Evaluate the impact of the First World War and the post-war conferences on Japan.

The question requires that candidates make an appraisal of the impact of the First World War and the post-war conferences on Japan. Candidates may argue that Japan’s involvement in the Versailles Treaty and the Washington Conferences demonstrated their growing international status. At Versailles, Japan gained the Shandong province in China despite the objections from China. At the Washington Conferences, it was clear that the US and UK regarded Japan as a significant military power by imposing a 5:5:3 ratio on ship building. However, candidates may argue that both of these events triggered anger within Japan that they were not treated as an equal nation. The refusal to ratify the Racial Equality Clause at Versailles further strengthened this belief. At the Washington Conference, Shandong was also returned to China with Japan only maintaining control of the railways. Candidates may argue that this was the beginning of militarism and nationalism in Japan. Candidates’ opinions or conclusions will be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.

The question required that candidates make an appraisal of the impact of the First World War and the post-war conferences on Japan. This was a very popular choice with some excellent responses. The command term for this question was "evaluate" so candidates should have been evaluating the positive and negative impacts of the First World War and the post-war conferences on Japan. A significant number of responses only focused on the negative impacts and quickly concluded that the rise of militarism and ultra-nationalism were direct consequences of the war and conferences. It is important that candidates are aware that they need to present a balanced response where the command term is "evaluate". Some weaker responses wrote rather narrative and chronological accounts of Japan in the 1920s and did not make the links to the First World War or the post-war conferences clear.