History - A very brief guide for elective history (all 2 years)

HISTORY SYLLABUS IN BRIEF PEACE AFTER WW I What were the terms of the TOV? • Loss of German territory • Disarmament • War Guilt & Reparations LON: Success • Bulgarian-Greek Conflict • Aaland Islands • Mosul • Silesia Failures • Ruhr Crisis • Vilna • Corfu • Memel • Greco-Turkish War Disarmament • Washington Naval Conference • Locarno Pact • Kellogg-Briand Pact Aid to Germany • Young Plan • Dawes Plan

***COMMUNIST RUSSIA What were the reasons for Stalin’s rise to power? • Manipulation • Underestimated by rivals • Luck • Positioned himself as Lenin’s successor • Strong powerbase Stalin’s Dictatorship His goals: • Increase military strength • Achieve self-sufficiency • Attain Socialism • Increase food supply • Establish his credentials • Improve standards of living 5 Year Plans: Advantages: • Increase in heavy industrial output • Free healthcare & education for workers • Women entered workforce • Started industrialisation process for USSR Disadvantages: • Rampant corruption & inefficiency • Consumer industries neglected • Focus on quantity not quality • Harsh working conditions • Workers poorly paid • Mass migration & overcrowding of cities

***COMMUNIST RUSSIA Collectivisation: Advantages: • Increased food supply for cities • Stalin achieved control of countryside Disadvantages: • Famine & starvation in countryside • Kulaks deported to Gulags • Collectives poorly run Purges: • Stalin’s paranoia • Role of Secret Police – NKVD • Labour camps – Gulags • Show trials • Atmosphere of fear & distrust Propaganda • Rewriting history • Cult of Personality

***NAZI GERMANY

FASCIST JAPAN & PACIFIC WAR

Rise of Hitler: Internal Factors: • Opposition to Weimar • No democratic tradition • Weimar’s weakness

Failure of Japanese Democracy: • Diet’s Ineffectiveness • Corruption • Economic Problems

External Factors: • Unpopularity of TOV • Great Depression

Rise of Fascism: Internal Factors: • Worsening relations with west • Rise of Chinese nationalism

Other Factors: • Hitler’s charisma How did Hitler win absolute power? • Reichstag Fire • Reichstag Elections • Enabling Act • Abolition of state governments • Ban on political parties & trade unions • Night of Long Knives • Death of Hindenburg Hitler’s Dictatorship • Propaganda • Youth organizations • Education • Churches • Family Life • Workers & Economy

External Factors: • Show Restoration • Patriotic Societies • Strong military influence Japan’s Foreign Policy Aims: • Build Asia-Pacific Empire • Liberate Asians from west • Solve overpopulation • Control resources & raw materials • E.g. Manchuria Why did War Break Out? • Desire to conquer China • Neutrality with the Soviets • Europeans more worried about Hitler • Worsening relations with the U.S. • Appointment of Hideki Tojo as PM.

***ROAD TO WAR (EUROPE) Why was Peace Threatened in the 1930s? Hitler’s Ambition • Rearmament & remilitarization • Anschluss • Lebensraum • Destroy Communism Great Depression • Economic rivalry – protectionism • Aggression • Social unrest • Rise of Dictators Failure of LON • Unable to stop aggression – no army • Self interest of members • No power to force disarmament • E.g. Abyssinia Appeasement • No one wanted another world war • Buy time for Britain & France to rearm • Britain & France facing colonial revolts • Concentrate on internal problems • American isolationism • Sympathy for Germany – TOV unfair • Communist as greater evil • E.g. Sudetenland & Czech Why did war break out: • Nazi-Soviet Pact • Failure of Appeasement • Invasion of Poland

OUTBREAK OF COLD WAR Why did the Cold War Break out? • Ideological differences • Mutual Distrust • Conflicting aims in E. Europe Points of Tension • Atomic Bomb • Post-War Fate of Germany • Fate of E. Europe • “Iron Curtain” Speech • Truman Doctrine & Containment • Marshall Plan • Soviet Response: COMECON & COMINFORM Germany: Source of Conflict: • Democracy • Reconstruction • Reparations • Status of Berlin Results of Berlin Blockade: • Creation of 2 Germanys • Rehabilitation of W. Germany • The creation of NATO & Warsaw Pact • World divided into 2 camps Key Events in Cold War • “Loss” of China • ***Korean War • Hungarian Uprising • U2 Spyplane Incident • Berlin Wall • Nuclear/Space Race • Checkpoint Charlie • ***Cuban Missile Crisis

END OF COLD WAR Problems Facing USSR Command Economy • Rigid bureaucratic system • Unproductive industries • Over-emphasis on heavy industries • Weak Agricultural sector • Little contact with world Ineffective Government • Unwilling to embrace change • Conservative & corrupt • Apathetic people External Problems • Star Wars • Anti-Soviet Sentiments • Increased Spending Gorbachev’s Reforms: • Glasnost • Perestroika Why did the USSR Collapse? • Failure of Gorby’s Reforms • Loss of Communist Party’s Authority • Cold War Bankrupted USSR • Rise of Nationalism • Immediate Cause: Aug 1991 Coup

FALL OF COMMUNISM IN E. EUROPE E. Germany • Massive protests • Embassy sit-ins • Resignation of Honecker • Collapse of the Berlin Wall • Reunification • Peaceful Poland • Role of Solidarity • Communists lost in elections • Peaceful Hungary • Rehabilitation of Imre Nagy • Communist lost in elections • Peaceful Czechoslovakia • Rehabilitation of Alexander Dubcek • Communists forced out • Peaceful Romania • Execution of Nicolae Ceaucescu • Bloody battles with police & anti-govt demonstrators • Violent revolution Bulgaria • Communists lost in elections • Peaceful

SBQ Topics are denoted with *** Please note that WW I is NONEXAMINABLE