54991480 ib hl sl history interwar years peacemaking peacekeeping international relations

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The Interwar Years: Peacemaking, Peacekeeping, IR

Fatima Nanavati

1. Aims of the participants and the peacemakers: Wilson and the 14 points

Woodrow Wilson and the 14 Points

y Woodrow Wilson, American President, believed that the war was caused by three majorfactors:

y Secret Diplomacy among Nationsy The tendency of dominant nationalities to oppress ethic minorities, andy Autocratic governments ruled by Elitesy These 3 causes needed to be removed if the world was to have lasting peacey His 14 points, announced January 8th, 1918, addressed these key issuesy Note: look at the date he announced the points. Consider: when did the US enter the war?

When did the war end?y He hoped that these would be the basis for a new world ordery In the end, the principles gradually receded to the background.y Key decisions were made by the bug powers, and the idealistic statements were shattered

2. Terms of the Paris Peace Treaties 1919-20: Versailles, St. Germain, Trianon, Neuilly,Sevres/Laussane

Treaty of Versailles - June 1919

Background

y Defeated nations, including Austria and Germany, not allowed to participate; UK, US, andFrance are the major decision making powers

yParis Peace Conference held on January 1st 1919 > 30 nations held seats

y 10 million died in the war; 180 billion dollar cost (direct) and 150 billion (indirect)y 4 empires destroyed > Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empirey Conference led by Woodrow Wilson; wanted WW1 to be "The war to end all wars"y Created 14 points to create new world order; France wanted to see Germany removed as

a threat to both UK and France wanted war reparations (their debts to be passes ontoGermany)

a) French Objective

y National Securityy Return of Alsace-Lorrainey German Rhineland to be a buffer zone between Germany and France (demilitarized zone)y Western part of Rhineland to be occupied by allies troops for 15 yrsy Immediate assistance from US and UK in case German aggression against Francey Additional military restrictions placed on Germanyy Reparationy Demands based on devastation of France; Northern France in ruins - France demanded

coal rights in Germany's Saar Valley until 1935 to make up for their own lost mines


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y 30 million dollar reparation bill (French share to be 52% of that) without a time limit (USput time limit or up to 30 years only)

b) British Objectives

y Securityy Security of sea lanes for access to its empirey German navy reduced (6 warships only and 1 u-boats)y Germany colonies redistributed to alliesy Anti-Bolshevismy UK feared spread of communism more than Germany; believed a weak Germany would be

vulnerable to communismy Softened stance on huge war reparations and France's territorial claims (didn't want a

powerful France either

The Treaty ofSt. Germain - September 1919

y The Treaty of St. Germain was the Allies' peace settlement with the Austro-HungarianEmpire.

y Austria and Hungary became separate states with democratic governments (theHapsburg monarchy had already collapsed).

y Austria had to pay war reparationsy The Austrian army was limited to a force of 30,000 volunteersy Austria was prohibited from uniting with Germanyy Austria to recognize the independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the

independence ofSerbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

y Austria also suffered huge territorial losses and became land-lockedy Losses include:y Trieste, Istria, and part ofTyrol given to Italy.y Bohemia (including the Sudetenland), Moravia and part ofSilesia to Czechoslovakiay Bukovina to Rumaniay Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Dalmatia to Yugoslaviay Galicia to Polandy Austria was deprived of 3/4 of her former area and 3/4 of her people.

The Treaty of Neuilly - November 1919

y It concerned Bulgaria, the 1st of the Central Powers to capitulate and Greece (Bulgaria'smain adversary in the Balkans)

y Bulgaria was excluded from the conferencey Under the terms of the Treaty:y Greece would recover territory in Macedoniay Bulgaria would renounce all claims in WesternThracey Bulgaria would pay reparations ($445 million)y The Bulgarian Army was reduced (20,000 men)y Minorities in Bulgaria - including the Greek minority - would be protected

The Treaty ofSevres - August 1920


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y In Asia, Iraq, Trans Jordan and Palestine bother became British mandatesy Syria and Lebanon became French mandatesy Independence granted to Saudi Arabia and Armeniay Turkey kept Anatolia but was to grant autonomy to Kurdistany Armenia became a separate republicy In Europe, Turkey ceded parts of Eastern Thrace and certain Aegean islands to Greece

and the Dodecanese and Rhodes to Italy

y Turkey kept Constantinople (Istanbul)y The treaty was accepted by the government ofSultan Muhammad VI, but was rejected by

the rival nationalist government of Kemal Atatrk (which overthrew the Sultan'sgovernment and deposed the Sultan in 1922)

y Atatrk's negotiated a separate treaty with the USSR; he also fought and won the War ofIndependence against the Greeks; this forced the Allies to negotiate a new treaty in 1923(Treaty of Lausanne)

y The Treaty of Lausanne - July 1923y Russia, Italy, Greece, Rumania, Yugoslavia and Turkey all participatedy Turkey recovered eastern Thrace, several Aegean islands, Constaintinople and Adrianopley No limits on Turkey's army or war reparations were enactedy Problems with Enforcing of the Treaties

y The United States never joined the League of Nations which weakened the Leaguey The Anglo-American guarantee never happenedy Germany was angry as it thought the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and harsh and so

wanted the treaty revokedy Italy was angry as it was on the winning side, however it did not receive much territory

and so the Italians wanted to revise the treaty in favor ofItalyy Japan was only interested in issues concerning itself and not the issues concerned with

the European aspects of the peace settlement

y The United States retreated into isolationismy The USSR was isolated throughout the1920's (with the exception of the Treaty of Rapallo

with Germany)

y France and Britain disagreed on the strategies concerning Germany3. The Geopolitical and Economic Impact of the Treaties on Europe; the establishment andimpact of the mandate system

Result of VersaillesTreaty

y Germany signed the treaty under protest June 1919 (particularly incenses by guilt clause)y 7 new countries created from former empires (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland,

Czechoslovakia)y Creation of a League of Nations (US senate rejected League and Treaty)y Reparation payments led to high inflation and economic collapse in Germany by 1923


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4. Enforcement of the provisions of the treaties

US & British Isolationism and Anglo-American GuaranteeProblems with Enforcing of the Treaties

y The United States never joined the League of Nations which weakened the Leaguey The Anglo-American guarantee never happenedy Germany was angry as it thought the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and harsh and so

wanted the treaty revoked

y Italy was angry as it was on the winning side, however it did not receive much territoryand so the Italians wanted to revise the treaty in favor ofItaly

y Japan was only interested in issues concerning itself and not the issues concerned withthe European aspects of the peace settlement

y The United States retreated into isolationismy The USSR was isolated throughout the1920's (with the exception of the Treaty of Rapallo

with Germany)y France and Britain disagreed on the strategies concerning Germany

USIsolationism

y The United States never accept the Treaty of Versailles because they did not agree withArticle X and could not accept the agreement of the League of Nations and so it was neverpart of the League

y The United States did not approve of the Anglo-American Guarantee which was a measureof protection for France if Germany was to attack again

y Isolationism was not new to the United States, it had been a big part of its historyy After the war USA returned to its policy of isolationism and did not want to intervene

outside its own areas of interest

British Isolationism

y The British have been isolationists throughout history; tried to keep out of firmagreements with other countries.

y More concerned with preserving their status in Europe.y Their general policy was to try and stop any country that was seeking dominance over

Europe. There was fear that France might try to dominate Europe, or become involved inanother war with Germany.

y The British did not want to have to go to war to defend an unpopular treaty.y Great Britain was geographically tied to Europe so it was almost forced to be more active

in European affairs than the US.

The Anglo-American Guarantee

y Security was very important to France, was very afraid of another attack from Germanyonce Germany regained its strength

y France wanted the Rhineland area of Germany to be an independent state to protect itself.This state could either be neutral or under French influence. Wilson and George did not


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agree with this however they knew that France would not give up unless it got a firmguarantee of military support from the United States and Britain.

y The Anglo-French agreement was signed on the June 28, 1919.y Wilson campaigned vigorously in the United States between 1919 and 1920 to win

support for the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and for the United States to join the

League of Nations.y Anglo-American Guarantee was not accepted by the USSenate and so never took place.y When the United States did not accept the Guarantee, Britain withdrew from the

agreement as well.

y France no longer had a guaranteed military support from the United States and Britain.5. The League of Nations

League of Nations (1920-1925) Effects of the absence of major powersSoviet Union:y The Soviet Union did not join the league in late 1919 when it was formingy Western Europe feared its communist government and USSR did not get along with

Britain and France in particulary Once the League went into effect in 1920, the effects of the USSR not being a part of the

league were numerous

y The USSR not being a part of the League meant the League did not include one of the mostpowerful nations after the war

y It felt its interests were not being representedy This absence further lead to disorder and chaos over the next few years as USSR tried to

take hold of its previously lost territoryy Also the fact that the USSR was not included in the League lead to the belief that the aim

of the League of Nations may changed

y That rather than focusing on stopping wars or keeping them from happening, the Leaguewas just there to show the world who held current power

y The USSR, much like Germany, was in no mood to renegotiate and did not care whatstatus quo had been decided at Versailles

y Instead it formed an alliance with Germany which allowed the two countries to disregardany League action taken against them, including treaties that banned Germany fromrearmament and building up its military

y The USSR was admitted in 1934 and expelled in 1939The United States of America:

y Status: Never joined League of Nations. The U.S. never ratified the Treaty of Versailles andthus never joined the League as its Covenant was incorporated in the Treaty.

y Woodrow Wilson (American president) proposed idea of the League in his 14 pointspeech on January 8th, 1918, and was the chairman of a special committee at the ParisPeace Conference assigned to create the League Covenant

y However, U.S. senate refused to ratify the League Covenant due to Article 10 which theyclaimed threatened the sovereignty of the U.S. as it would give the League the authority toinvolve its member nations in protecting fellow League members if conflict were to arise

y U.S. did not want to involve itself in foreign conflicts that did not directly affect it


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y Widely believed that League failed because was left without the Leagues primaryvisionary (Wilson) to guide the League as well as the absence of U.S. as a member in theLeague is widely believed to have led to demise of the League

y Postwar, U.S. became creditor nation therefore would have been a financial asset toLeague as many of its members economies in ruin making them not willing to

economically back sanctions against aggressor nationsy U.S. not joining emphasized Leagues progression from the idealistic standards set by U.S.

to the corruption by the countries now dominating the League thereby discrediting theLeagues effectiveness in its primary goal: peacekeeping

y Example: In 1923, France occupied the Ruhr and Italy bombed Corfu (Greek island) butwhen confronted by League, threatened to withdraw from League

y Uncertain whether U.S. would have involved itself militarily in condemning aggressornations if it had decided to become involved in the League of Nations due to the fact that itreverted to its isolationalist policies after the war

y Example: during Japans invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Britain and France (majorpowers considered capable of intervention) did not intervene militarily because had no

significant interest in North Chinay Similarly, U.S. military history before 1920 had shown that unless the U.S. had personal

interests in a war, it would not involve itself in the war (i.e. Spanish American War, WWI)

y Nonetheless, fact that U.S. possessed very few colonies at time (Philippines and Guam)could have made it more inclined to interfere in colonial disputes as its national interestswould not have clouded its judgement in bettering world as a whole

y Fact that Britain and France had dozens of their own colonies in Africa caused them todismiss Italys invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 as it did not threaten any of their colonies

y Demonstrated that as long as dominant powers national interests not endangered,countries could get away unscathed in presence of League

yGermany:

y Absence showed that you can rebel against the organizationnot solid, dont have to listento Britain and Franceencourage others to be more independent

STATUSy JOINED-Germany was admitted to the League 1926y LEFT-Germany withdrew from the League in 1933y 1926-Germany was admitted to the League- made permanent member of the Councily 1933-October 14thGermany withdraws from the Conference for the reduction and

Limitation of Armaments - October 21st - Germany gives notice of withdrawal from theLeague of Nations

y 1938-Austria is annexed by Germanyy Germany- not allowed to join the LON in 1919y Due to the fact the G had started the war, the TOV felt that one of Gs punishments was

that she was not considered to be a member of the international community

y Great defeat/blow for Germanyy Loss for LON- couldnt use whatever strength G had to support its campaign against

aggressor nations

y Lost clever tactics, and power that G had


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y Many other aggressive powers withdrew from the LON, following Germanyy It can be said that the failure of the LON happened due to the absence of the major

powers, and was thus what caused the onset of WWIIy Who was dominant at that time - this was portrayed due the absence of the major powers

League of Nations (1920-1925)The principal of collective security and early attempts at peacekeeping

Definition of Collective Security:

1. Collective Securityis the concept of maintaining peace among all nations or members of agroup by where all states cooperate together to provide security for all by the actions of allagainst any states within the group that might challenge the existing order by means of force oreconomic sanction.

2. System for international peace.

Application of Collective Security

League of Nations was the first attempt to create a collective security after World War One.

Overall, the League of Nations was supposed to:1. Stop wars2. Improve peoples lives and jobs3. Promote disarmament4. Enforce the Treaty of Versailles

Failure of the League of Nations

The main reasons for the failure of the League of Nations can be summarised into the followingpoints:

1. Not all countries joined the League. Although the idea for the League of Nations had comefrom Woodrow Wilson, there was a change of government in the United States before the signingof the treaty and the new Republican government refused to join. As a punishment for havingstarted World War One, Germany was not allowed to join and Russia was also excluded due to agrowing fear of Communism. Other countries decided not to join and some joined but later left.

2. The League had no power. The main weapon of the League was to ask member countries tostop trading with an aggressive country.However, this did not work because countries could stilltrade with non-member countries. When the world was hit by depression in the late 1920scountries were reluctant to lose trading partners to other non-member countries.

3. The League had no army. Soldiers were to be supplied by member countries. However,countries were reluctant to get involved and risk provoking an aggressive country into takingdirect action against them and failed to provide troops.


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4. Unable to act quickly. The Council of the League of Nations only met four times a year anddecisions had to be agreed by all nations. When countries called for the League to intervene, theLeague had to set up an emergency meeting, hold discussions and gain the agreement of allmembers. This process meant that the League could not act quickly to stop an act of aggression.

6. Ruhr Crisis, Locarno, Locarno Springs

Ruhr Crisis of 1923

y France was afraid for its security and disagreed with Britain about how to deal withGermany.

y Britain wanted Germany to be able to rebuild its economy so that it could benefit from thetrade.

y France's goal was to weaken the German economy as much as possible throughreparations. France also needed these reparations to pay its debts to the USA

y When Germany missed a delivery of timber as part of her reparations, France andBelgium invaded the Ruhr region. Britain was strongly against this.

y The goal of France was to collect the missed payment from the Germans by taking thegoods from the mines and factories and shipping them to France.

y The German workers did not co-operate with the French, instead they protested bydestroying the goods, the mines and the factories.

y The event broke out into a violent conflict and resulted in inflation.y The Weimar Government which already had a serious inflation problem made things

worse by printing more money to help support the workers which resulted in disastrousinflation

The Backgroundy By the end of 1922, Germany had failed to pay back any reparations for France and

Belgium felt they needed to step iny France was afraid for its security after the Anglo-American Guarantee of 1919 was deniedy France's goal was to weaken the German economy has much as possible through

reparations

y France also needed these reparations to pay its debts from war, to the USAThe Ruhr Crisis

y As soon Germany missed a delivery of timber as part of her reparations, France sentarmies of troops to invade the Ruhr valley

y The French invasion was initiated by French Prime Minister Raymond Poincare onJanuary 11th, 1923

y Britain was strongly against thisy The goal of France was to collect the missed payment from the Germans by taking the

goods from the mines and factories and shipping them to France and then use thesegoods to pay its war debts to the United States

y The goal was also to collect all the coal, steel and iron production in the Ruhr valleyy The German workers did not co-operate with the Frenchy They protested by destroying the goods, the mines and the factories


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y They also put on general strikes and passive resistancey The event broke out into a violent conflict and resulted in INFLATIONy The Weimar Government printed more money to help support the workers which

resulted in disastrous inflation

The Effecty By the end of 1923 is took more than 4 trillion paper marks to equal a dollary German money became worthlessy Resulted in hyper-inflation of the German economy in 1923y Through this the Dawes Plan was madey Dawes Plan made by Charles G. Dawesy Plan: the US get its war payments from France, Belgium, and Britainy The Allies could not pay the US, until they got paid from Germanyy The Dawes plan ensured a steady flow of war reparationsy Americans invested money in Germany, and then Germany was able to pay off its debtsy France and Belgium then removed their forced from Germany because of the reassurance

of the Dawes Plany After Germanys economic status began to improve, they wanted to renegotiated their

borders which lead to the Locarno Treaty

Locarno treaties

y *Happened after the resolution of the Ruhr crisisy * Purpose of this treaty is to establish fixed borders in western Germanyy *The Locarno treaties are seven agreements that were signed by the allied powers and

the countries of central Europe to decide on the border disputes

y *The treaties are suggested by the German Foreign Minister, Gustav Stresemann, in hopeof revising the Treaty of Versaillesy *The representatives from Belgium, Britain, France, Italy and Germany met in September

1925 at Locarno, Italy to discuss several agreements.

y *The agreements are signed in London, in December 1925y * Locarno divided borders in Europe into eastern and western borders, the western

borders were guaranteed, while the eastern ones were subject to revisiony *The Germans accept the terms of the Treaty of Versailles concerning its western borders

with Belgium and France, and these borders are guaranteed and protected by Britain andItaly, who vow to fight against whoever breaks this agreement, whether they are Belgiumor Germany.

y * Germany would obtain a permanent seat in the League of Nations as a result of thisagreement

y *Tension and discontent between the allies and the Germans is resolving which meansthat peace with Germany can be achieved

y *The allied troops on the western bank of the Rhine would be removedy * By 1930 Germany becomes a fully independent state, that was not influenced or

controlled by any of the allies


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y *The League of Nations strengthened, but as the eastern borders of Germany had notbeen fixed, peace in Europe had not been guaranteed

y * Allied commission supervising the disarmament of Germany is disbanded in 1927y * Showed German acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles, but was actually a way of

undermining it through cancelling some terms such as the disarmament.

y * Gives Germany a chance to rebuild its economy without foreign control and at the sametime not become a threat to France and other European powers.7. Depression and threats to international peace and collective security: Manchuria, Abyssinia

The Invasion of Manchuria (pg. 785)

y In 1931 Japanese units in southern Manchuria seized Chinese arsenals and spreadnorthward over Manchuria- Japanese charging the Chinese with attacking their economythrough boycotts attack and turn Manchuria into a province

y The League of Nations takes no action towards Japan- found it at fault- Japan withdrewfrom the league- no one opposed its invasion of Manchuria

Relation to the -- Failure of the League of Nations:

y In 1931, Japan was hit badly by the depression. People lost faith in the government andturned to the army to find a solution. The army invaded Manchuria in China, an area richin minerals and resources. China appealed to the League for help. The Japanesegovernment were told to order the army to leave Manchuria immediately. However, thearmy took no notice of the government and continued its conquest of Manchuria.

y The League then called for countries to stop trading with Japan but because of thedepression many countries did not want to risk losing trade and did not agree to therequest. The League then made a further call for Japan to withdraw from Manchuria butJapan's response was to leave the League of Nations.

y In October 1935, Italy invaded Abyssinia. The Abyssinians did not have the strength towithstand an attack by Italy and appealed to the League of Nations for help.

y The League condemned the attack and called on member states to impose traderestrictions with Italy. However, the trade restrictions were not carried out because theywould have little effect. Italy would be able to trade with non-member states, particularlyAmerica. Furthermore, Britain and France did not want to riskItaly making an attack onthem.

y In order to stop Italy's aggression, the leaders of Britain and France held a meeting anddecided thatItaly could have two areas of land in

y Abyssinia provided that there were no further attacks on the African country. AlthoughMussolini accepted the plan, there was a public outcry in Britain and the plan wasdropped.

54991480 ib hl sl history interwar years peacemaking peacekeeping international relations

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