Peacemaking,League Of Nations And International Peace

Question 1

What was The Armistice?

Answer 1

Agreement signed on 11th November 1918 that ended WW1 and signalled defeat for Germany.

Question 2

What was the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 2

Treaty produced at the Paris Peace Conference and outlined all peace terms. Signed June 1919.

Question 3

What were the aims of The ‘Big Three’ at Versailles?

Answer 3

France (George Clemenceau) - Wanted Germany to suffer harsh punishment and have high reparations as lots of France had been destroyed from fighting.
GB (David Lloyd George) - Didn’t want to punish Germany too harsh as didn’t want another war. Wanted to expand British empire. Wanted to keep trading and help economy strengthen.
USA (Woodrow Wilson) - Self determination and world peace. Hasn’t been very affected by war. 14 points.

Question 4

Key terms of ToV? (LAMB)

Answer 4

Land - SAAR under control of LON
Lost 10% of land including Alsace Lorraine. Lost over seas colonies. RHINELAND demilitarised. Split in 2 by Polish corridor.
Army- 100,000 men no conscription. No aircraft or tanks. Only 6 battleships .
Money - 6.6 billion in reparations.
Blame- ‘War guilt cause’ Article 231 Germany had to take full responsibility for war.

Question 5

How did Germany react to ToV?

Answer 5

Hated German Government they were known as ‘November Criminals’ felt they had been ‘stabbed in the back’.
Humiliation, vulnerability and felt it was unfair. Called Treat ‘DIKTAT’

Question 6

What was the League of Nations?

Answer 6

Agreement created to maintain world peace

Question 7

What were the four aims of LoN?

Answer 7

Stop war breaking out.
Encourage disarmament.
Improve living and working conditions.
Tackle deadly disease.

Question 8

Who were the 4 permanent members of the Council in the LoN?

Answer 8

France, Italy, Japan, Great Britain

Question 9

Why didn’t USA join the LoN?

Answer 9

Refused as wanted to isolate themselves from Europe.

Question 10

Why couldn’t Germany or Russia join LoN?

Answer 10

No trust in Germany (had lost war)
Suspicious of Russias new communist government.

Question 11

How did the LoN deal with aggression?

Answer 11

Mitigation: Countries coming together to talk through problems
Moral Condemnation: A good telling of.
Economic sanctions: No trade etc

Question 12

Strengths of LoN?

Answer 12

Because there was so many members economic sanctions and moral condemnation could be very effective.
It was written in peace treaties so all nations recognised the LoNs.

Question 13

Weaknesses of LoNs?

Answer 13

Complicated structure - slow to make decisions.
Without USA it lacked influence of a powerful and rich country.
No permanent army hard to enforce anything.
Still hatred from war difficult for international cooperation.
Decisions had to be unanimous - slow to take action.

Question 14

Work of LoNs in 1920s?

Answer 14

Bulgaria - Invaded by Greece after border disputes. League told Greece to withdraw and they obeyed. Greece was a small country and didn’t want poor relations with powerful nations.
Aaland Islands - Halfway between Finland and Sweden. Owned by Finland but most wanted it to be controlled by Sweden. League decided it would remain Finish and both sides agreed.
However, none of these were a threat to world peace and no powers nations so these successes weren’t very impressive.

Question 15

Effect of Great Depression on League of Nations?

Answer 15

In 1929, American stock market crashed and USA asked for all its loans back. This became a global problem as Americas economy linked with other economies. Large amount of unemployment.
This meant many people turned to support extreme right wing parties. Eg. Hitler was elected in 1933 and he wanted to defy the LoNs and break the ToV.
Countries were also less likely to help League as they wanted to focus on domestic issues like unemployment.
Depression also a factor in some political disputes like Manchurian crisis.

Question 16

What was the Manchurian crisis?

Answer 16

Japan invaded China in 1931. In September 1931 Japan blew up own railway and blamed it on China - excuse to invade. 1932 Japanese bombed Shanghai. China appealed to LoN for help. Took over a year to produce Lytton report. Japan ignored and left LoN in March 1933 Japan resigned from LoN.

Question 17

How was the LoN powerless after Japan left?

Answer 17

Couldn’t impose economic sanctions as USA not part of LoN they could still trade with them. They also couldn’t afford troops to send to Japan because of the depression.

Question 18

Why was the LoN reluctant to take action on Japan?
How did this affect other leaders with the same ideas?

Answer 18

Strong military.
Far away- public felt it had nothing to do with them.
Chinas politics were disorganised.
By rewarding aggression they sent a message that there would be little opposition to anyway who wanted to expand.

Question 19

Why did the League of nations fail in Manchuria?

Answer 19

1) The league was weak - they didn’t have own military.
2) America and USSR were not members of the League - USA was main trading partner economic sanctions wouldn’t help. USSR geographically close but now part of LoN.
3) League was slow and inefficient- Lytton report not written till 13 months after incident. Not useful.
4) Depression made nations less cooperative - Didn’t want to send troops as couldn’t afford it.
5) Own members betrayed it and let them down - Japan (leading member) left.
6) League faced aggressive militaristic nations - Japan military was strong and don’t want to go up against them.

Question 20

Why did Mussolini want to invade Abyssinia?

Answer 20

Promised his people he would re build Roman Empire.
Ideal target as surrounded by other colonies.
Boost Italy’s economy.
Wanted revenge.

Question 21

When did Mussolini invade Abyssinia?

Answer 21

October 1935

Question 22

What did/didn’t the league do when Abyssinia asked for help?

Answer 22

Imposed economic sanctions but delayed banning oil in case USA didn’t support them.
Didn’t close the Suez Canal so supplies still got through.

Question 23

Why did Mussolini have more confidence when invading Abyssinia?

Answer 23

Had seen Japan get away with the invasion of Manchuria.

Question 24

Why did the league seem ineffective when dealing with the Abyssinian crisis?

Answer 24

Members didn’t want to go to war with Italy as Hitler was becoming more powerful and they wanted to save there resources.
Britain and France made secret agreement (Hoare - laval pact), this cause public outrage and was exactly what the league wanted to avoid as broke rules of working together.
League’s reputation was ruined- didn’t want to go against aggressors.

Question 25

Why do some say the League was doomed from the start?

Answer 25

Had to defend the ToV even though many members thought it was unfair. This associated the league with unpopular diplomacy from the start.
USA refused to join, Britain and France not strong enough. Germany and Russia not allowed to join and this excluded two powerful nations.
Complicated organisation.

Question 26

Why do some say the league failed because of bad decisions?

Answer 26

Ambitious members (Mussolini) weren’t dealt with strongly enough.
Too many members left the league after not sticking to the Covenant.

Question 27

What was the Haore - Laval pact?

Answer 27

Hoare and laval were the foreign ministers of Britain and France.
They made a plan to give Italy areas that were fertile and had good resources whilst Abyssinia were left with half the land that it was and mainly mountainous regions.

Question 28

How did the Hoare - Laval pact damage the League of Nations?

Answer 28

Proved that Britain and France were willing to undermine the league for their own self interest.