Paper 1

Modern World History 

Paper One comprises mainly of 4,6 and 10 mark essays where you are given 35min and therefore you should not waste any time. For a four mark you just need to make four clear points, with NO explanation. For example;

Describe the main features of the enabling act (four marks)

·        Enabled Hitler to make laws without consulting the Reichstag

·        Not to meet for another four years

·        The law was passed by the Reichstag

·        Made Hitler a virtual dictator in Germany

This would be enough to get you the full four marks. If you get stuck and can only think of three, you can explain one of the points to get the extra mark.

For a six mark, three points that are well explained can again earn you full marks. E.g.

Explain why some groups opposed Nazi rule (six marks)

·        Some didn’t agree with his views - e.g. the Communists because they had ideological differences

·        Jewish people opposed Nazi rule - because they had their rights taken away from them and were discriminated against

·        Young people e.g. Edelweiss Pirates - because they didn’t like to be told who they could and couldn’t mix with and do. 

If you can only think of two, that is ok as long as you explain it properly, 

A ten mark is obviously longer and this is where your spelling and grammar are assessed. There are many different question styles for the ten mark questions. There could be a statement and you have to say whether you agree or disagree. For the majority, if not all, you should never fully agree or disagree with a statement. Another type of questions is "The only reason why 'x' happened was because of 'y'". For this it is important to remember that there is no one reason why something happens and it is usually a combination of factors. As long as you give three - four reasons for each side of the argument and come to a good clear conclusion so can obtain the 10 marks. Here is an example of a ten mark questions:

“The most important reason why Germany hated the Treaty of Versailles was the loss of territory” Do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer (10)

Introduction    The loss of territory was certainly an important decision in why the Germans hated the Treaty of Versailles. However, there were other factors that were very important such as the war guilt clause, the amount of reparations, Germany ’s disarmament and the refusal of being allowed in the league by the allies.

Territory         The loss of territory was important because Germany lost a lot of land. For example, they lost Alsace Lorraine to France , the union of Austria and Germany (the Anschluss) was forbidden and overseas colonies became mandates supervised by the League of Nations . In total, Germany had lost about 13% of its land which resulted in a loss of income. This made the Germans very angry and bitter as some of their land had been given to their enemies i.e. France .

This alone is not enough to explain why the Germans hated the Treaty of Versailles as there were other factors that they were very bitter about, for example;

War guilt Clause This suggested that Germany were solely to blame for the war which greatly humiliated them.

Reparations  Reparations were quite high and Germany had suffered a lot from the war. They thought that the amount was ridiculously high and they could not afford it

Disarmament Germany had to disarm, however they thought it very unfair that countries around them didn’t have to disarm. This made them feel weak compared to other countries.

Not allowed to join the league Germany was not allowed to join the league and this resulted in them seeing the league as a club for its enemies. This made them feel even more resentful and made them furious at the November Criminals.

Conclusion:     Therefore, this statement is incorrect as there were many reasons why the Germans hated the Treaty of Versailles. The loss of territory was certainly important but alone does not explain why they resented it. The Germans lost a lot of their industrial territories which resulted them losing a lot of money. They then had to pay large amounts of reparations which they couldn’t pay. The Germans had already felt humiliated by the defeat and the war guilt clause put them down further. These factors together explain why the Germans hated the Treaty.

Timeline: 1914 - 1939

Here is a timeline of all the events that took place between 1918 - 1939

History – What happened between 1929 and WWII  

1918 November           End of WWI

1919 5^th January           Spartacus Uprising

1919 April                    League of Nations founded

1919 June                    Treaty of Versailles signed

1920                            Poland successfully seized Vilna – league couldn’t stop them

1920 March                 Kapp Putch

1920 July                     Adolf Hitler becomes leader of National Socialist 'Nazi' Party.

1922 December           Germany stop paying reparations

1923 January                French invasion of the Ruhr , Government calls for passive resistance, this leads to hyperinflation.

1923 August                 Stresemann becomes Chancellor; stops passive resistance

1923 September           Restarts reparations

1923 November           Rentenmark introduced stopping hyperinflation

1923                            Italians had been shot my Greece so Mussolini demanded compensation and bombed Corfu . League denounced Italy but said Greece should pay at a later stage. This made Italy angry and took matters into their own hands

1923 Nov                      The Beer Hall Putch

1924 April                    The Dawes Plan (scaled down lower levels of reparations) ends the crisis in the Ruhr .

1924                               "Disarmament Conference" as highlighted league's failure and hitlers assertive manor

1925 July                    Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" published.

1925 October              Locarno Pact (accepting Germany ’s borders with France ; demilitarise Rhineland )        

1926 September           Germany joined the League of Nations .

1928 August                 The Kellogg-Briand Pact ( America and France wouldn’t attack each other

1928                            Nazis only have 12 seats in the Reichstag as Germany are doing well and few turn to extremist parties

1929 December           The Young Plan (Reduced reparations)          

1929 October              Wall Street Crash; this led to the depression and many countries were suffering

1930 Sept 14               Germans elect Nazis making them the 2nd largest political party in Germany securing 107 seats.

1931 December           Japan invades Manchuria ; L of N did nothing

1932                            Hitler challenges Hindenburg for presidency; Hitler loses by 6 million votes

1932 July                     Nazis won 230 seats making them the largest party

1932 November           Nazis drop to 196 seats

1933 January                Political move by von Papen and von Schelicher, Hitler becomes Chancellor 

1933                            Japan and Germany leave the league

1933                            Germany start rearming

1933 February             Reichstag burns down; blamed on Communists

1933 March                 Hitler passes Enabling act allowing him to pass laws without the Reichstag

1934 June                    Night of the Long Knives

1934 August                 Hindenburg dies – Hitler makes himself Führer

1935 April                    Stresse Front signed between Britain, France and Italy; this was a very vague agreement as it only mentioned about peace in Europe, Mussolini thought that Britain and France would support him in his attack against Abyssinia.     

1935                            A plebiscite was held in the Saarland so the people could decide to vote for Hitler and rejoining with Germany . Hitler won 90% of the vote

                                    The Anglo German Naval agreement between Germany and Britain ; this set the size of the German navy to 35% of Britain ’s. This totally undermined the T of V, Stresse Front and made France and Italy extremely annoyed that Britain had gone behind their backs. 

1935 October              Italy invades Abyssinia

1936 March                 Britain and France banned the sale of oil and petrol to Italy but it was too late, Italy had won the war. Instead this just made Mussolini angry and began to distrust Britain and France so he turned to Hitler as an ally.

Germany invades the Rhineland ; this was a big gamble on Germans part as he was not yet strong enough. He was going against the T of V and if France retaliated German troops would have to retreat.            

1936 November           Rome-Berlin axis pact; this was a treaty between the two fascist countries; Italy and Germany .

                                    Germany , Italy and Japan then signed a treaty called the Anti-Comintern pact against communism.

1936                            Anschluss - this was a failed attempt after opposition from Italy

1937                            Italy leaves the league

1937                            Hitler supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War. This was a great time for Hitler to test out his arms and use the war as a training ground!

1938                            “Anschluss” German prepared to take over Austria .

1938 February             Hitler and Schuschnigg held talks and Schuschnigg was badly threatened by Hitler

1938 9^th March            S’s last desperate attempt to keep Austria independent he announced a plebiscite

1938 11^th March          this made Hitler very angry and he invaded Austria before the plebiscite could take place.

1938 March                 Henlein, Nazi local leader, claimed that the Sudeten Germans weren’t being treated fairly. Britain didn’t want to get involved as it didn’t have treaty with Czechoslovakia . France on the other hand made one with Czechoslovakia in 1925 but the new Prime Minister did not want to go to war.

1938 July                     Britain sent officials to Czechoslovakia . They were biased towards the Sudeten Germans and said that the Sudetenland should be separated from Czechoslovakia .

1938 September           By now Hitler was ready to go to war. Chamberlain met Hitler on several occasions and agreed that Hitler could have the Sudetenland if he did not use force. The Czechs were not very happy about this but, without the support of his allies, he couldn’t do anything about the invasion

                                                Chamberlain came to see Hitler again to tell him that Britain , France and Czechoslovakia had all agreed. But Hitler made new demands that Germans can take over Czechoslovakia immediately. At this stage it looked like there would be war.

                                                29^th September, there was a conference in Munich where, Britain , France and Italy would be present. They all agreed on the annexation of the Sudetenland , Czechoslovakia were not present at the conference.

1938 October              German troops march into the Sudetenland . The Czechoslovakian Prime Minister Benes was forced into exile.   

1938 November           Krystalnacht

1939                            Litvinov, Russian foreign Minister, prepared to sign a treaty with Britain and France , agreeing to support each other if war broke out. Britain delayed this. Meanwhile, Litvinov was replaced by Molotov who began to contact the Germans. Britain was still being awkward.

1939 August                 Hitler suggested a pact with Stalin. He sent Ribbentrop , Germany ’s foreign minister, to Moscow . Stalin was very interested in the ‘secret protocol’ of the treaty. The Soviet Union was offered to control vast areas of territory including, Finland , Latvia , Estonia , Lithuania , and many more. The pact was signed.

1939 March                 Hitler wanted to attack Poland . Britain said that if Hitler invaded Poland , there would be war. Hitler didn’t believe them. They hadn’t done anything before.   

1939 1^st September      Hitler invades Poland

1939 3^rd September      Britain declares war on Germany . Soon after, France did the same (typical French!!!). No one tells the League!