Grade 11
07/05/13
History – Source-based questions.

1)
a. According to Source A, the USSR is not a threat to Germany because it is not in their interest to overrun Germany. Also Source A pin points the weaknesses of the Soviet Republic such as their need for economic aid for a ruined economic system and the fact that its soviet ideals have robbed itself of a large part of its economic strength, hence emphasizing on the fact that the USSR is not a threat to Germany.
b. Source A’s purpose if to inform the Reichstag of the USSR’s weakness and needs in economic aid. Dr Walter Simon is paying respects to the Soviet Republic, hence giving a positive view on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

2) The treaty of Rapallo had enormous
However the limitation is of course the fact that this opinion might be false and completely unshared with the public, molded around personal hatred and opinion.

4) Russia and Germany had both been undermined from the treaty of Versailles, with Germany being an enemy of the powers of the league of Nations and Russia haven gotten out of the war before its end, both had had disastrous consequences due to the treaty of Versailles. In the early 1920s Germany was interested in signing a treaty with the Soviet Union to enhance political, economic and military expansion and to prevent any more threat from the Polish Republic. Poland was apparently France’s vassal and with its emergence, took some land away from both Germany and Russia, hence invigorating hatred from its neighbors. This tension between the small state and the two major powers continued and menaced the peace settlement that was supposed to be implemented by all nations according to the treaty of Versailles.
Germany wanted to rearm the Reichswehr and this went against the articles settled in the Treaty of Versailles, which is why Germany and the Soviet Union secretly settled some points of the Rapallo treaty underground, such as the land the USSR allocated for German military training. This went against the treaty of Versailles because it stated that Germany was only allowed 100,000 trained