Conflict and Tension: the Inter-War Years, 1918-1939 | AQA GCSE History (8145)
Conflict and Tension: the Inter-War Years, 1918-1939
- 123 questions
- 9 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Conflict and Tension: The Inter-War Years, 1918–1939 is examined in Paper 1, Understanding the modern world.
It covers the armistice, the Versailles Settlement, impact of the treaty and wider settlement, the League of Nations, diplomacy outside the League, the collapse of the League, the development of tension, Escalation of tension and the outbreak of war.
Sample questions from Conflict and Tension: the Inter-War Years, 1918-1939
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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The armistice
What were Wilson's Fourteen Points?
Show the answer
His programme, set out in January 1918, for a fair and lasting peace based on ideas such as self-determination, open diplomacy, freedom of the seas and disarmament. -
The Versailles Settlement
What was the Polish Corridor?
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A strip of former German land given to Poland so that it had access to the sea, which cut East Prussia off from the rest of Germany. -
Impact of the treaty and wider settlement
Why did Germans say self-determination had been applied unfairly?
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Germans in the Sudetenland and Danzig were placed under other governments and Austria was forbidden to join Germany, while the principle was granted to everyone else. -
The League of Nations
What was the Secretariat?
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The League's civil service, which kept records, prepared reports and organised the work of its committees. -
Diplomacy outside the League
Which frontiers did Germany refuse to guarantee, and why did that matter?
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Those with Poland and Czechoslovakia in the east, leaving open the possibility that it would one day try to change them. -
The collapse of the League
Why did Japan want Manchuria?
Show the answer
It was rich in coal and iron and offered land and markets, at a time when the Depression had destroyed Japan's export trade. -
The development of tension
What was the Dollfuss Affair of July 1934?
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Austrian Nazis murdered Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss during an attempted takeover of Austria that Hitler had encouraged. -
Escalation of tension
What was the Anschluss, and when did it happen?
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The takeover of Austria by Germany in March 1938, when German troops crossed the border and Austria was absorbed into the Reich.
The 9 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| The armistice | What an armistice is, the three leaders at Paris, Wilson's Fourteen Points and his League, what Clemenceau and Lloyd George wanted, why Germany could not argue its case, and how far each was satisfied. | 11 |
| The Versailles Settlement | The Diktat, Alsace-Lorraine, the Saar and the Polish Corridor, the colonies as mandates, the ban on union with Austria, the limits on the army, navy and air force, the demilitarised Rhineland, Article 231 and reparations. | 12 |
| Impact of the treaty and wider settlement | How France, Britain and the United States reacted to the peace, Germany's objections and the stab in the back myth, the treaties of St Germain, Trianon, Neuilly and Sèvres, and the strengths and weaknesses of the settlement, including the problems of the new states of central and eastern Europe. | 12 |
| The League of Nations | The Covenant and the League's four aims, collective security, the Assembly, Council, Secretariat and Permanent Court, the missing great powers and changing membership, sanctions, the work of its agencies on labour, health, refugees and slavery, and its record in the disputes of the 1920s. | 20 |
| Diplomacy outside the League | The Locarno treaties of 1925 and the frontiers Germany did and did not accept, the Locarno honeymoon and Germany's entry to the League, the Kellogg-Briand Pact and its fatal weakness, and why agreements made outside the League undermined its authority. | 11 |
| The collapse of the League | How the Depression weakened the League and encouraged aggression, Japan's invasion of Manchuria and the Lytton Commission, Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia, the half-hearted sanctions and the Hoare-Laval Pact, and why the League had failed to prevent war by 1939. | 12 |
| The development of tension | Hitler's foreign policy aims and Lebensraum, why Britain and France were slow to resist him, the Dollfuss Affair, the Saar plebiscite, secret and open rearmament, the Stresa Front, and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement that broke it apart. | 12 |
| Escalation of tension | The remilitarisation of the Rhineland, the Rome-Berlin Axis and the Anti-Comintern Pact, the Anschluss with Austria, the arguments for and against appeasement, the Sudeten Crisis and the Munich Agreement, and the seizure of the Czech lands in March 1939 that ended appeasement. | 17 |
| The outbreak of war | The occupation of Prague and the British guarantee to Poland, Danzig and the Polish Corridor, the failed talks with the USSR, the Nazi-Soviet Pact and its secret protocol, the invasion of Poland in September 1939, and how far Hitler, Stalin and Chamberlain were responsible for the war. | 16 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA GCSE History Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,889 questions with their answers.