set up as part of the treaty of versailles it was envisioned to be a truly international...
TRANSCRIPT
Set up as part of the Treaty of Versailles
It was envisioned to be a truly INTERNATIONAL organization which would MAINTAIN WORLD PEACE AND SECURITY by ACTING TOGETHER to PREVENT WAR
Collective Security
For a brief idea of its organisation, do look at Fig. 6 on page 43 of your textbook
Important Note: When EVALUATING HOW SUCCESSFUL / HOW
MUCH A FAILURE the League of Nations was … you must look at HOW MUCH of its AIMS the League was able to FULFIL:
To promote international co-operation, peace and security by accepting an obligation not to go to war
To promote open, just and honorable relations between nations
To lay out a system of international law To maintain, or help to modify, treaties between
nations
The League of Nations also tried to influence:
Aid Labor Issues Mandates Collective Security Human Rights Minorities Health Issues
Dealing with social issues such as the improvement of living and working conditions worldwide (through ILO)
Dealing with health issues – targeted the treatment of specific diseases (e.g. leprosy)
Set up commissions that improved living conditions in poorer countries
Weakest at dealing with issues that nations saw as a threat to their security
Most members of the League were unwilling to put the security of their nations at risk in order to fulfill collective security
Attitudes to the League
Membership
Mandates
Difficulties in Resolving Disputes
Attitudes to the League Many countries found the peace treaties
unpopular thus they were not very accepting of the League of Nations as it was a part of the treaty
The League of Nations WAS NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY by Britain and France
The USA was not a member – sending the signal that if the USA did not take the LON seriously, why should other countries?
Membership USA was not a member Germany, Austria and Hungary were not
allowed to join (resented by Germany) Constant shift of membership as joining
and leaving the League was very easy Many countries left because the League
opposed their actions or because it wasn’t doing much to help
The League had very little control over its member states
Mandates The legal right to govern under the control
of the League Took over most of Germany’s former
colonies Countries holding colonies in mandate had
to help the colonies move to self-government as soon as possible
However, even after 20 years, this was not happening and many countries who had been in favor of the League turned against it
Difficulties in Resolving Disputes Usual form of punishment for disobeying the
League was the imposing of SANCTIONS (not allowing trade to take place)
Method was quite useless because sanctions hurt trade with other countries so they were removed as quickly as they were imposed
League had no force of its own (expected members to contribute troops) so it could not prevent the rise of authoritarian regimes in Germany, Italy and Japan
FAILURE PARTIAL SUCCESS SUCCESS
The Ruhr (1923)Corfu (1923)Vilna (1923)
Upper Silesia (1921)Memel (1923)
Aaland Islands (1921)Albania (1923)Greek-Bulgarian Border Dispute (1925)
Evaluating the League of Nations
Successes: Social issues –
improvement of living and working conditions
Health issues – improvement in the treatment of diseases such as leprosy
Solving some territorial disputes and conflicts
Failures: Unable to enforce
collective security Unable to act as an
effective deterrent towards aggressive countries
Attitudes towards the League
Lack of strong membership
Failure of the mandate system
Difficulties in resolving disputes
How Far did Hopes for Disarmament Succeed?
What is Disarmament? Dismantling of armies and the breaking
up of weapons to be in the position of making war impossible
Disarmament was part of collective security because if nations cut down their use of weapons, the world would be safer
Collective vs. Individual Security
While nations felt that collective security was good, many still wanted to focus on individual security:
Reasons for not Disarming
Britain: The need to defend the Empire and to stop
trouble in parts of the Empire seeking independence
France Defend France from Germany
China Civil War in progress and the need to defend
China against Japanese advances
Reasons for not Disarming Japan:
Power of the Japanese Army and the need to defend Japan against European land-grabbing in the Asia-Pacific
Switzerland Army was small and only big enough to defend
their neutrality
Poland Need to defend their new country, especially
from Germany and Russia
German Disarmament
Supervised by the League of Nations
Was slow and took advantage of several loopholes:
Trained its cut-down Army as officers so as to secretly train others to be ordinary soldiers
Disarming the rest of the World
Naval Disarmament Targets set by agreeing to a ratio of
shipbuilding between nations Tensions between countries based on
ratios allocated Proportions were applied to all warships Everyone could build submarines but at
a low level
Disarming the rest of the World
Military Disarmament 1923 Treaty of Mutual Assistance
Countries would limit arms League of Nations would come to their assistance Very few agreed to the TMA
1924 Geneva Protocol Nations would agree to bring disputes to arbitration
instead of going to war
1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact Signed by 65 nations Promised no war over the next 5 years except in self-
defence
Difficulties of Reconstruction & Recovery
Post-War Economic Problems
War Damage (esp. France)
Broken Trade Links Industrial Problems Disrupted
Communication Systems Debt
Reparations made Germany’s economic problems after the war, WORSE:
Prices Rose Wages Fell High Unemployment High Levels of Discontent French Invasion of the Ruhr after debt default Strikes by German workers worsens the situtation The Weimar Government responds to the situation
by printing more money and creating inflation
Children using bundles of money as building blocks
A housewife using bundles of money to light
her stove
In 1923, it cost 200 Billion Marks to buy
a loaf of bread in Germany…
Simply put, inflation is a rise in prices relative to money available. In other words, you can get less for your money than you used to be able to get.
Here's an example: You buy a candy bar for 50 cents. A year later, you go to buy
the same candy bar and it's 60 cents. You still have only 50 cents, but the prices of the candy bar has gone up. We can say that inflation is at work. The price of that bar has been inflated.
When inflation rises but people's pay-checks don't, this means that people have to spend more of the money to buy the same things that they used to be able to buy for less.
Let's go back to the candy bar. You have only 5/6 of what that candy bar now costs. Your money supply hasn't changed, but the price of what you want has. That's inflation.
Became Chancellor of Germany in 1923
Replaced the German mark with the Rentenmark and reduced government spending
Improved relations with Germany’s enemies (e.g. Treaty of Locarno)
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929
Introduced the Rentenmark
Borrowed money from overseas to increase Germans’ confidence in the new currency (had proper currency to back the value of the new currency)
German Mark (before Rentenmark)
German Rentenmark
The Ruhr, Germany’s most industrialised area, was occupied by France after Germany defaulted on her reparations.
As a result, workers went on strike or worked slowly, generating little or no profits. This was harming the German economy.
Stresseman negotiated with the workers and the economy improved. He also borrowed money from overseas for building schemes, taking off many unemployed people off the streets.
Protest placard against the occupation of the Ruhr District (Theo Matejko, 1923): Hands off of the Ruhr District!
Signed the Locarno Treaty in 1925, normalising relations with Britain and France
Entered the League of Nations in 1926
Signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928
Stresseman’s efforts encouraged the USA to produce 2 plans to cut down the amount of reparations and lend Germany money
Germany was to pay less money
USA would lend Germany money
French troops would leave the Ruhr
Germany would give the A/G for Reparations gold, which would be invested and the interest used to pay off the reparations
Profits from the German railways would be used as well
Cut German reparation amounts to ¼ of the original amount
Lengthened the repayment period by 59 years
Made the repayment method fairer and more achievable
The Results: Despite the 2 plans, Germany still could
not meet the requirements Most of the borrowed money went to
economic recovery programmes Some of the money was funneled
towards secret re-armaming When Hitler took over power in the
1930s, the Young Plan was abandoned