History

End of World War One and Paris Peace Conference

• World War One ended with Germany’s signing of an armistice with
Allies in November 1918
• Victorious power of World War One met at Paris Peace Conference
from January to June 1919, aimed to punish defeat countries, ensure
long-term peace, rearrange European territories, stop the spread of
communism
Collapse of Transitional Empire
• WWI leads to huge changes in European politics
• Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, German Empire,
Ottoman Empire collapsed
• Russian Empire become Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics(USSR)
Form of New Nation States
• National self-determination and collapse of traditional empire
lead to appearance of a series of new nation states mainly in
Eastern Europe
• New nation states include Hungary(X Austria), Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
Weakening Europe
• After WWI, the international politics changed
• Germany and Austria had to pay high indemnity, having serious
economic problems
• Britain and France are weakened by war damage
• European powers lost their leading role in the world
 Treaty of Versailles
• On 28 June 1919, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles
• Treaty of Versailles includes:
• Germany shall give the mining right of the Saar (薩爾) to France
• Germany shall give up all its overseas colonies
• Germany shall reduce the size of its army to 100k
• The Germany Navy shall include not more than six battleships(主力艦), six
cruisers (巡洋艦), twelve destroyers (驅逐艦) and twelve torpedo boats (魚
雷艇). No submarine is to be owned.article 198 Germany shall not have an
air force
• Germany shall bear all the war responsibility and pay compensation for the
powers (the amount was later fixed at 6.6 billion British pounds)
Why Treaty of Versailles is a harsh treaty
• Germany will have to pay unreasonably large amount of
compensation to the Allied powers
• Germany had to bear all war responsibility in the Treaty of
Versailles. Whereas, the responsibility for causing the First World
War shall be shared by other countries
• Germany had to cede 13% of territories to other nations in the
Treaty of Versailles. It was unfair since there were lots of Germans
living in these territories
• Germany needed to disarm itself after WWI. Germany might not
have enough power to protect their own country
National self-determination
• Woodrow Wilson suggested the principle of national self-
determination, but this principle did not apply to Germany
because lots of Germanic people were put under foreign rule
Postwar problems of Germany
• Devaluation of currency
• Social unrest
• Inflation
• Increasing unemployment
• Economic burden
• Heavy indemnity
• People’s discontent to the government
Discontent of Italy
• Even though Italy was a victorious country in WWI, sacrificing
more than 600,000 soldiers, its performance during the wartime
was not satisfying. Hence, the Treaty of Versailles did not reward
Italy accordingly. This upset the Italians
• WWI seriously damaged the Italian agriculture and industry, yet
the Treaty of Versailles did not provide any solution to its post-war
economic problems
Discontent of Italy(2)
• Postwar problems :
1. Economic problems: Inflation, devaluation of currency
2. Social problems: Unemployment, social unrest (protest)
3. Political problems:confidence crisis towards the
• overnment
Causes :
1. Italy failed to get the “promised land”(e.g.Fiume) in Paris Peace Conference
2. High war damage of WWI need money to reconstruct
3. Soldiers returning home were physically and mentally not able to work
• Impact:
1. Italians were disappointed, angry and hateful
2. Political instability, leading to the power vacuum
Great Depression(1)
• US became the largest producer and creditor in the world in 1920s
• US internal production continuously rose
1. Money borrowing and lending became frequent (risky investment)
• Many people then sold their shares
1. Stock prices in the US fell sharply
2. the Wall Street Crash took place in New York
3. The US economy entered a period of recession, internal consumption
dropped
4. Banks closed one after another
5. Mass unemployment arnong workers resulted , many people went
bankrupt and became homeless
6. To protect its local industries. The US began to Impose high tariffs on all
foreign goods, other European countries followed.
Great Depression(2)
• Great Depression affected the whole world due to there are many
countries relied on US aid and investment
• Rise of totalitarianism
1. US call back the loan and imposing tariffs and quotas for people to buy
local products
2. Countries in debt not only need to repay loan, but also got less
investment leading to high unemployment rate, closing of factories and
failed to pay debts
3. Britain and France were busy to solve international affairs, Germany and
Japan can’t solve their internal economic problems, totalitarianism
rises in Germany and Japan
 Italian Fascism
• Fascist party lead by Benito Mussolini, they try to:
1. make jobs
2. replace the weak government
3. get land by force
4. increase Italy international status with military
• xpansion
Mussolini
1. took control of government with March on Rome, controlled Fascist Party as II Duce
2. Invade neighboring countries and Africa
3. Controlled the parliament, arresting and exiling the communists
4. Set up secret police and limited freedom of press. As well as suppressed all opposing
parties
5. Controlled the people’s thoughtsand forced children to join the Fascist organisations
German Nazism
• Nazi party lead by Adolf Hitler, they try to:
1. Regaining lost territories in Treaty of Versailles with war
2. Refusing heavy reparations
3. Create jobs through military and infrastructure projects
4. Suppress and ban communist activities
• Adolf Hitler(1)
1. emphasised racial supremacy
2. think country must unify the pure and excellent Germanic people
through military expansion
3. became the Chancellor in 1933 and the President the next year
4. then controlled the country as Fuhrer
Adolf Hitler (2)
1. adopted an oppressive rule, set up secret police force and
arrested those opposed his rule
2. demanded the people to worship him and strictly controlled
cultural activities
3. committed genocide on the Jewish people
4. promoted ignoring the League of Nations and abolishing the
Treaty of Versailles, adopting an expansionist policy to revive the
international position of Germany
How Nazi party rose in Germany
• Internal factors
1. Post war problems
2. Ability and Personality of Adolf Hitler
3. Weak government
• External factors
1. Great Depression
2. Treaty of Versailles
• Answer skills
1. External factors(Cause)
2. Internal factors(Result)
3. Elaboration/Comparison
Expansion of Italy
1. Conquered Abyssinia (today’s Ethiopia) in Northeastern
Africa in 1935-1936
2. annexed Albania in 1939
Actions took by Germany
• rearm themselves by introducing conscription
• expansion of Germany
1. sent military to Rhineland, which is a demilitarized zone
2. Annexed Austria in March of 1938, and invaded Sudetenland of
Czechoslovakia in September
3. Invaded whole Czechoslovakia in March of 1939, and invaded Poland in
September
• Forming Axis power with Japan and Italy by signing the Tripartite
Pact
Failure of collective security
• Lack of binding effect for peace agreements
1. attempted to solve Intemational conflicts through peace treaties such as the
Locarno Pact in 1925 and the Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928
2. agreements did not have binding effect, making the collective security
unsuccessful
• Unsuccessful disarmament conferences
1. After WWI, countries had disarmament conferences to try to stop the military
expansion
2. The biggest one was the Geneva Conference in 1932-1934, joined by 61
countries
3. no agreement was reached in the end
4. Germany even withdrew from the League during the Conference
• League of Nation
Problems of League of Nation
• Lack of representative
1. US did not join
2. Major members only stay for a short period of time
• Moral condemnation
1. No actual punishment
2. No deterrent effect, which aggressors would continue aggression
• Military force
1. No armed operation, they need to ask for support from Britain and France
• Economic sanctions
1. Coverage of Economic sanction was not broad, which lead to inefficient
economic sanction
2. E.g. Failed economic sanction on Italy for its invasion in Abyssinia
Appeasement policy
• Why Britain and France have this policy
1. Having post war problems and heavy war casualties, people aren’t willing to
have a war
2. Economic difficulties, which they need more time to recovery military power
3. Want to keep their benefits from Treaty of Versailles
4. Want Germany to hold back the communist USSR
• Result
1. when Germany invaded the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1938
2. Britain and France did not stop Germany but signed the Munich Agreement
with Hitler in the hope of satisfying Germany in exchange for ‘peace’ in Europe
3. this boosted the ambitions of Hitler, who then invaded the whole of
Czechoslovakia and soon Poland
4. WWII start
Result of appeasement policy

• Germany rearmed and become very strong, even stronger than

Britain and France
Isolation
• Isolation is policy of the US
1. the US focus on internal affairs after Great Depression
2. Adopted isolationism in its foreign rules, inorder to avoid
getting involved in European affairs and war
Tolerant policy
• Tolerant policy of USSR
1. Munich Agreement threatened USSR and it is isolated by
Western capitalist countries
2. USSR signed Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggrestion Pact with Germany
• To partition Poland
• Would not start a war against each other in 10 years in
August 1939
WWII
1. September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, WWII started
2. After occupying Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, Germany began to
invade France
3. In mid-Jume 1940, Germany captured Paris and France surrendered
4. In June 1941, Germany suddenly attacked USSR
5. On 7 December 1941, Japan suddenly attacked Pearl Habour, US join WWII
6. In Winter 1943, the USSR won the Battle of Stalingrad and began to fight back
7. In September 1943, the Allies marched into Italy, Italy surrendered
8. On 6 June 1944(D-Day), Allies landed on Normandy, France.
9. In May 1945, the Allies attacked Berlin, Germany surrendered
10. On 6 and 9 August 1945, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan
11. Japan surrendered, WWII ended
12. Allied powers won
Answer skill
• View
1. The author criticized…..
2. Clue
3. Elaboration
• Attitude
1. Positive/Negative
2. Clue
3. Elaboration
• Relationship
1. Good/Bad
2. Clue
3. Elaboration