BB Conflict and tension: the inter-war years, 1918-1939 revision notes

BB Conflict and tension: the inter-war years, 1918-1939

Historical Context BB Conflict and tension: the inter-war years, 1918-1939 belongs within Paper 1 Section B: Wider world depth studies for AQA GCSE History 8145. The period focus is 1918-1939. Students should place the named events and developments in chronological order before making a judgement. The central curriculum points include armistice, Versailles, impact, League of Nations, Locarno.

Key Events Key people, groups and developments should be connected to the approved learning objectives rather than treated as isolated facts. The armistice, including peacemakers' aims, Wilson and the Fourteen Points, Clemenceau, Lloyd George and the extent to which aims were achieved. The Versailles Settlement, including Diktat, territorial changes, military restrictions, war guilt and reparations. The impact of the treaty and wider settlement, including Allied reactions, German objections and strengths and weaknesses of the settlement including problems faced by new states. The League of Nations, including formation, covenant, organisation, membership, powers, agencies and contributions to peace in the 1920s including Aaland Islands, Upper Silesia, Vilna, Corfu and Bulgaria. These points help students choose precise evidence for short-answer, narrative and essay questions.

Causes Causal explanation should separate long-term conditions from short-term triggers. Evidence should be named, dated where possible, and linked directly to the claim being made. In this topic, useful evidence comes from the specified events, periods, individuals and groups in the source curriculum.

Consequences Consequences should be explained as outcomes of events or developments, not confused with causes. Interpretations should be compared by identifying what each interpretation claims, why it may differ, and how contextual knowledge supports or challenges it.

Historical Significance Significance is more than importance. It asks why an event, person or development mattered at the time and over time. Keep source and interpretation, causation and consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, and evidence and opinion clearly separated.

Exam Focus In exam answers, start with the command word, select precise historical evidence, and keep the response anchored to the selected route. Use chronology where it clarifies the argument. For extended responses, make a judgement and support each paragraph with evidence. Revision focus 1: The armistice, including peacemakers' aims, Wilson and the Fourteen Points, Clemenceau, Lloyd George and the extent to which aims were achieved. Anchor this point to Part one: Peacemaking, use specific evidence, and explain whether it is best used for context, cause, consequence, change, continuity, significance, source utility or interpretation evaluation. Revision focus 2: The Versailles Settlement, including Diktat, territorial changes, military restrictions, war guilt and reparations. Anchor this point to Part one: Peacemaking, use specific evidence, and explain whether it is best used for context, cause, consequence, change, continuity, significance, source utility or interpretation evaluation. Revision focus 3: The impact of the treaty and wider settlement, including Allied reactions, German objections and strengths and weaknesses of the settlement including problems faced by new states. Anchor this point to Part one: Peacemaking, use specific evidence, and explain whether it is best used for context, cause, consequence, change, continuity, significance, source utility or interpretation evaluation. Revision focus 4: The League of Nations, including formation, covenant, organisation, membership, powers, agencies and contributions to peace in the 1920s including Aaland Islands, Upper Silesia, Vilna, Corfu and Bulgaria. Anchor this point to Part two: The League of Nations and international peace, use specific evidence, and explain whether it is best used for context, cause, consequence, change, continuity, significance, source utility or interpretation evaluation. Revision focus 5: Diplomacy outside the League, including the Locarno treaties and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Anchor this point to Part two: The League of Nations and international peace, use specific evidence, and explain whether it is best used for context, cause, consequence, change, continuity, significance, source utility or interpretation evaluation. Revision focus 6: The collapse of the League, including the Depression, Manchurian and Abyssinian crises and the failure to avert war in 1939. Anchor this point to Part two: The League of Nations and international peace, use specific evidence, and explain whether it is best used for context, cause, consequence, change, continuity, significance, source utility or interpretation evaluation. Revision focus 7: The development of tension, including Hitler's aims, Allied reactions, the Dollfuss Affair, Saar, German rearmament, conscription, Stresa Front and Anglo-German Naval Agreement. Anchor this point to Part three: The origins and outbreak of the Second World War, use specific evidence, and explain whether it is best used for context, cause, consequence, change, continuity, significance, source utility or interpretation evaluation.