Interwar+Diplomacy

1. IB Definition of the Topic
For first examinations in 2017:

Versailles to Berlin: Diplomacy in Europe (1919–1945)
This section addresses international relations in Europe from 1919 to 1945 with initial emphasis on the Paris Peace Settlement: its goals, impact and the problems relating to its enforcement. The section covers attempts to promote collective security and international cooperation through the League of Nations and multilateral agreements (outside the League mechanism), arms reduction and the pursuit of foreign policy goals without resort to violence. This section also addresses the individual foreign policies of Italy, Germany, France, Britain and Russia/Soviet Union, looking at the aims, issues and success of each one. It concludes with a study of the Second World War, looking particularly at the impact of the war and the reasons for German defeat and Allied victory.


 * Peace settlements (1919–1923): Versailles; Neuilly; Trianon; St Germain; and Sèvres/Lausanne—aims, issues and responses
 * The League of Nations and Europe: successes and failures; the search for collective security; developments in the successor states of central and eastern Europe
 * Italian and German foreign policies (1919–1941): aims, issues and extent of success
 * Collective security and appeasement (1919–1941): aims, issues and extent of success; role of British, French and Russian/Soviet foreign policies (1919–1941); Chamberlain and the Munich Crisis
 * Causes of the Second World War and the development of European conflict (1939–1941); the wartime alliance (1941–1945); reasons for Axis defeat in 1945 and for Allied victory; role of economic, strategic and other factors
 * Impact of the Second World War on civilian populations in any two countries between 1939–1945

2. Essay Questions from Past IB Exams, Organized Chronologically by Exam Date
2001-N

QUESTION 16 Why did the League of Nations fail to achieve its aim of disarmament between 1920 and 1939?

This was without doubt the most disappointing question on the exam paper. Very few candidates took note of the term disarmament and instead wrote general essays about the failures of the League of Nations. Almost no one realised that one of the fundamental aims of the League, as stated in the Covenant, was disarmament and that this lack of understanding ensured that most answers were unfocused and almost irrelevant.

2002-M

QUESTION 17 To what extent is it true to say that the League of Nations failed (a) because of its idealistic origins, and (b) in spite of its idealistic origins?

This was not as popular as might have been thought. There were a substantial number of knowledgeable answers which focused on the weak points of the League as a peacekeeping organization. Disappointingly, very few answers referred to the other aspects of the League’s work. Weaker answers were rather generalized and did not give much attention to the League’s activities either in the 1920s or the 1930s, or sometimes got confused about the details of major crises such as Manchuria and Abyssinia. Many candidates ignored the two parts of the question and wrote general answers on the League.

2002-N

QUESTION 16 “The Treaty of Versailles was fatally flawed.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

There were some, but very few, good essays which examined the background to, and effect of, the Treaty of Versailles. This question was not as popular as was anticipated either because there was plenty of choice on the paper or that candidates did not fully understand the word ‘flawed’. Non-native English speakers are allowed dictionaries and native English speakers should know what a flaw is.

QUESTION 17 How far do you agree that the principles upon which the League of Nations was based were unsuitable for the political and economic realities of the 1920s? Another popular choice, although many essays foundered on the second part of the question.

Candidates proved to have a sound knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the League. The question required knowledge of the events of the 1920s which proved challenging to many candidates. Far too many responses dealt with the 1930s rather than the 1920s.

2003-M

QUESTION 18. For what reasons, and with what results, did Mussolini abandon his Stresa Front allies, France and Great Britain, and ally with Hitler in 1936?

It was surprising to see the number of candidates that chose this question who were unable to actually identify the Stresa Front correctly. Answers frequently turned into a chronological account of Mussolini’ s foreign policies, often starting in the 1920s, which did not focus on the specific demands of the question. Unfortunately this meant that the key years 1934 to 1936 were skipped over in a frantic desire to get to the outbreak of the Second World War. The question was not particularly popular and there was a need for more detailed knowledge of the diplomacy of the 1930s.

QUESTION 20. To what extent was the failure and collapse of the League of Nations the cause of the Second World War?

In this question too many essays focused on why the League failed rather than dealing with the demands of the question. Greater strength was shown on the failure of the League than on the causes of the war. Candidates had difficulty in deciding where the League ended and where factors leading to the outbreak of the Second World War came into play. Weaker candidates wrote entirely descriptive accounts and far too many candidates could not analyse the role of Hitler’s leadership and the importance of the policy of appeasement. There were, however, some excellent answers to this question that were focused and analytical.

2003-N

QUESTION 19 Why did the policy of "collective security", established by the League of Nations fail to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939?

This was probably the most popular question on the paper. Too many candidates wrote on the successes and failures of the League or on why Appeasement failed to prevent World War II. Only the best candidates were able to synthesize these key points into a comprehensive and analytical answer.

QUESTION 20 How important were appeasement and the collapse of the League of Nations as causes of the Second World War?

Hardly surprisingly this was extremely popular but the candidates demonstrated tremendous fluctuations in the quality of their essays. It was quite remarkable how many responses only focused on the League of Nations or appeasement. There was also confusion as answers often started on the foundations of the League and spent far too much time referring to the 1920s. This meant that the latter part of the question was ignored. Very few candidates could actually define the term ‘appeasement’. A third approach was to ignore the focus of the question and argue that it was all Hitler’s fault anyway.

2004-N

QUESTION 17 Compare and contrast the foreign policies of Hitler and Mussolini.

This was very popular. Generally speaking candidates handled this quite well although the level of analysis was often very simplistic. It was interesting to see how many candidates found the policies of the two men essentially similar.

QUESTION 19 For what reasons, and with what results, did Britain and France pursue a policy of appeasement in the 1930s?

This was very popular although very few candidates could actually define what they understood by the term ‘appeasement’. There was also a surprising amount of confusion here as the League of Nations was brought in as a ground for the adoption of the policy and the essay then tended to shift in direction. Only the better candidates had an understanding of the internal issues within France and Britain which contributed to them adopting appeasement as a policy. Many candidates ignored the second part of the question completely.

2005-M

QUESTION 20 Why did international diplomacy play an important part in Europe in the inter war years?

Probably candidates found this question challenging, but the responses were usually at least satisfactory, and many were good, noting the desire to avoid war, seek security, and defend boundaries.

2005-N

QUESTION 16 To what extent did collective security become a victim of economic problems in the inter-war years?

The two required concepts, ‘collective security’ and ‘economic problems’, were quite difficult for candidates to combine, but many tried to do so.

2006-M

QUESTION 18 Account for the foundation of the League of Nations, and assess its success between 1920 and 1935.

It was clear that many candidates had written an essay on the failure of the League of Nations, thus the foundation and success were not adequately considered. However, in spite of this frequent lack of exact focus, good marks were obtained.

QUESTION 19 Compare and contrast the foreign policies of Hitler and Mussolini up to the outbreak of the Second World War.

The foreign policies of Hitler and Mussolini were quite well known, and compared and contrasted satisfactorily, but probably almost 9 out of 10 candidates failed to mention the involvement of both in the Spanish Civil War.

2006-N

QUESTION 16 Assess the effects of two of the Paris Peace Settlements.

Answers to this question on the Paris Peace Settlements tended to give the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, and to a lesser extent St. Germain, and criticise them, rather than assessing their effects.

2007-N

QUESTION 15 What were the main factors that led to the foundation of the League of Nations in 1920?

Popular but also disappointing. Too many candidates ran out of knowledge after stating the obvious reasons for the League’s foundation, so filled in by describing its failure.

QUESTION 16 Why did international diplomacy fail to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939?

Most candidates struggled with producing accurate relevant details apart from appeasement and the failure of the League – with some repeating what they had written for the previous question.

2008-N

QUESTION 21

Too much on Versailles and appeasement and too little on Hitler's policies.

2009-M

QUESTION 12

99% of answers focused on the Treaty of Versailles. Some offered Locarno as an example although this was not a relevant choice.

In relation to those using relevant treaties, knowledge was sound, but there was limited specific assessment of failures and, particularly, successes. Narratives on Versailles causing the rise of Hitler or the outbreak of World War II were, unfortunately, also fairly common.

QUESTION 16

The “to what extent” command term was overlooked as candidates focused largely on events such as Abyssinia (Paper 1 being quoted too often!) and Manchuria with limited attention to the period 1919-1929. Some candidates offered a definition of “collective security” and relevant material outside the League of Nations but they were certainly a minority. However there were also a pleasing number who did discuss the impact of the Depression and Appeasement.

2009-N

QUESTION 16

The knowledge of the organisation of The League of Nations, and the terms of the Covenant, was superficial.

2010-M

QUESTION 12 Analyse the successes and failures of one post-First World War treaty.

99% of answers focused on the Treaty of Versailles. Some offered Locarno as an example although this was not a relevant choice.

In relation to those using relevant treaties, knowledge was sound, but there was limited specific assessment of failures and, particularly, successes. Narratives on Versailles causing the rise of Hitler or the outbreak of World War II were, unfortunately, also fairly common.

QUESTION 16 For what reasons, and to what extent, did attempts to achieve collective security between 1919 and 1939 fail?

The “to what extent” command term was overlooked as candidates focused largely on events such as Abyssinia (Paper 1 being quoted too often!) and Manchuria with limited attention to the period 1919-1929. Some candidates offered a definition of “collective security” and relevant material outside the League of Nations but they were certainly a minority. However there were also a pleasing number who did discuss the impact of the Depression and Appeasement.

2011-N

QUESTION 15

A popular question and pleasingly few answers were limited to the weakness of the League of

Nations although there could have been more on problems caused by the depression/distrust

between nations, fear of communism etc.

2012-M

QUESTION 16 “The policy of appeasement was a major cause of the outbreak of war in 1939.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Very popular – the vast majority of candidates attempted this with varying degrees of success. Many focused on Versailles and the weakness of the League without making clear links as to how this might have led to war and often there were narrative accounts of Manchuria and Abyssinia which were not made relevant. With regard to appeasement itself knowledge of this key period was sometimes limited. Analysis was limited to stating that Hitler became more confident. Some answers did make the point that his foreign policy success as a consequence of appeasement enabled him to remain in power and this made war almost inevitable. These were from stronger candidates who chose to challenge the question and argue that appeasement merely delayed but did not cause the war and were able to support their ideas with detailed knowledge.

2012-N

QUESTION 11

This was quite a popular question and there were some excellent answers which focused on the experiences of the population during the war years. Britain and Germany were the most popular examples.

However far too many read the question as being the consequences of the war and especially Versailles on the German population with rather simplistic analysis referring to economic problems and humiliation or listing the terms of the treaty and stating it made the Germans unhappy.

2013-N?

QUESTION 12 Assess the successes and failures of the Paris Peace Settlement at the end of the First World War.

This was very popular and not well done. Many candidates merely listed the terms of the Treaty of Versailles because that was what they knew and then stated that this led to the rise of the Nazis thus oversimplifying the question.

Some turned their answer into a failure of the League of Nations essay, which was not relevant here. There were however a sufficient number of good answers which focused on both defeated and victorious nations and linked political difficulties to the terms of various treaties.

2014-N

QUESTION 15

Question 15 was another popular option and responses that were placed in the higher markbands tended to consider the role of the League of Nations alongside other factors, such as appeasement and the fear of communism. However, far too many responses failed to put the actions of the League, and their consequences, into a wider context. Too many candidates also focused on the reasons for the weakness of the League rather than focusing on the question.

3. Other Content Review Materials
Here is a detailed outline(s) and other great review materials for this unit, prepared by Shannon Leggett for her IB classes.
 * [[file:Interwar-Timeline-Leggett.doc]]
 * [[file:Interwar Dipl Evts-Grid-Leggett.docx]]