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AQA GCSE History

AQA option: Conflict and Tension, 1918-1939 — AQA GCSE History revision

Free revision notes, key terms, common exam traps and 5 practice questions with answers. About 8 minutes to read.

Peacemaking

  • The Big Three had conflicting aims: Clemenceau wanted security and revenge, Lloyd George wanted trade and moderation, Wilson wanted his Fourteen Points and self-determination.
  • Versailles imposed reparations, territorial losses, demilitarisation of the Rhineland and war guilt. Other treaties (St Germain, Trianon, Sèvres, Neuilly) broke up empires and created new states.
  • Reactions: German fury at the diktat, French dissatisfaction that it was too soft, and growing British doubts that fed later appeasement.

The League of Nations

  • Aims: prevent war, encourage disarmament, improve living and working conditions, enforce treaties. Structure included the Assembly, Council, Secretariat, Court and agencies.
  • Weaknesses: US absence, no army, slow unanimous decisions, absence of Germany and the USSR initially, and reliance on sanctions members would not enforce.
  • Successes in the 1920s (Aaland Islands, Bulgaria, refugee and health work) contrasted with 1930s failures over Manchuria (1931) and Abyssinia (1935), which destroyed its credibility.

Key terms

Fourteen Points
Wilson's principles for a lasting peace, including self-determination.
Self-determination
The right of peoples to govern themselves.
Collective security
States acting together against aggression.
Sanctions
Trade restrictions used as League punishment.
Appeasement
Giving concessions to avoid war.
Lebensraum
Hitler's demand for living space in eastern Europe.

Common exam traps

  • Saying the League failed because it had no members — it had many; the problem was the absence of the USA and enforcement power.
  • Treating appeasement as simple cowardice; there were rational strategic and economic motives.
  • Confusing the Rhineland remilitarisation (1936) with the Anschluss (1938).

Practice questions with answers

  1. 1. Who wanted the harshest treatment of Germany?

    • • Wilson
    • • Lloyd George
    • • Clemenceau
    • • Orlando

    Answer: Clemenceau

    France had suffered invasion and wanted security.

  2. 2. State two terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

    Answer: Reparations of £6.6 billion and army limited to 100,000 men

    Territorial losses and war guilt also count.

  3. 3. Which country never joined the League of Nations?

    • • Britain
    • • France
    • • USA
    • • Italy

    Answer: USA

    Congress rejected the Treaty, weakening the League fatally.

  4. 4. Give one success of the League in the 1920s.

    Answer: Settling the Aaland Islands dispute or humanitarian refugee and health work

    Small disputes and social work were its strengths.

  5. 5. The Manchurian Crisis occurred in:

    • • 1923
    • • 1931
    • • 1935
    • • 1938

    Answer: 1931

    Japan's invasion exposed the League's powerlessness.

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