AQA GCSE History · BB

Conflict and tension: the inter-war years, 1918–1939

50 exam-style questions with answers for BB Conflict and tension: the inter-war years, 1918–1939 in AQA GCSE History (spec 8145). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below. Not official AQA material.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
What were Clemenceau’s aims at the peace conference? [2 marks]
Answer:
To punish Germany severely and make it pay reparations (1); to weaken Germany so it could never attack France again (1).
Question 2 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
What were Lloyd George’s aims at the peace conference? [2 marks]
Answer:
To punish Germany, as the British public wanted (1); but not so harshly that it would seek revenge or stop trading with Britain (1).
Question 3 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
What were Wilson’s aims at the peace conference? [2 marks]
Answer:
A fair peace based on his Fourteen Points (1); to set up a League of Nations to keep peace (1).
Question 4 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
State two of Wilson’s Fourteen Points. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: self-determination for nations (1); freedom of the seas (1); disarmament (1); free trade (1); a League of Nations (1); no secret treaties (1).
Question 5 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
Define the term ‘self-determination’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The right of national groups to rule themselves.
Question 6 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
Define the term ‘Diktat’. [1 mark]
Answer:
A dictated peace: the German term for the Treaty of Versailles because it had no say in the terms.
Question 7 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
State three territorial terms of the Treaty of Versailles. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: Alsace-Lorraine to France (1); Polish Corridor (1); Saar under League control for 15 years (1); Danzig a free city (1); German colonies became mandates (1); union with Austria forbidden (1).
Question 8 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
State three military terms of the Treaty of Versailles. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: army limited to 100,000 men (1); no conscription (1); no tanks, submarines or air force (1); navy limited to six battleships (1); Rhineland demilitarised (1).
Question 9 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
What was the War Guilt Clause? [1 mark]
Answer:
Article 231, which forced Germany to accept blame for causing the war.
Question 10 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
How much reparations was Germany ordered to pay in 1921? [1 mark]
Answer:
£6,600 million.
Question 11 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
State two reasons why Germans objected to the Treaty of Versailles. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: it was a Diktat (1); the War Guilt Clause was humiliating (1); loss of land and people (1); reparations were too high (1); the army was too small for defence (1).
Question 12 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
Explain why Clemenceau was not fully satisfied with the treaty. [2 marks]
Answer:
He wanted Germany broken up or the Rhineland separated from it (1); French critics thought the treaty was too soft (1).
Question 13 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
Explain why the USA did not join the League of Nations. [2 marks]
Answer:
The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles (1); many Americans wanted isolation from European affairs (1).
Question 14 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part one
State two problems faced by the new states created by the peace settlement. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: ethnic minorities within their borders (1); weak economies (1); border disputes (1); threats from stronger neighbours (1).
Question 15 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Where was the League of Nations based? [1 mark]
Answer:
Geneva, Switzerland.
Question 16 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Name the four permanent members of the League’s Council at the start. [2 marks]
Answer:
Britain, France, Italy and Japan (2).
Question 17 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Define the term ‘collective security’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The idea that member states act together to protect any member that is attacked.
Question 18 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
State the three steps the League could take against an aggressor. [3 marks]
Answer:
Moral condemnation (1); economic sanctions (1); military force (1).
Question 19 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
State two weaknesses of the League of Nations. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: no army of its own (1); the USA never joined (1); decisions had to be unanimous (1); Germany and the USSR were excluded at first (1); slow to act (1).
Question 20 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Name two League agencies and what they did. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: the International Labour Organisation improved working conditions (1); the Health Committee fought diseases such as leprosy (1); the Refugees Committee helped 400,000 prisoners of war return home (1); the Slavery Commission (1).
Question 21 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
How did the League settle the Aaland Islands dispute (1921)? [2 marks]
Answer:
It gave the islands to Finland (1); Sweden accepted the decision (1).
Question 22 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
How did the League handle Upper Silesia (1921)? [1 mark]
Answer:
It held a plebiscite and divided the region between Germany and Poland.
Question 23 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Explain why the Vilna dispute (1920) was a failure for the League. [2 marks]
Answer:
Poland seized Vilna, the capital of Lithuania (1); the League did nothing, and Poland kept it (1).
Question 24 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Explain why the Corfu Incident (1923) was a failure for the League. [2 marks]
Answer:
Mussolini invaded Corfu after an Italian general was murdered in Greece (1); the Conference of Ambassadors made Greece pay compensation, so a great power ignored the League (1).
Question 25 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Why was the Bulgaria crisis (1925) a success for the League? [1 mark]
Answer:
The League ordered Greece to withdraw from Bulgaria, and Greece obeyed.
Question 26 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
What were the Locarno Treaties (1925)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Germany accepted its western borders with France and Belgium (1); it improved relations and led to Germany joining the League in 1926 (1).
Question 27 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)? [1 mark]
Answer:
An agreement signed by over 60 countries to renounce war as a way of settling disputes.
Question 28 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Explain how the Depression weakened the League. [2 marks]
Answer:
Countries focused on their own economic problems (1); it helped extremist governments come to power, eg in Japan and Germany (1).
Question 29 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Describe the Manchurian Crisis (1931–1933). [2 marks]
Answer:
Japan invaded Manchuria after the Mukden Incident (1); the Lytton Report condemned Japan, which then left the League in 1933 (1).
Question 30 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Describe the Abyssinian Crisis (1935–1936). [2 marks]
Answer:
Italy invaded Abyssinia (1); League sanctions did not include oil, and the Hoare-Laval Pact showed Britain and France would bargain with Mussolini (1).
Question 31 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Explain why the Abyssinian Crisis destroyed the League’s credibility. [2 marks]
Answer:
Two leading members undermined their own sanctions (1); aggressors saw the League would not stop them (1).
Question 32 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part two
Explain why the League of Nations struggled in the 1920s even when it succeeded. [2 marks]
Answer:
It succeeded mainly in disputes between smaller powers (1); great powers such as Italy could ignore it, as in Corfu (1).
Question 33 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
State two of Hitler’s foreign policy aims. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: overturn the Treaty of Versailles (1); unite all German-speaking people (1); gain Lebensraum in the East (1); destroy communism (1).
Question 34 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
What was the Dollfuss Affair (1934)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Austrian Nazis murdered Chancellor Dollfuss in a failed coup (1); Mussolini moved troops to the border, so Hitler backed down (1).
Question 35 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
What happened in the Saar plebiscite (1935)? [1 mark]
Answer:
About 90% voted to return to Germany.
Question 36 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
What was the Stresa Front (1935)? [1 mark]
Answer:
An agreement between Britain, France and Italy to oppose German breaches of Versailles.
Question 37 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
Explain why the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (1935) weakened the Stresa Front. [2 marks]
Answer:
Britain allowed Germany a navy of 35% of the size of the British navy (1); this broke Versailles without consulting France or Italy (1).
Question 38 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
What happened when Germany remilitarised the Rhineland in March 1936? [2 marks]
Answer:
German troops marched into the Rhineland, breaking Versailles and Locarno (1); Britain and France did not act (1).
Question 39 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
What was the Anti-Comintern Pact? [1 mark]
Answer:
An agreement against communism between Germany and Japan in 1936, joined by Italy in 1937.
Question 40 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
What was the Anschluss (1938)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The union of Germany and Austria in March 1938, forbidden by Versailles.
Question 41 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
Define the term ‘appeasement’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Giving in to an aggressor’s reasonable demands to avoid war.
Question 42 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
State two reasons for appeasement. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: fear of another war (1); Britain needed time to rearm (1); sympathy that Versailles was too harsh (1); fear of communism (1); the Depression (1).
Question 43 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
State two arguments against appeasement. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: it encouraged Hitler to make more demands (1); it betrayed Czechoslovakia (1); it gave Germany time to rearm (1); it made the USSR distrust Britain and France (1).
Question 44 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
What was agreed at Munich (September 1938)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Germany was given the Sudetenland (1); Czechoslovakia was not invited, and Hitler promised to make no more demands (1).
Question 45 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
Explain why Hitler’s occupation of Czechoslovakia (March 1939) ended appeasement. [2 marks]
Answer:
The Czechs were not German, so Hitler could not claim self-determination (1); Britain and France then guaranteed to defend Poland (1).
Question 46 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
What was the Nazi-Soviet Pact (August 1939)? [2 marks]
Answer:
A non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR (1); with a secret agreement to divide Poland (1).
Question 47 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
Explain why Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact. [2 marks]
Answer:
He distrusted Britain and France after Munich (1); it bought time to prepare for war and gave him land in eastern Europe (1).
Question 48 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
Explain why war began in September 1939. [2 marks]
Answer:
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September (1); Britain and France declared war on 3 September because of their guarantee to Poland (1).
Question 49 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
Give one argument that Chamberlain was responsible for the outbreak of war. [1 mark]
Answer:
Appeasement encouraged Hitler to believe Britain would not fight.
Question 50 · Spec 3.2.2 BB, Part three
Give one argument that Hitler was most responsible for the outbreak of war. [1 mark]
Answer:
His aggressive aims, such as Lebensraum, made war likely, and he broke the Munich Agreement.

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Conflict and tension: the inter-war years, 1918–1939

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