Flashcards · 9489 · A Level Topic 4

Historical interpretations (A Level) flashcards

18 cards on A Level Topic 4, subtopics 1 to 3. Pick a subtopic or study them all.

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What did Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles do?: It stated the responsibility of Germany and its allies for the war, a position that shaped early writing on its origins.
What was the Fischer thesis?: In Griff nach der Weltmacht (1961), Fritz Fischer argued that Germany’s leaders pursued expansionist aims and took a calculated risk of war in July 1914. Critics asked whether war aims drawn up during the war can be read back into 1914.
What did Lloyd George’s word "slithered" suggest about 1914?: That the powers drifted into war together, an interwar view of shared responsibility that moved away from blaming one country.
What does Christopher Clark argue in The Sleepwalkers (2012)?: That the war came from choices made under uncertainty by many decision-makers in several capitals, not from one nation’s plan. Critics say it reduces the weight of German decisions in July 1914.
What are structural or system interpretations of 1914?: They stress alliances, arms races, nationalism, war plans and the diplomatic system, arguing that no single state created the situation.
What three questions should you ask of any historian’s extract?: What is the argument (in one sentence)? What evidence is it built on, and what does it leave out? Why might it look like this, given when the historian wrote and which sources were available?

What is the intentionalist interpretation of the Holocaust?: That Hitler’s antisemitic ideology and plans drove events towards mass murder from early on.
What is the functionalist (structuralist) interpretation of the Holocaust?: That policy escalated through improvisation, rivalry and local initiative within a chaotic system, often called cumulative radicalisation. Hans Mommsen and Martin Broszat are associated with it.
How do synthesis interpretations explain the move to genocide?: They combine ideology with circumstance: war, especially the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, created the conditions for decisions, and the Wannsee Conference (January 1942) co-ordinated a programme already under way.
What did Christopher Browning argue in Ordinary Men (1992)?: From a study of Reserve Police Battalion 101, that conformity, peer pressure and career concerns, alongside ideology, explain why ordinary men took part in killing.
What did Daniel Goldhagen argue in Hitler’s Willing Executioners (1996)?: That an eliminationist antisemitism was widespread in German society and explains participation. The thesis was widely criticised by other historians.
Difference of emphasis vs difference of kind between historians: Emphasis: they agree on the causes but rank them differently. Kind: they disagree about who was responsible or what happened.

What is the orthodox (traditionalist) view of the Cold War?: Written in the West soon after the war, it blames Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe and Stalin’s ideology, and reads Western policies such as the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan (both 1947) as defensive.
What is the revisionist view of the Cold War?: From the 1960s, historians such as William Appleman Williams and Gabriel Kolko stressed American economic aims and the pursuit of an open world economy, and saw Soviet behaviour as largely defensive.
What is the post-revisionist view of the Cold War?: It combines factors, including misperception and security fears on both sides. John Lewis Gaddis is the classic example of this approach.
How did the opening of Soviet archives change the debate?: It gave historians evidence about Soviet decision-making that earlier writers lacked. Gaddis’s We Now Know (1997) used it to give more weight to Stalin’s role and ideology.
Long Telegram vs Novikov telegram (both 1946): Long Telegram: George Kennan, from Moscow, described Soviet expansionism and shaped containment. Novikov telegram: the Soviet ambassador in Washington described the USA as seeking world domination.
Why is it weak to dismiss an interpretation just because it is old?: Its quality depends on its evidence and reasoning. Older work may still raise valid points, so test it against your own knowledge instead.