InNo+RyanC2013+01.10.2010

=Original Awesomeness=

=Discovered Awesomeness=



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= The ‘New Era’: Hopes for Peace in 1929 =

Locarno and the ‘New Era’

 * Even after the Great War, France and Germany were on bad terms.
 * The inability of the German government to pay France and Belgian caused French and Belgian armies to occupy Germany’s Ruhr Valley.
 * A conference held in a Swiss town, Locarno, by European statesmen was the first hope for lasting world peace.
 * The Locarno Treaties settled the hostility between France/ Belgium and Germany.
 * The Treaty required them to respect each other’s borders and not make war. (Supervised by Britain and France)
 * The Locarno Treaties also stated that France would support Poland and Czechoslovakia against Germany.
 * It also stated that disputes would not be settled by war.

Friendship between Nations

 * The Kellog-Briand Pact was an agreement thought up by the Foreign Ministers of the United States and France.
 * This pact required disputes to be settled without war, and was signed by 65 countries. (Active by July 1929)
 * USSR signed an Easter Pact with six neighboring states agreeing to settle disputes civilly.
 * Pacts of Friendship were made between countries such as Greece and Yugoslavia, Chile and Peru, Arabia and Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

League of Nations

 * League of nations had two aims: keeping peace and creating a better world.
 * Members of the League all agreed to the idea of collective security.
 * Members would not attack each other, and if one did then all would go to the victim’s aid.
 * The League only had three ways to keep peace.
 * One was to bring it to the Permanent Court of International Justice.
 * Two was to impose economic sanctions, which would cause all the members of the League to boycott the attacker.
 * Three would be to impose military sanction, which was to create an army from all the league members.
 * The League also had a large number of special departments dedicated to improving international relations.
 * A disarmament commission tried to convince nations to reduce their army and rely on collective security.
 * It was announced that 60 nations would meet in Geneva in 1932 for the world’s first disarmament conference.

The Limitation of the League

 * Not every nation were members of the League.
 * The United States of America was not a member as they followed a ‘policy of isolation’ from affairs in Europe.
 * The USSR was not a member as the communist leader saw the League as a club of ‘capitalists’ countries.
 * Some countries lacked enthusiasm, such as Germany who was excluded till 1926.
 * The League’s potential to keep peace was never fully tested as the disputes it settled were not between any major powers.
 * Even though the League had limitations, it was still well supported and highly regarded.
 * A League of Nations Union had 400,000 thousand members from Britain alone, and was a body created to promote the League’s work.

= The Great Depression =

Great Depression (1929-33)

 * Share prices in Oct. 1929 dropped substantially.
 * Thousands of American firms went bankrupt and millions of share-holders, ruined.
 * This great depression quickly spread to other countries, causing trade to dwindle, profits to fall, and factories and businesses to close down, which in turn raised unemployment.
 * Countries tried to protect their people by keeping out foreign goods, which would boost the demand for ‘self-goods’ providing jobs, this was called protectionism.
 * These acts of protectionism harmed international relations, causing countries to forget ideas of world co-operation.
 * The Depression also caused social unrest from the unemployment.
 * Millions starved and lived in poverty.
 * Blameful of their government people blamed their government.
 * Desperate for food and work, extreme political parties were popular as they promised change.
 * This caused democracy to fall in some countries (Germany and Japan).
 * These anti-democracy governments acted aggressively to improve their country.

The Problem of the Empires

 * Britain and France owned the largest empires during 1929.
 * These empires where built off their victory in the Great War, taking colonies as ‘mandates’ from Germany.
 * They ruled 1/3 of the world.
 * Countries envied Britain and France, and countries on the winning side found it unfair that they did not gain as much after the Great War.
 * Resentment grew, as Britain and France could increase trade in their empire.
 * Other countries thought of taking colonies to gain the same effect as Britain and France.
 * In France and Britain’s Empire, native people where demanding independence.
 * Britain and France had to maintain large armies to keep order.
 * This was not only expensive, but also went again peace and disarmament.

= Japan, Manchuria, and the League =

The attraction of Manchuria

 * Japan invaded Manchuria, China, both countries were part of the League of Nations.
 * Japan had already occupied four areas around China, however Manchuria was the area they wanted the most.
 * Formosa, Korea, Liaodong, and Kiaochow.
 * Japan controlled most of Manchuria’s economy, owning all its most important mines, railways, factories, and ports.
 * A large army was stationed in Kwantung in S. Manchuria to protect these possessions.
 * The great depression caused large unrest in Japan, which effected the army as well.
 * Army officers discussed whether they should take land to end the depression.
 * Manchuria was an ideal starting point.

Japan invades Manchuria

 * 18 Sept. 1931 the South Manchurian Railway incident occurred.
 * Under the order of corrupt Kwantung officers, soldiers blew up a railway blaming it on the locals.
 * China called for help form the League, who ordered the Japanese government to withdraw its troops.
 * The Japanese government agreed and claimed that ‘military hot-heads’ were responsible for this invasion.
 * Despite this agreement the Kwantung Army advanced further into Manchuria, and turned it into a semi-independent state called Manchuguo.
 * The Japanese government lost control of this army whose officers were disobeying orders.

The League and Manchuria

 * In order to stop this attack the League could use its sanctions.
 * Members of the League did not want to use economic sanction as their economy was already bad enough.
 * They also thought that economic sanction would lead to war.
 * A Commission of Enquiry lead by British Lord Lytton was sent to tour Manchuria.
 * They produced a report that stated Japan should leave Manchuria, yet Manchuria should remain semi-independent.
 * An attempt to satisfy both China and Japan.
 * Japan resigned from the League and went on to occupy Chinese province of Jehol.
 * This Manchurian affair damaged the reputation of the League, and even caused it’s strongest supporters to doubt its capability to maintain world peace.

= The revival of Germany =

Hitler’s foreign policy aims

 * Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in Jan. 1933 (during the Manchurian Affairs)
 * The Nazi party was set up in 1919 after the German war.
 * They did not believe the German army was defeated, rather they blamed it on the cowardice of the government ministers.
 * The Treaty of Versailles angered the Nazi’s even more.
 * The Germans found this treaty unfair.
 * The treaty did not allow Germany to unite with Austria, and the transfer of German land meant that millions of Germans were under foreign rule.
 * As chancellor, Hitler aimed to tear up the treaty of Versailles, unite the all Germans, and to provide all Germans with living space.
 * Germany was overcrowded, with little resource and minerals. He planned to do this by taking land in the East (USSR and Poland).

Re-armament

 * To achieve his goal he needed a large armed force, which at the time was weak.
 * In defiance of the treaty of Versailles, Hitler announced to the army generals that the army and air force would be increased substantially.
 * Later in 1933, Hitler withdrew from the Geneva Disarmament Conference (League of Nations).
 * By March 1935, the secretly armed air force had 2,500 aircraft, and the army had 300,000 men.
 * On 16 March 1935 decided to make his rearmament public, announcing that military service for all men. (Army was to increase to 550,000)

Reactions to German Re-armament

 * From 1933 – 1935 Germany’s re-armament could have been stopped, who wanted to stand by the treaty of Versailles.
 * The British had their own affairs and did not want to spend money.
 * The French followed Britain, however they put their efforts into defending itself by building heavily armed forts on the border of Germany, called the Maginot Line.
 * Italy came close to stepping in when Hitler tried to unite with Austria.
 * Italy stationed their troops threateningly along their border, which deterred Hitler from taking further action.
 * Hitler’s public announcement of re-armament alarmed other European countries, however all they did was protest.
 * These events of Manchuria and Germany showed that leading nations were not ready to abide by international laws.

= Summary = = = Peace seemed to be prospering across the world during the 1929's, however the Great Depression changed all this. The Great Depression caused countries to lose relations and caused many countries/citizens to take extreme measure to improve their situation. The Great Depression also damaged the reputation of the League of Nations, as they could not prevent Japan from taking Manchuria and Germany from carrying out re-armament.

=Questions=
 * 1) Would WW2 have been prevented if one of the countries had intervened with Germany's rearmament?
 * 2) How did the Great Depression affect the relationship between countries?
 * 3) List the achievements and failures of the League of Nations.
 * 4) Were the forms of sanction that the League of Nations could use, effective during the time period?
 * 5) Why were some many countries afraid to go to war with Japan and Germany?