War and Peace – International Relations, 1919-39
David Williamson
Chapter 2 – Ambition & Reality: War Aims and the Peace Settlements of 1919-20
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What factors prevented the belligerents from negotiating peace during the First World War?
How did the Russian Revolution of November 1917 impact the First World War?
What changes were made to the German government in October 1918 and why did it ask for peace?
Describe Wilson’s 14 Points.
What were the terms of the armistice drafted by the Allies?
a. Why did the German government accept these terms?
Under what circumstances did Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire sign armistices?
Why were Western leaders obsessed with the threat of communist revolution in late 1918 early 1919?
Why was Eastern Europe so unstable and vulnerable in 1919?
Why did a policy of conciliation lose ground in the US, Britain and France in late 1918 early 1919?
What were the aims and priorities of the United States?
a. What compromises of the 14 Points did Wilson and Colonel House have to make to
accommodate Britain and France?
b. What outstanding problems did these compromises leave to fester?
What were the aims and priorities of France?
a. What measures did Clemenceau urge to try to contain Germany within a balance of power?
What were the aims and priorities of Britain?
a. In what ways were Britain’s aims opposed to those of France and the US?
What were the aims and priorities of Italy?
What were the aims and priorities of Japan?
a. What was Japan’s role in the First World War?
b. What were the 21 Demands and to what degree did Japan achieve them?
What international issues inhibited the productivity of the Peace Conference when it met in January
1919?
How was the Conference organized? How did it function and make decisions?
What was the Council of Four and how did it finish the work of the Conference?
The Treaty of Versailles established a League of Nations on what condition?
What did Article 231 say and why was it included?
Why were the French so insistent on receiving large reparations from Germany?
a. Why didn’t the Germans show interest in Loucheur’s more moderate proposal?
Why did Britain insist upon high reparations also?
How was the reparations debate eventually resolved?
What were the measure’s insisting upon Germany’s disarmament?
What territories were taken from Germany in the north and west?
What were France’s demands concerning the Saarland?
a. Why did Wilson oppose this?
b. How was the issue eventually resolved?
What were France’s demands concerning the Rhineland?
a. Why did David Lloyd George oppose them?
b. What was the eventual agreement?
What did the Commission on Polish Affairs recommend concerning Poland?
a. Why did David Lloyd George oppose these recommendations?
b. What was the eventual resolution of the issue?
28. What were Britain’s demands concerning Germany’s former colonies?
a. Why did Wilson oppose these?
b. What was the eventual resolution of the issue?
c. What was the mandate system?
29. What were Japan’s demands concerning the Shantung Peninsula in China?
a. Why did Wilson oppose this?
b. Why did he eventually agree to the demands?
c. What were the consequences of this argument?
30. What was the German reaction when they were presented with the Treaty on May 7?
a. What concessions did they request?
b. What changes did David Lloyd George manage to extract from the French?
c. What was the reaction of the German government and people after these changes were made?
d. With what spirit did Germany sign the Treaty on June 28?
31. Why did ratification of the Treaty prove so difficult in the US?
a. What objections were put forth by Republican Senators Lodge and Borah?
32. What difficulties attended a settlement of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire?
33. Summarize the terms of the Treaty of St. Germain.
a. What territories did Italy receive?
i. What was the problem with this?
b. What territories did Czechoslovakia receive?
i. What was the problem with this?
ii. How were the Allies persuaded to accept this arrangement?
c. What territories did Yugoslavia receive?
i. What was the problem with this?
d. What happened to Carinthia?
e. What did Article 88 say?
34. Summarize the terms of the Treaty of Trianon.
a. What did Hungary lose and to whom? Why?
b. Why did the treaty take so long to conclude?
35. Summarize the terms of the Treaty of Neuilly.
a. What did the Allies mean when they called Bulgaria the “Balkan Prussia”?
b. What territory did Bulgaria lose and to who?
36. Why was the issue of Fiume, Istria and Dalmatia such a bone of contention for Italy?
a. Why was Wilson determined to deny these possessions to Italy?
b. What were the results of his intransigence?
c. What were the terms of the Treaty of Rapallo?
i. What lead Yugoslavia to compromise?
37. What were the conflicting interests of Britain and France concerning Turkey?
38. What were the terms of the Treaty of Sevres?
39. What criticisms of the Treaty were made by British economist John Maynard Keynes?
40. Were the reparations imposed upon Germany as harsh as Keynes and the Germans claimed?
41. Describe the new balance of power that emerged in 1919.
42. How can the peace settlements of 1919-20 be defended?
43. To what extent did they contain the seeds of their own destruction?
Chapter 3 – The Struggle to Enforce the Treaties, 1920-24
1. What problems did the Entente powers face in enforcing the treaties?
2. What was in charge of decision-making during this period?
3. Why were the Allies interested in the outcome of the Russian Civil War?
a. In what ways did the Allies become involved in the war?
b. What position did Germany pursue during the war?
c. How did the fates of the new Baltic states hang in the balance during the war?
d. How did the fate of Poland hang in the balance during the war?
4. What were Britain’s goals and priorities concerning Germany?
5. What were France’s goals and priorities concerning Germany?
6. What foreign policy did German Foreign Minister Hermann Muller announce in 1919?
a. What options did Germany have to achieve this policy?
b. What foreign policy success did Germany achieve in 1920 with the help of Britain?
7. How did Britain and France disagree over Danzig?
a. How was the issue resolved?
8. What were the results of plebiscites in Schleswig, Marienwerder and Allenstein?
9. Why were Britain and France divided over the issue of Upper Silesia?
a. What were the results of the plebiscite?
b. Summarize the conflict that erupted in its aftermath.
c. How was the conflict eventually resolved?
10. How were Britain and France divided on the issue of Germany’s disarmament?
11. Why did France seek to revise the financial clauses of Versailles with Germany in 1920?
a. Why did both Germany and Britain reject the Seydoux Plan?
12. What reparations were announced for Germany in 1921 and what was the German reaction?
a. What alternatives did the German representatives put forth?
b. Why did David Lloyd George’s plan to postpone reparations in 1921 fail?
c. Who came to power as President of France in 1922?
13. What was the Genoa Conference and why did it fail?
14. What was the Treaty of Rapallo?
15. What events led to the French occupation of the Ruhr?
16. How were the British and French divided over the occupation of the Ruhr?
a. What policy did Britain adopt to the French occupation of the Ruhr?
17. How did the German government and people respond to the occupation?
18. What efforts did France make to detach the Ruhr and Rhineland from Germany?
a. Why did these efforts fail?
19. What policy changes did Chancellor Gustav Stresemann initiate when he came to power in September
1923?
20. Why did the Treaty of Sevres prove impossible to enforce?
21. Summarize the events of the Chanak Crisis and the role of Mustapha Kemal.
a. What were the results of this war?
b. What were the political consequences of the war?
22. What were the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923)?
23. Why was Turkey more successful at revising the treaties imposed upon her than Germany?
Chapter 4 – The Politics of Reconciliation & Disarmament, 1924-30: The Locarno Era
1. What did the Dawes Plan do?
2. Why did the French dislike the plan?
a. Why did they go along with it?
3. Why did the Germans dislike the plan?
4. Why was the London Conference seen as a diplomatic defeat for France?
5. What was the Geneva Protocol (1924)?
a. Why did Britain veto it?
6. Describe the terms of the Locarno Agreement.
a. In what way can Locarno be seen as a diplomatic defeat for France?
b. In what way can Locarno be seen as a diplomatic victory for Germany?
7. What diplomatic victories/concessions did Germany achieve in 1926-27?
a. Why were these successes so crucial to the Weimar government?
8. What recommendations were made by the Young Committee in 1929?
a. How was French resistance to the agreement defeated?
9. Why did Briand suggest the formation of a European economic union in 1929?
a. Why did the idea fail in 1930?
10. Why and how did the Soviet Union seek closer relations with Germany in 1925-26?
11. Why were relations between the Soviet Union and Britain so hostile during the 1920s?
12. Why and how did France seek closer relations with Poland?
13. Why and how did France seek closer relations with Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania?
14. What important countries were not initially members of the League of Nations? Why?
15. Describe the structure of the League of Nations.
a. What did the Assembly do?
b. How was the Council composed?
i. What did it do?
ii. What was the role of unanimity?
c. What did the Permanent Court of International Justice do?
16. What was Article 8?
17. What was Article 16?
18. What were the limitations on the power of the League?
19. Why was the League seen as a tool of the Allies during the early 1920s?
20. What was so radical about Article 22?
21. What was the relationship between the League and the newly created mandates?
22. What was accomplished by the ILO and the HO?
23. Why did the League fail to resolve conflicts in Persia, Armenia and Lithuania?
24. How did the League resolve the dispute over the Aaland Islands?
25. How did the League rescue Albania from aggression?
a. What did this incident expose about the League’s power?
26. How did the League resolve the dispute over Memel?
27. What was the Corfu incident and how did it expose the weakness of the League of Nations?
28. How did the League resolve the dispute between Britain and Turkey over Mosul?
29. How did the League resolve the dispute between Greece and Bulgaria?
30. Why did the League have difficulty addressing the issue of disarmament?
31. Why did the US pressure Britain to scrap the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1921 in preference for a four
power treaty?
a. What were its terms?
32. What were the terms of the Washington Treaty (1922)?
a. What was the attitude of Japan toward these changes?
33. What evidence was there during the 1920s of US interest in participating in the League of Nations?
34. How did the Kellogg-Briand Pact come about?
a. What did it declare?
b. What was the significance of the Pact?
35. Was Gustav Stresemann a sincere internationalist or a closet nationalist?
36. Why does Williamson call Briand “the right man for the right moment”?
37. What role did Britain and Austen Chamberlain play during the 1920s?
Chapter 5 – The Impact of the Great Depression on International Politics
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Why did the crash of the American stock market in 1929 led to a severe recession in Europe and Japan?
How did the Great Depression impact the cause of international cooperation and collective security?
Why did the Great Depression spur extreme nationalism throughout Europe?
Why and how did army leaders gain the upper hand over politicians in Japan during the 1920s?
How did the Japanese justify their occupation of Manchuria in 1931?
Why did Britain and the US choose not to respond to Japan’s occupation of Manchuria?
What was the response of the League of Nations to the Japanese aggression?
How did the Japanese occupation of Manchuria alter the balance of power in the Pacific?
What diplomatic victory did German Chancellor Bruning achieve as a result of the Depression?
Why was the World Disarmament Conference of 1932 a failure?
According to Mein Kampf what were Hitler’s overriding foreign policy objectives?
What arguments do historians make about whether Hitler had a consistent foreign policy plan or not?
Why did Hitler conduct a careful and conciliatory foreign policy during his first few years in office?
What were the results of the attempted Nazi coup in Austria in 1934?
Why did Britain, France and Italy sign an agreement at Stresa in 1935?
What was the significance of the Anglo-German Naval Convention of 1935?
What factors made the position of France weak relative to Germany during the 1930s?
What steps did France take to improve its position during the 1930s?
Why did France not prioritize a treaty with Russia as it had before 1914?
Why was France unable to negotiate anything but a pact of mutual assistance with the Soviet Union?
What were Britain’s foreign policy priorities during the early 1930s and what was their rationale?
Why did Britain attempt to negotiate with Germany and include her in treaties?
Why did Italy slowly drift toward closer alliance with Britain and France during the early 1930s?
What were the diplomatic results of this shift?
During the early 1930s why did the Soviet Union seek to preserve peace and the status quo?
What steps did the Soviet Union take during this period to maintain good relations with Germany?
Why did the US maintain a policy of neutrality and non-intervention throughout the 1930s?
For what reasons did Mussolini wish to conquer Abyssinia?
Why were Britain and France both uncertain as to how to respond to the invasion?
What action did the League of Nations take?
a. Why were these sanctions unsuccessful?
What was the Hoare-Laval Plan and why did it fail?
What were the diplomatic consequences of the Abyssinian Crisis?
a. How did Germany benefit from it?
Why did Hitler choose to remilitarize the Rhineland in March 1936?
Why did France and Britain choose not to take firm action against Germany?
35. Why did the French Foreign Office claim that this event was a momentous shift in power from Paris to
Berlin?
36. Why did a civil war break out in Spain in July 1936?
37. For what reasons and in what ways did Germany and Italy assist the Nationalists?
38. For what reasons did the French and British governments choose not to aid the Republicans?
39. For what reasons did the Soviet Union choose to aid the Republicans?
a. How effective was the Soviet Union’s aid?
40. What were the diplomatic consequences of the Spanish Civil War?
41. What evidence is there that German-Italian relations improved during 1936?
42. What was the Rome-Berlin Axis?
43. Why did Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact in November 1936?
a. What was it?
44. Why does Williamson claim that a “diplomatic revolution” took place between 1930 and 1936?
a. What evidence can be given for and against this claim?
Chapter 6 – The Countdown to War
1. Why did war break out between China and Japan in 1937 (Sino-Japanese War)?
2. Why did Britain, France and the US remain uninvolved?
3. How did the relationship between Japan, Germany and Italy change during 1937-39?
a. Why did the Anti-Comintern Pact not become a military alliance?
4. What was Germany’s Four Year Plan of 1936?
5. According to historian T. Mason why did Hitler have no alternative but to go to war?
6. Describe the arguments made by Hitler at the Cabinet meeting of November 1937.
a. What is AJP Taylor’s interpretation of the Hossbach Memorandum?
b. What is the mainstream interpretation?
7. Define the policy of appeasement.
a. What is the traditional interpretation of the appeasement policy, as embodied in the pamphlet
Guilty Men?
b. What arguments have revisionist historians made in response to this assessment?
c. Why did France pursue a policy of appeasement?
d. What were Chamberlain’s aims?
8. What events triggered Hitler’s abrupt confrontation with Austria in March 1938?
a. What did Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg do?
b. Why did Hitler annex Austria?
9. Why was there little or no response from Italy, Britain and France?
10. Why did Hitler next seek to annex the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in 1938?
a. What steps did he take to hasten Czechoslovakia’s dissolution?
11. What was the nature of France’s and Britain’s obligations to Czechoslovakia?
a. What strategy did they pursue during the summer of 1938 to try to diffuse tension?
12. What agreement was worked out between Chamberlain and Hitler at Berchtesgaden?
a. Why did Hitler increase his demands at the second meeting?
13. Why did Britain, France and Germany each agree to Italy’s suggestion of a 4 power conference in
Munich?
a. What agreement was reached at the Munich Conference?
b. In what sense can Munich be interpreted as a defeat for Hitler?
c. In what sense can Munich be interpreted as a defeat for Britain and France?
14. What measures did Germany undertake after Munich to further undermine Czechoslovakia?
15. How did Germany dismember the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939?
16. Why did Britain and France issue a unilateral guarantee of Poland against Germany on March 31, 1939?
17. What other steps did Britain take during the spring of 1939 to strengthen its position in Eastern
Europe?
18. Why was Hitler unable to negotiate with Poland and reach a settlement during 1939?
19. How did Hitler react to the British guarantee of Poland?
20. What advantages did a non-aggression pact with Germany have for the Soviet Union?
a. What advantages did it hold for Germany?
21. Throughout the negotiations between the Soviet Union, Britain and France what were the stumbling
blocks to an agreement?
a. For what reasons did the British distrust the Soviets?
b. For what reasons did the Soviets distrust the British?
22. What were the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 23, 1939?
23. For what additional reasons did Hitler judge the time ripe for war in August, 1939?
24. What steps were taken to avert war during the week of August 24 to September 3?
25. Why was Poland unwilling to accept Hitler’s terms?
26. Did the Treaty of Versailles make a second world war inevitable?
27. What reasons did Britain and France have for going to war in 1939?
Chapter 7 – The Interwar Years in Retrospect
1. Was the Treaty of Versailles the “final crime of the twentieth century” as claimed by the Economist
magazine in 1999?
2. What made the balance of power during the interwar years so uniquely unstable?
3. For what reasons were France and Britain divided during this period?
a. What were the consequences of this division?
4. Did the political and economic stability of the late 1920s present a real opportunity for international
peace and collective security, or was it just a temporary postponement of an inevitable process of
antagonism and crisis?
5. Did the Great Depression make another world war inevitable or had it already been inevitable?
a. What key decisions, events or policies might have played out differently to avert war?
b. How might Britain and France have won Italy or the Soviet Union to an alliance against
Germany?
c. Why were Britain and France so hesitant to enlist the Soviet Union in an alliance?
d. Was appeasement the only rational policy for Britain and France to pursue?
e. How could the League of Nations have been used more effectively to avert war during the
1930s?