2 The Peace Settlements
In what ways did the Peace Treaties reflect the intentions of the victorious powers? How effective were the peace treaties in laying the foundations for a new peaceful postwar world?
- There was no unanimous agreement amongst the Allies what these solutions should be. The Treaty of Versailles was essentially a compromise between British and French policies on how to treat Germany. It was criticised in Britain and America for being too harsh while to the French, it did not go far enough. It was not effective because it led to the Second World War and did not fix many problems.
- President Wilson emphasised the League of Nations and believed it would prove to be key to creating a peaceful postwar world. He believed in national self-determination, and creation of independent nation states
- Clemenceau anxious to weaken Germany in every possible way
- Britain saw its war aims fulfilled with the surrender and destruction of the German fleet and collapse of Germany’s global trade now wanted a peaceful united Germany.
- Italy and Japan aimed to max their war time gains. Italy wanted to force Entente to honour Treaty of London of 1915 that promised large gains in Istria and Dalmatia
3 Postwar Problems 1920-3
What were the problems that confronted the peacemakers in the immediate postwar years? How effectively were the treaties enforced?
The economic depression
The American Senate refuse to accept principle of American involvement in the League. Its failure to ratify the Treaty of Versailles ensured that all plans for an Anglo-American guarantee of France were abandoned. Leaving Britain and France to enforce peace with its’ fundamentally different approaches
Arguments over: reparation payments, disarmament; the implementation of the Treaty in Eastern Europe, particularly in Upper Silesia
Anglo-French disagreements over Germany started when French, on the pretext of late German reparation deliveries in coal and timber, occupied the Ruhr. Their intention was not only to force Germany to honour its reparation obligations but also to split off the Rhineland from Germany by creating a French satellite state there. Britain adopted “benevolent passivity” policy and refused to cooperate with the French, in early 1924 it became clear that French policy was failing and that Britain together with USA was able to bring Ruhr conflict to an end by convincing both France and Germany to accept the Dawes Plan
Problems with carrying out the Treaty of Sèvres with Turkey because it was an Anglo-French compromise. The French wanted to be more lenient towards Turkey because they lent its government huge sums of money before war, while British more interested in partitioning the Ottoman empire and building up power of Greece at Turkey’s expense. The Immediate postwar years also showed that the peace treaties with Bulgaria and successor states to Austro-Hungary Empire created as many problems as they solved. Since they did not form the compact nation states which Wilson wished to create, there were numerous racial minorities trapped within each state and territorial settlement created intense rivalries between the new states which led to frequent outbreaks of violence and serious diplomatic incidents
Upper Silesian Crisis
Chanak Crisis
Ruhr
Spread of Communism from Russia. With disintegreation of the Habsburgh, Ottoman and Romanov empires there were no stable governments eat of the Rhine.
Fear of Revolution by influenza pandemic cause deaths of millions of people.
4 A Peaceful Interlude, 1924-30
How much progress did the European powers make towards solving the bitter postwar legacy in Europe? To what extent did the USA abandon its policy of isolation?
France and Germany settled the Ruhr conflict by accepting the Dawes Plan by arranging for an international loan to be granted to Germany and recommending an initially more gradual scale of repayment for reparations to give Germany the chance to recover economically. It created one of the basic preconditions for European recovery; the other was the signing of the Locarno Treaty in Oct 1925 by France, Germany, Britain and Italy.
After the British and French evacuated the Cologne Zone, Germany joined the Council of the League of Nations. The Allied Disarmament Commission was withdrawn from Germany. The total sum of reparations that Germany had to pay was cut and the British and French agreed to pull out completely from Rhineland 5 years earlier than they were committed to do by Treaty of Versailles
The USA did abandon its policy of isolation a bit when they decided to formulate the Dawes Plan and join the League of Nation’s Preparatory Commission set up to prepare for the World Disarmament conference, but they did keep their word in the end when the Senate refuses membership to the League of Nations
5 The League of Nations
How did the League work and how successful was it?
6 The Consequences of the Great Depression
What was the impact of the Great Depression on internationals politics?
7 The Collapse of the League and the Weakening of the Versailles System
Why was the League unable to stop the aggressive policies of Japan and Italy, 1931-6? Why were Britain and France unable to stop Hitler from breaking key clauses of the Treaty of Versailles?
8 The Outbreak of the Second World War?
What were the causes of the Second World War? Why did the policy of appeasement fail?
