IGCSE History: International Relations Depth Studies — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, in the style and at the standard of the examination. They are not reproduced past-paper questions — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

Related: International Relations Depth Studies revision notes

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Section A

1. Name the “Big Three” at Versailles and state each one’s main aim. [6]

2. State four terms of the Treaty of Versailles. [4]

Section B

3. Explain why the Treaty of Versailles was so resented in Germany, giving three reasons. [9]

4. Explain three reasons why the League of Nations failed in the 1930s. [9]

5. Explain how the following contributed to the origins of the Cold War: the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan, the Berlin Blockade. [9]

6. “The Cold War was caused mainly by Soviet expansionism.” How far do you agree? [10]

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Answers

1. Clemenceau (France) — to cripple Germany permanently, having seen France invaded twice, seeking security, reparations and territory [1] [1]. Lloyd George (Britain) — a middle course: to reduce the German navy and take colonies, but to preserve Germany as a trading partner and a bulwark against Bolshevism [1] [1]. Wilson (USA) — a just and lasting peace based on the Fourteen Points, self-determination and a League of Nations [1] [1].

2. Any four: the war guilt clause (Article 231) [1]; reparations of £6600 million [1]; the army limited to 100 000 men, no air force, no submarines and six battleships [1]; the Rhineland demilitarised [1]; loss of territory — Alsace-Lorraine to France, the Polish Corridor, all colonies as mandates [1]; Anschluss with Austria forbidden [1].

3. The war guilt clause was seen as a moral humiliation [1]; Germans believed the war had been a defensive one and that guilt was collective across Europe [1], and it was resented all the more because it was the legal basis for reparations [1]. Reparations were regarded as impossible to pay and as designed to destroy the German economy for a generation [1]; the 1923 Ruhr occupation and hyperinflation appeared to confirm this [1] [1]. The “Diktat” — Germany was not permitted to negotiate and was presented with the terms to sign [1]; combined with the “stab in the back” myth, this allowed nationalists to argue that the army had been undefeated and the Republic had betrayed the nation [1] [1]. Territorial losses also left millions of Germans under foreign rule, contradicting the self-determination applied elsewhere [1].

4. Any three, 3 marks each: Absent great powers — the USA never joined, and Germany and the USSR were initially excluded [1]; the League therefore lacked the economic and military weight to enforce its decisions [1] [1]. No armed forces of its own — it depended on member states supplying troops, which they were unwilling to do [1] [1] [1]. Economic sanctions were ineffective — without American participation, sanctioned states could trade with the USA, and members feared damaging their own economies during the Depression [1] [1] [1]. Self-interest of Britain and France — over Manchuria and especially Abyssinia, the Hoare-Laval Pact revealed they would deal privately with an aggressor to protect their own interests, destroying the League’s credibility [1] [1] [1]. Slow decision-making — unanimity was required and the Assembly met only once a year [1] [1] [1].

5. Yalta and Potsdam — at Yalta (February 1945) the Allies agreed the division of Germany and free elections in Eastern Europe, but the wording was ambiguous [1]. By Potsdam (July 1945) Roosevelt had died, the war in Europe was over and the atomic bomb had been tested; Truman’s harder line and Stalin’s presence in Eastern Europe made the disagreements explicit [1] [1]. The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan (1947) — Truman committed the USA to containment, supporting free peoples resisting subjugation [1]; Marshall Aid offered economic reconstruction, which Stalin saw as “dollar imperialism” designed to buy Western influence and forbade the satellite states to accept [1], hardening the division of Europe into two blocs [1]. The Berlin Blockade (1948–49) — Stalin cut the land routes to West Berlin in response to the introduction of the Deutschmark [1]; the Allied airlift kept the city supplied for eleven months [1], and the outcome was the formal division of Germany into two states and the creation of NATO [1].

6. Agreeing: Stalin installed communist governments across Eastern Europe despite the Yalta commitment to free elections, notably in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia [1] [1]; the 1948 Prague coup removed the last non-communist government by force [1]; the Berlin Blockade was an attempt to force the Western Allies out of the city [1]. Disagreeing: Soviet actions can be read as defensive: having been invaded through Eastern Europe twice, Stalin sought a buffer zone, and the USSR had lost some 27 million people [1] [1]. American actions were also expansionist in economic terms — the Marshall Plan opened European markets to US goods [1] — and the atomic bomb, used without warning the USSR, appeared threatening [1]. Some historians argue the Cold War arose from mutual misperception, each side reading the other’s defensive measures as aggression [1]. Ideological incompatibility made conflict likely regardless of individual decisions [1]. Judgement: Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe was the immediate trigger, but it was driven by security concerns as much as ideology [1] [1]. The Cold War is best explained as the interaction of Soviet security policy, American economic and strategic interests and deep ideological mistrust, rather than by the actions of one side alone [1] [1].

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Where marks are usually lost

• Listing Versailles terms without explaining German resentment.
• Blaming the League’s failure solely on American absence.
• Describing Cold War events without linking them to causation.
• Answering “how far” with a one-sided argument.