Week 3 - Historical Interpretation – Secondary sources
1. Small group work : Students work on the answers to the Scramble for Africa
debate.
2. Class discussion : To focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each of the
theories with reference to some of the questions
3. “The Historian’s Job”: Students work in pairs on this. Follow up with class
discussion and try to come up with examples from history of when the historian
does or does not do these things.
Week 4 – Historical Interpretation – Secondary sources cont.
1. Causes of World War Two: Brief explanation of the events by history teacher or
someone who is familiar with the events
2. Small Group work : Students then work through the interpretations and answer
the questions in small groups
3. Class discussion on the answers
The Causes of World War Two – more historiography
With this historical debate we will be involved in the following;
1.
2.
3.
4.
tracing the development of the debate
considering the motivations of the historians
considering the primary evidence they have used
evaluating the credibility of their interpretations
Case Study 2 : The Causes of the Second World War in Europe: Who was to blame?
To understand the historiography you obviously need to know something about the order
of events. Read the short(!) explanation below.
1918 World War One ended. Germany was blamed for starting the war and punished
under the Treaty of Versailles. She was forced to give up her navy, air force, most of her
army, areas of land to her neighbours and her overseas colonies. In addition she had to
admit war guilt and pay 6.6 billion pounds sterling in reparations to France, Belgium and
GB. She was not allowed to station troops in the Rhineland – the border between
Germany and France and was not allowed to form a union with Austria.
1920s Germany slowly recovered, after a period of political unrest, and was reintegrated
into the international political scene. At this time Germany was a democratic republic –
the Weimar Republic.
1929 The Wall St Crash marked the beginning of the world slump which was felt greatly
in Germany. Unemployment soared, inflation sky-rocketed and political extremism
resurfaced.
1933 Adolph Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. His foreign policy aims as
stated in his book Mein Kampf of 1923 were: to unite German speaking people, create
living space for Germans in Eastern Europe, revise the Treaty of Versailles, restore
Germanys position in the world, destroy communism.
1933 Germany began to rebuild her armed forces
1935 Britain agreed that Germany should be allowed to rebuild her navy to a certain
extent
1936 Hitler’s Four Year Plan in which he stated “the German army must be fully
operational in four years”.
1936 Germany marched a small force in to the Rhineland. Hitler’s interpreter described
this as “the most nerve-racking twenty four hours of my life”.
1937 Hitler explained his plans to his Generals. This was written down in the Hossbach
Memorandum by Hitler’s secretary, at a later date. It was discovered in the late 1940s.
1937 The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis was formed.
1938 Germany united Austria and Germany under one government by force.
1938 Germany demanded the annexation of the German speaking part of Czechoslovakia
(Sudetenland). This was granted by Britain and France at the Munich Conference against
the wishes of the Czechs. Hitler said he was now satisfied and would ask for no more.
1939 Germany invaded a large portion of western Czechoslovakia after the Slovaks in the
area had appealed to the Czech government for a greater degree of self rule.
1939 (July/August) Germany demanded parts of Poland which had been taken from
Germany under the Versailles treaty. She was refused.
1939 (August) Germany and the USSR made a pact to jointly invade Poland and share
the whole of Polish territory
1939 (September) Germany invaded Poland from the west. Britain and France declared
war on Germany. The USSR invaded Poland from the east two weeks later. The Second
World War had begun.
The views of historians
1. Hitler was to blame : the traditional theory
Martin Gilbert (1980s)
“The only antidote to defeat in one war is victory in the next”. Hitler wanted to restore
German national pride after WW1.
Gilbert argues that Hitler’s attack on Poland shows that he didn’t just want the land
Germany had lost but wanted to destroy Poland completely.
Hugh Trevor-Roper (1960s)
….argues that Hitler planned a major war right from the start. He wanted to destroy the
USSR and Communism and had to destroy Poland first. Hitler made a pact with the
USSR to keep her quiet until Poland had been dealt with.
Joachim Fest (1970s) ( a German historian)
“There can be no question about whose was the guilt….Hitler’s urge to bring things to a
head so shaped events that any wish to compromise on the part of the western powers
was bound to come to nothing. His entire career was orientated towards war”
What is the evidence for this theory?
2. Britain and France are also to blame: a revisionist theory
Alan Bullock (1980s)
“Success and the absence of resistance tempted Hitler to reach out further and take bigger
risks”.
In what ways could Britain and France have offered ‘resistance’ to Hitler?
Why do you think they didn’t?
3. War happened by accident: a controversial theory
AJP Taylor (1970s)
…argues that Hitler did not intend to cause a major war and expected a short war with
Poland. He has taken advantage of the weaknesses of his opponents already and expected
to be able to do so again. He had also taken advantages of circumstances which had
arisen. Hitler expected to get away with invading Poland.
Which events lend themselves to Taylor’s theory?
How does the evidence fit in with Taylor’s theory?
Why is Taylor’s theory controversial?
4. The USSR made war inevitable: a controversial theory
By signing the pact to invade Poland the USSR allowed Hitler to start the war.
Western historians say that the USSR should have allied with the west against Hitler.
Soviet historians claim that the USSR had to join Hitler as this gave them time to rearm
against a future German attack.
Why do you think the USSR didn’t ally with the western powers?
Explain why the USSR feared a German attack?
Do you find this theory acceptable?
General Questions
1. Which of the above theories do find the most credible and why?
2. What explanations can you suggest to explain why the historians disagree with one
another?
3. What processes have the historians gone through in coming up with their theories?
How do these processes compare to those of other academics eg scientists?
Teachers Instructions and answers
a. A brief run through of the events timeline by a history teacher would probably be
a good idea for the WW2 exercise. – 10 minutes
b. Students work in groups on the WW2 exercise they will need about 30-40
minutes and will need teacher assistance. Organise groups so that there is a
history student in each.
c. The answers to the questions:
1. The evidence is the actual invasion of Poland when the Germans took much more
than they had actually lost, Hitler’s book Mein Kampf and the Hossbach
Memorandum. The latter two suggest a planned war.
2. Britain and France offered some diplomatic resistance but not much. They only
therefore could offer military resistance. They did not do so as they were not as
militarily as strong as Germany and did not want a repeat of WW1. In addition
Britain may have felt some sympathy for Germany as she was treated so harshly
at Versailles.
3. The events which lend themselves to Taylor’s theory are the cave in at Munich
where the British believed Hitler when he said he was satisfied. Also Hitler took
advantage of the Slovak demand in 1939. He could not have foreseen this. If he
had got away with such things before why not again over Poland? He was
therefore surprised when they declared war over this.
The evidence does not really support the theory. Hitler had made alliances with
Japan – was he expecting a war outside of Europe therefore? The Hossbach
Memorandum could perhaps be unreliable as Hitler didn’t write it; his secretary
did, at a later date. Mein Kampf could be seen as the ravings of a much younger
man still suffering from the psychological effects of WW1. The Four Year Plan
quote suggests Hitler may not have been ready for war in 1939 however.
Taylor is controversial as he does not provide much evidence for his theory but
relies on criticism of others. He assumes a great deal about the way in which
Hitler’s mind was working. Also Taylor enjoys being controversial.
4. The USSR didn’t ally with the west as they had seen them do nothing to stop
Hitler and therefore would be of no use in defending Soviet interests. The USSR
feared a German attack as Nazism was bent on destroying communism. The
theory doesn’t take account of the long term causes of the war.
d. Go through their answers and discuss the answers to the general questions. A few
pointers on this;
Most historians still go along with the traditional theory but acknowledge that
numbers 2 and 4 are contributory factors. Taylor remains outside the mainstream
on this one.
The traditional theory obviously has been popular since 1945. Fest is German and
therefore wouldn’t dare say anything else! Western and Soviet versions speak for
themselves. Also new evidence is uncovered although not really in this case. The
Hossbach Memorandum was seen as very important however, and perpetuated the
post war view. Competition is important amongst historians.