Cambridge IGCSE History: Core content Option B — The twentieth century: international relations since 1919

What is included

What this course covers

• Topic 1 — Was the Treaty of Versailles fair?

  • 1.1 – The roles of Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd George in the peacemaking process
  • 1.2 – The terms of the Treaty
  • 1.3 – Social, economic and political impact of the Treaty in Germany to the end of 1923
  • 1.4 – Contemporary opinions about the Treaty

• Topic 2 — To what extent was the League of Nations a success?

  • 2.1 – The structure, aims and membership of the League
  • 2.2 – Successes and failures in peacekeeping during the 1920s
  • 2.3 – The League’s humanitarian work
  • 2.4 – The League in the 1930s

• Topic 3 — How far was Hitler’s foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939?

  • 3.1 – Hitler’s foreign policy aims
  • 3.2 – Rearmament
  • 3.3 – The Saar
  • 3.4 – Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
  • 3.5 – The Rome–Berlin Axis and the Anti-Comintern Pact
  • 3.6 – German and Italian involvement in the Spanish Civil War
  • 3.7 – Anschluss with Austria
  • 3.8 – The crisis over Czechoslovakia and the Munich Agreement
  • 3.9 – The Polish crisis and the outbreak of war

• Topic 4 — Who was to blame for the Cold War?

  • 4.1 – The 1945 summit conferences and the breakdown of the US–Soviet alliance in 1945–46
  • 4.2 – Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe to 1948, and American reactions to it
  • 4.3 – The occupation of Germany and the Berlin Blockade; NATO and the Warsaw Pact

• Topic 5 — How effectively did the United States contain the spread of communism?

  • 5.1 – Korea, 1950–53: American reactions to the invasion, the UN and the course of the war
  • 5.2 – American reactions to the Cuban Revolution, including the Missile Crisis and its aftermath
  • 5.3 – Vietnam, 1955–75: reasons for involvement, tactics and strategy, reasons for withdrawal

• Topic 6 — How secure was the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe, 1948–c.1989?

  • 6.1 – Resistance to Soviet power in Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968)
  • 6.2 – The Berlin Wall
  • 6.3 – Solidarity in Poland
  • 6.4 – Gorbachev and the collapse of Soviet control over Eastern Europe

Ready to start studying?

Create a free account to unlock this course. No card required.