Roads+to+War+InNo.+Part+1,+Ho+Yun+Cheon,+Jan.+11th,+2011

Roads to War – The Origins of the Second World War 1929-41

Part One (An Uneasy Peace, 1929-35)

__-The ‘New Era’ : Hopes For Peace In 1929-__ 3. Locarno and the ‘New Era’ · In a little Swiss town of Locarno, European leaders decided to have a peace conference. · There were some problems between France and Germany. o (Rhur Valley, occupied by the French) · The treaties first started again with the France, Germany, and Belgium. o (France backs up Czechoslovakia, and Poland from Germany) o These were the Locarno Treaties · They were all careful not to go into war. o (This removed any suspicion they had with each other). 2. Friendship between Nations · “new era” was happening by 1929. · There were not much drama going on in the world, and it was very calm. · Several nations signed agreements with each other. · **Kellogg-Briand** Pact helped France and the U.S., establish peace. · Countries kept signing onto this peace agreement. · The U.S.S.R., also made an **Eastern Pact** with its neighboring countries, to keep peace. 3. The League of Nations · 1929 was also the tenth anniversary of the League of Nations. o It was created during the great war. · Collective Security = idea of keeping peace for each other’s sake. · Three things League could do o Barring trades (economic sanctions on the attacker) o Legal means (through Permanent Court of International Justice) o Imposing military sanctions (LoN army) · Over the years, League of Nations dealt with several disputes. · Disarmament Commission persuaded members of its League to redue numbers of weapons they possessed. 4. The limitations of the League · The league had its limits. o League did not contain all the nations that mattered. (i.e., America, and the U.S.S.R) o Members did not actually like the league itself. o Its power to keep peace was never tested.

__-The Great Depression-__ 1. The Great Depression · 1929 was the start of the depression, from the said years to 1933. · Stocks in wall-street New York fell harshly. · Companies were bankrupt, and investors of those companies were also ruined. · The U.S., government was in major trouble, trying to save the economy. · The Great Depression also spread to many other countries, causing many money issues. · The U.S., and Britain raised taxes on imported goods, so that people would choose their own home countries’ products (**protectionism**) · Some countries had even more troubles than the U.S.A. · Japanese had especially big troubles with unemployment. 2. The problem of empires · This Great Depression had a huge threat to the world peace. · Because of their victory in the Great War, France and Britain thought that it was okay for them to build the huge empires. · Britain & France owned 1/3 of the world. · The Japanese and the Italians, had problems with the land divided to them since the Great War. · There were a lot of resentment from the losers of the Great War. · However, the Great Britain, and France had huge problems of their own, because their colonies kept demanding freedom.

­__-Japan, Manchuria, and the League, 1931-33­-__ 1. The attraction of Manchuria · Japan was in control of many parts of China. · It also owned Korea, and Kiaochow. · Japan was not happy with the arragement however, because it wanted Manchuria the most. · 1931, Japan was in main control of Manchuria. · The Great Depression started causing mayhem in japan. o Its army was talking about attacking China to cure the depression. o The army wanted full control of Manchuria, to get new materials, jobs, and many other resources. 2. Japan invades Manchuria · The army in Kwantung did not listen to its own government. o September 18th, 1931 – the Japanese soldiers blew up a section of South Manchuria Railway that they owned, and blamed it on China. o They used it as an excuse to enter China, and occupied Shenyang, part of Manchuria. o China seeked help from League of Nations. o League of Nations asked Japan to remove itself from Manchuria, and the Japanese government agreed to it. o However, the army was out of the Japanese government control. o Japanese armies took entire control of **Manchuria**, and named it Manzhouguo. · The League and Manchuria o League was supposed to use its power to stop this kind of disputes. o However in reality, no one wanted to use any kind of sanctions (military, economics, legal) against the Japanese Kwangtung army. o No country wanted to stop trade with Japan, because the Great Depression already damaged them severely. o League had to try and use persuasion. o The League wanted to tell Japan to back off, but still have the power to rule part of Manchuria. o Japan resigned itself from the League, and started occupying Chinese territories. o League only seemed to be failing.

__-The Revival of Germany, 1933-35-__

1. Hitler’s foreign policy aims · Hitler and the Nazi party had majority of votes in series of elections. · They had specific goals for Germany. · Germany was still furious about the Treaty of Versailles. · The Treaty of Versailles was a big blow to Germany. · Germany was continuously ignored in the League of Nations. · Hitler became Chancellor in 1933. o He wanted to make Treaty of Versailles void. o He wanted all the German speaking people to belong to Germany. o He wanted the German population to have **‘lebenstraum’** which was a living space. (Overpopulation) 2. Re-armament · Hitler needed to build an army in order to make this happen, and he started to think about threatening to conquer lands near. · Germany was very weak at the time Hitler became a Chancellor. o Treaty of Versailles had really weakened the country. · Hitler decided to host a secret meeting in 1933 to make a larger army. · Germany, for the next two years, quietly built on an army. 3. Reactions to German re-armament · The Great Depression, in 1933, did affect Germany a lot. · When other countries found out about Germany’s re-armament, they had no chance to interfere. · The British and the French, the biggest of countries did not want to halt Germany. · France, instead prepared for the worst with **Maginot Line**, so that when Germany crosses France’s borders, the concrete walls would be awaiting them. · Italy was the one who interfered. · Italian leader **Mussolini** placed army on the border of Italy and Austria. · Hitler started collecting even more army. · Starting to get alarmed, leaders of France, Britain and Italy met, formed a **Stresa Front**, to go against Germany. · However they did not take any aggressive actions.

Summary 10 years after the Great War, peace seems to be working out. League of Nation has some major countries, but the Great Depression hits. It starts from the United States, and it spread across the country, and then world-wide. This is a major obstacle to peace, because mayhem occurs in the British empire, French, and several other countries. League of Nations lost its power. When Japan takes control of Manchuria, League couldn’t do anything. Germany recently appoints Hitler as Chancellor. Hitler decides to grow more army, and no one stops him.

Question

1. League of Nations had a lot of powers in theory, but what were the reasons the League did not have actual powers?

2. Why did Japan have special interest on Manchuria, when it already had control of Kiaochow, Korea, etc..?

3. What were the reasons why the Great Britain and France didn’t do anything to stop Hitler?

4. If the world stopped Hitler and Germany, what could have happened?

5. Why did the League of Nations not impose any sanctions towards Japan?

Awesomeness

Found



This is a found awesomeness, a picture of Hitler giving a speech. He certainly isn’t the “awesomeness”, but we can see from the Germans’ point of view. They considered Hitler their “savior”, because of his passionate speeches about his patriotic feelings towards Germany. This is how Hitler got into power.



This is also a found awesomeness. This is a war-flag of the Manchukuo, when Japan was in control of Manchuria. Japan throned PuYi, China’s last emperor as its frontman.

Self-Made

I made this, to try and get the disadvantages and the advantages of the League of Nation. I like to compare the disadvantages and the advantages, just so that I can see if the League will actually be effective in real life.