan in 1924 to lower reparation payments and loan Germany money to help. France accepted this because it was pleased America was getting involved with European affairs once again.

Question 4

The Manchurian Crisis.

Answer 4

After the 1931 Japanese invasion of China, both countries went to the League of Nations, which responded by warning Japan and then sending in a representative to do a study. The League of Nations did not have a military to enforce any sort of settlement, so Japan went unpunished. This was an instance of the League failing to solve conflicts.

Question 5

Nazi ideology

Answer 5

The political goal of both ideologies is to establish a totalitarian state, that is to say a modern, bureaucratic state, where the government is completely dominant in relation to the individual. It is thus a purpose of the regime to monopolise all human activities, both private and public. Inventing common enemies (Jews, communists, liberals, pacifists, free masons, gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, etc.),
Trying to re-model the working class by making the workers focus on ‘higher ideals’ than the traditional class struggle; such ‘higher ideals’ included extreme nationalism, racism, and especially war.

Question 6

Weaknesses if the League of Nations

Answer 6

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