Year

10 History
World War II

1918 to present.
Turbulent and signicant!
Treaty of Versailles (1918) forced the defeated Central

Powers to admit fault for WWI and pay reparaGons to the

Allied Powers.

Empires were broken up.

New countries were created (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia,

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia).

Britain, the US and France dominated negoGaGons.

Britain, France and Russia were the superpowers of the

Gme.

World War IIin a nutshell

A number of social and economic factors contribute to the outbreak of WWII
(including the Great Depression during the interwar years).
WWII spans from 1939 1945.
Death rate: approx. 60 million (including the 6 million Jews murdered during
the Holocaust).
Eects? Europe is nancially crippled, and the world map is redrawn:
-

Germany is divided into two countries.

Russia takes control of some smaller countries in Eastern Europe.

Many colonies controlled by the Japanese, French, Dutch and BriGsh

Empires declare independence.

The US and the Soviet Union become the new superpowers.

The Soviet Union and US become rivals in a Cold War (1945 1990s).

World War I
The Great War.
The rst total war.
8 million soldiers and sailors died (any many civilians

due to starvaGon and disease).

1918: Spanish inuenza kills 30 million people (most

between 20 and 40 years of age).

Treaty of Versailles, the League of NaGons, The

Roaring TwenGes, The Great Depression.

The Treaty of Versailles

January 1919, Paris Peace Conference

in France.

Goal: to devise a plan to rebuild Europe

and ensure future peace.

32 world leaders ahend, including:

PM David Lloyd George: Britain

PM Georges Clemenceau: France (wanted
to cripple Germany)
President Woodrow Wilson: USA (wanted
to be more cauGouswhy?)
PM Vihorio Orlando: Italy
Signed 28 June, 1919. Germany agreed

to sign.

Terms of the Treaty

1. Germany to surrender large parts

of territory, including all overseas

colonies. Which colony was given
to Australia?

2. Army limited to 100,000 men.

3. No air force, tanks, submarines or

heavy arGllery.

4. Guilt clause.
5. ReparaGons to be paid:
-

7 billion pounds to Britain.

6. German Allies to be punished

(Austria-Hungary required to pay
reparaGon and empire is broken).

The League of NaGons

InternaGonal organisaGon formed at the Paris Peace

Conference in 1919.

Goal: to maintain world peace and prevent another world

war.

42 countries joined (including Australia), 58 members

recorded in 1935.

Idea proposed by Woodrow Wilson, but the US did not

join. Why?

Was the League successful?

The Roaring TwenGes

A Gme of economic prosperity throughout the world social changes and technological
advances.

ProducGon of cars and consumer goods, automated methods of mass producGon,

machinery and assembly lines. What is the eect of this?

Most people have regular work, and disposable incomes.

Electrical appliances (1920s 1940s).

Cars.

Radio.

AdverGsing.

Film.

Fashion.

The Great Depression

Economy slows in the late 1920s: work is harder to

nd less disposable income companies cannot

easily sell goods prices drop on mass produced
goods and agricultural staples unemployment rises
in industrialised naGons.

New York stock exchange collapse, 1929.

= period of severe economic downturn and hardship.

Australia is heavily impacted.

Were on the susso now,

We cant aord a cow,
We live in a tent,
We pay no rent,
Were on the susso now.
Contemporary childrens rhyme from the Great Depression.