Study Source A in the Sources Booklet.
Source A is critical of the League of Nations. How do you know?
Explain your answer using Source A and your contextual
knowledge.
[4 marks]
I know this source is critical of the League of Nations because it shows Woodrow
Wilson, President of the USA, handing off the League of Nations to a bird which
represents peace. This is critical of the league because WIlson came up with the
idea of the League of Nations in his 14 points, however he refused to join it. This
reflected badly on the League because the person who had conceived it did not want
any part of it. This would later cause the League to fail due to the weakness of
economic sanctions, which would not work without the USA as they were a major
global trading power and would be able to trade with the whole world, as they were
not in any League of Nations agreement.
Another way I know the source is critical of the League of Nations is that it depicts
the League of Nations as a branch which is far too big for the bird of peace to carry.
This is critical of the League because it suggests that the League of Nations was far
too big of an initiative to carry out. This was shown to be true, with the League facing
many crises in the late 1920s such as the Corfu crisis between Italy and Greece,
which failed to stop aggression, and the Manchurian crisis in 1931-1933, which
proved the league to be unable to enforce economic sanctions (one of the key points
which the league was founded on). Later, the league collapsed following the 1935
Abyssinian crisis.
Write an account of how the aims of the peacemakers after the First
World War led to disagreements in 1919.
[8 marks]
One way the aims of the peacemakers after the First World War led to
disagreements in 1919 was the aim of Woodrow Wilson to establish selfdetermination for all colonised countries. This was one of his 14 points which he
aimed to enact. This caused disagreements in 1919 because Britain and France
were both very imperial powers. At one point, the British empire consumed 25% of
the world’s countries. So, Britain and France did not want to give up their huge
wealths of colonies as this would disadvantage them economically and diminish their
power. Therefore Wilson’s aim to establish self-determination was disagreed upon
by Britain and France in 1919.
Another way the aims of the peacemakers after the First World War led to
disagreements in 1919 was the aim of George Clemenceau to destroy Germany.
France had lost 1.3 million men and had their countryside destroyed in WW1 and
held a vengeful grudge against Germany. Clemenceau declared he wished for
£10bn in reparations. This would grind Germany, who was also recovering from war,
into the ground, potentially bankrupting the entire country. This led to disagreements
because David Lloyd George, Prime minister of the UK, wished to maintain trade
with Germany. This was because the UK had a close trading relationship with
Germany. In fact, Germany was Britain’s largest trading partner before the war. So
Lloyd George did not want to punish Germany too harshly. Hence, Clemenceau’s
aim of destroying Germany caused disagreement with Lloyd George in 1919.
The last way the aims of the peacemakers after the First World War led to
disagreements in 1919 was again, that Clemenceau wished to very harshly punish
Germany. France wished to be paid back war reparations for the way their country
suffered from the fighting in 1919 where 8000 square miles of french land was
destroyed. This led to him demanding articles in the Treaty of Versailles, such as
article 234, which declared that Germany would accept full responsibility for the start
of WW1. This caused disagreements in Germany because the German people did
not wish to accept such terms. This is evidenced by the labelling of the Weimar
government who signed the Treaty of Versailles as the “November Criminals”. Also,
lingering resentment for the treaty was shown by the election of Adolf Hitler as
Chancellor of Germany, who promised to rip up the treaty in his campaign.
Therefore, the aim of Clemenceau to destroy Germany was met with disagreement
from the german people.