Treaty of Versailles

American Isolationism

Growth of Nazism and Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy

Appeasement

Weaknesses of the League of Nations(Manchuria 1931)(Abyssinia 1935)

WW2

Starter : What do these terms mean / refer to?

Which was most important in starting WW2?

Why did World War Two happen?

By the end of these lessons you will:1. All be able to describe the factors

contributing to the start of World War Two2. Most of you will be able to explain how they

led to war3. Some of you will be able to analyse how they

linked together to make war likely and think if some were more important than others

You are going to research the causes of WW2 using books and PCs

How did it contribute to war? Ranking

Treaty of Versailles

American Isolationism

Weaknesses of the LON’s

Hitler’s foreign policy

Appeasement

A table like the one above could be used to make notes

Treaty of Versailles

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/

• http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/treatyofversailles/p/overtofvers.htm

Treaty of Versailles 2• Selected Terms of the Treaty of Versailles:• Territory: • Alsace Lorraine, captured by Germany in 1870, was returned to France. • The Saar, an important German coalfield, was to be given to France for 15 years, after which a plebiscite would decide ownership. • Poland became an independent country with a 'route to the sea', a corridor of land cutting Germany in two. • Danzig, a major port in East Prussia (Germany) was to be under international rule. • All German and Turkish Colonies were taken away and put under Allied control. • Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Czechoslovakia were made independent. • Austria-Hungary was split up and Yugoslavia was created. • Arms: • The left bank of the Rhine was to be occupied by Allied forces and the right bank demilitarised. • The German army was cut to 100,000 men. • Wartime weapons were to be scrapped. • The German Navy was cut to 36 ships and no submarines. • Germany was banned from having an Air Force • An anschluss (union) between Germany and Austria was banned.• Reparations and Guilt: • In the 'war guilt' clause Germany has to accept total blame for the war. • Germany had to pay £6,600 million in compensation.• The League of Nations: • A League of Nations was to be created to prevent further world conflict.• Reactions:• Germany lost 13% of its land, 12% of its people, 48% of its iron resources, 15% of it agricultural production and 10% of it coal. Perhaps

understandably, German public opinion soon swung against this 'Diktat', while the Germans who signed it were called the 'November Criminals'. Britain and France felt the treaty was fair – they actually wanted harsher terms imposed on the Germans – but the United States refused to ratify it because they didn't want to be part of the League of Nations.

• Results:• The map of Europe was redrawn with consequences which, especially in the Balkans, remain to the modern day. • Numerous countries were left with large minorities groups: there were three and a half million Germans in Czechoslovakia alone. • The League of Nations was fatally weakened without the United States and its army to enforce decisions. • Many Germans felt unfairly treated, after all they had just signed an armistice, not a unilateral surrender, and the allies hasn't occupied deep

into Germany.

American Isolationism and Great Depression

• https://forthesakeofhumanities-10.wikispaces.com/The+Failure+of+the+League+of+Nations• https://forthesakeofhumanities-10.wikispaces.com/The+Great+Depression• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/usa/walldepressionrev1.shtml

• "Leave me alone," seemed to be America's attitude toward the rest of the world in the 1930s.

• At the dawn of the '30s, foreign policy was not a burning issue for the average American. The stock market had just crashed and each passing month brought greater and greater hardships. American involvement with Europe had brought war in 1917 and unpaid debt throughout the 1920s. Having grown weary with the course of world events, citizens were convinced the most important issues to be tackled were domestic. Foreign policy leaders of the 1930s once again led the country down its well-travelled path of isolationism.

American Isolationism and Great Depression 2

Weaknesses of the League of Nations• https://forthesakeofhumanities-10.wikispaces.com/The+Failure+of+the+League+of+Nations• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/manchuriarev4.shtml

• The organisation of the League of Nations• The League of Nations was to be based in Geneva, Switzerland. This choice was natural as Switzerland was a neutral country and had not fought in World

War One. No one could dispute this choice especially as an international organisation such as the Red Cross was already based in Switzerland.• If a dispute did occur, the League, under its Covenant, could do three things - these were known as its sanctions:• It could call on the states in dispute to sit down and discuss the problem in an orderly and peaceful manner. This would be done in the League’s Assembly -

which was essentially the League’s parliament which would listen to disputes and come to a decision on how to proceed. If one nation was seen to be the offender, the League could introduce verbal sanctions - warning an aggressor nation that she would need to leave another nation's territory or face the consequences.If the states in dispute failed to listen to the Assembly’s decision, the League could introduce economic sanctions. This would be arranged by the League’s Council. The purpose of this sanction was to financially hit the aggressor nation so that she would have to do as the League required. The logic behind it was to push an aggressor nation towards bankruptcy, so that the people in that state would take out their anger on their government forcing them to accept the League’s decision. The League could order League members not to do any trade with an aggressor nation in an effort to bring that aggressor nation to heel.if this failed, the League could introduce physical sanctions. This meant that military force would be used to put into place the League’s decision. However, the League did not have a military force at its disposal and no member of the League had to provide one under the terms of joining - unlike the current United Nations. Therefore, it could not carry out any threats and any country defying its authority would have been very aware of this weakness. The only two countries in the League that could have provided any military might were Britain and France and both had been severely depleted strength-wise in World War One and could not provide the League with the backing it needed. Also both Britain and France were not in a position to use their finances to pay for an expanded army as both were financially hit very hard by World War One. The League also had other weaknesses :

• The country, whose president, Woodrow Wilson, had dreamt up the idea of the League - America - refused to join it. As America was the world’s most powerful nation, this was a serious blow to the prestige of the League. However, America’s refusal to join the League, fitted in with her desire to have an isolationist policy throughout the world.

• Germany was not allowed to join the League in 1919. As Germany had started the war, according to the Treaty of Versailles, one of her punishments was that she was not considered to be a member of the international community and, therefore, she was not invited to join. This was a great blow to Germany but it also meant that the League could not use whatever strength Germany had to support its campaign against aggressor nations.

• Russia was also not allowed to join as in 1917, she had a communist government that generated fear in western Europe, and in 1918, the Russian royal family - the Romanovs - was murdered. Such a country could not be allowed to take its place in the League.

• Therefore, three of the world’s most powerful nations (potentially for Russia and Germany) played no part in supporting the League. The two most powerful members were Britain and France - both had suffered financially and militarily during the war - and neither was enthusiastic to get involved in disputes that did not affect western Europe.

• Therefore, the League had a fine ideal - to end war for good. However, if an aggressor nation was determined enough to ignore the League’s verbal warnings, all the League could do was enforce economic sanctions and hope that these worked as it had no chance or enforcing its decisions using military might.

Weaknesses of the League of Nations 2

Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy• http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/roadwar/appease/revision/1/

• Hitler’s aims:• Revise treaty of Versailles • unite all German speaking people in one country

(make a greater Germany )• living space (lebensraum) -- to be independent

– In the east wanted:• as far as the Caucasus and Iran .

– In the west:• Flanders ( Belgium ) and Holland .• Need Sweden to become colonial power.

• Thought he should rule all Europe because otherwise it would fall apart as a nation.

Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy 2

Appeasement• https://forthesakeofhumanities-10.wikispaces.com/The+Appeasement+of+Nazi+Aggression• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/

• Appeasement was the policy of giving in to some of the demands of dictators like Hitler and Mussolini in the hope that they would be satisfied and not ask for more. This policy has been most closely identified with British and French foreign policy in the 1930s. The leading figure in Britain was Neville Chamberlain.

• British politicians traditionally held the view that Eastern Europe fell under Germany's sphere of influence; Chamberlain wanted to turn Germany eastwards to act as a bulwark against Communist Russia.

• After 1919 the British policy towards Germany was to recognise that there were a number of German speaking peoples outside Germany who would one day want to be part of the Reich. Appeasement aimed to achieve German reunification peacefully. Britain would and could not effectively defend the new countries of Eastern Europe e.g. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and therefore encouraged these states to make concessions to Germany in a peaceful way.

• Chamberlain's mistake was the failure to recognise that Britain was declining in power and prestige and he also failed to recognise that Fascism and Nazism were unappeasable.

• Appeasement was a very popular part of British foreign policy. No one wanted a repeat of the First World War. Chamberlain had total faith in the policy of appeasement and believed that eventually Hitler could be controlled. His hopes deceived him as he admitted with the outbreak of hostilities:

• ‘Everything that I have worked for, everything that I have hoped for, everything I have believed in during my public life, has crashed into ruins.

Appeasement 2

Tasks

• Once you have researched each of these causes rank them in order of importance

• Discuss with your colleagues whether they agree or disagree with your ranking

• Would someone from another country (USA, Germany, China for example) agree with your ranking? Why is that?

“The Treaty of Versailles was the main cause of World War Two.” Explain how far

you agree with this statement.• Level 4 : When finding answers to historical questions, they begin to use information as evidence to

test hypotheses. They begin to produce structured work, making appropriate use of dates and terms.

• Level 5 : They investigate historical problems and issues and begin to ask their own questions. They begin to evaluate sources to establish evidence for particular enquiries. They select and deploy information and make appropriate use of historical terminology to support and structure their work.

• Level 6 : They investigate historical problems and issues, asking and beginning to refine their own questions. They evaluate sources to establish relevant evidence for particular enquiries. They select, organise and deploy relevant information and make appropriate use of historical terminology to produce structured work.

• Level 7 : They investigate historical problems and issues, asking and refining their own questions and beginning to reflect on he process undertaken. When establishing the evidence for a particular enquiry, pupils consider critically issues surrounding the origin, nature and purpose of sources. They select, organise and use relevant information and make appropriate use of historical terminology to produce well-structured work.

• Level 8 : They analyse and explain a range of historical interpretations and different judgements about historical significance. They suggest lines of enquiry into historical problems and issues, refining their methods of investigation. They evaluate critically a range of sources and reach substantiated conclusions independently. They use historical terminology confidently, reflecting on the way in which terms can change meaning according to context. They produce precise and coherent work.

Why did World War Two happen?

Now demonstrate where you have:1. described the factors contributing to the

start of World War Two2. explained how they led to war3. analysed how they linked together to make

war likely and thought about whether some were more important than others