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BACKBGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE NATURE OF EUROPE BETWEEN THE

MID 19TH CENTURY AND 20TH CENTURY

THREE MAIN DIVISION OF EUROPE [1860- 1900]

In terms of anthropology
 This division is based on broad cultural, linguistic and religious groups.
 For example, North-west of Europe is protestant. South of Europe is Roman Catholic,
and East of Europe is Orthodox.
In terms of Geography and Politics
 This division is made up of :

A. EASTERN EUROPE

This region consisted of:

RUSSIA
 Russia was under a king whose title was called Tsar or Czar.
 Its rubber stamp Parliament was called the DUMA.
.
TURKEY
 Turkey begun to exist in 1876 under its first leader called Sultan Abdul Hamid.
 She had no parliament.
 She was also known as Ottoman Empire because she was named after chief Ousmane
whom foreigners mispronounced as Ottoman.
 She was also nicknamed Sickman of Europe because she was crumbling [falling apart] as
she experienced a decline law and order which resulted in the outgrowth of rebellions and
revolt.
 By 1900 her European territories were reduced to Albania, Macedonia and Thrace
[normally Bosnia –Herzegovina]
.

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B CENTRAL EUROPE.

This region consisted of countries which were referred to as Central Power ; probably because
they were centrally positioned in Europe ,such as
.
GERMANY.

 Germany was born as a nation in 1870/ 1871 after Franco-Prussian war.

 Its kings had a title of Kaiser while its Prime minister was called Chancellor.
 German first Kaiser was William 1, its second Kaiser was Fredrick and the third was
Kaiser William II.
 The first German Chancellor, as a head of government, was Otto Von Bismarck [1862 -
1890] and was replaced by Ron captive.
 German lower house was called Reichstag while the upper house was called Bundesrat.
 German had always wanted to isolate and prevent France from making alliance with
other countries.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

 Austria –Hungary was Dual-monarchy as it had combination of two major countries:

Austria and Hungary under one monarch (king) known as Francis Joseph(Franz
Joseph)(1848-1916)
 She was nicknamed the Hapsbury,, and she was firmly in German armpit.
 She was a traditional enemy of:
 Serbia for taking Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 Italy for taking Trieste , Trentino and Troy.

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BULGARIA

 Bulgaria became a protestant and joined the central powers in October 1915 on the
hope of gaining the territories She had lost[failed to win] during the Balkan wars e.g
Macedonia and Turkey.
 This would give her access to the Salonika point on the Aegean Sea.

C. WESTERN EUROPE
This region consisted of
 Entente powers which were states opposed to central powers , such as Britain,
France, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Belgium, Romania and Greece.

 Neutral powers which never took part in the first World war against the central
powers, such as Portugal, Spain, Holland, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden

GREAT BRITAIN

 She was a Constitutional Monarchy, that is, she was under a King or Queen as head
of state, and Prime Minister as head of government but the real power lay with the
aristocracy or middle classes.
 She was the strongest nation – not only in Europe but also in the world in such areas
as sea power, industries, etc. Her Royal Navy and Merchant Navies earned her a
nickname The Unchallengeable Mistress of the Seven Sea.

FRANCE

 She was a Republican, governed by elected representatives whose head of state was
not a king or Queen but a President.
 she had a government called Third Republic which was crippled with instability due
to the existence of many political parties, too much individualism in politics and

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military and corruption scandals.

 After the loss during the Franco-Prussian War, France lost her two territories of
Alsace and Lorraine to Germany in 1871 by treaty of Frankfurt.
 Germany therefore became France‘s traditional enemy and so France had always
wanted a war of revenge against Germany.

SERBIA
 She broke away from Turkey and became an independent state in March 1878 by the
treaty of san Stefano.
 She wanted territories like Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Macedonia. And because of this,
when Austria-Hungary took Bosnia and Herzegovina by the treaty of Congress of
Berlin in June 1885, she became Serbia‘s traditional enemy.
 She wanted a united Slav Empire in which she would be a leadership state.
 But when Serbia also tried to get Macedonia, she also became a traditional enemy of
Bulgaria.

 In all, Europe had 20 states by 1914 and out of the 20 ,there were 7 counties which
could be called Great powers such Britain ,France, Germany ,Austria –Hungary ,Italy
and Turkey.

CAUSES OF FRICTION IN EUROPE BY 1914.

There were many causes of friction, which threatened to upset the peace of Europe such as:
 The Anglo-Germany naval rivalry.
 The Germany resentment at Britain, Russia and France for allegedly trying to
encircle her .
 The French resentment at the loss of the Franco-Prussian War (1871)
 The Weakening of the Turkish Empire and the Russian hostility at the
Hapsburg ‗s ambitions in the Balkans

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 Serbia nationalism-Serbia had ambitions of uniting all Serbs and Croats, many of
whom were living in Austria-Hungary , into a south Slav Kingdom(Yugoslavia)
 Many Austria –Hungarians were keen for a preventive war against Serbia to destroy
it before she became strong enough to destroy Hapsburg.
- Springing from the above resentments and tension came arise of events, which culminated in
the outbreak of the first World War in late July, 1914.

TOPIC 1: CAUSES AND RESULTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR: 1914-1918

 No single events could be said to have led to the outbreak of the First World War.
 There were a series of events in the years preceding 1914 which helped to make the
outbreak of the war extremely likely.
 The following are some of the arguments which have been put forward as causes of
the First World War which broke out in July 1914:
 The system of the political Alliances.
 The arms Race.
 The two Moroccan Crises.
 Nationalism in the Balkans.
 The murder at Sarajevo.

A POLITICAL ALLIANCE SYSTEM

 In general, an Alliance is the union or leaguing up of a group of people or

countries with a common goal.
 In Europe, the term, Alliance meant the formation of friendship agreements between
states from 1914 with the goal of preventing war or providing protection from attack.

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 In the political Alliance system European countries forged friendships and made
agreements with the aim of assisting each other if there were attacked.
 More importantly, the member states had a common enemy to attack or guard against.
 The statesman behind the beginning of the political system in Europe was Otto Von
Bismarck, the Chancellor of Germany.
 Bismarck started the political alliance system because he feared that France
was going to revenge the defeat of Franco- Prussian of 1870/1871.
 He was convinced that France would not dare carry out this revenge alone but that
she was going to seek the help of other countries. He therefore decided to isolate
France by making agreements with major countries of Europe.

REASONS FOR THE FORMATION OF POLITICAL ALLIANCES.

 Alliance was one way of preventing the outbreak of a major war. It was thought that
the existence of the alliances would indirectly control the eruption
of provocative behaviour of starting war against any other country for fear that acts
would arouse anger of the alliances that surround such countries.
 Countries felt secure from foreign attack.
 The need for mutual economic cooperation and for the settlement of colonial
disputes.
 The extreme selfish desire to isolate hostile countries.

NAMES OF POLITICAL ALLIANCES FORMED IN EUROPE BETWEEN 1872 AND

1907

BISMARCK’S FOUR MAIN ALLIANCES

THE THREE EMPERORS’ LEAGUE (1872) ALSO CALLED DREIKAISERBUND

 This alliance was signed in 1872.

 The signatories were Germany ,Austria-Hungary

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and Russia .
 The Three Emperors were William 1 of Germany ,Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary
and Czar Alexander 11 of Russia.
 Bismarck chose Austria –Hungary because she was a close ally and easier to control
since her defeat of the 1866 Six Week War.
 He chose Russia because he feared a two-front war from France and Russia.

TERMS OFTHE THREE EMPERORS’LEAGUE.

 To help one another if one of them is attacked by a fourth power eg France, Italy and
Britain.
 To stand together against the Republicanism and this was finally confirmed in the
1873 Talks.
 To consult each other about military matters in the Balkans as well as Turkey.
 To recognize the preponderant influence of Russia in Bulgaria.

 In 1879, The Three Emperors‘ League collapsed mainly for two reasons: Russia and
Austria – Hungary would not agree over the colonial rivalry over:

Ottoman Empire
 Russia wanted the Empire to be split into separate states in order for her to control
them easily while Austria-Hungary was determined to prevent the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire.

The Balkans
 The transfer of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary by the 1878 Berlin Congress
with the backing of Germany implied that Russia had been defeated diplomatically

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and her influence in the Balkans was cut off.

 At the Berlin Congress of 1878, Bismarck supported Austria-Hungary for the
following reasons :

 If she chose Russia, she could anger Britain.

 Austria-Hungary would be easier to control than Russia since the
Hapsburg was under Germany constitutionally since the Six Weeks War.
 Austria-Hungary‘s expansion into the south-East would be good for Germany
trade as it would leave the Danube open .

 Hence Russia withdrew from the Emperor‘s League and it was renewed in 1887
by Czar Alexander III

THE DUAL ALLIANCE [1879] ALSO CALLED THE AUSTRO -

GERMAN ALLIANCE

 Following the withdrawal of Russia from the three Emperors league, Bismarck made
a secret treaty with Austria-Hungary.

TERMS OF THE DUAL ALLIANCE

 If Germany was attacked, Austria-Hungary would come on German‘s side

 If Austria-Hungary went to war with Russia, Germany would be on Austria –
Hungary‘s side.

 The main value of the Dual Alliance to Bismarck was that it helped to ensure peace
in eastern Europe by placing him in a position to exercise restraining influence
over Austria-Hungary while at the same time dissuading Russia from attacking
Austria-Hungary.

THE TRIPPLE ALLIANCE [1882]

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 The Dual Alliance became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882.
 The member states of the Triple Alliance were, therefore , Germany ,Austria-Hungary
and Italy.
 Italy joined because she was disgruntled with the French seizure of Tunisia in North
Africa which she also wanted to control. She was also aware that Germany and
Austria –Hungary were not in good books with France. Thus, Italy mainly wanted to
get support for her immediate objectives, and to buy security from an attack by France
and Tunisia.
 However, the dual alliance remained the cornerstone of Bismarck‘s policy.
 For him, Italy did not make for the loss of Russia. She was necessary just to paper
over the gap against France since Italy was not even a first-class power neither was
she likely to support her traditional enemy-Austria –Hungary.

THE TERMS OFTHE TRIPLE ALLIANCE

 Both Germany and Austria –Hungary promised to support Italy if attacked by France
and Russia.

THE REINSURANCE TREATY (1887)

 This was a treaty between Germany and Russia.

 Bismarck was convinced that Russia was a more super power than Austria-Hungary.
 Since the withdrawal of Russia from the three Emperors League, Bismarck felt very
unsafe and feared a two front war from France and Russia.

TERMS OF THE REINSURANCE TREATY

 Germany recognized support for Russian interest in Bulgaria.

 It guaranteed neutrality of Russia in any war involving Germany.
 The treaty was renewable every three years.

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KAISER WILLIAM, II AND GERMANY

 Kaiser William 11 came to the throne in 1889. He was a proud and showy character who
openly provoked and challenged other countries. He ruled according to his own wishes
and took no advice from anybody. He aimed at showing that Germany was the greatest
nation in Europe.
 In 1890, he quarreled with Bismarck and dismissed him.
 He did not understand the significance of alliances and therefore he did not renew the
Reinsurance Treaty with Russia, which was due in 1890.
 His behaviour made Russia suspicious such that she drew closer to France.

THE ENTENTE ALLIANCES

THE DUAL ENTENTE (FRANCO-RUSSIAN ALLIANCE) – 1893

 This treaty was signed between France and Russia .

 The reasons for the formation of the Dual Entente were as follows:
 During the early years of the Third Republic, France was without an ally.
but by 1890, she felt the need for one because of the weakness in relations
with Germany.
 Russia had a tradition of signing alliances with Germany, but she had
come to realize that whenever Austria-Hungary and Russia interests
clashed in the Balkans, Germany supported Austria-Hungary.
 Russia was drawn towards an alliance with France by the knowledge that
France could supply money for projects eg the Trans- Siberian Railway.

TERMS OF THE DUAL ENTENTE

 If France was attacked by Germany alone or by Germany and Italy,

Russia would support France.

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 If Russia was attacked by Germany alone or by Germany and Austria-

Hungary, France would support Russia.
 If one or more Triple Alliance member mobilized their forces, France
and Russia would also mobilize their forces immediately.
 In addition, France gave economic aid to Russia to help in industrial and agricultural
development.

THE POLICY OF SPLENDID ISOLATION

 This was a policy followed by Britain by which she stood splendidly isolated from
European political affairs—no allies, no friends, except for alliances with Belgium and
Portugal.
 Under this policy, Britain was not involved in the politics of mainland Europe but
concentrated on development of colonies and trade in other parts of the world.
 There were three main reasons why Britain adopted the Policy of Splendid Isolation.
 She remained the unchallengeable mistress of seven seas. She had by far the
strongest navy in the world. She was the most powerful nation in the world.
Her Empires spread into every continent and included one- quarter of
world‘s population.
 Her trade flourished over the world. In 1880s, Britain was still
producing more coal and steel than any other country. London
was the hub of the world‘s trade and banking. Half the
merchant shipping in the world was British.
 Britain seemed to want help from no one and had intervened in
European affairs only when her own interests were threatened.

WHY DID BRITAIN DROP THE POLICY OF SPLENDID ISOLATION?

 The provocative leadership of Kaiser William 11 of Germany who :

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 In 1896 sent a telegram to Paul Kruger, the leader of the Boers

in South Africa, in which he congratulated him for defeating the
British in the 1895-1896 Jameson Raid. This jolted the British.
 In 1900, Germany passed Navy laws which aimed at building a
navy to challenge Britain. Britain became suspicious since she was
an island that depended on the navy for self- defence, control of
colonies and for trade.
 Hostilities from France and Russia , for example;
 there were various colonial disputes with France in Fashoda and
Newfoundland.
 there was too much Russian interference in British India, Middle
East and Egypt especially through Suez Canal. So there was need
for Britain to maintain Turkey and Japan as buffer states against
Russia.
 There was mounting political tension in the whole of Europe such
that each country was feeling insecure and being surrounded by
enemies.
 All the above factors made Britain unsafe and unhappy and so she
started looking for allies.

THE ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE (1902)

 This was an agreement between Britain and Japan.

 It marked the first break away from the British Policy of Splendid Isolation.

TERMS OF THE ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE

 If either Britain or Japan was at war with one country, ie Germany or

Russia, the other would join the war.
 But if one ally was at war with two countries, ie Germany or Russia,
the other would the war.

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 Japan agreed to protect British colonies in the Far East in any war.

THE ENTENTE CORDIALE OR THE ANGLO-FRENCH ENTENTE (1904)

 This was a surprising agreement signed between Britain and France since they were
traditional enemies.
 The two sides signed this agreement because both of them were threatened by the
behaviour of Kaiser William 11 and German armament.
 The Entente Cordiale was not a military alliance but a cordiale ie a friendly alliance.
 This alliance was significant because it made Britain and France closer and helped
them sink their colonial differences in Africa so that Britain was to rule Egypt while
France was to Morocco.

TERMS OF THE ENTENTE CORDIALE

 France accepted that Egypt was a British sphere of influence while
Britain promised diplomatic support for French ambitions in Morocco.
 Britain made concession over Senegal and Madagascar; and France over Siam and
Newfoundland.
 Military talks between the army chiefs of staff of both countries were
allowed about how each country would use its armies in the event of
war with Germany.
 It suggested possible British intervention if Germany attacked France
and this meant that Britain could leave the Mediterranean Sea to
French warships if there was war.

THE TRIPLE ENTENTE (1907)

 The Entente Cordiale changed to Triple Entente when Russia joined it in 1907.This
gave a complete rounding of Germany with alliances.
 Its members were therefore Britain, France and Russia.

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 This agreement was mainly between Britain and Russia which came together because
of the Germany threat, and it helped the two countries to sink their misunderstanding
and quarrels over Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet.

THE REASONS FOR THE FORMATION OF THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE BY

BRITAIN .
 Since Britain had gained control over Egypt in the entente cordiale of 1904, she had
less cause to fear Russia but her anxiety increased as a result of Franco-Russian
alliance, for the British Mediterranean fleet would not want to fight French and
Russian fleet combined .
 Russian defeat by Japan in the 1905 Russo Japanese war and the subsequent
revolutions at home lessened British fear of Russian ability to affect the British
Empire. Russia no longer posed a threat in the Far East as far as Britain was
concerned.

RUSSIA
 Russia had been so weakened as a result of her defeat by Japan and subsequent
revolution at home that she was unlikely to take any action without the assent of the
other great powers.
 Russia was unlikely to get support from France for any action which threatened
British interests partly because France had now settled her own disputes with Britain
and partly because now that Russia‘s military and naval weakness had been
demonstrated.

TERMS OF THE TRIPLE ENTENTE

 Tibet was to be left neutral or alone.

 Russia agreed not to intervene in Afghanistan or British India.
 Sphere of influence in Persia was defined: Russia dominated the more valuable north
but was excluded from the coastal area which came under British influence and from
the central area which was left to the Persians.

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 By 1907, Europe was divided into two rival camps: the Triple Alliance led by
Germany and the Triple Entente led by Britain and France.
 A country that in the end signed alliances in both the alliance and Entente camps was
Russia.

HOW DID THE POLITICAL ALLIANCE SYSTEM POSE A THREAT OF WAR?

 Europe was dangerously divided into two rival camps. This meant that should one
country from the Triple entente quarrel and go to war with another country from the
Triple Alliance, then all the other members were going to be compelled to join and
assist the colleagues.
 Countries did not know the details of the alliances since the made top secret. This
created heavy suspicion, fear and tension among nations thinking that some countries
had evil designs on them.
 Countries started provoking each other because they felt that they were secure and
would be protected by their allies. As such, this escalated minor conflicts.

II. THE ARMS RACE.

 The arms race was a fierce competition and rivalry in the production of arms and
building up of navies which developed in Europe.
 The arms race developed between Germany, Britain, France and Russia.
However, it was more pronounced between Germany and Britain because of their
navy competition. The arms race is said to have been started by Kaiser William II of
Germany who wanted to dominate Europe and embarked on the programme of
massive millitarisation.
 The other European nations also started to embark on military programmes as well.

FORMS OF THE ARMS RACE

 The arms race took various forms such as :

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 Increase in the production of war machines (weapons)

 Intensive recruitment of armies (soldiers)
 Announcing conscription, ie compulsory military recruitment and training.
 Increased building up of navies (battleships)
 Increased defence budgets.
 Formation of the new plans and policies of war.
 Keeping more standing armies than before.

REASONS FOR THE ARMS RACE

 It was needed for defence

 Each country lived to secure its own safety by increasing the size of its army. For
example, there was need for Germany to have a big and strong navy to protect
ports, merchant fleet and colonies. Similarly, in order to off set the growing naval
threat, in 1912, Britain agreed to defend the North sea while France had to
safeguard the interests of Britain and France in the Mediterranean.

 It symbolised greatness or prestige ( balance of power)

 For example, Kaiser William II and admiral Tirptz desired to boast their own
importance by working to challenge Britain.
 Hence, they found the navy league, planed a German high sea fleet and passed
polices which were designed to reduce the gap between Germany Naval power
and Britain.
 Britain responded to this German challenge by launching the H.M.S
Dreadnought in February 1906 which overmatched any other ship in the world.

THE PROBLEM OF FRICTION BETWEEN NATIONS

 There were several frictions that created insecurity in Europe eg

 French resentment at the loss of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany at the end of the
Franco Prussian War in 1871.

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 German resentment at Britain, Russia and France for allegedly trying to encircle
her with alliances.
 Russian hostility at Austria-Hungary‘s ambitions in the Balkans.
 Anglo- German naval rivalry.
 Serbian nationalism.

THE ANGLO-GERMAN NAVAL COMPETITION

 In 1896 and 1900, the German naval laws were passed which stated that Germany
had to have a navy second to none in Europe. For instance, Admiral Tirptz passed
laws to build 41 battleships and 60 cruisers.
 Britain, as an island, saw this as a direct challenge to her and under Admiral Fisher,
she also had started increasing her navy and formed the navy league which stressed
the German threat.
 In 1906, Britain made a breakthrough by launching the most powerful battleship of
the time called the H.M.S. Dreadnought. Germany copied and built hers as well.
 Conferences were held to limit sizes of navies but they failed because there was no
mutual understanding between Britain and Germany.

 Some important war plans that some European nations made during the Arms Race
were as follows:

THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN

 This was a plan made by a German General called Count Alfred Von Schlieffen
in 1872.
 This plan was an arrangement by which Germany was going to invade France
through neutral Belgium and then descend and capture Paris within six weeks
before the mobilization of the slow moving Russian army.

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 In this plan, the Germans were to avoid the heavily defended Franco- German
border.

THE PLAN 17

 This was a plan made by France in response to the Schlieffen Plan.

 By Plan 17, France arranged a strong defensive line along the 332km Franco-
German border with French fortress and offensive and envisaged to drive the
Germans back to the Rhine River and seize her lost provinces of Lorraine and
Alsace.
 It should, however, be pointed out that the German Schlieffen Plan failed because
Belgium put up strong resistance which gave France time to prepare and block the
German advance.

HOW DID THE ARMS RACE BECOME THE CAUSE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR?

1. COUNTRIES‘ POISEDNESS FOR A WAR OF REVENGE

France had always talked of war of revenge against Germany to get back Alsace and Lorraine.
 So when Germany formulated the Schlieffen Plan, France responded by formulating the
Plan 17 and the French generals once declared, ―Let them try and see how it will make
our work easier.‖
 Again when Austria – Hungary annexed Bosnia –Herzegovina in 1908, Serbia always
looked for a war of revenge to get back her territories. Hence she revenged by killing
arch Duke Ferdinand and Austria – Hungary responded by declaring war on Serbia in
1914.

2. COUNTRIES‘ PREPAREDNESS FOR PREVENTIVE WAR

 Each European country was fully armed and ready for war.
 The army admirals and generals were usually the most active in pressing for increases in
armed forces and were the loudest in giving warning about the strength of their nations.
 Thus, military leaders were ready for a war even when governments stood to prevent it.

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3. COUNTRIES‘ HECTIC AND RECKLESS MILITARY SELF CONFIDENCE

 By 1914, Europe was armed to teeth.
 Every country knew war could be won or lost in the first battle; so all had to get ready
for this and were trigger- happy to start or join the war.
 It also entailed that at the slightest provocation, each country was ready to try its arms
stockpiles
For example, the Schlieffen Plan contributed to the war in that it gave the Germans false
hopes that they could knock out France easily; hence their provocation of other countries.

III. .NATIONISM IN THE BALKANS

 Nationalism is the desire of people with common culture and interests to gain
independence and rule themselves.
 The Balkans is the region to the South-East of Europe, and in this region, there were
multiple ethnic groups which wanted to become independent from Austria-Hungary
and the decaying Ottoman Empire(Turkey)
 At first ,the Ottoman Empire included the Balkan countries of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Serbia, Romania, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece,etc.But later on, the Ottoman
Empire was vexed with nationalism. As a result , some of these broke away and
became independent e.g. Greece in 1830; Romania in 1861;Serbia in 1878, etc


VARIOUS COUNTRIES THAT HAD INTERESTS IN THE BALKANS

1.SERBIA
 She was ruled by Slav people who believed in Pan-Slavism, that is , a feeling that all Slav
people(especially those of Austria-Hungary)
should join and rule themselves.
 She also had a dream of getting Bosnia-Herzegonina, and having coastline on the
Adriatic sea.

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 In all these, Serbia was supported by Russia, which claimed was the champion of Pan –
Slavism because she was the largest of all Slav nation

2 .AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
She was against Pan Slavism and instead she wanted to see Serbia destroyed and had all Slav
people under the control of Austria-Hungary.
 She did not want the break up or disintegration of the Turkish Empire because this was
going to encourage other ethnic groups inside Austria-Hungary to demand independence
as well.
 In 1908, Austria Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina and this angered Serbia and
Russia.
 In all these, Austria-Hungary was supported by Germany

3. RUSSIA
 She was largest Slav state.
 She had one main ambition in the Balkans and that was to encourage the break up of the
Balkan region into small states which she could easily control and be allowed to have
access to the Mediterranean Sea through the ports of Bosporus, Dardanelles, Salonika
and Constantinople.
 Russia supported Serbia in the Balkans.

WHY DID SERBIA HATE AUSTRIA – HUNGARY?

 Austria-Hungary was refusing to release Slav people to join Serbia.
 In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia –Herzegovina that Serbia felt belonged to
her.
 At the treaty of London which settled the first Balkan war of 1912,Austri –Hungary
blocked Serbia from getting Albania which was to be given to her(Serbia) a coastline
on Adriatic sea into the Mediterranean.
 It is apparent that Russian backing of Serbia and the German support for Austria-
Hungary were very significant in bringing World War I .The conflicts that brought

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war was between Serbia and Austria –Hungary and inevitably Germany and Russia
got entangled due to the Alliance system.

THE YOUNG TURKS MOVEMENT (1908)

 This movement was also known as the Committee of Union and Progress. It was
formed by the young Turks led by Enver pasha Bay who were not happy to see their
Country (Turkey) fall apart.Their aim was to create strong Turkey and avoid break a
ways from the Ottoman Empire. They overthrew Sultan Abdul Hamid and replaced
him by Muhammed v.

REASONS FOR THE FORMATION OF THE BALKAN LEAGUE (1912

 The Balkan League was a League founded by some Balkan States , mainly (i)
Serbia (ii)Greece (iii)Bulgaria (iv)Montenegro
 It was led by the Greek Prime Minister
 The reason for the formation of the Balkan League were as follows:
1. To fight the young Turks
 The Balkan league was against the creation of the young Turks because its
members wanted to became independent from Turkey.
The young Turks made some provocative reforms e.g. forcing a single language upon all
inhabitants; calling up all young men for military services; and they were anti-Christians

2 TO FOSTER NATIONALISM
 Italy had succeeded in capturing Tripoli from Turkey from (1911-12). This move
exposed Turkey‘s weakness. Hence, Bulgaria hoped to get Macedonia ;Serbia to
acquire Macedonia ,Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania ;while Greece wanted to
give more protection to Christians
3 To PROTECT CHRISTIANS IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
 Since Christians in the Turkish Empire were tortured more than ever, the great
Prime minister, Mr. Evenizeros, lobbied for support in the Balkan states to form
up the Balkan states to form up the Balkan League.
 NOTE: The major aim of the Balkan League was to drive Turkey out of Europe.

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THE BALKAN WARS (1912-1913).

-Between 1912and 1913 the Balkan region experienced two wars:

A. THE FIRST BALKAN WAR (1912)

 This war was fought between members of the Balkan League and Turkey.
 It started in October 1912 when the Balkan League attacked Turkey as she
was defending Tripoli in Africa.
 The attack started in Macedonia where there was already unrest.

CAUSES OF THE FIRST BALKAN WAR OF 1912

 To contain the Young Turks; that is, to crush the repression of the regime.
 To share the spoils of Turkey. This was expected after being encouraged by
Italian success in capturing Tripoli (1911- 1912). This exposed Turkey‘s
weakness.

RESULTS OF THE FIRST BALKAN WAR

i. The Young Turks were defeated within three weeks. Some
of the reasons for the quick defeat of the Young Turks
were:
The army of the Balkan League became comparatively too
large and well equipped for the Young Turks.
 There was a good telephone and telegraph communication for the league army. Even at sea ,
Sultan Muhammed ‗s navy was outclassed by a small but efficient Greek fleet
 The break up of defence of the Balkan pass had a decisive blow for the Turks
 The war drew the attention of some big powers eg Russia and Austria-Hungary who intervened
in the war. For example, Russia feared Bulgaria would seize Constantinople; while Austria-
Hungary feared Serbia would gain an outlet to the Adriatic coastline by taking Albania.
 NOTE: The first Balkan war was settled by the treaty of London May 1913.At the London
treaty conference, it was agreed that :

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 a. Turkey should be reduced to the areas aroun eastern Thrace and Constantinople
 b. A new state of Albania should be created as an independent state.
 c. The countries that were controlled by Turkey should be divided up.

NOTE: Serbia was not happy to be blocked by Austria-Hungary because she wanted Albania in
order to have access to the coastline on the Adriatic Sea.Bulgaria was not also happy because she
wanted Macedonia in order to have access to the port of Salonika in the Aegean Sea. She was
given only a small part of the area –the Adrianople.
B THE SECOND BALKAN WAR (1913)
This war was fought between Bulgaria and only fellow Balkan states of Greece, Turkey Romania
and Serbia.
CAUSES OF THE SECOND BALKAN WAR.
i The failure to share Turkish spoils peacefully by the Victorious Balkan league members. For
example, Bulgaria claimed she had supplied most of the army in the first Balkan war. So she
deserved the largest territory like the whole of Macedonia. Unfortunately, she did not get the most
needed port of Solonika.
(ii) The bad terms of the London treaty forced upon the Balkan league members made some
League members unhappy. For example, Serbia saw the giving of independence to Albania as
a way to frustrate a landlocked Serbia
 The second Balkan war started when Bulgaria attacked her friends especially Serbia in the
Macedonia in June 1913.
THE RESULTS OF THE SECOND BALKAN WAR.
(i) Bulgaria was defeated at the battle of strip by Serbia, Greece, Turkey and Romania.
(ii) Tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was exacerbated as the two countries were
locked in a bitter relationship because of the Bosnia-Herzegovina problem and Serbia being
left landlocked. So Serbia aggressiveness towards Austria-Hungary became even greater than
ever. Austria-Hungary in turn was determined to destroy Serbia at all costs for the survival of
the Hapsburg with backing from Germany.
NOTE: The second Balkan war was settled by a treaty of Bucharest in August 1913. This treaty
forced upon the Balkan states the following terms
i.. Turkey got Adrianople from Bulgaria which she got by the London treaty.

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ii. Greece got southern Macedonia while Serbia got the northern Macedonia
. Romania got Dobrufa
NOTE: The treaty of Bucharest did not also settle the Balkan problems since:Bulgaria and Turkey
were bitterly dissatisfied. No wonder they joined Germany and Austria-Hungary against Serbia.
Serbia and Austria-Hungary were left locked in a bitter relationship.
THE MURDER AT SARAJEVO
 .On 28thjune,1914,Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian and his wife, Countess Sophia
Chotek, were on an official visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia
 While there, a secret group from Serbia called the Black Hand murdered them. The murderer
was actually a young man called Gavrilo Princip.
 The Black Hand were the Serbian Slavs who hated Austria-Hungary.
 When Austria-Hungary discovered the murder plot she gave an ultimatum (a
list of demands)to Serbia which among other things included:
i. Serbia to end ant-Austrian feelings among Slavs.
ii Serbia to bring members of the Black Hand to justice.
iii Serbia to allow the Austrian officials to enter Serbia freely.
 Serbia accepted some of the demands but referred others to the International Court of
Justice.Secretly; Germany gave an assurance support of Austria-Hungary in the event of war.
 Thus, Austria-Hungary viewed the Serbian reaction to the ultimatum as unsatisfactory and
declared war on Serbia on 28th July 1914.
THE SLOPE TORWADS THE FIRST WOULD WAR
 After declaring war on Serbia by Austria-Hungary, Russia started moblising her troops to assist
Serbia on 31st July,1914.
 On 1st August, 1914,Germany declared war on Russia.
 On 3rd Germany declared war on France.
 Britain joined the First World War because of Germany invasion of Belgium which was declared
as a neutral country.(The invasion of Belgium was in line with the Schlieffen plan)

HOW DID THE EVENTS IN THE BALKAN LEAD TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR
 In the Balkans, the Russian backing for Serbia; the quarrel between Serbia and Austria-Hungary;
and the Germany backing for Austria-Hungary were very crucial in the outbreak of the war.

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 This is why the murder at Sarajevo occurred; it was these four countries which set the ball rolling
towards the war. There was therefore inevitable due to the culmination of events in the
Balkans.
NOTE: The U.S.A opted to be neutral at first.However,she joined the war on the sides of the allies
in 1917because Germany submarines were sinking American merchant and civilian ships.One ship
which was sunk in 1915 was called the LUSITANIA in which many Americans died.
 The country that fought on both sides –the central powers and the Allied powers was Italy. At
first, Italy fought alongside Germany against the Allied powers, but later in 1915 joined the
Entente powers against Germany.
RESULTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR(1914-1918)
 In November,1918 the German Kaiser abdicated and fled to Holland, a socialist,Elbert,became
Chancellor, and on the 11th November,1918 an armistice on the western Front was signed
marking the end of the First World War.
However, the war had caused many social, economic and political problems such as:
i.. Germany and central powers were defeated.
ii.. there was heavy destruction of life, property, buildings, roads, railways and the environment.
iii..Economically, European countries were exhausted and had to rely on American loans for
recovery.
iv Problems arising from the war settlements. Led to the rise of dictatorship in Europe
v The war contributed to the overthrow of the Tsar in Russia and the coming of Communism in the
country.
vi. It lead to the formation of the League of Nations.
vii It lead to the Versailles peace settlement of 1919.
Viii The Versailles peace treaty had some clauses, which created hatred and prolonged bitterness
between defeated powers and the victors. This produced resentment at defeat and determination to
wage war again and this time more successfully
THE VERRSAILLES PEACE SETTLEMENT OF 1919.
 -The Armistice took effect on the 11th November 1918 and fighting stopped.
 -The Versailles peace settlement was held in the hall of mirrors at Versailles in Paris, France and
it brought together World Leaders from many countries.-The dominant figures were however

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the heads of governments from the U.S.A., Britain, France, and Italy. The big four at
Versailles peace conference were therefore:
.Woodrow Wilson of the U.S.A.
 Llyod George of Britain
 Georges Clemenceau of France
 Vittorio Orlando of Italy (who left the conference in anger at the treatment received by Italy‘s
claim)

LLYOD GEORGE
Personally, he was moderate but he had pressure at home where some British wanted Germany to
be punished harshly and to pay for the war.

GEORGES CLEMENCEAU
- He was more concerned for the security of his country from further aggression .
- So she pressed for harsh terms and wanted to punish an weaken Germany so that she
should never bother France again.
VITTORIO ORLANDO
-Italy joined the First would war in 1915, and she was promised territories by the allies by the
treaty of London of April 1915 .So orondo went to Versailles in order to get the promised
Territories.
- When he found that Italy‘s claims were to be honored, he left the congress in anger.

WOODROW WILSON
-He was an idealist who wanted to avoid revenge but to bring lasting peace and avoid future war.
- The Versailles peace settlement was based on Wilson Fourteen points which he made.

WILSON‘ FOURTEEN POINTS

1. End of secret diplomacy.
2. Freedom of navigation in international wares.
3. Removal of economic barriers and equality of trading conditions.
4. Reduction of armaments consistent with levels of national security.

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5. Settlement of colonial disputes recognizing interest of colonial population and claims of

mother country.
6. Recognition of Russian territory.
7. Restoration of Belgium sovereignity.

8 France to be evacuated and Alsace and Lorraine to be returned.

9 Readjustment of Italian borders.
10 Self government to be given to people of the old Austria-Hungarian
Empire.
11 New and acceptable boundaries to be drawn up in the Balkans.
12 Self-government to races of old Turkish Empire. The Dardanelles to be opened permanently.
13 The creation of an independent Poland.
14 the creation of general association of nations (League of Nations)

TERMS OF THE VERSAILLES PEACE SETTLEMENT

TERRITORIAL TERMS
1 Alsace and Lorraine were recovered by France.
2 Northern Schleswing was given to Denmark after the local population had voted in the
plebiscite to decide their future.
3 Moresnet and Eupen-Malmedy were given to Belgium.
4 The Saar was to be administered by the League of Nations for 15 years and then a plebiscite
would be held decide its future. Meanwhile its coal mines ere given to France.
5 Mamel was to be administered by the League of the nations.
6 The Rhineland was to be occupied by the Allies: a 50 km belt on the east bank o the Rhine was
to be demilitarised zone.
7 Poland was recreated and the port of danzig was to be a free city under the auspices of the
League of the Nations.
8 All Germany colonies became mandated territories under the League of Nations and were
handed over to the victorious powers.

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9 A plebiscite was determine the future of Upper Silesia.

10 The union of Austria and Hungary (the Anchlus) was forbidden.

GERMAN MILITARY POWER

In various ways, the Allies tried to restrict German military power to prevent
Her from ever being able to wage war again.

1 German army was limited to 100,000 men.

2 German was not to have tanks, aircraft, surface vessels of over 10,000 tons or a system of
conscription.
3 German fleet was handed over to the British and eventually scuttled itself at Scapa flow.

THE WAR GUILTY CLAUSE

-German was found guilty of starting the First World War and so had to pay compensation for
the damage caused by the war.
-The Germans had to hand over ships, coal and other materials as payment and in 1921 a figure
of &6,600 million was put forward as reparations to be paid by Germany.
NOTE: Another term of the Versailles peace settlement was that the covenant of the League of
Nations was included.

CRITICISM (FAULTS) OF THE VERSAILLES PEACE SETTLEMENT

1. Defeated powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Russia) were not invited
and therefore they felt the peace settlement was a diktat. To this end, these countries felt less
obliged to follow and accept terms.
2. Self determination (i.e. the choice to have a country of ones choice) was applied to all
countries except Germany. For example
a The Anschlus was forbidden
b Germans of Sudetenland were given to Czechoslovakia.
C Germans of the Polish Corridor were given to Poland.

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3. The reparation bill of $6,600 million that Germany was asked to pay was extremely high. The
economy of Germany was hard hit because of striving to pay the reparations.
4. It created a power vacuum in Europe. Germany was surrounded by small and weak states to
the east e.g. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and this meant that Germany
could easily conquer these states in the event of the future war.
5. By creating new and many states, it meant that tariffs (custom duties) were to go up just
because goods would cross many countries. This in turn led to
increase in prices of goods and in this way trade was affected.
6. By creating more new states, there was mixing up of races in different countries and as a
result, minority races always suffered.
7. Its harsh terms negatively affected Germany and this continued the hatred and bitterness of the
war on Germany.The second world war was started by such ill-feeling.

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

-This organization was born out of the Versailles peace settlement an d was a brain child of the
views of president Woodrow Wilson of USA.
-It was established at Geneva in mode of hope for the future when people felt that never again
must conflict as terrible as the first world war be permitted to happen.

AIMS OF THE LEAGUE OF THE NATIONS.

1 To maintain peace and security through collective actions.
2 To promote international cooperation in economic and social affairs, that is to promote social
and economic development.

BASIC COMMITMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES

Every member state of the league of Nations agreed to the Covenant of the League eg:
a) To disarm to the lowest point consistent with national security.

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b) To respect territory and independence of fellow member states.

c) Not to go war until a peace settlement has been tried first.
If a country failed to abide by the League‘s decision, then it had to use:
i. first diplomatic sanctions
ii. secondly, economic sanctions
iii. finally, military sanctions (attack)
The League of Nations was thus aimed to act as conciliator and arbitrator and hoped to prevent
quarrels and war at early stages.

ORGANISATION (STRUCTURE ) OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

THE COUNCIL THE ASSEMBLY

THE SECRETARIAT
(IN GENEVA)

THE INTERNATIONAL THEPERMANENT COURT

OF INTERNATIONALJUSTICE
LABOUR ORGANISATION

Various organs dealing with socio-economic activities

1. THE ASSEMBLY
. It met annually although it could be summoned for special sessions
during emergency.
. Each member country was represented by three delegates but had one
vote.
. All Assembly decisions had to be unanimous, ie, every member
accepting.
. By 1929, the League had fifty members.

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2. THE COUNCIL
. This organ was the executive of the League.
. There was an intention of having five permanent members- Britain, the
USA, France, Italy and Japan, and then four lesser powers.
. However, the USA never became a member of the League of Nations
because the American Senate refused to ratify (approve of ) the League.
The Americans preferred a policy of isolationism or non- involvement in
European affairs.
. As a result, the League had four permanent members- Britain, France,
Italy and Japan, and the number of lesser members increased to 6 in
1922 and to 9 in 1926.

. Each member of the council, whether big or small, had the power of
veto or to stop an action from being taken.
. The council had the following functions:
i. to decide on disarmament
ii. to decide on the imposition of sanctions
iii. to mediate in international crises

3. THE SECRETARIAT
. This organ was headed by a Secretary – General and Sir Eric
Drummond of Britain was the first League of Nations Secretary
General.
. Its headquarters was at Geneva in Switzerland.
. It comprised international civil servants who did office work like:
a) arranging meetings
b) typing minutes
c) making translations of languages
d) making payments
e) carrying out the decisions of the League

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. It was also a fact finding body and collected information on any subject.

4.THE PERMANENT COURT INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

. This organ was based at Hague in Holland and had 15 judges.
. It could settle international disputes but could not force countries to appear before it or force its
decisions.
. By 1939, it had dealt with over 70 international cases.

5. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION ( ILO)

.Its purpose was to collect information on conditions of labour in the world and to persuade
governments to pass laws to improve the conditions.
. It had representatives of governments, employers and employees.
. It passed several labour standards like:
a) non- employment of children
b) avoiding use of chemicals which are health hazard.
c) formation of trade unions
d) passing an eight-hour working day.

OTHER AGENCIES

1.MANDATES COMMISSION whose duty was to oversee the affairs of the

mandates.
2. THE HEALTH ORGANISATION which dealt with outbreaks of
diseases. It also collected information on nutrition, drugs, etc
3. THE COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES which repatriated refugees to
their homelands.

SUCCEESSES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

1. POLITICAL SUCCESSES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

. The League managed to settle a number of international crises which

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might have developed into a larger struggle ( as the Sarajevo affair had
done)
a) In 1920, it settled a dispute between Sweden and Finland over the control of the Aaland
Island.
b) In 1921, it settled a border dispute between Poland and Germany over the frontier in the
Upper Silesia region. The committee of the League decided that the border should go through
Upper Silesia and the area was to be under the League for 15 years.
c) In 1921, it made partial success in the quarrel between Poland and Lithuania over the
possession of the city of Vilna.
d) In 1921, it settled a border dispute of Albania which was disputed by the new state of
Yugoslavia.
e) In 1923, it made a partial success in the quarrel between Greece and Italy over the island of
Corfu.
f) In 1925, when Greece invaded Bulgaria, Greece was found guilty and was made to pay
reparations.
g) It made a successful administration of the free city of Danzing and of the Saar region.

2. SOCIAL SUCCESSES OF THE LEAGUE OF THE NATIONS

. It was mainly the non political branches of the League that made
reasonable success, and more important still they left behind a legacy
of ideas and experience which was to help the UNO, for many of the
League agencies were continued. For example,
a) Through the Mandates commission, the League managed to create new states and it prevented
big powers like Britain, France and Belgium from doing what they wanted in the mandated
territories without criticism.
b) Through the Health Organisation, the League dealt with disease outbreaks, like cholera and
typhus and collected information on drugs.
c) Through Refugee Organisation, the League managed to find homes in new countries for
people who had been homeless and stateless because of the war.
d) It managed to negotiate for the reconstruction of the Austrian economy.
e) It had other commissions which dealt with drug traffic, position of women and other socio-

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economic problems.

WEAKNESSES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

. In some cases, the League failed to solve disputes concerning big powers eg :
1. In two incidents the League was overruled by the Conference of Ambassadors- a body of great
powers which was set up in Paris. These incidents were :
a) Poland versus Lithuania over Vilna. The League said Vilna had to go to Lithuania but the
conference of Ambassadors gave it to Poland.
b) In 1923, there was a dispute between Mussolin‘s Italy and Greece. Although the league asked
Greece not to pay money to Italy, the Conference of Ambassadors ordered Greece to pay.

WHY DID THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS FAIL IN MOST OF ITS

WORK OR WHY WAS THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS BORN WEAK
FROM THE START?
a) Since it was born as part of the Versailles Peace Settlement, the League was seen as a body of
victorious powers only aiming at preserving the Peace of Paris. So it was difficult for the
losers to cooperate in the League
b) Some major powers were never members of the League right from the start. For example, the
USA never became a member and Russia joined when the body was already weak, Japan took
a little interest. The League was therefore very much a European affair and especially
dependent on Britain and France ; and not seen as a world body.
c) Members failed to support the League because aggressors openly challenged it and never
accept its decisions and instead withdrew from it eg
. Germany joined the League in 1926 but withdrew in 1933 when Hitler came to power and
demanded rearmament.
. Japan withdrew from it in 1931 after it was condemned for attacking Manchuria.
. Italy also withdrew from it in 1936 when she was condemned for attacking Ethiopia .Sanctions
failed to bite her.
d) The League had no army of its own. Therefore, it lacked a compelling force to implement its
decisions.
e) The structure and rules of the League were weak. For example:

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. Each member of the Council had power of veto and equal voting right.
. Decisions had to be unanimous and this made it difficult to reach an agreement. Countries
therefore spent a lot of time quarrelling.
f) In certain instances, the Conference of Ambassador made decisions which had powers
overriding the League. This watered the authority of the League.
g) Certain agreements were achieved outside the League and this undermined the League‘s
authority.
h) It had little power to act in an emergency and therefore failed to act quickly.

TOPIC: THE INTERWAR PERIOD (1919- 1939)

- The Inter- War Period is a period in history between the end of the First World War and the
beginning of the Second World War.
- In this period, focus is made on major developments – social, economic and political- which
took place worldwide between 1919 and 1939.

1. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS IN EUROPE AFTER THE FIRST

WORLD WAR
The First World War had brought many economic problems in European
Countries such as Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Russia etc
The major economic problems that Europe faced after World War 1 were:

a) Huge debts to pay back to the USA

The war effort had forced several countries to borrow money, so when
the First World War ended , these European countries had very huge
debts to pay back. For example:
. Britain had borrowed $842 million from Britain and the USA.
. France had borrowed over $1000 million over from Britain and
USA.
. France had lent over $350 million to Belgium, Russia and other

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allies.
. Britain had lent over $1700 million to France, Russia and other
allies.

b) Low industrial production

- During the war a lot of property and infrastructure such as factories, roads, railways, etc had
been destroyed.
- Similary, a lot of money which could had been wasted on the war.
- This resulted in low industrial production in most countries in Europe .

c) High unemployment rates

- Because of low industrial production and closure of factories, many workers were laid off
resulting in high unemployment rates in most European countries like Germany, Britain,
Russia, etc.
d) Heavy dependency on imports
-The first world war led to an interruption in international trade. The huge debts which countries
had to pay meant that they would have to export more goods than they imported in order to get
more money.
- This meant that it was very difficult to increase exports rapidly there by leading to reduced
domestic economies and low standard of living

e) Increased tariffs
-The Versailles peace treaty resulted in the creation of new states with new customs boundaries.
- As such, high tariffs were imported and exported thereby hindering the flow of trade.

2. ATTITUDES OF THE ALLIES TOWARDS GERMANY IN

PAYING REPARATIONS
After the defeat of Germany in World War 1, the allies such as Britain,
France and the United States had varied opinions on Germany‘s payment
of reparations.

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FRANCE
-Took a tough stand against Germany
- She wanted to use Germany‘s reparations to pay back loans to the USA
and Britain.
- As such, the French were determined to squeeze as much out of
Germany as possible, and hoped to ruin her economy forever.
-This is why when Germany fell behind in payment of reparations,
French and Belgian troops went to occupy the industrial region of the
Ruhr in 1923, hoping to get their payment direct from the industries
there. This left the German Mark in shambles.
- France was also against arms parity with Germany and preferred to
have Germany weak militarily.

BRITAIN
- The British wanted to scale down the reparation figure and started to question about the
wisdom of reparation.
- They also viewed Germany as a potential markets for the trade goods produced in Britain
- Thus, the British wanted to reduce suffering of the Germans and incline toward Germany
re-armament. This is why they were the main proponents of the appeasement policy in
the 1930s.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

-In the inter-war period the USA was following a policy of ―isolationism‖ that is, non-
involvement in European and World affairs.
-However,she was sympathetic to Germany and wanted to recover economically.
-This is why the USA came up with the Dawes plan in 1924 and Young plan in 1929 in order
to improve the economy of Germany.
-To this end, the USA poured in large amount of money in aid and loans to Germany.

THE REPARATION CYCLE

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USA
Loans

Loans Germany

Reparations
Britain and France

PROBLEMS THAT GERMANY FACED WITH THE REPARATIONS.

1) HEAVY REPARATIONS
-The reparations that Germany had to pay were so heavy that she could not afford to pay
them all. This caused additional burden on her economy.
2) LOSS OF ECONOMIC REGIONS TO FRANCE AND BELGIUM.
-When Germany failed to pay reparations in 1923, the French and Belgium occupied the rich
industrial regions of RUHR.This reduced revenue that Germany got from the industries there.
3) HIGH INFLATION RATES
- After 1924 , the Germany govt printed more paper money to try sustain its reparations. This
lead to a collapse in the value of Germany mark resulting i8n the high prices of goods and
high cost of living.
4) HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
-The decline in industries lead to closure of some industrial sectors e.g. factories. This in turn
lead to many workers being laid off creating problems of unemployment.
5) HEAVY DEBTS FROM AMERICAN LOANS

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-In order to pay the reparations, Germany was forced to get loans from the USA. This caused
big problems in paying back the loans thereby ruining Germany economy.

REASONS WHY GERMANY FACED PROBLEMS WITH THE PAYMENT OF

REPARATIONS

1. Her economy was already overstretched due to war effort; human losses and infrastructural
devastation.
2. The loss of Ruhr region to France meant that Germany had lost an important source of raw
material and markets to manufactured goods and services. Trade was
therefore affected.
3. Germany did not posses the gold to meet such heavy reparations and she had to pay in
goods and services.

HOW DID THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ASSIST GERMANY IN PAYING THE
REPARATIONS?

Because the USA was sympathetic to Germany and wanted her to recover economically, the
Americans assisted Germany in the following ways:
1. THE DAWES PLAN OF 1924
Under the chairmanship of General Dawes,the USA helped in the
adoption of the Dawes Plan in 1924.
Under this plan, the USA proposed that Germany should pay
annually only reparations she could afford.
In addition, the USA provided aid (loans) to Germany.
Because of the Dawes Plan, the German economy began to
recover based on American loans.

2. THE YOUNG PLAN (1929)

Under the chairmanship of an American banker, Owen Young ,
The Young Plan reduced reparations from $6600 million to $2,000

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million to be paid by instalments for the next 59 years.

Eventually, in 1932, the whole idea of getting reparation was abandoned at the Lausanne
Conference where Britain and France released Germany from most of the remaining
reparation payments.

11. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS IN THE UNITED STATES OF

AMERICA AFTER WORLD WAR 1
During the First World War, USA had made some benefits from
the war. For example:
(a) She had found many trading partners in Europe that imported
her goods. This helped promote her economy.
(b) Because more goods would be imported by countries in Europe,
the American industries increased tremendously.
(c) During the war, the USA provided loans and assistance to her
allies such as Britain, Russia France etc
As such, she was able to promote her economy through the interest from the loans by the
European Allies.

Therefore, the USA emerged from the First World War as the most prosperous and powerful
nation in the world.
After the war, the economy of USA continued to tick and the production of industrial goods
began to expand rapidly such that the early 1920s were even called THE ROARING
TWENTIES just because:
(i) there was high standard of living in the country.
(ii) there was overproduction of goods needed by the people.
(iii) many people invested in firms through buying and selling of shares, thereby making
them wealthy.
(iv) there was high sales and profits for the American firms.

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The manner in which the USA quickly expanded her economy through increased industrial
production was referred to as ECONOMIC BOOM OF THE 1920S.
It should, however, be noted that though the USA experienced the great economic boom in
the 1920s, the distribution of wealth favoured a few people, leaving more people especially
small businessmen and workers still poor.
Similarly, an agricultural sector was hit hard as the demand for agricultural goods eg wheat
declined and many people in farms lost their jobs.
From 1929, the economy of USA in general began to decline by the GREAT ECONOMIC
DEPRESSION.

THE GREAT ECONOMIC DEPRESSION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The Economic Depression was :

. a period when the USA and other nations experienced extreme
dwindling of economic activity, alarming degree of poverty,
unemployment, starvation and deflation of the economies.

.a sudden or dramatic decline of trade, economic prosperity and

living standards in America between 1929 – 1935.
The Economic Depression started in USA in 1929. But slowly its effects were felt in many
in Europe especially those countries that relied heavily on American loans and aids eg
Germany.
Because the Great Depression rapidly affected not only the USA, but other countries as well,
so it became as the World Economic Depression.

CAUSES OF THE ECONOMIC DEPRESSION IN AMERICA

1. DOMESTIC OVERPRODUCTION OF INDUSTRIAL GOODS In 1920s, American

industrialists encouraged by high profits and helped by increased mechanization were

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producing too many goods for the home markets in the USA to absorb. Unsold stocks of
goods began to build up and manufacturers started to produce less.

Since fewer people were required in industries, many workers were laid off. In turn, markets
for the manufactured goods declined as the unemployed people could buy less.

2. OVERPRODUCTION OF AGRICULTURAL GOODS

In 1920s, there was also an overproduction of agricultural goods especially wheat. This
led to low prices of goods. Because farmers and agricultural workers had less money, the
demand for manufactured goods also declined leading to stockpiling of goods.

3.STIFF COMPETITION IN AGRICULTURAL GOODS

Because of the economic recovery in Europe due to American loans, European countries that
used to import agricultural goods from the USA started to increase their crop production. In
addition, they found other foreign countries from which they could buy wheat eg Canada and
Argentina.
Thus, these European countries could not buy large quantities of agricultural goods from the
USA thereby leading to more goods just stockpiling in the country.
4. IMPACT OF USA TARIFFS
In 1922, the USA put up tariff barriers to keep out foreign goods from flooding the American
local markets.
This made foreign countries reluctant to buy American goods.
Similarly, many foreign countries retaliated by introducing tariffs against American goods.
This meant that goods from America suffered foreign markets and so they were just piling up
in the country.

5. MALDISTRIBUTION OF INCOME OR RESOURCES

The enormous profits that were made by industrialists were not being shared evenly enough
among the workers.
While industrial profits between 1923 and 1939 increased greatly, there were low wage
increases. This meant that there was not enough buying power of the goods produced by the

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industries. In turn, this led to the build up of consumer goods which were unsold causing an
economic * slum*

6. THE EFFECTS OF JOHNSTON‘S ACT OF 1921

In 1921, the USA introduced the Johnston‘s Act with an aim of reducing the rate of
immigration of people from Eastern Europe to America. This reduced the number of
consumers of industrial and agricultural goods.

7. SPECULATION
Speculation is the rapid buying and selling of shares in companies.
In about 1926, a great rush of speculation began to gather momentum whereby many people,
rich or poor, rushed to sell the shares on the New York stock market in order to make quick
profits.
This speculation in shares forced share prices to go up which in turn forced ordinary people
to spend their savings or borrowed money to buy the shares.
By October 1929, there was a flood of people rushing to sell shares but because confidence
had been shaken, there were far fewer people wanting to buy.
Share prices went down greatly forcing investors to accept very low prices. For example , on
24th October, 1929 nearly 13 million shares were dumped /sold on the stock market at very
low prices and this bad day is still referred to as BLACK THURSDAY.
Because of the low prices of shares, many people lost the money they had: businessmen
began to shut down, banks began to fail, factories began to sack workers thereby leading to
the collapse of the American industries.

IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC DEPRESSION ON USA

1. Banks collapsed as many people withdrew their savings and stopped saving money with
the banks.
2. As the demand for all types of goods fell, factories were closed thereby reducing industrial
production in the country.
3. Due to low industrial and agricultural production, many workers were laid off leading to

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high unemployment rates. Farmers also lost their property and jobs on the farms.
4. high unemployment led to a drop in living standard with long queues for bread, eviction of
tenants who could not afford the rent and near starvation for
many people.
5. Scarcity of food and other goods led to high prices which in turn resulted in high inflation
rates.
6. Many investors who had paid high prices for their shares on the stock market lost their
shares, resulting in the closure of businesses. This in turn reduced the prosperity that the
USA had enjoyed in the early 1920s.

IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC DEPRESSION ON EUROPE

The economic Depression had both economic and political impact on European countries
such as:

1. The USA was the chief source of loans to European countries especially Germany. As
soon as the economic crisis came in the USA, the loans stopped and
the Americans called in the short term loans they had already
made. As a result, the European economy and prosperity
declined resulting in :

(a) Millions of people being laid off and unemployed.

(b) Many businesses were closed down.
(c) Many factories were closed down.
(d) There were high inflation rates.
(e) Lack of food and low living standards.

POLITICAL IMPACT
Politically, the economic depression resulted in the rise dictatorships in some European
countries.
In Germany, Austria, Japan and Britain right wing government came to power when the
existing democratic system failed to solve the economic problems left by the World War 1.

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For example, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, and with his rise to power, democracy
disappeared in Germany.

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT AND THE ECONOMIC DEPRESSION IN THE

USA
In view of the hardships created by economic depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a
democrat, defeated Herbert Hoover (a Republican) in the November 1932 presidential
election.
Franklin Roosevelt won the election because he offered hope to Americans with his NEW
DEAL PROGRAMME.

THE ROLE OF THE NEW DEAL IN SOLVING AMERICAN ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

The New Deal was a term used to describe the economic and social , political programmes
which Franklin Roosevelt implemented between 1933 and 1937 in order to end the Great
Economic Depression in the USA.

ROOSEVELT SAID:
―I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people‖ and proceeded to
state, ―the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.‖
Roosevelt then did the following:
(a) There was Federal interference in state and local affairs.
(b) He gave work to his people.
(c) He introduced pension and sick pay.
(d) He helped farmers with government money.
(e) He reopened banks with government money.
Basically, Franklin Roosevelt had three aims:

1. RELIEF: To give direct help to the poverty stricken millions without food and home.
2. RECOVERY: To reduce unemployment, stimulate demand for goods and to get the

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economy moving again.

3. REFORM: To prevent a repeat of the economic disaster.

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT: MAJOR PROJECTS AS METHODS OF THE NEW DEAL

The New Deal involved the following programmes and projects:

1. THE BANKING AND FINANCIAL SYSTEM

This programme aimed at getting the banking system working properly again under. Under
this programme, the government took over the control of banks temporarily and guaranteed
the depositors that they would not lose their cash if there were another financial crisis.
Thus, the depositors were given confidence and so many began to flow into the banks again.

2. THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE COMMISSION (1934)

This reformed the stock exchange and many other things instead that lawyers of shares in
credit must make a down payment of at least 5% instead of only 10%.

3. THE FARMERS RELIEF ASSOCIATION(FRA) 1934

This project tried to help farmers still producing too much , to reduce production thereby
keeping (raising) the prices and obtaining higher profits.
Under this programme, the government paid compensation to those farmers that reduced
output such that by 1937 the average income of farmers had almost doubled.

4. THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS (CCC)

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This programme offered jobs to unemployed young Americans in conservation projects like
planting trees, digging reservoirs and doing work that benefited the community in the
countryside.
5.THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY ACT OF 1933

This project tried to get people back to work permanently thus helping stimulate industries to
function more normally.
The Act introduced the Public Works Administration (PWA) which organized and provided
cash for the building of useful works such as dams, bridges, roads, schools, hospitals, airports
and government buildings. In so doing, several million jobs were created.
Another section of the Act set up the National Recovery Administration (NRA) which
abolished child labour, introduced an eight hour day and minimum wage. This helped create
more jobs for the unemployed.

6. FEDERAL EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION

This programme provided 500 million dollars for dole money and soup kitchens. It had the
following sections:

(A) THE WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION ( 1935)

This section financed a variety of projects such as roads, schools and hospitals.

(B) THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECTS

This section provided jobs for playwrights, artists, actors, musicians and airbus people as
well as increasing public appreciation of arts.

(C) THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT 1935

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This section introduced old age pensions and unemployment insurance schemes to be jointly
financed by the federal and state insurance.

7. HOME TENNESSE VALLEY AUTHORITY (TVA)

This project provided cheap hydro electric power, irrigation, fertilizer etc. It aimed at
restoring the use of dust balls into productive land by planting trees and making dams for
irrigation and generation of electricity.
NOTE: With all these measures, Roosevelt succeeded in putting the American economy back
on its track. Americans viewed him as the wonder hence he was voted into office for four
times as the president from 1933 to 1945. he died in office during the fourth term of office.

THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA

What is a Revolution?

(i) is a time of great sudden social and political change in a country.

(ii) is a complete overthrow of an established government or political system.
(iii) Is a sudden political overthrow brought about from within a given political system.

CHARACTERISTICS OFA POLITICAL REVOLUTION

(i) Revolts against the present political system (ruler or government) through strikes, riots,
boycotts demonstrations etc.
(ii) Change of a ruler ( king or president) by force.
(iii) Change of a political system by force.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION TO RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Russia was ruled by monarchs (kings) with the title of Tsar or Czar.

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The Czar was an autocrat with complete control of the country without being responsible to
an elected parliament.
By 1900, Russia was economically backward and was largely an agrarian (agricultural) with
few industries.
In the early years of 20th century, Russia was a troubled state with high rise of poverty and
diseases. During this period, a dictator called Tsar Nicholas 11 ruled it (1894-1915) who
created state police that silenced criticism to his government.
Opponents of the stare were arrested and sent to labour camps in Siberia where living
conditions were extremely poor. His government was inefficient and he chose less able
ministers who gave him wrong advice.
His wife was Alexandra and she was hated by most Russians because she was a German by
nationality.
By 1905, Tsar Nicholas 11 had failed to solve many problems faced by Russians. Unrest and
criticism of government reached climax in 1905 with the Russian defeat during the Russo-
Japanese war of 1904- 1905 leading to general strike and attempted revolution.
Matters came to a head on 22nd January 1905 when father Gapon led a procession of peaceful
demonstrators to the Winter Palace to present a petition demanding Czar Nicholas 11 to
improve the situation.
The police opened fire, killed and wounded many people and this sad day is called BLOODY
SUNDAY
What followed were riots, strikes boycotts and demonstrations in Petersburg and countryside.
Tsar failed to control the situation completely until on 30th October 1905 when he made
concession called the OCTOBER MANIFESTO in which he promised to :
(i) create an elected parliament (DUMA).
(ii) give more freedom for the press.
(iii) ensure genuine democracy with the DUMA in place.
(iv) make improvements in industrial working conditions and pay.
(v) cancel redemption payments peasants paid to the government in turn for their freedom
and some land.

NOTE:

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The October Manifesto ushered in the election of DUMA in 1906. However, Tsar‘s approval
in decision, it was to act as a Rubber Stamp. This displeased the people. This Duma was
dissolved and another one was elected which was also unfortunately dissolved in 1907.
The other two Dumas (1907 to 1917) survived but still there were many social and economic
problems in Russia, which finally led to Revolution in 1917.

THE MARCH REVOLUTION -1917

This Revolution started on 2nd March, 1917. The immediate cause was shortage of food in
Petra grad and lower wages.

CAUSES OF THE MARCH REVOLUTION OR WHAT GRIEVANCES DID THE

RUSSIANS HAVE AGAINST TSAR NICHOLAS 11 OR WHY WAS GOVERNMENT OF
TSAR NICHOLAS 11 OVERTHROWN IN RUSSIA IN 1917?

The March revolution finally came because of accumulation of mistakes that the Tsar made.
At least every section of the Russian society had grievances against the Tsar. For example:

1. Peasants had the following grievances:

(i) The best land was in the hands of the rich peasants (kulaks) and
nobles while peasants themselves had poor lands.
(ii) They were made to work 3 days a week for their landowners.
(iii) Land captains forced the peasants to continue making payments for the land they never
owned.

2. The proletariats (industrial workers) had the following grievances:

(i) They were made to work for long hours and yet they received goods instead of money and
the wages were generally very low.
(ii) They were easily dismissed from jobs without any cause and were replaced with children

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for cheap labour.

(iii) They lived in overcrowded and unhygienic houses.
(iv) They faced food shortage and food prices were high resulting in famine.

3. The impact of the First World War

The impact of the First World War contributed to the spreading up of the March Revolution
in the following ways:

(i) The war was going badly for Russia which was ill prepared for a major war. Many
soldiers were not equipped and millions were dying and getting crippled. This created
dissatisfaction and discontent against the Tsar‘s government.
(ii) In 1915, Tsar Nicholas 11 made himself the commander in chief of the Russian army and
was personally and directly responsible to blame for the loss in the war.
(iii) Since tsar had to be in the Front as a commander, it meant that the government was left
in the hands of his wife, Alexandra, in Petrograd and many Russians did not like this
arrangement.
OTHER CAUSES OF THE MARCH REVOLUTION

4. People detested the forced recruitment of productive young men into the army.
5. There was discontent for the police that killed or ill treated opponents either by sending
them into exile or to the labour camps in Siberia.
6. The Russians were not happy to that the Duma was not effective as it only acted as a
Rubber Stamp for Tsar Nicholas‘s decisions. As such , they wanted the power of the Tsar
to be reduced and to create an independent Duma.
7. The Russians had not forgotten the humiliating defeat to Japan in the 1905 Russo-
Japanese war.
8. The Russians were against the influence of the Tsar‘s wife, Alexandra, and the holy man
from Siberia called Gregory Rasputin in Russian affairs.

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Alexandra was a German by nationality and was spreading German influence to Russia.
After all, Russia was fighting Germany at that time.
Both Alexandra and Rasputin were responsible for appointing ministers. This influence was
resented by the Russians.
Rasputin was accepted in the Tsar‘s palace because he had the power to cure the Tsar‘s only
son from a disease called Haemophilia.

RESULTS OF THE MARCH 1917 REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA.

(i) It overthrew the Tsar who was taken captive and forced to abdicate his throne on 15th
March, 1917. This marked the end of the Russian Monarchy.
(ii) It led to the establishment of a moderate Provision Government made up of the privileged
classes; aristocracy, army, duma and industrialists.

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT IN RUSSIA

This was a caretaker government which managed government businesses in Russia from
March 1917 to November ,1917 following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas 11.
It was formed by ex Duma members and was at first headed by Prince George Lvov and later
in July by Alexander Kerensky .
It was working on the constitution and was arranging for elections. However, because it
failed to deal with the problems facing the Russians , it was overthrown in November ,1917
bringing the Bolsheviks to power.

WHY DID THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT IN RUSSIA FALL FROM POWER SO

SOON?

The provisional government failed and did not last long because of the reasons:
(i) It took unpopular decision to continue fighting in the First World War, which was going
badly against Russia. Losses in the army caused the collapse of the army morale and
discipline, and sent many sent many deserting troops streaming home.

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(ii) It failed to redistribute land from large estate owners to peasants who wanted it taken
away from landowners.

(iii) It lost support from people because it delayed elections, which it had promised for a
constitutional assembly (parliament).

(iv) It failed to improve the economic situation in the country since:

(a) Inflation continued to be high.
(b) Prices of food (bread) continued to go up.
(c) Wages of workers could not be raised.
(d) Shortage of raw materials and fuel continued.
(e) Working conditions in factories continued to be very poor.

(v) It had no backing of the Russian army due to the Soviet Order Number One which
ordered all the soldiers not to get any instructions from the Provisional Government
which the Soviet did not approve.
(vi) There was excellent campaigning by Lenin, Leon Trotsky and the Bolsheviks. Many
Russians were convinced by their promises and so followed them. For instance, they
promised to get Russia out of the First world war; all land to be given to the peasants,
there would be more food at cheaper prices.

LENIN ( REAL NAME: VLADIMIR ULYANOV)

Since 1900, Lenin had been living in exile in many European countries. He was a member of
the Social Democratic Labour Party.
He was an editor of the Social Democrat Revolutionary newspaper called ISKRA (The
Spark).
As a result of conflict over an election to the editorial board of the Iskra in 1903, the Social
Democrat Labour party split into two:

1. THE BOLSHEVIKS (The Russian word for ―majority‖) under

Lenin.

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These wanted a small, disciplined party of professional revolutionaries who would full time
bring about revolution.
This group was mostly made up of peasants.

2. THE MENSHEVIKS (the Russian word for ―minority‖) under

Leon Trotsky.
These wanted many people to join such that membership was open to anybody.
It aimed at making Russia fully industrialized before staging a revolution.

In April 1917, Lenin was able to return from exile in Switzerland transported by a sealed
train by the Germans hoping that he could cause further chaos and instability in Russia.
When he came back to Russia, Lenin promised to:
(i) withdraw Russia from the First World War.
(ii) give power to the people (soviet).
(iii) stop supporting the Provisional government.
(iv) provide food and end the suffering of the people.

Lenin used the this slogan ―Bread, Peace and Land.‖

THE NOVEMBER 1917 REVOLUTION

This was the overthrow of the Provisional Government.
It began on the night of 6- 7th November ,1917 in which Bolshevik Red Guards occupied all
key points and later arrested Provisional Government ministers except Kerensky who
managed to escape. Soon the Bolsheviks under Lenin set up a new Soviet Government.

CAUSES OF THE NOVEMBER 1917 REVOLUTION

The main cause of the November Revolution (Bolshevik Revolution) were the weaknesses of
the Provisional Government. For example:
(i) failure to redistribute land to peasants.

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(ii) failure to solve the economic problems.

(iii) failure to pull Russia out of the World War 1.

RESULTS OF THE NOVEMBER REVOLUTION

(i) It marked the collapse and end of the Provisional Government.

(ii) It marked the beginning of a new Soviet Government under the Bolsheviks with Lenin as
the first leader.

CONSOLIDATION OF POWER BY THE BOLSHEVIKS IN RUSSIA

When Lenin and the Bolsheviks took over power after the November Revolution, they did
the following in order to stay in power:

1. They called for free elections in November 1917. Unfortunately, because they lost to
Social Revolutionaries, the Bolshevik Red Guards dispersed the first meeting of the
constituent Assembly (Duma) that met in January 1918 and it was dissolved indefinitely.

Instead, they adopted a new constitution which allowed Lenin to form a new political
hierarchy of the elected Soviets ie a council of the people‘s commissars (ministers) and
commissariats (government officials) working under him.
The hierarchy of Soviets consisted of the following branches:

(a) THE POLITBURO - as the central executive committee.

- as a chief decision making body of the Communist Party.

(b) THE ORABURO –as the organizational bureau.

This new constitution also allowed Lenin to rule by decree (orders) as a dictator following
the theories of a political thinker, Karl Marx, who wanted the dictatorship of the working
class (proletariats) by overthrowing the owners of the industries (the bourgeoisies and
capitalists) for the good of workers and peasants.

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Examples of some the decrees that Lenin used to consolidate his powers were:

(i) he nationalized all sectors of economy like banks, transport system, heavy industries, etc .
(ii) he abolished private land ownership so that land should be taken from landowners and be
redistributed to peasants.
(iii) he nationalized foreign owned industries without compensation and cancelled foreign
debts.

2. Lenin stopped Russian participation in the First World War and signed an armistice with
Germany in December 1917. Under the good negotiation skills of Leon Trotsky, Russia
and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. The terms of the Brest-
Litovsk Treaty were that:
(i) Russia lost Poland and the Baltic states like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to Germany and
Austria- Hungary.
(ii) Russia lost Ukraine, Georgia and Finland to Germany.

This treaty was cruel for Russia since it led to the loss of :
(a) a third of Russia‘s farming land.
(b) a third of Russia‘s population.
(c) two thirds of Russia‘s coalmines.
(d) half of Russia‘s heavy industries.

NOTE:
Lenin insisted that Russia signed the cruel Brest-Litovsk Treaty for the following reasons:
(i) He realized that Russia could not endure (afford) war and revolution at the same time.
(ii) He hoped that the crippling economic problems faced by Russia could be solved only by
stopping the war which drained a lot of supplies and manpower.
(iii) He wanted Russia to gain more time to recover.
(iv) He hoped that the treaty would be a temporal one and expected Russia to get her land
back anytime when the revolution spread to Germany and other countries.

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On her part, Germany wanted peace with Russia so that she could concentrate her forces on
the Western Front.
3. The Bolsheviks created a secret police called the Cheka which crushed and arrested
opponents of the Communist regime. In August, 1918 the Bolsheviks with the Cheka
started the Red Terror ie a deliberate campaign of violence and terror in the hope of
destroying all opposition (political opponents). Thousands of Social Revolutionaries and
even Tsar Nicholas 11 and his family were killed.

4. Lenin appointed Leon Trotsky as commissar of war who used general conscription, rigid
discipline and expertise of former Tsarist army officers to build the Red Army that was
formed in January 1918 into the largest and most effective fighting force in Russia.

5. Lenin introduced vigorous training of Russians to be indoctrinated with communism so

that they became fervent communists.
As a result, the party‘s youth movement was formed and the Communist groups called Cells
were also formed to control factories.

THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR (1918-1921)

This was the war that was fought between the Reds (Bolsheviks) and the whites (opposition
groups to the Communist regime under Lenin)
The Whites were a mixed bag consisting of the following groups:
(a) Social Revolutionaries
(b) Tsarist Supporters
(c) Mensheviks
(d) Liberals
(e) Landowners
(f) Capitalist countries

CAUSES OF THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

1. PEOPLE‘S HATRED OF THE BOLSHEVIKS

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Many sectors of people in Russia were not happy with the Bolsheviks. For example:
(i) the Social Revolutionaries, the Mensheviks and the Liberals were not happy with the
cancellation of the November 1917 election results and the indefinite dissolving of the
Duma.

(ii) The richer peasants (Kulaks) and landowners were not happy with the loss of their to
peasants.
(iii) Tsarist supporters wanted Tsar Nicholas 11 to continue ruling and were shocked to hear
that he had been killed in a cold blood with his family at Yekaterinburg in 1918.
(iv) Usually people were unhappy with the Cheka and the Red Terror that killed even
innocent citizens.
(v) Western capitalist countries were unhappy with Russia‘s withdrawal from the First
World War because the withdrawal gave Germany an advantage of a one front war.
Therefore, these Western countries gave support to the opposition groups hoping that
they
would dislodge the Bolsheviks and restart the war. The western countries were also
angered by Lenin‘s nationalization of foreign owned industries and cancellation of
foreign debts.

2. THE DICTATORSHIP OF LENIN‘S GOVERNMENT

The Russian‘s soldiers and workers expected that every town
would have its own Soviet or elected council to rule the towns‘
affairs and local industries.
On the contrary, the government appointed commissars to control
the Soviets throwing Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks
members out of the Soviets. This led to discontent among many
people who had earlier on supported the Bolsheviks.

RESULTS OF THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

(i) It led to heavy famine in which millions of people died.

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(ii)There was great destruction of infrastructure eg railways, factories and property.

(iii) Many people were killed.
(iv) It created suspicion and hatred between Capitalist Western countries that supported the
Whites and Russia.
(v) The Reds won the war.

WHY DID THE REDS WIN DURING THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR?
(a) The Reds had large armies that outnumbered the Whites by far.

(b) The Red armies were well disciplined and organized under the inspired leadership of
Leon Trotsky.
(c) The Reds had the support of the peasants since they given land.
(d) The Reds had an advantage of good interior lines of communication and railways.
(e) The Reds controlled most of the major towns with factories and industries and so were
better supplied with armaments to support the war effort.
(f) The Reds made a good use of propaganda to show that the Bolsheviks were the Russian
nationalists fighting the Whites who were in league with foreigners who wanted to bring
back Tsar , landowners and Kulaks.
(g) The Red Army and the Cheka kept ruthless control over food prices which guaranteed
that soldiers and towns were fed.
(h) The Red Army and the Cheka kept control over the Bolshevik territories making sure
that most people obeyed Lenin‘s rule.
(i) The Red army was well supplied by the brutal policy of war communism which
guaranteed that soldiers and towns were fed.

WHY DID THE WHITES LOSE THE WAR?

(a) They had no aim upon which they all agreed.
(b) They were not centrally organized. They lacked unity and were divided into various
political groups which in some cases disliked each other.
(c) The White‘s forces were spread across a huge area and so could not coordinate their
attacks. They were beaten one by one.

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(d) Their harsh treatment of people in the lands the Whites had captured led many people to
support the Bolsheviks against them.
(e) Western aid to the Whites was half hearted and was finally stopped making the white‘s
army poorly supplied.

THE WAR COMMUNISM

This referred to strict economic measures taken by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in order to
support the 1918-1921 civil war.
It was aimed at controlling the economic resources of the state.

EXAMPLES OF ECONOMIC MEASURES OF THE WAR COMMUNISM

(i) All industries (factories) of any size were nationalized.
(ii) All private trade was banned.
(iii) Grain(food) was seized from peasant farmers by force to feed soldiers and town workers.
(iv) All labour was controlled and directed by the government.

RESULTS OF WAR COMMUNISM

(i) There was famine in Russia because the peasants could no longer produce enough food to
feed people seeing that their produce was taken away from them without compensation.
(ii) Inflation rose rapidly and the Russian currency became valueless.
(iii) There was an uprising at Kronstalt Naval base by soldiers who opposed forced getting of
grain from peasants.

RUSSIAN ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND LENIN‘S NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP)

During Lenin‘s rule, Russian economy was in crisis. It was shattered by the First World War
and the Civil War.
In order to solve the economic problems, in 1921, Lenin introduced the ―New Economic
Policy.‖
Under the New Economic Policy;
(i) Peasants were allowed to sell their surplus crops for a profit.

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(ii) Forced acquisition of grain was stopped and a fixed tax was put in place representing a
certain proportion of the surplus.
(iv) Private trade was reintroduced.
(v) Trade with the outside capitalist countries started.
(vi) Lenin accepted gifts of food and clothing from USA, Britain and France.
(vii) Workers were paid in cash and were given bonuses.
(viii) A new Russian currency was introduced.

RESULTS OF THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY

The New Economic Policy was moderately successful in that:
(i) Re-introduction of private trade and allowing peasants to sell their surplus revived
incentive which led to an increase in food production.
(ii) The economy of Russia began to recover.

(iii) there was an increase in industrial production and the electrification of industries began.
(iv) More people in Russia became profit oriented.

LENIN‘S FOREIGN POLICY

Lenin‘s main aim was to defend the communist revolution and to see that there were
successful communist revolutions in other countries.
When he saw that communist revolutions had failed in Western countries, Lenin saw that it
was necessary to improve relations with European countries.
In view of this, Russia signed trade agreements with Germany and Britain as follows:
(a) The Anglo-Russian Treaty was signed between Germany and Russia in March, 1921.
(b) In May, 1921 a trade treaty was signed between Germany and Russia followed by the
granting of Soviet trade and mineral concessions to some German industrialists.
(c) In May,1922, Russia and Germany signed the Rapallo Treaty whose terms were:
(i) Full diplomatic relations were resumed.
(ii) Reparation claims between the countries were cancelled.
(iii) Both states cooperated to keep Poland weak.
(iv) The Germans were allowed to build factories in Russia in the use of new forbidden

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weapons.
(v) German army officers were allowed to train in Russia. In 1924, the British government
gave full diplomatic recognition to the Communist government in Russia.

UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC (USSR)

With the 1924 constitution, Russia became known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic
(USSR) or Soviet Union.
The country was run by Soviets (elected councils) from the grassroots up to the Central
Executive Committee known as the Politburo. The headquarters of the communist party was
called Kremlin.

THE DEATH OF LENIN AND POWER STRUGGLE IN RUSSIA

In May 1922, Lenin suffered a stroke. After this, he gradually grew weaker, suffering two
more strokes, until on 21st January, 1924, when he died at the age of 53.
The death of Lenin left a power vacuum and at first, there was a Triumvirate (a council of
three people ruling) of Joseph Stalin, Kamanev and Zinoviev.
This power vacuum led to a complex power struggle between Joseph Stalin and Leon
Trotsky from which Stalin had won by the end of 1928.

REASONS WHY STALIN WON THE POWER STRUGGLE AFTER THE DEATH OF
LENIN

(i) Trotsky was extremely brilliant compared to other members of the Politburo. Hence he
was not liked.
(ii) Trotsky‘s arrogant behaviour made members of the Politburo resent and so did
everything to prevent him from becoming a leader.
(iii) Trotsky was regarded as a new comer in the Communist Party as he only joined the
Bolsheviks shortly before the November 1917 Revolution.
(iv) Trotsky also lost the support of other Politburo members because he believed in World
Communism or Permanent Revolution ie the spread of communism throughout the world.
Stalin, on the other hand, won the support of other Politburo members because he

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believed in Socialist in One Country ie communism in first and then later on to spread to
other countries.
(v) Using the position as Secretary –General of the Communist Party, Stalin had full powers
of appointing and promoting people. Thus he could place his own supporters in key
positions while at the same time removing the supporters of other Politburo members to
distant places of Russia. For example,
(a) In 1925, he dismissed Trotsky from his post as Commissar of war.
(b) In 1926, Trotsky and Kamanev were dismissed from the Politburo while Zinoviev was
removed from being leader of the Comintern ie a body that aimed at spreading
communism from Russia.
(c) In 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and was stripped off Russian
citizenship. He was soon exiled to Mexico where an agent of Stalin killed him in 1940.
By 1928, Joseph Stalin had become a dictator of Russia until 1953 when he died at the
age of 73.

RUSSIA UNDER JOSEPH STALIN

Stalin means Man of Steel. His real name was Joseph Djughashvilli. He was born from a
peasant family from Georgia.
Stalin had wanted to become a priest but was expelled and then he became a revolutionary
from an early stage and was arrested on a number of occasions.
He slowly worked through the ranks of the Bolsheviks Party and finally became the
Secretary General.
After the death of Lenin, he won the majority in the Politburo and outwitted Trotsky,
Kamanev and Zinoviev and then became Russia‘s tyrant up to 1953 when he died.

STALIN‘S ECONOMIC MEASURES

When Stalin became the ruler of Russia, the country was still economically and industrially
backward.
In February 1931, Stalin once said, ―To slacken the pace means to lag behind and those who
lag behind are beaten. We are fifty or hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must
make this lag in ten years. Either we do this or they shall crush us.‖

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In view of this concern, Stalin embarked on economic measures to improve the economy of
the Soviet Union.
The following were the economic measures that Stalin embarked on:

1. COLLECTIVISATION
This measure was aimed at improving agriculture in the country. Under this system, Stalin
joined 25 million small peasant farms into large farms which were now under the control of
the state in Russia. In other words, peasants‘ plots were made into large state owned farms.
Stalin saw the following advantages in the collectivization system:
(i) The state owned farms would be run efficiently and so would produce more.
(ii) Collection of farm produce (grain) would be made easier.
(iii) With machines, little labour would be required and so extra labour would go to towns to
work in industries.
(iii) Russia would export more and so get foreign goods for use in the industrialization.

RESULTS OF COLLECTIVISATION
(i) Peasants were unhappy and not produced enough for themselves and never worked hard.
(ii) Richer peasants called the Kulaks resisted a lot and some destroyed their crops, tools, and
other items rather than to surrender them to the collective farms.
(iii) Stalin arrested and killed many Kulaks.
(iv) Collective farms ended up producing lower yields than anticipated and the system failed.

2. THE FIVE YEAR PLANS

These were plans aimed at improving industrial output in Russia.
Stalin set up targets while the Russians had to meet within the specified 5-year time span.
There were three main five year plans that Stalin set up:

(a) THE FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN (1928- 1932)

This plan concentrated on the production of heavy machinery (industries) eg
(i) production of coal, oil and steel.
(ii) production of hydro-electric power.

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(iii) production of tractors.

(b) THE SECOND FIVE YEAR PLAN (1932- 1937)

This plan again concentrated on the production o f heavy
machinery and had the support of Western countries.

(c) THE THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN (1937-1941)

This plan concentrated on the production of consumer goods at
first. However, later on, it changed to the production of arms as
well.
NOTE: The five year plans paid dividends in Russia. Hundreds of
factories were built. Industrial production in iron and steel
expanded greatly such that by 1940 the USSR had overtaken
Britain in iron and steel production.

STALIN‘S DOMESTIC POLICY

Starting from 1930, there was growing opposition in the Communist Party and in general,
many sectors of life such as the Kulaks were unhappy with Stalin‘s rule.
Discontent was so high that thoughts of removing Stalin from power came among the
opponents.
However, Stalin was equally determined that political opponents and critics had to be
eliminated once and for all.
Thus, Stalin felt the need to have a new constitution in order for him and the Communist
Party to have control over the social, cultural and political life of the whole country.

The following were some of the Stalin‘s domestic policies:

(i) Writers, artists and musicians were expected to produce works of realism glorifying
Soviet achievements. Anyone who did not conform was persecuted.
(ii) Education was closely watched by the secret police and it tended to indoctrinate the
children for communism.
(iii) An attempt was made to clamp down the Orthodox Church in which churches were

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closed and the clergy persecuted.

(iv) The Purges: This was a period of terror in which Stalin killed and imprisoned many
suspected opponents. The Purges were successful in eliminating possible alternative
leaders and in terrorizing the masses into obedience. Of the 139 members of the
Politburo, 98 were arrested and shot dead. One-fifth of the army officers were arrested,
tried and shot.

NOTE: The Purges had serious consequences in that many of the

best brains had disappeared thereby crippling industrial
progress of the country.

STALIN‘S FOREIGN POLICIES

Stalin wanted Russia to be free from any imminent attack from
Western countries.
He therefore improved relations with the west by doing the
following:

(i) In 1934, Russia joined the League of Nations.

(ii) In 1935, Russia signed a pact of mutual assistance with France.
(iii) In 1939, Russia signed the NAZI –SOVIET PACT with Germany and this was to avoid a
future German attack on Russia. The two countries also secretly agreed to divide Poland
between them.

(iv) When the World War 11 was coming to an end, Stalin started pushing the Germans back
and installed Satellite Communist Governments in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania,
East Germany and Czechoslovakia.
(v) Russia also participated at the conferences of Yalta, Potsdam , Moscow ,Dumbarton oaks
and San Francisco which decide on World War 11 settlement and the formation of the
United Nations Organisation.

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SUMMARY OF JOSEPH STALIN,SACHIEVEMENTS

(i) Stalin had made Russia improve from an agrarian country to an industrial supper power
through ruthless means and oppressions.
(ii) He also made Russia spread communism in Eastern Europe.
(iii) He had made Russia gain prominence in the world political affairs and viewed as a
Supper Power.
(iv) He led Russia to victory against Adolf Hitler during the World War 11.
(v) He also played an important role at the meetings which led to the formation of the UNO.
(vi) It was Lenin who brought the Cold War to its fullest.

DEVELOPMENT OF DICTATORSHIP GOVERNMENT IN

GERMANY

WHAT IS DICTATORSHIP?
This is a form of government whereby one person wields complete
powers and is not answerable to anybody. In other words, the leader
has complete powers.
It is usually characterized by abuse of human rights so that arrests,
killings and suppression of dissenting views are order of the day.
Famous dictators in European history of the century (20th century)
were:
(a) Joseph Stalin in Russia
(b) Adolf Hitler in Germany
(c) General Franco in Spain
(d) Benito Mussolini in Italy

THE RISE AND ACHIEVEMEBTS OF ADOLF HITLER AND

THE NAZI IN GERMANY

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THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

On 11th November, 1918 Germany surrendered and the army‘s
authority came to an end. The Kaiser abdicated and ran away to
Holland.
After the abdication, of the Kaiser, Field rich Elbert, leader of the
left-wing Social Democrat Party became head of government.
In January 1919, the general election was held. Social Democrats
emerged as the largest single party.
By the end of 1919, the National Assembly met at a small town of
Weimar and drew a new democratic constitution.
Under this Weimar Constitution, Germany became a Federal state
and Elbert was elected by popular vote as the first president of the
Republic which was popularly known as the Weimar Republic.
The Weimar Republic lasted until 1933 when it was destroyed by
Adolf Hitler.

WEAKNESSES OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

The Weimar Republic faced a number of problems that hampered
its efficient and effective running of the government.
Because of these problems, the Weimar Republic did not last long.
Some of the problems that the Weimar Republic faced between 1919
and 1933 were:

1.ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
After the First World War, Germany faced a lot of economic
problems which led to slow economic growth such as:
(i) Germany was close to bankruptcy due to war expenses.
(ii) In 1933 when Germany failed to pay failed reparations, French and Belgium forces took
away factories. This negatively affected German economy.

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(iii) In 1929, there was the Great Economic Depression which started in the USA. In turn, the
USA stopped giving aid to Germany and even recalled her loans. Germany was
economically slapped in the face.

Due to these events :

(i) there was high inflation.
(ii) there was heavy unemployment.
(iii) there were low living standards.
(iv) the German currency became valueless.

Unfortunately, the Weimar Republic failed to solve these economic

problems and so lost the confidence of the people.

2. OUTBREAKS OF VIOLENCES
The Weimar Republic was faced with a number of rebellions that she
seemed incapable of preventing and controlling. For example;

(a) THE SPARTACIST RISING (JANUARY,1919)

There was a communist revolt led by Karl Liebneckt and Rosa
Luxemburg.
The government failed to act. It was the right wing soldiers that
crushed the rebellion. This showed government‘s weakness to
control acts of violence on its own.

(b) THE KAPP PUTSCH (MARCH 1920)

This was an attempt by right wing groups led by Wolfgang
Kapp. The German army took no action against the rising
because the generals were in sympathy with the right wing.

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(c) THE MUNICH BEER HALL PUTSCH

This was a revolt led by Adolf Hitler in Bavaria, Munich. This
rebellion was crushed and Adolf Hitler was arrested sentenced
to 5 years imprisonment at Landsbergis prison where he wrote a
book entitled MEIN KAMPF (MY STRUGGLE). In this book,
Hitler stressed that the Germans were the Master race and they
needed a LEBENSRAUM (a living space).

3.The Weimar Republic was associated with failure and defeat of Germany in the First
World War in that it signed the harsh terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty and was
therefore hated by many Germans.

4. There was a series of political assassinations, which the Weimar Republic government
failed to quell as any strong measures against such acts of terrorism met strong criticism
from the right wing party.

5. There were many political parties in the Reichstag (Parliament) and many members wasted
a lot of their time quarrelling other than coming up with decision.

6. There was a traditional lack of respect for democratic government and a great admiration
for the army and the officer class as the rightful leaders of Germany. This lack of respect
was even made widespread by the concept of ―Stab in the back theory.‖ This was the
view that Germany was not defeated in the First World War but she was just betrayed by
the Democrats who had gone to the Versailles Peace Settlement to sign the treaty.

7. The political parties had very little experience of how to operate a democratic
parliamentary system. As such, there were bitter disagreements between the Ruling
Social Democrats and the Communist (socialists).

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8. Because of disagreements among political parties, some political parties organized their
own private armies that were everywhere and the Weimar government had no control
over them. These private armies were just loitering and causing street fights and violence.
These were potential supporters of Adolf Hitler.

Due to above problems, the Weimar Republic was born weak and
could not have survived for long. No wonder by the end of 1932, the
Republic had thus been brought to the verge of collapse.

ADOLF HITLER
He was born in 1889 near the border of Germany and Austria.
He spent much of his early life in the city of Vienna where he
worked as a labourer and later became a local artist after failing to
enter the Vienna Academy of Arts.

When World War 1 broke out, Hitler joined the army and rose to the
rank of corporal.
After the war, he joined a small party called the National Socialist
Germany Worker‘s Party (NAZI).
In 1923,he attempted to seize power by staging a revolt called The
Munich Beer Hall Putsch but he failed.
He was then arrested and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.
However, he only served 9 months.
While in prison Hitler wrote a book called Mein Kampf in which he
emphasized on Germans being a Master Race and that they needed
Lebensraum by conquering Eastern empire.

THE RISE OF ADOLF HITLER TO POWER AND THE NAZI

The Weimar Republic had existed from 1918 to 1932. In 1933 Adolf
Hitler became the ruler of Germany.

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HOW/WHY ADOLF HITLER AND NAZI CAME TO POWER

The following were some of the ways that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi
used in order to come to power in Germany:

(i) They blamed the Weimar Republic for signing the Versailles Peace Settlement which was
so humiliating and unpopular with most Germans. They used the myth that German
armies had not been defeated but had been ―stabbed in the back‖ by the November
Criminals who signed the armistice. Many Germans believed this, discredited the
Weimar Republic and supported the Nazi.

(ii) Hitler and the Nazis had mass support from a wide range of groups of people whom they
promised good things. For instance;

(a) From the wealthier landowners and industrialists because they feared communist
revolution and socialism which would have meant losing their property and industries.
(b) From working class and lower middle like office workers, shopkeepers because of
widespread unemployment and social misery.
(c) From young men and ex-soldiers because they were promised
and given jobs.

3. Hitler and the Nazis promised strong decisive government and to restore national pride by
building Germany into a great power again in which law and order would always be
maintained.

4. They had a heavy campaign of propaganda led by Joseph Goebbels whereby they talked
very bad of the Weimar Republic and this made them popular.

5. Hitler created a group of young men called the Storm Troopers which was the Nazi private
army. These young men could beat up and intimidate the Nazi opponents.

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6. Hitler took advantage of the economic problems of 1923 (taking of Ruhr region and 1929
Great Economic Depression) to win support of the Germans by telling them that only the
Nazi could improve the situation and most people were convinced.

7. Hitler himself had extra ordinary political abilities. He was a good public speaker and this
enabled him to be looked at as some sort of Messiah or Saviour.

NOTE: As a result of Nazi strategies of good promises coupled with

the weaknesses of the Weimar Republic between 1929 and
1932, the Nazi increased their seats in the Reichstag such that
by July, 1932 they were the largest single party in Germany.

On 30th January, 1933 Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of

Germany by President Hindenburg and Von Papen of the
Nationalist Party was his deputy.

HOW DID ADOLF HITLER AND THE NAZI CONSOLIDATE THEIR POWERS?
As a chancellor of a coalition government of the National Socialist
and the nationalists, Hitler was not yet satisfied with the amount of
power that he possessed.
Thus, when he came to power in Germany, Hitler did the following
to win an overall majority for the Nazi :

(i) He called for a general election on 5th March, 1933 in the hope of winning an overall
majority for the Nazis. During the election campaign, meetings of all political parties
except Nazi and Nationalists were not called. Speakers of the party were intimidated and
beaten up, and violence wasused to cause fear among the opponents of the Nazis.

(ii) He blamed the communists for starting the fire that badly destroyed the Reichstag
building on 27th February, 1933, he used the fire incident to stir up fear of communism.

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(iii) He forcing the passing of the Enabling Law on 23rdMarch, 1933 in the Reichstag. This
Enabling Law gave Hitler ―Emergency Dictatorial Powers‖ for the next 5 years. The
Enabling Law stated that the government could introduce law without the approval of the
parliament, the government could ignore the constitution and the government could sign
agreements with foreign countries without the Reichstag. When President Hindenburg
died in August 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor, president and commander in chief
of the German army.

ADOLF HITLER DOMESTIC POLICIES

Adolf Hitler followed a policy called Forcible coordination which
turned Germany into a totalitarian or fascist state. The government
tried to control as many aspects of life as possible using a huge police
force and the notorious state secret police called the Gestapo. It
became dangerous to oppose or criticise the government in any way.

The following were some of Hitler ‗s domestic policies:

(i) All political parties except the National Socialist (Nazi Party) were banned so that
Germany became a one-party state.
(ii) Parliament was abolished and there were no more state provincial or municipal elections.
(iii) The civil service was purged; all Jews and other suspected opponents of the stats were
removed.
(iv) Trade unions, alikely source of resistance were abolished, their funds were taken away
and their leaders were arrested.
(v) All workers were forced to join Germany labour front.
(vi) The Govt dealt with all labour grievances and strikes were illegal and not allowed.
(vii) The education system was closely controlled and consumed to suit Nazi opinions.
School textbooks were often written to fit in with the Nazi theory especially History and
Biology books. Teachers, lectures and professors were closely watched to make sure they
did not express opinions not in line with the Nazi party.
(viii) All the youth learned that their first duty was to obey Hitler who took on the title of
Fuhrer(leader or guider)with a favourite slogan‖The Fuhrer is always right.‖

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(ix)All the boys had to join Hitler youth at the age of 14 while all the girls had to join the
League of Germany.
(x)The Minister of propaganda, Dr Joseph Goebbels.Radio, books, controlled all
communication and the Media, Magazine, theater, film, music and art were all closely
supervised.
-Any freedom of opinion by writers, artist and scholars were controlled.
(xi) The economic life of the country was closely organized and controlled. For example;
telling industries what to produce, controlling food prices and rent, manipulating foreign
exchange rates to avoid inflation, forcing foreign countries to buy German goods either
by refusing to pay cash for goods brought from those countries so that they have to accept
Germans goods instead or by refusing permission to foreigners with banks accounts in
Germany to withdraw their cash in order for them to spend it in Germany on Germans
goods.
(xii) Religion was brought under state control.
(xiii) A state secret police called the Gestapo was created which tried to prevent all open
oppositions to the Nazi regime. Also set up of the Schultz staffel(ss)Which were Hitler‘s
bodyguards.
(xiv) To deal with opponents of the states, concentration camps were setup and created where
many of them were killed.
-For example; about six million Jews vanished, and in 1934, some
leading members of the Nazi party were killed in the Night of
Long Knives.
(xv) In 1935, Hitler passed the Nuremberg laws that deprived the
Jews of their citizenship, forbid intermarriages and subjected the
Jews to ill-treatment and sufferings in all aspects of life. This
became Hitler‘s anti- semantic (anti- Jewish) policy.
In persuit of the anti-Jewish policy, the following restrictions and hardships were impinged
on the Jews:
(a) Marriages between the Jews and the Germans were forbidden. (b) No Jew could be coul
become a citizen of Germany.
( c) Jews did shopping in shops marked ―Jewish Shops.‖

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(d) Jews were not allowed to move after 8.00 pm.

(e) Jews were stopped from being professionals like teachers, doctors, lawyers surveyors etc.
(f) Jews were forced to wear yellow stars.
(g) Jews were not allowed to vote.
(h) Jewish children were excluded from German schools.
(i) Jewish property were attacked and burnt; their synagogues were destroyed.
(j) Jewish radios and bicycles were taken away from them.
(k) Jewish shops were looted on a day called Crystal Night.

THE FINAL SOLUTION

The Final Solution was Hitler‘s decision to exterminate all the entire Jewish race. Many Jews
were sent to concentration camps where they vanished. Notorious concentration camps were
Belsen, Dachau near Weimar and Sahsenhausen near Berlin.

HITLER‘S FOREIGN POLICY

Many Hitler‘s foreign policies were outlined in his book ―Mein Kampf‖ and the following
were Hitler‘s foreign policy:

1. He wanted Germany to have a living space (Lebensraum) and he was to do this by

conquering Russia and other countries in Eastern Europe.
2. He wanted to get rid of all terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty that directly affected
Germany.

3. He wanted to bring back armed strength of Germany which had been limited by building
up the army ie he wanted to build up a strong German army.
4. He hoped to bring all Germans in other countries back to the German Reich by annexing
Austria and taking territories from Czechoslovakia and Poland both of which had large
German minorities. Hitler believed the annexation of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland
would give the Germany Lebensraum which would:
(a) provide food for the German people.

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(b) help destroy communism.

(c) give the Germans an area in excess German population could settle and colonise.

WHAT DID HITLER DO IN ORDER TO MAKE HIS FOREIGN POLICIES

SUCCESSFUL?

1. He withdrew Germany from the Disarmament Conference in 1933 which was going on in
Geneva.
2. He withdrew Germany from the League of Nations in 1933.
3. He announced rearmament in 1935 and also built the Luftwaffe (airport).
4. He sent German troops to occupy the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland in March 1936.
5. He made a friendship with Benito Mussolini of Italy called the Rome- Berlin Axis in 1936.
6. Together with Mussolini, Hitler assisted General Franco in Spanish Civil war (1936-
1939).
7. He signed Anti-COM intern Pact with Japan in 1936 in which Germany, Japan and Italy
promised to help one another against Russia.
8. He reunited with Austria through a vote in 1938.
9. He took over the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in 1938 because he claimed there were
about 3 million Sudeten Germans who were discriminated against by the Czechs.
10. He took over the whole of Czechoslovakia in March 1938. Hitler decided to destroyed
Czechoslovakia for three reasons:
(a) He wanted to fulfill his Lebensraum policy.
(b) He hated Czechoslovakia because their state had been set up by the hated Versailles
Peace Treaty.
11. He attacked Poland on 1st September 1939, a move that made Britain and other countries
to declare war on Germany marking the beginning of the Second World War.
12. During the Second World War, Hitler continued aggression by making the following
attacks on other countries:

(a) OPERATION YELLOW

This was German attack on Norway and Denmark from April

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1940. German succeeded.

(b) OPERATION SEA LION

This was German bombardment of Britain from 10th July to
15th August 1940.

(c) OPERATION BARBAROSSA

This was German attack on Russia on 22nd June 1941.Soldiers
had not anticipated and the Russian had pushed them back.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF ADOLF HITLER

1. He gave employment to millions of Germans by creating National Labour Services to do
public works.
2. He conscripted people into the army and this created a lot of jobs for the Germans.
3. There was an improvement in agriculture and building of motorways, hospitals, schools
railways etc.
4. There was expansion of industries in the production of oil, rubber, cars etc.
5. He expanded the production of guns, tanks, warships and aeroplanes .This made Germany
a strong military power and at the same time provided employment.

THE CAUSES AND RESULTS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1939- 1945)

The Second World War broke out on 1st September, 1939 after Britain‘s declaration of war
on Germany following the German s‘ attack on Poland.
It was fought between two groups:
(a) The Axis Powers which consisted Germany, Italy and Japan.
(b) The Allied Powers which consisted of Britain, France , Russia, USA, Norway, Denmark,
Holland, Belgium, etc. It came to an end in 1945.

CAUSES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN 1939

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World War 11 came about due to an interplay of various factors:

1. THE FAILURE OF THE VERSAILLES PEACE TREATY

This caused the war because the Peace settlement had harsh terms
and Germany was overpunished. Because the Germans suffered a
lot as result of the treaty, they were full of bitterness towards
Britain, France and other countries which imposed the terms on
Germany, and so there was great desire for revenge.
When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he started annulling
(getting rid of) all these terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty that
affected Germany such as rearmaments. In the process, Hitler
saw that Britain and other nations could not take a tough stand
against him. Thus he took those nations as cowards and so
demanded even more. Other countries had to stopped him by
declaring war thereby starting the Second World War.

2. WEAKNESSES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The League of Nations and the idea of collective security proved
to be toothless in that they failed to secure general disarmament,
to discipline member states and to control potential aggressors
such as Germany, Italy and Japan.
Many countries defied the League of Nations openly and when it
tried to impose sanctions, the countries in question simply world
peace like rearmament. In turn, such aggressors were prepared
for war.

3. FAILURE OF DISARMAMENT
When Disarmament Conference was convened in Geneva in
October 1933, there was mixed reaction to disarmament. Some
countries like France refused to be on equal rearmament footing
with Germany.

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The Germans, on the other hand, argued that they had lagged
behind and needed to catch up. Due to disagreements, Hitler
pulled Germany out of the Disarmament Conference and the
League of Nations and began to rearm.
Seeing that Germany was spending large amounts of money on
rearmaments, the British and the French had no choice but also
to intensify rearmaments. This resulted into massive stocks of
weaponry production in Europe such that by 1939 each country
was ready for the war.

4. FAILURE TO CONTROL DICTATORS BEFORE THEY

BECAME STRONG
The two dictators (Hitler and Mussolini) slowly became very close
friends so that in 1936 they signed the Rome –Berlin Axis which
turned into a strong agreement in 1939 called Pact of Steel. By
terms of these agreements, these two dictators promised to assist
each other in the event of war.
This made these two leaders pompous and self confident and so
embarked on aggressive move by attacking other countries
(territories). Unfortunately, big powers like Britain and France
could not invade Germany for her aggression but rather they
remained quiet. This gave Hitler the punch to go a head and
demanded more.

5. FAILURE OF BRITAIN AND FRANCE TO REACH AN

AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA
From 1934 onwards, Russia had approached Britain and France
on collective security but these two countries distrusted Russia and
feared communism. This negative attitude forced Russia to sign
Non Aggression Pact with Germany in 1939 by which the two
countries agreed to share Poland between them and also that

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Russia was assured of Estonia and Latvia. Hitler was therefore

assured of a one front war from Britain and France. This situation
inspired him to provoke the Second World War because he would
first of all take on Britain and France and after defeating them, he
was to attack Russia.

6. HITLER‘S DANGEROUS FOREIGN POLICY

Hitler wanted to create a large empire by conquering other
nations to meet hi desire of Lebensraum. The British and French
saw that he was going too far and in order to stop him , they
declared war on Germany.

7. THE APPEASEMENT POLICY

The Appeasement policy was a policy followed by the British and
later the French ,of avoiding war with aggressive powers such as
Germany, Italy and Japan by giving away to their demands.
. It was a policy followed by Britain and France in the 1930‘s in
which they accepted some of the demands of Hitler and allowed
him to get certain territories.
In the Appeasement policy:
(a) From the mid 1920s until 1937, Britain and sometimes France drifted along accepting
various acts of aggression and breaches of the Versailles in order to avoid war with
Germany and other aggressors by
i. allowing Germany to rearm in 1935.
ii. allowing Germany to occupy the demilitarized zone of Rhineland in 1936.
iii. Doing nothing when Japan attacked Manchuria in 1931.
iv. Doing nothing at Italian invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935.

(b) From 1937, the new Prime Minister of Britain Neville Chamberlain would find out what
Hitler wanted and showed him that reasonable claims could be met by negotiation rather

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than by force. Chamberlain felt that by making Hitler happy ,there would be ―peace in
our time.‖In short time, it was mainly Neville Chamberlain who supported and promoted
the Policy of Appeasement.

AIMS OF THE APPEASEMENT POLICY

1. To avoid war which was likely to be more destructive and catastrophic than ever.
2. To postpone war as Britain was totally unprepared for a full scale war; USA was for
isolation policy and France was weak and divided.
3. Neville Chamberlain believed that the only way to settle disputes was by personal contact
between leaders. In this way he would be able to control and civilize Hitler and Mussolini
into the bargain and bring them to respect international law.

THE APPEASEMENT POLICY AT WORK

The policy of appeasement operated in the following examples of incidents:

1. When Hitler announced to start rearmament in 1935, no action was taken by Britain and
France to check the obvious German rearmament.
2. The British signed the Anglo- German Naval Agreement with Germany condoning
German naval rearmament without prior approval with France.
3.When Benitto Mussolini of Italy invaded Abyssinia in 1935, there was only half hearted
British action against the invasion.
4. When Germany re-occupied the Rhineland in 1936, the French did not mobilize and
received no backing from the British who were impressed by Hitler‘s offer of 25-year
peace.
5. Neither Britain nor France intervened in the Spanish Civil war though Italy and Germany
sent decisive help to General Franco.
6. When Germany occupied Austria in 1938, Britain and France saw it as a natural union and
genuine claim.
7. German talking of Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia was allowed in 1938 when Britain
failed to back the Czechs.

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HOW DID THE POLICY OF APPEASEMENT LEAD TO OUTBREAK OF WORLD

WAR 11?

(a) By giving way to Hitler‘s demand, the appeasement increased Hitler‘s prestige at home
and attempted him to reach out further and to take bigger risks.

(b) After the surrender at Munich Conferences in 1938, Hitler was convinced that Britain and
France were cowards and would remain passive again when he would attack Poland. What
Britain and France should have done was to take a firm line with Hitler before Germany had
become strong. For example, the Anglo- French attack on Western Germany in1936 at the
time of the Rhineland occupation would have taught Hitler a lesson.

OTHER EVENTS WHICH PRECIPITATED THE SECOND WORLD WAR

1. JAPANESE INVASION OF MANCHURIA IN 1931

Japan had an interest in Manchuria because of its proximity to
her, her control of the Manchuria railway line and she had an
interest in steel and soya beans there apart from controlling ports
since her victory over Russia in 1904-05 in Russo-Japanese war.
After the Mukden incident of 1931 when a bomb exploded on a
Japanese owned railway line , Japanese forces took over the whole
of Mukden and even Manchuria. The USA and other countries
condemned the aggression.
When the League of Nations asked Japan to withdraw her troops
from Manchuria, she defied the order and withdrew from the
League in 1931. In 1932, she declared Manchuria as the
independent state of Manchukwo. This incident precipitated the
slope towards the outbreak of the Second World War because:

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(a) Naked aggression had not been challenged by the League. Later , other aggressors like
Hitler and Mussolini copied this precedent.
(b) Japan had antagonized the USA, Russia and the League of Nations and was threatening
China. She had to stopped by force. Hence, other countries had to declare war on her.
(c) It encouraged expansionist Japanese Generals to seek more territories to conquer. No
wonder they bombarded the American military base at Pearl Habour in 1941 which
provoked the USA into joining the World War 11.

2. THE ITALIAN INVASION OF ABYSSINIA (ETHIOPIA) IN

1935
In October 1935, Mussolini attacked Abyssinia for the following
reasons:
(a) He wanted to revenge Italian defeat by Ethiopian tribesmen at Adowa in 1895.
(b) He wanted to demonstrate the armed strength of the new Italy.
(c) He wanted to divert people‘s attention from economic problems at home and in turn win
self glorification.
(d) He wanted to set up (create) large East African Empire from which he could tap raw
materials. Mussolini completed the invasion in 1936 although the Ethiopians also fought
firmly.

IMPACT OF THE INVASION OF ABYSSINIA (ETHIOPIA)

(a) It pushed Hitler and Mussolini close together since the former (Hitler) did not condemn
the latter (Mussolini).
(b) The League had failed to stop Mussolini‘s aggression. Its limited sanctions, not including
oil embargo, did not restrain Mussolini.
(c) The failure of the League of Nations and other great powers to keep aggressors in check
made Hitler and Mussolini smell cowardice and this is why Hitler started the war.

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (1936- 1939)

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Spain had feeble and short-lived governments, which
failed to deal with problems of economy, landowners, army and aristocrats.

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Operating from Morocco, General Franco led the Nationalists into Spain where after three
years of fighting, the Nationalists overwhelmed the Republicans.

IMPOTANCE OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

(a) It was war of clashes of ideologies ie communists supported the Republicans while the
Fascists/ Nazis supported the Nationalists.
(b) It brought Hitler and Mussolini together as they assisted General Franco and this led to
the signing of the Rome –Berlin Axis in 1936 which became the Pact of Steel in 1939.
(b) It acted as a testing ground for weapons and military tactics such that by 1939, Hitler and
Mussolini were ready to provoke World War 11.

THE OUTBREAK OF SECOND WORLD WAR IN 1939

Due to the Policy of Appeasement, Hitler looked at Britain and France as cowards and also
that they were not prepared for war.
In fact, Hitler called Chamberlain of Britain and Deladier of France as ― little worms.‖
On 1st September,1939 Germany invaded Poland. Britain asked Hitler to withdraw but he felt
that they were joking and would not fight.
On 3rd September, 1939 both Britain and France declared war on Germany.
RESULTS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
1. Germany and her allies were defeated.
2. There was heavy destruction of life whereby about 40 million people were killed.
3. It created heavy war debt and economic stagnation in many countries.
4. There was heavy destruction of infrastructure such as roads, railways factories and mines.
5. It led to the onset of the Cold War and the strained relations between the Western and
Eastern countries.
6. There was quick spread of communism in Eastern Europe and south East Asia.
7. It led to division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea, and of Germany into West
Germany and East Germany.
8. It led to the creation of Post War economic and political alliances.
9. It speeded up nationalist movements in many parts of the world especially in Asia and
Africa.

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10. It led the USA to drop her policy of Isolation and moved to the centre of the political,
social and economic web of the world affairs.
11. The destruction caused by Atomic bombs in Japan called for Nuclear Non-Proliferation
and Test Ban Treaties.
12. About 21 million people were made homeless as refugees.
13. About 6 million Jews were massacred by the Holocaust.
14. It led to the formation of the United Nations Organization in order to preserve peace and
security and to promote international cooperation.

ADDITONAL INFORMATION ON SECOND WORLD WAR

1.The united States of America was brought into the Second World War by the attack on her
military base by Japan on 7th December 1941.
2. The invasion of France by Germany called the Operation Overlord began on 6th June 1944,
a day popularly known as D-Day.
3. The downfall of Benitto Mussolini, Italy joined the Allied forces against Adolf Hitler.
4. In April 1945, Berlin fell into Stalin‘s forces: Adolf Hitler committed suicide and
Germany surrendered.

5. On 6th August 1945, Americans dropped an atomic bomb in

Japanese city of Hiroshima, followed by another atomic bomb on
Nagasaki, 3 days later (on 9th August ) after the atomic bombs,
Japan surrendered.

Some of the reasons why the Axis powers (Germany,Japanetc) lost the Second World War
were:
(a) Shortage of raw materials like oil, rubber, cotton and nickel
(b) Both Japan and Germany made serious tactical mistakes eg Japan failed to the importance
of aircraft and concentrated much on producing battle ships while Hitler failed to provide
for winter campaign in Russia and became obsessed with the idea that Germans must not
retreat. This led to many disasters in Russia.

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(c) The combined resources of the USA, and British Empire meant that the Allied Powers
were well supplied with war rearmaments such as tanks, aircrafts etc.

6. The Germans failed to capture most places in Russia (Operation Barbarrossa in 1941) for
the following reasons:
(a) Heavy rains of October, which turned the Russian roads muddy.
(b) There were severe frosts in November and December 1941.
(c) The German soldiers had inadequate winter clothing since Hitler had expected the
campaigns to be over before winter.

THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION ( UNO)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The United Nations Organisation officially came into existence on 24th October 1945 after
the Second World War.
It was formed to replace the League of Nations which had proved incapable of restraining
the aggressive dictators like Hitler and Mussolini.
In forming the UNO, great powers such as Britain, France and USA tried to eliminate some
of the weaknesses of the League of Nations.

THE STEPS TOWARDS THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

ORGANISATION

Between 1941 and 1945 various meetings and conferences were

held during which the idea of replacing the League of Nations
was discussed. For example:

A. THE ATLANTIC CHARTER (1941)

This charter was made by Winston Churchill of Britain and
Franklin Roosevelt of the USA when they met off Newfoundland

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in1941. this charter emphasized cooperation in order to defeat

the Axis powers and it also spelt out the need to form an
international organization to preserve peace in the future.

B. THE WASHINGTON DECLARATION OF JUNE 1942

This 1942 declaration was signed by 26 countries, recognizing the
need to form a new international organization.

C. THE MOSCOW CONFERENCE OF OCTOBER 1943

This was attended by representatives of Britain , the USA, China
and Russia whereby plans to replace the League of Nations with a
stronger organization were made.

D. THE DUMBARTON OAKS CONFERENCE OF OCTOBER

1944
This was attended by the USA , China, Russia and Britain which
did more detailed planning of the future organization to preserve
peace.

E. YALTA CONFERENCE OF FEBRUARY 1945

This was held in Russia (in the Crimea) and was attended by
three allied leaders (the big three), Joseph Stalin of Russia,
Franklin Roosevelt of the USA and Winston Churchill of Britain.
At this conference, among other issues, the Big Three resolved a
new organization to be called the United Nations should be set up
to replace the failed League of Nations.

F. SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE OF APRIL 1945

This conference drew up the UN Charter based on proposals
made at an earlier meeting between Russia, the USA, China and
Britain at Dumbarton Oaks in 1944.

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AIMS OF THE UNITED NATIONS

(a) To preserve peace and eliminate war.
(b) To promote social, economic, educational, scientific and cultural progress throughout the
world.
(d) To establish justice and human rights. The UN charter also upholds basic freedoms like
freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of association, freedom of assembly and
freedom from fear.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION

Security Council General Assembly

Secretariat (in New York)

Trusteeship Council International Court of Justice

Economic & Social Council

Specialised Agencies Dealing with Social &economic Activities

1. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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This is the meeting together of the representatives from all the

member states.
Each member has only one vote.
It meets once a year, although special meetings can be called
during crises.

FUNCTIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

(a) To debate and make decisions about international problems.
(b) To consider the UNO budget and decide about what amount each member state has to
pay.
(c) To elect members of the Security Council.
(d) To supervise the work of many other UNO bodies.

NOTE: Decisions at the General Assembly are not unanimous

vote as they did in the League of Nations. But by simple
majority or two third majority on the very important issues
such as :
(i) Admitting new members
(ii) Expelling existing members
(iii) Actions to be taken to maintain peace

The General Assembly votes to decide on issues when the Security Council is in a deadlock
situation.
Due to good voting , small third world countries have determined the outcome of issues in
the General Assembly.

2 THE SECURITY COUNCIL

This organ has 5 permanent members: the USA, Britain, France, Russia and China.
It also had 6 non permanent members (lesser powers) but this number was increased to 10 in
1965.
Non permanent members hold office for two years .

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THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

The main function of the Security Council is to deal with international crises as they arise by
taking either economic, diplomatic or military sanctions against a country that is wrong.
Decisions of the Security Council require at least 9 of the 15 members including all the 5
permanent members to vote in favour.
The five permanent members have powers to ―Veto‖ a decision ie have power to prevent any
action from being taken.
Due to many vetoes by Russia, the Uniting For Peace Resolution was passed by the General
Assembly in 1950. This gives power to General Assembly to meet within 24 hours to vote in
order to decide what action to take thereby overriding the veto. This would need a two third
majority.
3. THE SECRETARIAT
This is the office staff of the UNO.
It is headed by a Secretary General, who is appointed for a 5-year
term by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the
Security Council.
The Secretary General acts as the main Spokesperson for the UNO
and is always at the forefront of international affairs, trying to sort
out the world‘s problems.
The secretariat mainly does administrative work such as:
(i) to prepare minutes of meetings
(ii) to make translation of speeches and debates into official languages.
(iii) to arrange meetings
(iv) to make payments
So far the following Secretary Generals have held the post of Secretary General of the UNO:
(i) Trygue Lie of Norway (1946- 1952)
(ii) Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden (1952 -1961). He died in a plane crash.
(iii) Uthant of Burma (1961- 1971)
(iv) Kurt Waldeheim of Austria (1981- 1991)
(v) Boutros Boutros Ghali of Egypt (1991- 1996)

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(vi) Kofi Annan of Ghana (1996 -2006)

(vii) Bank Moon (2007- )

The fact that the UNO Secretary General do not come from major powers bur rather from
small countries is a deliberate move. This is so in order to ensure some degree of impartiality,
ie to act as a check against bias and manipulation by the big powers who usually put self
interest first.

4. THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

This is based at the Hague in Holland. It has 15 judges from different countries and are
elected for three years by the General Assembly and the Security Council jointly.
Its main functions are to settle disputes between member states and to interpret treaties.
Decisions are by majority vote and states are not forced to accept the verdict of the court.
Though, it has successfully settled a number of disputes between countries, it is less busy
than during the League of Nations.

5. THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

This organ replaced the League of Nations Mandates Commission.
Its function was to ensure that member states that were given ―TrustTerritories‖ prepared
them for independence and by 1970, most of the Mandate colonies had gained their
independence.

6. THE ECONOMIC & SOCIALCOUNCIL (ECOSOC)

This organ has 27 members elected by the General Assembly.
Its functions are to organize projects concerned with education, health and other social
economic matters, population matters, etc and to coordinate the work of other commissions
and specialized agencies.
The following are the specialized agencies of the UNO:

(A) INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO)

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This was formed in 1919 and helps creating good standards of employment and working
conditions. Member countries are also asked to ratify labour conventions and
recommendations.

(B) THE WORLD BANK

This gives large and long-term loans to countries and provides advice and direction on sound
economic policies.

(C) THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF)

This provides short-term loans to countries in financial difficulties and gives advice and
direction on sound economic policies.

(D) THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION

This fights disease epidemics, promotes maternal and child welfare, helps to improve healthy
living standards.

(E) FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION (FAO)

This organ encourages improvement in production and distribution in agricultural products.

(F) UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL SCIENTIC AND CULTURAL

ORGANISATION (UNESCO)
This encourages the spread of education and cooperation between scientists artist and
scholars worldwide.

(G) UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN FUND (UNICEF)

This organ sensitizes the youths about HIV/AIDS, alcohol and substance abuse, rape
environmental degradation, family planning, premarital sex, child labour, etc

(H) UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR

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REFUGEES (UNHCR)
This provides food, shelter, clothing, schools and medical facilities to areas hit by disasters. It
also repatriates refugees.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS & THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

1. In General assembly of UNO, decision do not require a unanimous
votes as were there with League of nations. Rather the decision need
a simple majority of two-third majority.
2. UNO has more activity than League of nations as evidenced by the
works of specialized agencies like WHO, FAO, UNESCO,
UNICEF, etc.
3. The Secretary General of UNO has more power in decision
making than of the League of Nations.
4. UNO has the military for peace resolution to override the vote
while the League of Nations lacked such power.
5. UNO has a much wider membership (about 190) and is therefore
more genuinely a world organization than the League of Nations
which never had more than 50 members.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN UNO AND LEAGUE OF NATIONS

1. Like the League, UNO has no permanent army of its own and has
to use forces belonging to its member states.
2. The aims of both organizations are similar, that is, to maintain
peace promote cooperation in social and economic affairs.

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