IGCSE Notes 2019

Hitler's Early Role in the Nazi Party 1919 - Hitler joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), a right-wing group led by Anton Drexler. 1920 - Hitler became the Party's leading public speaker and propagandist. 1920 - Name changes to National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) 1921 - Hitler is elected Party Chairman and leader of the Nazis. Nazi Ideology Fuhrer The idea that there should be a single leader with complete power rather than a democracy. Autarky The idea that Germany should be economically self-sufficient. A strong Germany The Treaty of Versailles should be destroyed and all German-speaking people united in one country. Germany was in danger Communists and Jews were a 'threat' that needed to be dead. Lebensraum The need for 'living space' for the German nation to expand. Social Darwinism The idea that the Aryan race was superior and Jews were 'subhuman'. Changes to ...

Weimar Republic On November 9th, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm 2 abdicated his throne after people revolted and he refused to make Germany more democratic. The next day, Friedrich Ebert (who was socialist_ became the new leader of the Republic of Germany, and the next day signed an armistice. Strengths of the Weimar Constitution A Bill of rights guaranteed every Germany citizen freedom of speech and religion, and equality under the law. All men and women over the age of 20 could vote. There was an elected president and an elected Reichstag. The Reichstag made the laws and appointed the government. Weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution Proportional Representation Weimar Germans voted for a party, not an MP. Each party was then allocated seats in the Reichstag exactly reflecting the number of people who had voted for it, which meant that there were lots of tiny parties and no one got the majority, Article 48 In an 'emergency', the president didn't need t...

1956 Poznan Uprising - Poland People wanted better working conditions, pay, lower taxes, lower working quotas and lower food prices. On June 28th, 1956, workers began demonstrations at a factory and they were joined by over 100,000 people. The protests became violent as the crowd freed prisoners, seized firearms and ransacking buildings. The rebellion was brutally crushed with around 75 dead and 500-600 wounded but it did lead to wage rises and other reforms. 1956 Hungarian Revolution  People wanted personal freedom, more food, removal of the secret police, and the removal of USSR control. On October 23rd, 1956 students took to the streets of Budapest, so Imre Nagy and Jamos Kadar were appointed prime and foreign minister. On October 31st Nagy broadcast that Hungary would withdraw itself from the Warsaw Pact. On November 4th, Soviet tanks went into Budapest to restore order and Nagy was tried, executed and buried and by November 14th "order" had been restored a...

Causes Superpower Tension All the tensions that had grown up between the USSR and the US, with Kennedy's promise to be tough on the USSR, the space race, nuclear testing, the US' funding of anti-communists in Vietnam and Laos, the failed Vienna Summit (1961) and the Berlin Wall. Fidel Castro IN 1959, Fidel Castro took over Cuba. He nationalized American companies, in retaliation to the Americans refusing to trade with Cuba because in 1960 Castro made an agreement with the USSR that the Cubans would send sugar in exchange for oil, machines and money. Bay of Pigs In April 1961, the CIA encouraged, funded and transported anti-Castro Cuban exiles to invade Cuba. It failed miserably and made Kennedy look like a naive idiot. So in 1961, Castro aked the USSR and the USSR publicly promised-weapons to defend Cuba against America. Events May 1962: USSR declares support to Cuba with arms. Sunday, October 14th, 1962: U2 spy planes fly over Cuba and reports that ...

Vietnam was a French colony that defeated the French in 1954. Vietnam was then split into two zones at the 17th parallel; the Viet Minh took the North, and a non-communist government took the South. Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam, declared to be socialist in 1954. It attempted to remain neutral but ended up allying itself with China. The US was operating on the policy of containment, and it was afraid that if Vietnam fell to Communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would fall to it. Ngo Dinh Diem was the leader of South Vietnam with support from the US military. He was very unpopular. The Vietcong Diem's government was so unpopular that the South Vietnamese people turned to the communist guerrilla soldiers fighting to overthrow Diem. National Liberation Front. By 1964, there were over 100,000 Vietcong in South Vietnam and they were killing thousands of South Vietnamese officials a year. Why did America get involved? The US said it wanted to "save...

In 1945, Korea was freed from Japan, and US troops stayed in Korea until 1946. The country was split at the 38th Parallel: North Korea (led by Kim Il Sung) was communist and South Korea (led by Syngman Rhee) was capitalist. The two countries hated each other. Causes D omino Theory: Eisenhower's theory that since the Soviets were getting powerful, and since China had turned communist in 1949, he believed that one country fell to communism, the others would follow. The US had to stop this. U ndermine Communism: In April 1950, the American National Security Council issued a report recommending that America abandon "containment" and start "rolling back" communism. C old War: Truman thought they were fighting the USSR for world domination. By supporting South Korea, the US was able to fight Communism without directly attacking the USSR. K im Il Sung: He visited Stalin and convinced him to invade South Korea. Stalin didn't think the US would get i...

Divided Berlin After WW2, Germany and Berlin were divided into four zones. All the zones were in economic chaos. Stalin feared a recovering Germany, so wanted to cripple it. In 1946, France, Britain and the USA combined their zones, and in 1948 they reformed the currency. The Blockade Stalin felt that the USA's handling of Germany was provocative. In June 1948, Stalin blocked off all supply lines, cutting off 2 million people in West Berlin. If US tanks did try to ram the blocks imposed, it would be seen as an act of war. Truman wanted to show that he was serious about his policy of containment. The Berlin Airlift The only way into Berlin was air. In June 1948, the Allies decided to airlift supplies to West Berlin. For the next ten months, planes were bringing in everything West Berliners needed with the planes coming in 3 times a minute. By May 1949, it was clear that the Allies weren't going to give up so Stalin reopened the communications. Conse...

Cold War During WW2, Britain and America were allies of the USSR, fighting together against Germany. After the war, they became enemies. After Hiroshima, politicians realised that the bomb changed international politics. Instead of actually fighting, they did everything to oppose each other. Causes of the Cold War Ideological Differences:   Truman was a capitalist democrat who valued freedom and feared communism, Stalin was a communist, a dictator who put the needs of the state ahead of personal human rights. Different Aims: US wanted Germany to recover as a trading partner; USSR anted to weaken Germany and create a buffer zone of friendly states around the USSR. Resentment: The USA couldn't forget that in 1918 Britain and the USA had tried to destroy the Russian revolution. Britain and the USA could't forget the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. Yalta Conference: February 1945; Big Three were Staling, Roosevelt and Churchill. Potsdam Conference:  July 1945; Big T...

Treaty of Versailles Countries affected by the treaty and others like it wanted revenge. These countries contributes to WW2 but didn't cause it. Failure of the League of Nations The Great Depression Critically weakened the League Set countries against each other due to self - interest Weakened economies so countries didn't want to do deals Manchuria - 1931 Japan's 'disobedience' to the League made it look weak and stupid The League failed to act in a decisive way, which paved the way for Hitler's aggression Abyssinia - 1935-36 Italy's 'disobedience' to an indecisive League encouraged Hitler The public stopped trusting the League because of the Hoare-Laval Pact which went against the League's values Appeasement Base on the idea that Hitler was trustworthy Britain and its allies were more concerned with communism Everyone wanted to avoid another world war Germany was rearming more quickly than another Europe...

Disarmament Conference In February 1932 the long promised Disarmament Conference finally got underway. By July 1932 it produced resolutions to prohibit bombing of civilian populations, limit the tonnage of tanks and prohibit chemical warfare. German Disarmament  Most people agreed that Germany should be treated fairly. The questions was should everyone disarm to Germany's level or should Germany arm to everyone else's level? July 1932:  Germany proposed to all countries to disarm down to its level. They refused, Germany walked out. September 1932: British sent the Germans a note with a superior tone saying they would somewhat agree to equality. This further angered Germany. December 1932: An agreement was finally reached to treat Germany equally. January 1933: Germany announced it was coming back to the conference and Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. February 1933: Hitler started rearming secretly. May 1933: Hitler promised to to rearm Germany if ...

Founded on January 10th 1920 by Woodrow Wilson coming from the Paris Peace Conference.  Membership of the League France           1919-1945                                     This only shows the most powerful countries. More  Britain           1919-1945                                     than 50 other countries were also members. Italy               1919-1937 Japan           1919-1933 Germany      1926-1933 USSR            1934-1939 USA               never joined :/ Aims of the League S top War I mprove the lives the jobs of people D emilitarisation E nfor...