HISTORY OCR A - INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

• Paris Peace Conference - 1919
• Treaty of Versailles (1919)

  • Germany war guilt
  • Reparations - Germany paid $6.6 billion
  • Land and army reduced
  • League of Nations (also stated by Woodrow Wilson in 14 points)
• Treaty of St Germain (1919)

  • Austria
  • Army limited
  • Austro-hungarian empire split
• Treaty of Neuilly (1919)

  • Bulgaria
  • Lost land and army
  • Forced to pay £10 million in reparations
• Treaty of Trianon (1920)

  • Hungary
  • Lost land
  • Supposed to pay reparations but didn’t
• Treaty of Sèvre (1920)

  • Ottoman Empire/Turkey
  • Lost land and army
  • Lost parts of Ottoman empire
• Wilson's Fourteen Points (January 8, 1918)
• League of Nations

  • France, Britain, Germany, Italy

  Aims:

  1. Avoid war
  2. Cooperation between nations
  3. Encourage disarmament
  4. Improve living and working conditions

  Examples of successes:

  • Lack of rights for children - LoN brought in the first declaration of the rights of the child
  • Poor working rights - International Labour Organisation campaigned for workers rights across all countries
  • Collapse of Austrian and Hungarian empire - League’s financial committee had an economic plan to raise loans and help economies recover
• Other Agreements:

  1921: Washington conference - Japan, England, France and Italy reduced navy: had bad affects

  1922: Rapallo Treaty - USSR and Germany re-established diplomatic relations

  Mid-1920s: Dawes Plan - USA gave loans to Germany to help their economy recover

  1925: Locarno Treaty - Germany accepted borders allocated to them from the Treaty of Versailles

  1928: Young Plan - LoN discussed lowering Germany’s reparations

  1929: Kellog-Briand Pact - 65 countries agreed to sort disputes diplomatically
• Failure of LoN in Manchuria (1932)

  • China run by Manchu people, controlled by Japanese, the puppet king
  • League can’t tell the king is a puppet, so league thinks China is stable
  • 1932 - Japanese aeroplanes bomb Shanghai
  • LoN and civilian government tell Japan to withdraw but they refuse
  • Japan is a part of LoN
  • LoN can’t do anything - they just monitor situation

  Failure of LoN
• 1934


  1. Mussolini took advantage of dispute over land ownership around Wal-Wal Oasis

  2. Mussolini prepared to invade Abyssinia

  3. Abyssinian emperor Haile Selassie appealed to the league

  4. Britain and France seen trying to negotiate a settlement with Mussolini (not entirely true)
• Stresa Pact


  British and French met with Mussolini to agree statement against German rearmament (DID NOT DISCUSS ABYSSINIA)
• Phase 2


  1. Delay that allowed Mussolini to build arms

  2. League imposed sanctions

  3. League banned arms sales and financial loans to Italy, and prohibited importing materials

  4. Britain and France were too scared to close Suez Canal (Italy's main supply) - did not want to start war
• Failure of LoN


  • Embarrassed them
  • Showed nationalistic views - France and Britain had a desire to protect themselves
• Manchuria and Abyssinia -

  Similarities:

  • Both had sanctions - both failed to prevent war

  Differences:

  • Manchurian crisis was much further away
  • Abyssinian crisis was close to home so more distressing
• Germany actions:

  1933 - Hitler walked out of LoN disarmament conference

  1933 - Left league and rearmed

  1936 -Remilitarisation of Rhineland

  Consequence: France and England planned Mutual Assistance Treaty

  1936 - Germany and Japan signed Anti-Comitern (Axis Alliance)
• Appeasement:

  For -

  • People didn’t want another war
  • Fear of communism

  Against -

  • Gave Germany more time to rebuild
  • The Great Depression
• Anschluss - Germany annexed Austria
• Anschluss consequences:

  • Hitler encouraged to challenge more treaties
  • Countries too focussed on their own problems
• 1938 - September -

  Hitler wanted Sudetenland

  Chamberlain and France put forward plans to give parts of Sudetenland

  Hitler increased demands -

  They gave Hitler the land

  • Known as Munich Agreement
• Causes of WW2:

  1. Appeasement - caused distress and paranoia
  2. Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939)
  3. Stalin’s concerns - Stalin was suspicious of Munich agreement
  4. Hitler invaded Poland (1939) - France and Britain pledged to support Poland
• Cold war conferences - (T)

  1943 - Tehran

  • Leaders: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin
  • Agreements: Open a second front in West by invading Nazi-occupied France in 1944
  • Disagreements: N/A
  • Tension: no tension - all had a common enemy (Hitler)
• Cold war conferences - (Y)

  1945 - Yalta

  • Leaders: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin
  • Agreements: USSR could hold a “sphere of influence”, United Nations would be set up to keep peace after war
  • Disagreements: Should Germany pay reparations
  • Tension - low tension
• Cold war conferences (P)

  1945 - Potsdam

  • Leaders: Truman, Churchill, Stalin
  • Agreements: Germany and Berlin to be divided into 4 zones of occupation, Nazi party banned and prosecuted for Holocaust, Germany would lose its army
  • Disagreements: Did not know how to deal with Germany, Truman wanted free elections in Poland but Stalin wanted to create “buffer zone”
  • Tension: Increased tension - Truman has an atomic bomb and Hitler is dead
• Truman’s Policies of Containment: 1947 (T-D)

  Truman Doctrine (1947)

  • Truman worried about spread of communism
  • Doctrine stated US would use military and economic means to stop communism spreading in eastern Europe
• Truman’s Policies of Containment: 1947 (M-P)

  Marshall Plan (1947)

  • Aimed to reduce poverty
  • US offered $17 billion to rebuild Europe
  • 12 countries accepted help
  • Communist countries in eastern Europe also offered help, but were unable to accept it by USSR
• USSR method’s of control:

  Cominform: 1947 - ‘Communist Information Bureau’

  • Allowed USSR leader to control Communist parties throughout Europe

  Comecon: 1949 - ’Communist Economic Council’

  • Encouraged trade between Communist countries
  • Set up a communist bank
• Berlin Blockade and Airlift, 1948-49

  Causes:

  1. Trizonia - USA, UK and French combined zones
  2. New currency in west
  3. Marshall aid help
• Berlin Blockade and Airlift, 1948-49

  Events:

  • Stalin blocked roads and railways entering west Berlin FROM east Germany
  • Stalin shut off power stations in east Berlin supplying power to west Berlin
• Berlin Blockade and Airlift, 1948-49

  Consequences:

  1. Berlin Airlift - For 10 months USA and UK flew supplies into west Germany
  2. Stalin called off blockade in May 1949
  3. NATO formed in April 1949
  4. East and West Germany became different countries
• NATO (1949)

  • Mutual Defence Pact
  • 23 Capitalist countries promised to protect each other

  Consequences:

  • Formation of Warsaw Pact (1955)
  • US committed to defending western Europe
  • Stalin saw it as a threat
• Warsaw Pact (1955)

  • Mutual Defence Pact
  • Countries in eastern Europe defend each other against threat from Capitalism

  Consequences:

  • World divided into two rival camps (NATO vs. Warsaw)
  • Arms race intensified - competition for power increased
• Berlin Wall, 1961

  • A wall was put up overnight - September
  • Khrushchev needed to be seen in control - could not force US troops to leave Berlin
  • October 1261: USSR and USA faced off at ‘checkpoint charlie’
• Cuban Crisis, 1959-62

  Revolution -

  • Castro overthrew Batista (corrupt leader of Cuba, backed by USA)
  • Castro nationalises land in Cuba
  • Castro makes deal with USSR to buy Russian oil - Khrushchev buys Cuban sugar
  • USA bans all trade with Cuba
• Cuban Crisis, 1959-62

  Bay of Pigs (1961)

  • USA coup to overthrow Castro
  • Khrushchev placed missiles in Cuba, which can reach US
• Cuban Crisis, 1959-62

  Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

  • USA blockade Cuba
  • Khrushchev sends Kennedy a letter saying he will withdraw missiles from Cuba
  • UN overseas withdrawal of USSR missiles from Cuba
  • USA withdraw missiles from Turkey in secret
• Détente = relaxing of tensions, specifically between USA and USSR
• Cuban Crisis, 1959-62

  Consequence:

  • Hotline set up between White House (USA) and Kremlin (USSR)
• Collapse of USSR, 1989-91

  1989: Poland - Communist government defeated in elections

  1989: Hungary - free elections. Opened its border with Austria - East Germans could travel to west Germans

  1989: Berlin wall fell down (END OF COLD WAR)

  1991: Warsaw Pact dissolved
• Vietnam war - 1954-75