Lesson 2K.2.1

2K.2.1 Failure of international peace and origins of the Second World War, 1917–1941 Quiz: AQA History, Unit 21

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 2K.2.1, Failure of international peace and origins of the Second World War, 1917–1941: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA History (7042), Unit 21: 2K International Relations and Global Conflict, c1890–1941, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which 1919 treaty imposed the main peace settlement on Germany after the First World War?

    • The Treaty of Versailles
    • The Treaty of Rapallo
    • The Treaty of Locarno
    • The Treaty of Lausanne

  2. Which three leaders were the main figures at the 1919 peace-making?

    • Clemenceau, Wilson and Lloyd George
    • Mussolini, Hitler and Franco
    • Attlee, Truman and Eisenhower
    • Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill

  3. Why was the League of Nations weakened from the outset?

    • The USA's return to isolationism meant it never joined
    • Germany was made a permanent member in 1919
    • It was dissolved after the Dawes Plan of 1924
    • Britain refused to take part in any of its meetings

  4. Which event of 1923 was a French and Belgian response to German reparations default?

    • The signing of the Dawes Plan
    • The Kellogg-Briand Pact
    • The occupation of the Ruhr
    • The Geneva Protocol

  5. Which agreement of 1925 guaranteed the western borders set by Versailles and is linked to the 'Spirit of Locarno'?

    • The Locarno Treaties
    • The Kellogg-Briand Pact
    • The Treaty of Rapallo
    • The Lausanne Agreement

  6. Which 1928 agreement renounced war as an instrument of national policy?

    • The Dawes Plan
    • The Young Plan
    • The Kellogg-Briand Pact
    • The Geneva Protocol

  7. What did the Dawes Plan of 1924 primarily do?

    • Partitioned the Ottoman Empire
    • Rescheduled German reparations and provided US loans
    • Ended the occupation of the Rhineland by France
    • Created the League of Nations' army

  8. Which crisis in 1931-1933 showed the failure of collective security when Japan seized territory from China?

    • The Abyssinian Crisis
    • The Manchurian Crisis
    • The Czech Crisis
    • The Rhineland Crisis

  9. Which crisis showed the League's failure in 1935-1936 when Italy invaded an African state?

    • The Spanish Civil War
    • The Abyssinian Crisis
    • The Anschluss
    • The Manchurian Crisis

  10. Why did the Lausanne and London Conferences of the early 1930s fail to resolve reparations and debts?

    • The League of Nations forbade any discussion of debts
    • The USA insisted that Germany pay in full immediately
    • Depression pressures made creditors and debtors unwilling to compromise
    • Britain and France had already cancelled all reparations in 1919

  11. Hitler's remilitarisation of the Rhineland in March 1936 was a clear breach of which settlement?

    • The Dawes Plan
    • The Treaty of Sevres
    • The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
    • The Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties

  12. Which action by Germany in March 1938 was known as the Anschluss?

    • The annexation of the Sudetenland
    • The signing of the Pact of Steel
    • The union of Austria with Germany
    • The invasion of Poland

  13. What was the main outcome of the Munich Agreement of September 1938?

    • Germany gained the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia
    • The Soviet Union was allowed to annex the Baltic states
    • Poland was given the Danzig corridor
    • Czechoslovakia received guarantees against German attack

  14. Which pact of August 1939 surprised many observers by linking Germany and the Soviet Union?

    • The Nazi-Soviet Pact
    • The Pact of Steel
    • The Anglo-Polish Treaty
    • The Stresa Front

  15. Which event directly triggered the declaration of war by Britain and France in September 1939?

    • The Nazi-Soviet Pact
    • The Anschluss
    • Germany's invasion of Poland
    • The Italian invasion of Albania

  16. Which alliance between Germany and Italy was signed in May 1939?

    • The Anti-Comintern Pact
    • The Pact of Steel
    • The Stresa Front
    • The Tripartite Pact

  17. Which factor best explains the failure of collective security in the 1930s?

    • Great Powers prioritised national interests and appeasement over joint action
    • Japan and Germany were never allowed to attend League meetings
    • The League was too large to hold meetings
    • The Treaty of Versailles had been repealed by 1930

  18. Why did Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 bring the USA into the Second World War?

    • It ended the Japanese occupation of Manchuria
    • A direct attack on US territory
    • It destroyed the entire British Pacific fleet
    • It was a League of Nations mandate issued to Japan

  19. The Soviet Union's entry into the Second World War followed which German action in June 1941?

    • The annexation of Austria in 1938
    • The invasion of Denmark and Norway
    • The creation of the Pact of Steel
    • Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union

  20. Which statement best summarises the failure of international peace from 1917 to 1941?

    • Peace was secured by the League after 1920 and collapsed only after 1941
    • Grievances, weak institutions and aggressive powers
    • The settlements of 1919 were fully accepted by all the defeated powers
    • Economic recovery in the 1920s removed all tension between the Great Powers

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