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(a) Describe the successes of the League of Nations in peacekeeping in the 1920s. [5] In the 1920s, the League of Nations was very successful in peacekeeping. In 1921 the League (LON) was faced with a dispute between Germany and Poland over a territory known as Upper Silesia. Under the Treaty of Versailles plebiscites were encouraged and therefore one was held. French and British troops were sent to keep order at the polling booths. The industrial areas of this region voted mainly for Germany and rural areas mainly for Poland. The League divided the region along these lines and built safeguarded rail links between the two countries. Both countries accepted the Leagues ruling. In 1921, the long disputed Aaland Islands caused possible conflict between Sweden and Finland, both threatening war. After careful examination of the situation the LON decided that the islands should go to Finland. Sweden accepted the Leagues ruling; war had been avoided. In 1923, a border dispute between Greece and Albania resulted in the killing of Italian general Tellini, who was in charge of supervising the dispute. Mussolini was furious; he blamed the Greek government for his assassination. The Greeks did not did not know who the murderers were. In August 1923, Mussolini bombarded the Greek island of Corfu. Fifteen people were killed. The League acted swiftly, they condemned Mussolinis actions. They ordered the Greek government to pay compensations to Italy but for the money to be held until the killers were found. Mussolini accepted the Leagues decision. In 1925, Greek troops invaded Bulgaria after several Greek troops were killed on the border. Bulgaria appealed to the League for help. The League condemned the Greeks actions. It ordered Greece to pull out of Bulgaria and to pay compensation. Greece obeyed. There were numerous other successes for the League; it set itself a wider task then simply waiting for disputes to arise. The League aspired to fight poverty, disease and injustice. It feed over 400,000 prisoners of war, helped refuges all over the world, prevented the spread of diseases like leprosy and even gave economic advice to Austria and Hungary.

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The League may not have been perfect, but it was successful in the 1920s and helped create a better future. (b) Explain how the Japanese invasion of Manchuria showed weakness in the League. [7] Japan had long been a major trading partner with the USA and as a succession to the Wall-Street Crash the great depression damaged Japans economy. Japan seeking an internal market and resources, sabotaged its own railway claiming it was an attack by lead by Chinese and invaded Manchuria in 1931. China appealed to the League for help, this was a test for the League how would they react. Japan was a leading member of the League. A team was sent to investigate and assess the situation; this caused a long delay. A year after the invasion, the team had finally given in its report. The judgment was clear Japan had acted unlawfully. Manchuria should be returned to the Chinese. However, in 1933, Japan announced it was going to invade more of China instead of withdrawing. They simply argued that it was a necessary to act in order to keep peace and provide security. In 1933 a year after the report had arrived, a vote was finally to be conducted. This shows clear structural problems in the Leagues organisation. Only Japan voted against the report. Japan, feeling insulted withdrew from the League shortly after the vote. Japan continued its invasions and the League was powerless. The League discussed economic sanctions, however, penalised once again by the absence of the USA Japans main trading partner, the sanctions were useless. This aside many nations like Britain were unwilling to put their selfish interests aside and tried to retain good relations with Japan in agreeing to sanctions. The member countries could not even come to banning weapon sales to Japan, everyone was afraid of further escalation of war. France and Britain, would not risk their navies or armies in a war with Japan, only the USA or the USSR would have had the resources to do so, neither of witch were even part of the League. The League was weakened by its numerous structural weaknesses in its organisation but also in the lack of an armed force or even the support of many powerful and resourceful nations. 2

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(c) Which was the more important cause of the failure of the League of Nations the World Depression of the 1930s or the invasion of Abyssinia? Explain your answer. [8] In the late 1920s world trade had boomed. The USA had become the richest and most powerful nation in the world. The worlds economy had become more and more dependent on that of the USA. Numerous countries like Germany had borrowed money from the USA to help boost their economy and in the case of Germany to pay off reparation dept. Many historians say this was the main reason for international agreement. In 1929, the Wall-Street Crash devastated the USAs economy. The American banks could no longer lend money to nations and even began claiming reimbursement. This severely damaged the Worlds economy, industry and even international relations; people became desperate and resorted to elect extremist governments (rise of the Nazi in the 1930s). Nations like Japan whose economies were dependent on that of the USA, resorted to expansionism, Japan invaded Manchuria seeking resources and a larger internal market to boost its economy. There was a major attitude change within the League, everyone believed that war was inevitable and they should begin rearming. The good will and optimism of the League of Nations had vanished. On the other hand, the Abyssinian crisis was also responsible for war. In 1935, Italian dictator Mussolini invaded Abyssinia. Italy was one of the leading members of the League much like Japan. What was the League to do? Unlike Manchuria, Abyssinia was close to home, it even bordered with French and British colonies. There were several reasons why Mussolini wanted to invade Abyssinia like Italys previous defeat (1896) by Abyssinian tribes; most importantly he wanted glory. France and Britain were trying to keep good relations with Mussolini, as he was their biggest ally against Hitler. They were unable to put their own selfish interests aside. Mussolini began his full-scale invasion and the League began

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discussing sanctions. No one came to an agreement, demonstrating the Leagues structural problems. Then, Hoare and Laval (British and French foreign ministers) made a secret pact to appease Mussolinis actions in order to gain him as an ally. However, details of this pact leaked to the French press, resulting in a major scandal. The two remaining leading members of the League had violated the very terms on which the League was founded. All hope was lost. Despite the French and British efforts to gain Mussolini as an ally, the scandalous events lead Mussolini and Hitler to sign a pact. Both of these events contributed to the Leagues failure. However, the Abyssinian crisis was only the tipping point for the League, and the Worlds Crisis was a long-term global problem. (a) What military restrictions were imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles? [5] Germanys army was a major concern at Versailles, especially for France. The Treaty of Versailles restricted Germanys army heavily. First of all it limited its army to 100, 000 men. It also banned conscription across Germany, making all German soldiers volunteers. Germany was not allowed to poses any armoured vehicles, submarines or aircrafts. The German navy was restricted to six battle ships. There were other factors that penalised Germanys army, like the demilitarization of the Rhineland. This meant that no German soldier was allowed to set foot in this region of Germany. Germany also had to pay large reparation dept to countries like Franc and Belgium. This prevented Germany from investing in armament. Germany also lost all of its strategic military colonies. Germany also had to sign the War Guilt Clause in which it accepted full responsibility for the war. This was seen as a disgrace for Germany and bearing in mind that all German soldiers had to be volunteers, who would volunteer to represent a country to which they dislike. (b) Why did the aims of the Big Three at Versailles differ? [7]

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France had suffered large damage on its land, people and industry. Over two 66 % of people who served in the war had been killed or injured. The war had affected France, but to the French Germany seemed to be more powerful and threatening then ever. It is true that German industry had not been as severely as that of France and the French population was in decline in contrast to that of Germany. French politicians of which Clemenceau (French Prime Minister) saw the Treaty of Versailles as an opportunity to cripple Germany in order to prevent any future attacks. The French president even wanted Germany broken up into several smaller states, but Clemenceau knew that the British and American leaders would never agree to this. Clemenceau was under a lot of pressure from his people, they had suffered and wanted Germany punished for this. However, Clemenceau was a realist, he knew that the Treaty of Versailles would be a compromise but he still demanded that the Treaty weakened Germany as much as possible. The USA who had not been damaged by the war, it had very few casualties (in comparison to France), its industry was unharmed and its land untouched. Wilson (President of the USA) wanted to seize the opportunity of the need to rebuild after the war to remodel a better and more peaceful world. Wilson believed that Germany should be punished but he still remained sympathetic towards it and often disagreed with Clemenceaus harsh treatment towards it. Wilsons point of view was that if we treat Germany too harshly, one day it will recover and seek revenge. Wilsons main aim was to strengthen democracy all over the world especially in defeated nations. Wilson believed that nations should co-operate to achieve peace. Wilson published his 14 points in which he declared the establishment of an international body known as the League of Nations. He was also a strong supporter of the idea of self-determination and therefore wanted to establish democracy in Western Europe and form countries from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Britain had suffered fewer casualties than France but more than the USA, it was somewhere in the middle. Its industry had only been slightly damaged and like the USA its land untouched. Lloyd George wanted Germany to be punished but not to harshly in order to keep good relations between Germany and Britain to

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keep trade going. He also aimed to take over German colonies in order to expand the British Empire. Lloyd George was often somewhere in between Clemenceau and Wilson. The major reasons for disagreement were the conflicting aims of the different personalities who had to decide the faith of Germany. All leaders were under a lot of pressure from their people and therefore were unable to put their selfish interests aside. (c) How successful was the League of Nations in the 1920s? Explain your answer. [8] In the 1920s, the League of Nations was very successful in peacekeeping. In 1921 the League (LON) was faced with a dispute between Germany and Poland over a territory known as Upper Silesia. Under the Treaty of Versailles plebiscites were encouraged and therefore one was held. French and British troops were sent to keep order at the polling booths. The industrial areas of this region voted mainly for Germany and rural areas mainly for Poland. The League divided the region along these lines and built safeguarded rail links between the two countries. Both countries accepted the Leagues ruling. In 1921, the long disputed Aaland Islands caused possible conflict between Sweden and Finland, both threatening war. After careful examination of the situation the LON decided that the islands should go to Finland. Sweden accepted the Leagues ruling; war had been avoided. In 1923, a border dispute between Greece and Albania resulted in the killing of Italian general Tellini, who was in charge of supervising the dispute. Mussolini was furious; he blamed the Greek government for his assassination. The Greeks did not did not know who the murderers were. In August 1923, Mussolini bombarded the Greek island of Corfu. Fifteen people were killed. The League acted swiftly, they condemned Mussolinis actions. They ordered the Greek government to pay compensations to Italy but for the money to be held until the killers were found. Mussolini accepted the Leagues decision. However, he claimed the compensations before the killers were found and the League was

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forced to seed in. This could be seen a failure for the League as it could not stand its ground. In 1925, Greek troops invaded Bulgaria after several Greek troops were killed on the border. Bulgaria appealed to the League for help. The League condemned the Greeks actions. It ordered Greece to pull out of Bulgaria and to pay compensation. Greece obeyed. There were numerous other successes for the League; it set itself a wider task then simply waiting for disputes to arise. The League aspired to fight poverty, disease and injustice. It feed over 400,000 prisoners of war, helped refuges all over the world, prevented the spread of diseases like leprosy and even gave economic advice to Austria and Hungary. Numerous pacts were made demonstrating the Leagues success. In 1921 the USA, Britain, France and Japan agreed to limit the size of their navies at a conference known as the Washington Conference. In 1922 in the Rapallo Treaty, the USSR and Germany re-established diplomatic relations. The USA also agreed to lend Germany money to help it recover from their poor economic situation. Certain terms of the Treaty of Versailles were amended like in 1929, the Young Plan reduced Germanys reparation payments. In 1925 during the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the Western borders as set out in the Treaty of Versailles. The Kellogg-Briand Pact showed that 65 nations agreed to resolve dispute through the League of Nations and to refrain from using force. The League may not have been perfect, but it was successful in the 1920s and helped create a better future.