Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseThe Changing Nature of Warfare and International Conflict, 1919-2011, is one of eight Paper 2 Section B breadth studies. You study only one of them. This option is about change over time in land, sea and air warfare, weapons and guerrilla warfare. This lesson covers sea and air warfare between the two world wars.
In February 1917 Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare. Its U-boats (submarines) sank merchant ships around Britain without warning. Britain relied on imported food and raw materials, and in April 1917 shipping losses were so heavy that Britain was in real danger. The answer was the convoy, in which merchant ships sailed together with warships to protect them. Convoys began in 1917 and losses fell sharply.
The lesson was clear. A submarine could threaten a great naval power without fighting its fleet, but good escorts could defeat it.
Key terms:
At the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-22 the powers could not agree to ban submarines, because some countries wanted to keep them. The London Naval Treaty of 1930 said submarines had to follow the same rules as other warships: stop a merchant ship and put its crew in safety before sinking it. This was only a promise, with nothing to force countries to keep it.
Britain developed ASDIC, an early sonar, at the end of the First World War. Many naval officers believed it could find submarines under water and make them harmless. They were too confident, because sonar had a short range and could not find a U-boat that attacked on the surface, especially at night.
The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 banned Germany from having submarines. In 1935 Hitler began to rebuild the navy openly. The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of June 1935 let Germany build a navy up to 35 per cent of the size of Britain's surface fleet, and a submarine fleet of up to 45 per cent of Britain's, with the right to claim equal numbers later. Germany began building U-boats, and by the end of 1935 it had its first U-boat flotilla (a unit of submarines).
Aircraft were used in the First World War, but in the 1920s and 1930s they became faster, stronger and able to carry heavier bomb loads. There were two main types. Fighters were fast, light aircraft designed to shoot down other aircraft and to protect bombers. Bombers were larger aircraft that dropped bombs on targets on the ground, including cities.
Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and began a full-scale war against China in July 1937. Japanese aircraft bombed Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Nanjing in 1937. China had few modern aircraft and little defence, so thousands of civilians were killed. Japanese fighters escorted the bombers and kept control of the air.
Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in October 1935 and had conquered it by May 1936. Italian aircraft scouted for the army, bombed towns and troops, and dropped mustard gas. Abyssinia had almost no air force, so Italy's aircraft met hardly any enemy fighters.
In both wars the side with strong air power beat a weaker enemy, and the bombing of civilians shocked the world. The League of Nations did little to stop either aggressor.
Key terms:
Many people in the 1930s were afraid of air attack. In November 1932 the British politician Stanley Baldwin told the House of Commons that "the bomber will always get through". He meant that bombers flew too fast and too high to be stopped, so no country could fully protect its cities.
This belief had two causes. Germany had bombed London with Gotha aircraft in 1917, and the raids caused fear out of all proportion to the damage. Then China and Abyssinia seemed to show that bombers could attack cities almost freely. As a result, governments spent heavily on bombers and on plans to protect civilians, such as gas masks.
Submarines were rebuilt in Germany from 1935. Aircraft became important weapons that could hit cities. Navies put their faith in sonar to find submarines. Wars in China and Abyssinia showed air power in use.
Treaties on submarines were hard to enforce. Warships were still expected to protect shipping. Weaker countries still lost to better-armed ones, and the League of Nations could not stop aggression.
Explain TWO causes of the belief in the 1930s that "the bomber will always get through". [8 marks]
One cause was the experience of the First World War. In 1917 German Gotha bombers raided London, and although the damage was limited, the raids caused great fear and showed that aircraft could reach a city across defences. Many people concluded that future bombers, which would be faster and carry more bombs, would be even harder to stop, so governments feared that no country could protect its cities.
A second cause was the way bombers were used in wars in the 1930s. When Japan bombed Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing in 1937, and Italy used aircraft against Abyssinia in 1935-36, the defenders had few fighters and little protection. This made it look as though bombers could attack almost without being stopped, which supported the belief that the bomber would always get through.
What lifts it to the top level: two causes, each with precise facts and a clear link to the belief in the question.
For "explain two causes", write two separate paragraphs. For each, add a date or name and then say how it led to the outcome in the question. One cause alone cannot score more than 4 out of 8.