Combined Humanities: History Examination Package (Russia, Germany, Stalin, Hitler, Policy of Appeasement)

History O Level Combined Humanities Examination Package Topics Covered: Russia -Rise of Stalin (Opponents underestimated him, master of manipulation, positioned himself as Lenin's successor, strong power base and luck) -Collectivization -Five Year Plans -How Stalin controlled Russia Germany -Rise of the Nazi Party -Rise of Adolf Hitler -How Hitler controlled the people of Germany Road to War, Europe -Causes of World War II -Policy of Appeasement -Nazi Soviet Pact Rise of Japan -Reasons for rise of Militarism -Why did Japan go to war? -Consequences of the war Cold War -Reasons for Cold War -Berlin Blockade -Korean War -Cuban Missile Crisis -Impact of Cold War -Significance of Cold War -Consequence of Cold War Extra Topics: Treaty of Versailles, League of Nations (the successes or failures), Aid to Germany (the Young Plan by USA)

Russia RISE OF STALIN -Positioned himself as Lenin's successor Towards Lenin's death, Stalin made sure he was with him all the time. At Lenin's funeral, he served as the chief mourner, and also tricked Trotsky into missing the funeral. This gave the impression that Lenin was very close to Stalin when he was alive. This meant that the public would generally assume that Lenin would have wanted Stalin to be his successor. Also, by tricking Trotsky not to turn up for the funeral, it made Trotsky look bad, making Stalin seem even better. -Rivals underestimated Stalin The contestants for power consisted of Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky and Bukharin. They all ignored Stalin as a threat, and were busy fighting each other, trying to eliminate the competition. They all also wanted Stalin on their side as his job as General Secretary meant that he could easily get supporters. This meant that Stalin had very little opposition in his campaign for power. He positioned himself as a neutral, and allowed himself to be wooed, putting him at an advantage. Ultimately, his walk to power was easy as his opponents were busy fighting each other, leaving him alone. -Luck Before he died, Lenin wrote a testament which consisted of his thoughts on various people. Amongst these people were Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev. This testament was supposed to be published, however, as Kamenev and Zinoviev were afraid that Lenin's testament would criticize them, they agreed to prevent the testament from being published. The testament contained vital information that criticized Stalin as being an unsuitable person to take over his place. If published, it would totally crush Stalin's aspirations to consolidate power and take over. -He manipulated his opponents Stalin teamed up with Zinoviev and Kamenev against Trotsky. However, he soon turned on them, and allied himself with Bukharin. After successfully defeating and expelling the 3, he turned against Bukharin, and successfully defeated him. By allying himself with different people, he was able to manipulate and use his opponents. As he was the only one conscious of what was going on, this put him to an advantage, and by the time his opponents found out they were being used, it was too late for them. -Strong power base Stalin was appointed the role of Party Secretary. This meant that he could control the information that his opponents would receive. His position in Orgburo also meant that he could appoint his supporters to key positions. He also had control of party membership, which meant that he could grant membership to people who were likely to support him. This meant that Stalin was in key control of not only the information his opponents were receiving, putting him one step ahead, it also meant that Stalin could have trustable allies that supported his cause. This made his rise to power much easier.

COLLECTIVIZATION -Combined small farms into one. These combined farms were called Collectives. -Collectives taken over by Government. All produce went directly to government, and they decided what to do with the produce. Was it a success or failure? SUCCESS: Cities were kept well fed, and this drove industrialization into full drive. Stalin gained control of country side. FAILURE: Massive amount of human deaths (10 million starved, 10 million deported), Caused massive starvation, resulting in cannibalism in countryside. QUESTION: HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS COLLECTIVIZATION IN RUSSIA? Collectivization was only successful to a certain extent. Collectivization was successful as state procurement increased. This meant that the developed cities were kept well fed. The increase in the state of living ensured the satisfaction of the people of Russian cities, which in turn, pushed industrialization into overdrive as the more well of the people were, the harder they could work, which in turn, resulted in a boost in economy. Therefore, collectivization was a success. However, Collectivization was a failure as it focussed to much on the people living in the cities, neglecting those in the country side. As the peasant's produce had to be surrendered to the government, they were left with nothing. This meant that they not only could not afford to buy food, they could not produce food for themselves. This ultimately led to the starvation of some 10 million Russians. On top of that, approximately another 10 million were sent to concentration camps to be executed as they opposed Collectivization. Therefore, Collectivization was a failure as it totally ignored the needs of the lower class people, resulting in massive human loss of life. Therefore, collectivization was a failure. In spite of having positives, Collectivization resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent, hard working people. It was successful in achieving it's goal of increasing state produce, however, it created a new problem for the government as it made peasants and farmers angry at Stalin for imposing Collectivization on them. Therefore, Collectivization was only successful to a certain extent. FIVE YEAR PLANS -Meant to kick start industrialization. -Focussed on heavy industries such as coal, iron, oil, electricity and timber. Was "Five Year Plans" a... Success? -Output increased tremendously. -Larger factories built -Helped transform Russia into a world class economy. Failure?

-Consumer goods were neglected (clothes & food) -Workers not sufficiently trained to handle demands of industrialization -Goods not always of good quality -Expected amount of goods a not always met -Overcrowding due to people moving to cities to enjoy reaps of industrialization Overall, the FIVE YEAR PLANS were a success. SUCCESS: Before the implementation of the Five Year Plans, Russia's population mainly consisted of farmers and peasants, and the country was extremely poor after being ravaged by war. However, after the FIVE YEAR PLANS, Russia almost became entirely self sufficient, started to be able to export goods, and her economy shot up to become nearly as great as the USA. Hence, it was successful. FAILURE: The FIVE YEAR PLANS costed Stalin a huge number of human lives, supposedly his fellow "comrades" on which he stepped on to achieve power. A staggering amount of people died due to the excessive negligence towards production of food and clothing for the peasants, causing famine and starvation.

Germany RISE OF THE NAZI PARTY -Weaknesses of the Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic was seen as an enemy of the state, for it was thought of as the people as the main reason why Germany lost the war (she thought she was actually winning due to heavy propaganda) after signing the armistice. Also, the Weimar Republic was a coalition government, which meant that it was made up of many different people with different views. This put the Nazi Party on the same page as the Germans. They both wanted to eliminate the Weimar Republic. Hence, the people supported the Nazis as they pledged to remove the Weimar Republic from power. Also, the coalition government meant that the Weimar Republic could not come up with a steadfast decision as they could not make up their mind, resulting in the fact that it made them look even more incapable of ruling Germany. -Fear of Communism The Communists was the Nazi's greatest threat, as they were the second most powerful political party. However, a proportion of Germans were scared of the Communists coming into power (mainly the richer and upperclass businessmen etc) as they had a lot to lose, due to the fact that communism believes that wealth should be shared amongst all. This meant that the Nazis had the sure support of these richer people as no one would want to give up all their money they have earned with their own hard work and give it to someone else. This gave them extra funding as well, hence they were able to afford better campaigning materials etc. -Great Depression The Great Depression that struck in 1929 in the USA affected many countries. There was a huge economic slump, none like any before. Unemployment rates in the USA sky rocketed, and she suddenly became a desperate and poor country overnight.

This meant that the USA was unable to continue loans to Germany under things such as "the Young Plan", which aimed at revitalizing Germany's economy by lending her money to rebuild and reestablish herself. As the Nazis promised to create jobs and pull Germany out of her economic disaster, they therefore won the support of the people.

-Unfair Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was signed after Germany lost World War I. The Treaty of Versailles aimed to disarm and weaken Germany to the point where she would never be able to unleash the amount of damage that she did during the first World War ever again. The Treaty made Germany disarm her army by destroying a huge proportion of her weapons, eliminating her air force, reducing her navy to a pathetic count, and made her pay huge reparation costs (6,600 million pounds-an unrealistic sum meant to make Germany pay forever). The Nazis, along with the Germans, hated the Treaty of Versailles. Hence, they found another reason to ally with the Nazis, as they sought to abolish the Treaty. Therefore, this gave the Nazis some more reason to be supported. WHICH WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR THAT HELPED THE NAZIS RISE TO POWER? The most important factor was probably the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty was the one that made Germany fall deep into an economic turmoil. This led to the fact that she was excessively affected by the Great Depression, that the Weimar Republic was hated by the people, and the Communist being able to step in (as they thrive in countries which are very poor). This meant that the root for Germany's problems was the TOV, in which the people hated very much. As the Nazis sought to abolish the TOV, hence they were heavily supported through this ambition of theirs.

RISE OF ADOLF HITLER -Aggression & Violence Hitler used his uniformed followers to break up the meetings of his political enemies. He also stopped newspapers from criticizing the Nazis, and there was extreme violence throughout the election campaign, especially towards the communists. This meant that people were scared to oppose Hitler, hence supported him to avoid having violence come their way. This in turn, allowed Hitler to do whatever he wanted with little opposition as everyone feared him. -Reichstag Fire A week before the election, the Reichstag building in Berlin went up in flames. Immediately, Hitler blamed the Communists, and sent 4000 leading communists to prison. He also used this to issue the EMERGENCY LAW, which ALLOWED HITLER TO DETAIN PEOPLE WITHOUT TRIAL, RAID HOUSES AND CONFISCATE PROPERTIES. This meant that Hitler not only weakened his strongest political opposer, the Communist Party by imprisoning their leaders, he also used the EMERGENCY DECREE to disallow them to take over whatever posts they have won in the election. -Election Campaign Hitler called for new elections for the Reichstag as he wanted the overall majority of the votes so he could win more seats in parliament. In the end, the Nazi Party managed to obtain 43% of the votes, and with the help from the Nationalist Party, they scraped through with 51%.

This meant that the Nazi party had won majority of the seats in parliament, thereby allowing Hitler to make decisions by himself without much opposition as he not only had majority of the people in parliament supporting him, he had banned the communists from taking whatever posts they had won using the EMERGENCY DECREE.

-Enabling Act Hitler schemed to get the Reichstag to give up it's power, and transfer it all to him. To make this happen, Hitler had to convince the Reichstag, and he had to have 2/3 of the votes in his favor. He did this by banning the Communists deputies from voting, gave vague promises to the Centre Party, and used to votes of the Nationalist Party. This meant that with his new found power in parliament, Hitler could rule as a dictator, allowing him to make decisions without consulting the Reichstag. He then banned political parties to prevent any further opposition, controlled the media and set up concentration camps, thereby helping Hitler consolidate even more power.

-Night of Long Knives Hitler wanted complete and absolute power within his own party, the Nazis. Ernst Rohm, the leader of the SA was unhappy that he was not given a significant role in the new government and created trouble for Hitler. Hitler then sought to clear anyone from ever causing trouble towards him, or whatever he believed in, hence he dragged them out of bed in the night and had them all shot dead, and at the end of it all, there was no public protest towards the unjustified massacre. This meant that Hitler had the assurance that no one opposed him, and that he could do whatever he wanted as no one protested towards the killings, and that he had managed to clear his key rivals by killing them, hence helping him strengthen his post in Germany. -Establishing Post of Führer After President Hindenburg died, the only man that could stand up to Hitler, Hitler then combined the job of Chancellor and President to form the new post, Führer. This meant that he was the commander in chief for the armed forces, and the new supreme dictator for Germany. This meant that Hitler never again had to consult the president on any other issue, and that he was solely in power. Now, Hitler was in the pinnacle of his career, and he has achieved absolute and the highest power anyone could have in the whole of Germany. QUESTION: WHICH WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR THAT HELPED HITLER CONSOLIDATE POWER? The Reichstag Fire was the most important element that helped Hitler gain power. The Reichstag Fire gave two important things. It helped weaken the only party capable of beating the Nazis, the Communists, by arresting 4000 of it's leaders. Also, he managed to issue the EMERGENCY LAW, which allowed him to further eliminate his opponents by imprisoning them, and the EMERGENCY DECREE. which made sure the communists stayed out of his way by banning them from taking over whatever posts they won in parliament. This all together gave Hitler some form of solid ground to stand on during the early stages of his consolidation of power as it gave him some sort of ability to make decisions such as imprisoning people, confiscation of property etc.

HOW DID HITLER CONTROL THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY? -Education Programmes Hitler sought to train a new generation of Nazi followers. He did so by controlling the education of children, by including certain subjects such as German history and Race studies that were indoctrinated with Nazi ideas. This meant that Hitler was able to develop in people the hatred towards Jews from young, and that he would not have people growing up to want to oppose Hitler's ideals and ideas by severing all forms of free thinking when young, and inculcating a Nazi mindset in them. -Youth Movements Girls and boys between the ages of 14-18 were encouraged to join youth movements such as the Hitler Youth. These movements trained youth in a military styled training, and it also made people join as only by joining these movements, you would be able to join a university. As most Germans would naturally want to enter a University, the eligible youth of Germany therefore all joined these movements. By getting people to join, the Nazis were able to influence the young people to grow up into Nazi supporting men, one day hopeful growing up to join the Nazis, making them even more powerful and strong. -Propaganda Propaganda was controlled by the Mistry of People's Enlightenment and Propaganda. They spread out Hitler's messages over the radio, pasting posters of him everywhere, and published music or books supporting Hitler. This meant that Hitler was able to influence people to support the Nazis, and that he was able to influence almost every aspect of their lives. -Censorship Hitler sought to ban undesirable books or newspapers that criticized the Nazis, or those that showed the people that there was "another way of living", rather than the "Hitler way" of living. He burnt books and controlled newspapers, and often times, the news would be slanted in favor of the Nazis. This meant that the people were not influenced of affection by views which were anti Nazi. -Strict Monitoring of People People were being watched everywhere by spies and secret policemen. This meant that anyone that bad mouthed the Nazis or Hitler would be killed. This meant that the people became scared to talk behind Hitler's back, as it could get them killed if they said something wrong, hence, most people just supported the Nazis to avoid being killed. QUESTION: WHICH WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE IN CONTROLLING SOCIAL LIFE IN GERMANY? The education programmes were the most important as they made a whole new generation ready to die for Hitler and his ideals. It made them think with and like Hitler, making Hitler extremely favorable. Also, this ensured that there was little opposition for Hitler, present and in the future.

TREATY OF VERSAILLES

Terms: • • • • • • •

German colonies to be given to other countries to govern. Army allowed up to 100,00 men No tanks Six battleships No submarines No air force allowed Pay reparations (6,600 million pounds)

QUESTION: WHY DID THE GERMANS HATE THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES? -Reduction of arms an insult to Germany, a once powerful country Germany was once, one of the most powerful countries in the entire world, having a world class army capable of making allied powers scared. However, now their army has been miniaturized, to the point where it is plain pathetic. Their army is barely enough to protect the huge land mass of Germany. -Payment for reparations The TOV made Germany pay for the damages she had done during World War 1. The amount stated was 6,600 million pounds, an amount unheard of at that point of time. It was meant to ensure that a rogue country such as Germany could never threaten world peace again. However, Germans did not feel it was fair as they thought they were fighting a war of defense (due to heavy propaganda). Therefore, they called it a DIKTAT. Also, it caused massive inflation and unemployment to the point whereby people were taking their own lives.

ROAD TO WAR, EUROPE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR 2 -Failure of the League of Nations The League of Nations was too weak to stop rogue forces such as Hitler and Japan. For example, when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, the League did nothing to oppose Japan. It was especially weak as the powerhouse behind the allied forces, the USA, was not a member. This meant that the League was unable to control Hitler in his conquest for world domination. The weakness and "softness" of the League gave Hitler the confidence to walk out of the League, rearm Germany and invade several countries, hence leading to World War 2. -Policy of Appeasement The League should have never trusted Hitler. The policy of appeasement was meant to deter countries from war by making friendly agreements. However, when France and Britain gave in to the many demands of Hitler, one of which was the Munich Agreement which allowed him to reclaim some German colonies, it made Hitler hungry for more. This meant that Hitler was encouraged, that no one would stop him from capturing other countries in Europe as people would constantly give in to his demands. His crazed ambitions, along with the last straw which was the capture of Poland led to World War 2. -Personality Clashes

Hitler was an ambitious man, and he wanted a lot. He was never satisfied with whatever Britain and France gave him. Another European leader, Chamberlain, was one with hope for peace. He consistently gave in to Hitler in hope that Hitler would be satisfied, which he obviously was not. In short, Chamberlain was feeding Hitler whatever he wanted. This made Hitler feel as though he could request as much as he wanted from "soft" people such as Chamberlain, and could get whatever he wanted. He thus went on an EXPANSIONIST POLICY in Europe, ultimately leading to World War 2. -Unfair Treaty of Versailles The TOV was extremely focussed on weakening Germany. It stripped her army bare, it ravaged her economy, it robbed her of her resource rich lands, it stole her colonies, and it made her pay reparation costs of staggering amounts. It was no wonder that the TOV made the Germans extremely angry. It wanted to make those involved in making Germany submit to the terms, pay with their lives. Hence, it fueled the war, leading to World War 2.

POLICY OF APPEASEMENT QUESTION: WAS THE POLICY OF APPEASEMENT A MISTAKE?

YES: -Allowed Germany to grow stronger It allowed Germany to grow stronger. As Germany was harbouring hatred towards the allies (it was not clearly seen by the allies though), by lifting up the anchor on Germany's vengeance which was the TOV, it allowed Germany to build up her resources, making her even more difficult to defeat when World War 2 came. If the Policy was not implemented, Germany would not have the resources and the capability to start a war. -Scared the USSR It scared the USSR. The USSR knew that the allies did not like communism, hence they expected the allies to one day, try to eliminate them. Therefore, the USSR became extremely fearful that the allies might have joined forces with Germany against them. This made the USSR become more supportive of Germany, which led to the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. If the policy was not practiced, the USSR would not have signed the Nazi-Soviet pact, and Hitler would have hesitated to expand, for fear of a war on two fronts against the allies and the USSR. -Encouraged Hitler The Policy of Appeasement gave Hitler the confidence to do whatever he wanted. It even made him bold enough to storm troops into the Rhineland, which was supposed to be demilitarized. If the policy was not practiced, Hitler would not have the confidence to not only remilitarize the Rhineland, it would have also made him hesitate to go on his expansionist policy, resulting in World War 2.

NO: -Germany needed a fair deal

Germany was treated extremely badly through the TOV. It stripped her army bare, stole her lands, took her colonies, and made her pay heavy debts. It left her in quite a bad shape. With the policy, it allowed time for Germany to get out of her miserable state. A win-win situation would have been achieved if Hitler was not in power, as he was the one that drove all the newly attained resources to fuel a war he could not win. -People in Britain and France wanted to avoid a war The people in Britain and France were shocked by the devastating consequences of World War 1, and did not want a repeat. Hence, as the people were against the idea of a war, it would be inappropriate to go against the wishes of the people. The policy was implemented to ensure that a war with Germany was not to happen. By giving in to Germany's requests, it hope to smoothen the relationship between the countries. -Britain and France needed time to build up resources The first World War had crippled Britain and France's economy. Factories were destroyed, manpower was drastically reduced as men were sent to war, and other resources were lost due to the heavy production of weapons during the war. With the Policy, Britain and France would be able to build themselves up to ensure that SHOULD Germany try anything aggressive, they would be able to implement counter measures to curb Germany. -Communism and USSR needed to be checked Though Germany was a conern, communism was a greater threat for the allies. Communism had always been a major concern for the allies, as if Communism spread, the governments in Britain and France would collapse. With the Policy, Germany would be naturally "conferred" to the side of the allies. This would strengthen Britain and France against any possible communist threat.