Core content: Option B

Topics

Choose a topic to revise

Sample objectives

What this unit covers

• Was the Treaty of Versailles fair?: Evaluate the fairness of the Treaty of Versailles by examining the intentions and goals of the Big Three leaders during the negotiations. Discuss why the victorious nations did not achieve all their objectives and analyze the effects of the Treaty on Germany until the end of 1923. Consider whether the Treaty was justifiable at the time, including the contributions of Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George, the specific terms of the Treaty, its social, economic, and political consequences in Germany, and contemporary views on the Treaty.
• To what extent was the League of Nations a success?: Evaluate the success of the League of Nations by considering various factors. Discuss how the League's organizational weaknesses and membership issues may have led to its failures. Assess the effectiveness of the League's peacekeeping efforts during the 1920s and the significance of its humanitarian initiatives. Analyze the impact of the Great Depression on the League's operations in the 1930s. Key topics include the League's structure, goals, and membership, as well as specific peacekeeping successes and failures from 1920 to 1925, its humanitarian efforts regarding refugees, health, working conditions, and slavery, and the events surrounding the Manchurian and Abyssinian crises in the 1930s.
• How far was Hitler’s foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939?: Evaluate the extent to which Hitler's foreign policy contributed to the start of the war in Europe in 1939, considering key aspects such as the long-term effects of the Treaty of Versailles, the failures of the League of Nations during the 1930s, the justification of appeasement, the significance of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and the reasons behind Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany in September 1939. Key topics include Hitler's foreign policy goals, rearmament, the Saar, the remilitarization of the Rhineland, the Rome-Berlin Axis and the Anti-Comintern Pact, German and Italian roles in the Spanish Civil War, the Anschluss with Austria, the crisis in Czechoslovakia and the Munich Agreement, and the Polish crisis leading to war.
• Who was to blame for the Cold War?: Examine the factors contributing to the onset of the Cold War, including the disintegration of the US-Soviet alliance post-1945, the USSR's control over Eastern Europe by 1948, the US response to Soviet expansion, the implications of the Berlin Blockade, and assess whether the United States or the USSR bears greater responsibility for initiating the Cold War. Key topics include the 1945 summit meetings, the Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe, the occupation of Germany, the Berlin Blockade, NATO, and the Warsaw Pact.
• How effectively did the United States contain the spread of communism?: Evaluate the effectiveness of the United States in preventing the spread of communism through specific case studies, including the Korean War (1950-53), the Cuban events (1959-62), and the Vietnam War (1955-75). This includes examining American responses to North Korea's invasion of South Korea, the UN's role, the Cuban Revolution and the Missile Crisis, as well as the reasons for and strategies behind American involvement in Vietnam and the eventual withdrawal.
• How secure was the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe, 1948-c.1989?: Evaluate the extent of the USSR's control over Eastern Europe from 1948 to around 1989, focusing on key events such as the opposition in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the role of Solidarity in Poland, and Gorbachev's influence on the decline of Soviet authority in the region. Candidates should also engage with at least one of the specified depth studies: The First World War, Germany, Russia, the United States, or the Second World War.