-+Modern+History

Modern History

Syllabus Link []

World War One (1914 - 1919) **World War One -** This is the first topic for Modern History within the HSC course.This area not only examines the significance of World War I in a global context, but it also tests your skills as a historian through the examination and analysis of sources.

Here is a glossary for this unit that might be useful in your study: 

__Summary Notes__


 * 1914: From Movement to Deadlock **

Key Points:


 * TheSchlieffen Plan failed - 80 kilometres from Paris
 * The French Plan XVII failed
 * The Race to the Sea


 * 1915 **

Key Points:
 * Germany to hold new gains in France and focus offensive on Eastern Front
 * The Allies were determined to launch a series of offences to drive Germans out of France and Belgium. These all failed.


 * 1916 **

Key Points:
 * Battle of Verdun
 * Battle of the Somme

Key Points:
 * 1917 **
 * Battle of Passchendaele
 * US entry into the war
 * Russian withdrawal from the war

Key Points:
 * 1918: From Deadlock to Movement **
 * Ludendorff's Spring Offensive and the Allied Response
 * The End of the War

National Study - Germany (1918 - 1933) __Was the Weimer Republic doomed to fail? __ Below is the summary of some contributing factors

//Responses to the Treaty of Versailles.// The post-war peace settlement imposed harsh terms on Germany that generated intense political debate and division. Though the vast majority of Germans opposed the treaty, they were sharply divided about how to respond to it. Right-wing nationalist groups, like the NSDAP, demanded a refusal to acknowledge the treaty or to comply with its terms. The moderates and pragmatists rejected this approach, which would provoke economic strangulation and possibly war or invasion. Under the ministership of Gustav Stresemann, the government’s approach was to restore foreign relations and to work for a re-negotiation of Versailles and its punitive terms.

//Germany’s reparations burden//. Also stemming from the Treaty of Versailles was the issue of reparations. Historians have reached different conclusions about whether the final reparations figure was justified and the extent to which the exhausted German economy was capable of meeting this obligation. The general consensus is that the final amount was excessive; this hampered Germany’s post-war economic recovery and therefore its ability to stabilise politically. By 1922 Germany was unable to pay quarterly reparations instalments, triggering the Ruhr occupation, the hyperinflation crisis and the collapse of two government coalitions. Reparations remained a divisive issue for the duration of the Weimar Republic.

The //impact of conspiracy theories.// The political fertility of post-war Germany gave rise to numerous conspiracy theories, the most prolific and poisonous being the Dolchstosselegende or ‘stab in the back’ theory. This fallacy claimed that the 1918 surrender was engineered by socialists, liberals and Jews in Germany’s civilian government, rather than being the product of military defeat. This myth had two significant effects. Firstly, it undermined trust in post-war civilian government, and particularly the SPD, which was painted as treacherous and unpatriotic. Secondly, the Dolchstosslegende protected and maintained the prestige of the military and its commanders, despite their profound failures in 1918. “The Weimar Republic, born from monarchy and followed by dictatorship, is too often viewed only in terms of its origin and what rose from its collapse. However its life was entwined with the major developments of the 20th century and, in its own terms, it speaks to us today of changes and problems that we face. It was a noble experiment and provided many lessons in both its failures and its successes. It was a Republic of those who were willing to be reasonable, to put aside short-term self interest and work for the longer-term interests of the broader community. However not enough people supported this reasonable Republic, the first democratic state in German history.” Paul Bookbinder, historian

//The nature of the Weimar Constitution.// Germany’s post-war constitution has footed much of the blame for the political instability of the 1920s. The constitutional drafters of 1919 attempted to construct a political system not unlike that of the United States, with democracy, federalism and checks and balances. They created an executive presidency with considerable powers to bypass or override the elected Reichstag. Some historians suggest that the president – with his seven-year term and hefty emergency powers – was not that far removed from the former kaiser. The stalemate in the Reichstag encouraged and possibly required the use of these powers, which only enhanced and worsened political divisions.

//Weimar’s divisive electoral system.// The proportional voting system adopted in Weimar Germany was inherently democratic, in that it allocated Reichstag representation based on the share of votes that each party received. Proportional voting ruled out any prospect of majority government. It also filled the Reichstag with smaller parties, many of which had membership and policies that were wholly sectional or regional. The scattered composition of the Reichstag made maintaining and forming coalitions difficult and hindered the process of debating and passing legislation.

//The difficulties of minority government.// For the duration of the Weimar Republic, no single political party ever held a majority of Reichstag seats. To form government and push through legislation, coalition voting blocs had to be coddled together in order to form a majority. But the political divisions of the 1920s made these coalitions fragile and unstable. Some parties, especially those on the radical fringes, either refused to participate in Reichstag coalitions, or entered them reluctantly or insincerely. Right-wing parties, for instance, were reluctant to participate in coalitions with the SPD. When a coalition was formed, a contentious bill or measure could easily cause it to fracture and collapse. The fragility of coalitions made the task of the chancellor and his cabinet enormously difficult.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Lingering militarism, nationalism and authoritarian political values.// Germany’s defeat in World War I should have killed off or critically weakened German militarism, nationalism and faith in authoritarianism. But these powerful ideas refused to die, surviving in the post-war period and undermining Weimar democracy. The harbours for these ideas were military organisations – the Reichswehr, the Freikorps and ex-soldiers’ leagues – and political parties on the far right. Military leaders like Paul von Hindenburg, who should have been disgraced into retirement by the defeat of 1918, remained as heroes and important political players in the new society. The ‘old days of empire’ under Bismarck and authoritarian monarchy were romanticised as better times.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Hostility to democracy and parliamentarian government.// Several political parties gave no support to the Weimar political system but instead chose to undermine and attack it. Parties like the KPD, the NSDAP and the DNVP (in its early years) had anti-democratic platforms that called for the destruction of parliamentary democracy. These groups stood candidates in elections not to participate in the Reichstag but to destroy it from within. In the early 1930s the NSDAP used its growing representation in the Reichstag as a platform for anti-democratic rhetoric and propaganda. Other radical parties were similarly intransigent and destructive in their approach to parliamentary government.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//The impact of the Great Depression.// The economic collapse of 1929 had dire effects on Germany; by 1932, two-fifths of the German workforce was without a job. This resulted in many German voters abandoning their support for mainstream and moderate parties, to instead vote for radical groups. It is unclear how much of this was genuine support for these parties and how much was a protest vote – but whatever the reasons, the NSDAP recorded significant increases in Reichstag seats in 1930 and July 1932. This propelled HItler into the public eye, first as a presidential nominee and then as a potential chancellor. Without the miserable conditions created by this external event, Hitler and the NSDAP would likely have remained on the margins of Weimar politics.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Rising support for Hitler and the Nazis.// Between 1924 and 1932, Hitler and his agents busied themselves with reforming and expanding the NSDAP. They re-badged the NSDAP as a legitimate contender for Reichstag seats; toned down their anti-Semitic and anti-republican rhetoric; recruited members to increase party membership; and transformed the NSDAP into a national rather than a Bavarian party. Hitler also chased support from powerful interest groups: German industrialists, wealthy capitalists, press barons like Alfred Hugenberg and the upper echelons of the Reichswehr. Without these changes, Hitler and the NSDAP would not have been in a position to seek power in the early 1930s.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">//Political intriguing in 1932.// The knife through the heart of Weimar democracy came with the January 1933 appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor. Yet just a few months before, Hitler’s rise to power seemed unlikely. The man whose approval was required for Hitler to become chancellor, president Paul von Hindenburg, had a low regard for the NSDAP leader and no desire to appoint him as head of government. It took weeks of intriguing, rumour-mongering and lobbying before Hindenburg changed his mind. The actions of men like former chancellor Franz von Papen were a critical factor in persuading Hindenburg that a Hitler cabinet could succeed, yet could be controlled.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">HSC online link to the collapse of the Weimar Republic.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Useful link to look at the progession and history of the period.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">__Rise of the Nazi Party and Failure of the Weimer Republic__



[|General information about the Nazi Party.]

<span style="background-color: #ffff82; color: #008000; display: block; font-size: 220%; text-align: left;">Personalities in the 20th Century

__<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Life and Times of Leni Riefenstahl __ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">This document summarises some of the main considerations of the life and times of Leni Riefenstahl; it details her relationship with Hitler, the production of her films and their supposed 'properganda messages'. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> __<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Hitlers Women - Leni Riefenstahl __ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">An extract of the documentary 'Hitler's Women' focussing on his relationship with Leni Riefenstahl

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[]

__<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">HSC online link for the topic __ []

__ Leni Riefenstahl __ Historical Context Growth of German cinema in Weimar Germany Rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party The Berlin Olympics Post-war de-Nazification Background Family background and education Helene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl was born on the 22nd of August, 1902 to Bertha and Alfred Riefenstahl. Mother was a dressmaker before marriage and father owned a successful ventilation company. Family were well provided for and enjoyed a carefree and sheltered life. Leni loved gymnastics, dancing and theatre. Mother was supportive, but father wasn’t. When she was 16 she secretly enrolled herself in the Grimm-Reiter Dance School in Berlin – subsequently sent to boarding school by father. When she returned she worked for father, in return was allowed to take dance lessons at the Jutta Klamt School where she learnt expressionist dance and excelled Early career as dancer and film actor Cult of the Body – the glorification of the fit, beautiful body meant a rejection of the ‘unfit’, ‘ugly’ body – the definition of ‘ugly’ translated into the eugenics movement, anti-Semitism, and the racial definition of ‘beauty’ as Aryan, all of which the Nazi’s readily embraced. Leni performed her first solo dance recital at 21 in Oct 1923. Danced for Max Reinhardt at his theatres. Toured Europe as a solo dance act. Injuries caused her to look to acting. Was interested in the mountain-genre film. Met with Doctor Arnold Fanck through Luis Trenker, Fanck’s leading man, he was taken with her and wrote a film especially for her in 1926: ‘The Holy Mountain’. Leni got to film some footage for the film in Fanck’s absence. Made several more film’s for him Rise to prominence Direction of “The Blue Light” 1932 The Blue Light concerns Junta, a mountain girl, who is persecuted by local villagers because she is the only person who can reach the mountain peak where a mysterious blue light glows during the full moon – all the young men of the village die in their attempts to climb to the summit. When Junta’s secret route to the mountain peak is discovered, the villagers find that the blue light is caused by a cave of valuable crystals, which they begin to mine. Distraught, Junta kills herself. Riefenstahl called on friends and colleagues to help with the film’s production and finance. She also played the lead role of Junta. The Blue Light premiered in 1932 and was a great success. It was enthusiastically received in the United States, Britain and France, and won the silver medal at the following Venice Biennale Film Festival 1933 meeting with Hitler at Wilmershaven Leni and Hitler met at Leni’s request on the Baltic coast in late 1932. He was polite, modest and extremely courteous. He praised her work as an actor. There was no doubt Leni was fascinated and flattered by Hitler and she felt he was “different from all other people” although “as a man… he did not interest me at all” Hitler told Leni that after the Nazi’s came to power she would make films for him. True to his promise, in February 1933 Hitler offered Leni the opportunity to make films for the new government. She declined, however later that year she agreed to his request that she make a film of the Nuremburg Party Rally Ban on Jews working in the film industry Nazi control on the film industry allowed them to further the Nazi goal to create the Volksgemeinschaft. This called for the exclusion of all “undesirable influences” – that is, non-Aryans and Nazi opponents. In 1934, Goebbels appointed a Reichsfilmdramaturg (Nazi film censor) to evaluate movie scripts and ban the films of those actors and directors who the Ministry of Propaganda considered “opposed” to the ideals of the People’s Community. Images, characterisation, scripts and even music had to satisfy the Nazi’s new censorship laws Much of this regulation aimed to remove Jewish influences from the film industry. The Nazi’s were convinced that Jews dominated the film industry. They were alarmed at the success of the American company MGM headed by two Jewish men. Commission for “Victory of the Faith” (Nazi Party rally 1933) Riefenstahl set out to make the film of the Nuremburg rally. The Nazi party supplied her with the necessary finance and film crew, although she claimed to have encountered a lack of co-operation and sexual harassment from SA troops and Party officials during filming. Hitler was pleased with the film and engaged Leni to make a film of the next Party rally, held in 1934 Significance and evaluation Relationship with Hitler Riefenstahl’s fascination with Hitler attests to his charismatic and powerful personality, so it is perhaps unremarkable that although she claimed in her memoirs to have been a little frightened of Hitler, she felt unable to resist his charismatic appeal She felt he was “different from all other people” although “as a man… he did not interest me at all”. “Triumph of the Will” and “Berlin Olympia” The 1934 Nuremburg Rally was deliberately devised to promote the image of Hitler as the leader of the German people. Riefenstahl was directly involved in planning and staging each part of the rally alongside the preparations for her camera work. The footage obtained for TOTW was revolutionary for its time. Leni had 32 camera operators and a film crew of over 100 people at her disposal. She had bridges, ramps and cranes installed, circular tracks built around the Nuremburg Stadium and towers built at various vantage points so that the cameras could capture every possible angle. There was even a tiny lift for a camera on the stadium’s 43m flagpole. Throughout filming SS guards ensured that everything proceeded smoothly. The camera operators shot over 12,000m of footage, which took five months to edit down to around 3000m. TOTW proclaims Hitler’s Germany to be an orderly society, with marching, flags and uniforms reinforcing a sense of discipline and conscientiousness. Also assures European audiences that the new and orderly Germany does not threaten peace. The army is content to march and play games rather than demonstrate military prowess. Presents images of smiling, fit healthy Germans, and racially pure, harmonious German families. Riefenstahl was given abundant resources to make Olympia. Built a camera track to follow the athletics, mounted cameras on towers and dug camera pits so that new images of events such as the long jump, high jump and pole vault could be captured on film Used camera operators in hot-air balloons and aeroplanes to achieve aerial footage. Over 100 camera operators shot 250 hours of film, which Leni spent almost two years editing into a two-part, four-hour film The film focuses on the “glory of the human body”, particularly that of the so-called “master race”- from the muscular physique of the athletics competitors to the graceful beauty of the diving and gymnastics International honours and criticism TOTW won the German film prize in 1935, a gold medal at the Venice Biennale and was later awarded a gold medal at the 1937 Paris World’s Fair Olympia received an Olympic Gold Medal in 1939 from the Int. Olympic Committee. The film also collected major cinematic awards, but these are somewhat tainted by association with the governments that awarded them. However, while historians agree on the technical brilliance of Riefenstahl’s major works, they strongly disagree about her motivation in producing these films. The question remains: were these films intended purely as Nazi propaganda or were they works of art that were misused by the Nazi’s? Post-war arrest After the war Leni was arrested and was subjected to a long period of interrogation. Her marriage ended in divorce and she suffered a nervous breakdown. In 1952, reduced to living in a Munich flat with her elderly mother, she was exonerated of any war crimes but was declared a Nazi sympathiser. Riefenstahl could never work again in film and was shunned by the film industry. She was again arrested by the French, placed under house arrest and spent three months in a Freiburg insane asylum. In 1949, she was classified as de-Nazified. 1960’s Nuba photography In the 1960’s and 1970’s Leni discovered a new love in still photography. She travelled to remote parts of Africa and lived for a time with the Nuba people in Sudan, a tribe untouched by the modern world. “Her photography emphasised purity, the lack of pollution, the authentic, the triumph of the strong over the weak as did her film work for the Third Reich” Susan Sontag Controversies later in life Riefenstahl used gypsies from the Maxglan concentration camp as extras in her film Tiefland. This has attracted a great deal of condemnation, although it was not uncommon for film directors to use camp inmates, and several of the gypsies have said that they were well treated during the making of the film. Evaluation Sources: “Obsessed with the need to create something perfect and transcendent that she allowed herself to ignore, if not become complicit with cataclysmic forces” Morris Baden State Commission investigating Leni: “Her efforts were aimed at making documentary films rather than political propaganda. The maker of the films cannot be blamed for the fact that subsequently the Nazis decided to exploit them for propaganda purposes.” “If her statements are sincere, then she has never grasped, and still does not grasp, the fact that she, by dedicating her life to art, has given expression to a gruesome regime and contributed to its glorification.” Wallenberg “You have to take responsibility for your past. She didn’t. That is what people will remember about her.” Runge

<span style="background-color: #ffff82; color: #008000; display: block; font-size: 220%; text-align: left;">International Study - Peace and Conflict in Europe <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">One of the areas that many overlook is the effort of the code breakers. Here are some notes for you guys to consider when looking at the European Victory in WW2, and the effort by those working at Bletchley's park.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Short info on codebreaker of WW2 and a video as well

=<span style="color: #0c6ac9; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.3em;">1. Growth of European tensions =
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|Dictatorships in Germany and Italy]
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|The League of Nations and collapse of collective security: Abyssinia, the Spanish Civil War]
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|Britain, France and the policy of appeasement: an assessment]
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|Significance of the Nazi–Soviet Non-Aggression Pact]

=<span style="color: #0c6ac9; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.3em;">2. Course of the European war =
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|German advances: the fall of Poland, the Low Countries and France]
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|The air war and its effects: The Battle of Britain and the Blitz, the bombing of Germany]
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|Operation Barbarossa, the Battle of Stalingrad and the significance of the Russian campaign]
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|Battle of El Alamein and the significance of the conflict in North Africa to the European War]

=<span style="color: #0c6ac9; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.3em;">3. Civilians at war =
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|Social and economic effects of the war on civilians in Britain and Germany]
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.8em;"> [|Nazi racial policies: the Holocaust and the persecution of minorities]


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|End of the conflict] **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|‘D’ Day and the liberation of France]
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Russian counter offensives 1944]
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Final defeat 1944–1945]
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Nuremberg War Crimes trials]

<span style="background-color: #ffff82; color: #008000; display: block; font-size: 220%; text-align: left;">Past HSC Papers <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Hey guys. Here are some links to pass paper and standard package for Modern History. Hope you find them useful

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Modern history 2011 paper: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Modern history 2010 paper <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Arc website for standard package: This is a site which has sample band 5/6 responses for questions. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[]