Collapse of International Peace

Q1.Study the source and then answer the questions which follow.


Headline from an English newspaper of 7 March 1936.

GERMAN TROOPS


ENTER RHINELAND


Hitler Denounces Locarno


OFFERS AN ALL-ROUND


PEACE PACT


And Proposes to Re-enter


the League of Nations


– on Conditions

(a) In what ways did Hitler break the Treaty of Versailles between 1933 and the end of 1938? [5]

(b) Why did Britain and France follow a policy of appeasement with Germany in the 1930s? [7]

(c) ‘Hitler was a gambler rather than a planner in foreign affairs.’ Do you agree? Explain your

answer. [8] (June 2002)


Q2. Study the extract and then answer the questions which follow.


If one dictator cannot be stopped from attacking Abyssinia, nothing can stop another dictator from attacking Lithuania, Memel and Austria. If the League of Nations fails to prevent war, security will end, not only for the small nations, but for France and Czechoslovakia as well.

A British MP speaking in Parliament, 1 August 1935.

(a) What was the Hoare-Laval Pact? [5]

(b) Why was the conquest of Abyssinia by Italy not prevented by the League of Nations? [7]

(c) To what extent can the outbreak of war in 1939 be blamed upon the failure of the League of

Nations? Explain your answer. (June 2003)

Q3. Study the extract, and then answer the questions which follow.
If one dictator cannot be stopped from attacking Abyssinia, nothing can stop another dictator from attacking Lithuania, Memel and Austria. If the League of Nations fails to prevent war, security will end, not only for the small nations, but for France and Czechoslovakia as well.
A British MP speaking in Parliament, 1 August 1935.

(a) What was the Hoare-Laval Pact? [5]

(b) Why was the conquest of Abyssinia by Italy not prevented by the League of Nations? [7]

(c) To what extent can the outbreak of war in 1939 be blamed upon the failure of the League of

Nations? Explain your answer. (June 2003)

Q4.I now have to inform the House that in the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence and which the Polish Government accordingly considered it vital to resist with their armed forces, His Majesty’s Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish Government all support in their power. They have given the Polish Government an assurance to this effect.
British Prime Minister Chamberlain speaking in the House of Commons, 31 March 1939.

(a) When Hitler came to power, what did he hope to achieve in foreign policy? [5]

(b) Why did Britain go to war over Poland in 1939? [7]

(c) How far was the Treaty of Versailles to blame for the outbreak of war in 1939? Explain your

answer. [8] (Nov 2003)

Q5.Study the extract, and then answer the questions which follow.


We secured peace for our country for one and a half years, as well as an opportunity of preparing our forces for defense if Nazi Germany risked attacking our country. This was a definite gain for Russia and a loss for Germany.

Stalin speaking on the radio in 1941.

(a) What was agreed at the Munich Conference of September 1938? [5]

(b) Why was the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939 important? [7]

(c) How far was the Treaty of Versailles to blame for the outbreak of war in 1939? Explain your

answer. [8] (Nov ’06)

Q6.Study the extract, and then answer the questions which follow.


At the time we had no army worth mentioning. If the French had taken any action we


could have been easily defeated; our resistance would have been over in a few days.


And the Air Force we had then was ridiculous and we did not even have enough


bombs for them.

Hitler looking back on his gamble over the remilitarization of the Rhineland, some years after the event.

(a) Describe the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936. [5]

(b) Why did Hitler want to unite Germany and Austria? [7]

(c) How far was the policy of appeasement followed by Britain and France responsible for the

outbreak of war in 1939? Explain your answer. [8] (Nov ’08)