What impact did the Great Depression have on international relations in the 1930s?

Introduction

In the early 1920s the Great Depression hit. The chaos caused by the First World War was the main reason for the Great Depression. The USA had lent large amounts of money to other countries to help with their damages from the war. The loans that the USA made helped the countries to recover trade. Many countries tried to protect their industries by putting taxes on imports. In 1930 USA the biggest trading nation in the world also raised their taxes. This made the world trade suffer badly as it made it difficult to sell goods to America.

World trade was already very difficult so when the Wall Street Crash hit there was a worldwide economic slump. The American stock market was centered on Wall Street in New York. American banks wanted all the money lent out repaid back to them. Banks and factories closed and soon all the countries had loss of imports and exports.

The Depression.

Germany was affected the most by the Great Depression. Agricultural prices fell. This brought poverty to the countryside. The Wall Street Crash meant the withdrawal of the USA loans. This hit Germany worse than other countries. Unemployment rose to 5.5 million in 1931. Also in 1931 the five major banks crashed in Germany. Because of this many businesses failed and most middle class people lost their savings. The Depression brought Hitler and the Nazis to power. One of the many reasons for Hitler becoming leader was because he promised to tear up the Treaty of Versailles. The first chance of survival, which happened to be Hitler who gave them promises, which they hoped were true, was there way out. Or so they thought. The people become so hungry and frantic they stole potatoes from fields and most of the people saved their shoes for interviews. Interviews were very rare so people tried to make the best impression possible. Hitler had decided to take back the land, which he lost in the First World War. The other countries were also suffering the Depression. They were trying to build up their countries so they tried to ignore Germanys invasions. This was a great opportunity for Hitler. However this lead to aggression, which lead to the build up, of World War Two.

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The leader of Italy Mussolini wanted to distract the attention from economic problems by enlarging the Italian empire in Africa. Italy had lost over 40% of its imports because of the Wall Street Crash and 30% of its exports. Mussolini wanted to fight in a war and create a giant empire. Mussolini wanted to gain coal, iron and steel. He also felt that he needed to invade Abyssinia as revenge for there defeat in 1896. Abyssinia was an independent country and was part of the league. The league was meant to protect Abyssinia in any problems. In 1935 Italy invaded Abyssinia using tanks, poison gas, bombs and flamethrowers whereas Abyssinia had troops armed with spears and out-dated rifles. As a result of this invasion Italy left the league and allied with Germany. This weakened the league. People started to undermine the league. This was a loss to the league because Italy was one of the biggest countries in the league.

Japan suffered a lot of economic problems. There silk export trade was destroyed and 50% of Japans industry closed. However the economic problems strengthened the league. Japan was looking for new markets and raw materials. Japan found that they could only do this by invading other countries. Japan claimed that the explosion that took place on the South Manchurian Railway in 1931 was the Chinese’s fault. However Japan had claimed this as it gave them an easy time to invade. The Lytton report condemned them for invading Manchuria and the league offered no help. Britain obtained part of Japan so when they invaded China they didn’t want to be involved, as they were scared of an invasion. The league still took no action. They did not have the power or the will to act against Japan.

The USA suffered the largest rise on unemployment. There figures rose from 1.55 million to 12.06 million. Before the First World War they were the greatest trading nation but because of the depression there trade had dropped tremendously. They endured hunger, loss of jobs and homes. The suicide rate grew. The result of the depression was that they retreated into further isolation.

Countries such as Brazil and Argentina depended on exported agricultural products. They could buy little from industrial countries such as USA and Britain. As USA had lent a lot of money to other countries and they wanted it back soon U.K, France and the USA had an appeasement.

During the depression Britain concentrated on economic problems at home and they delayed rearming as they thought it would harm its economy. Britain’s unemployment rose from 1.20 million to 2.80 million. Britain didn’t respond when Japan invaded Manchuria as parts of there empire e.g. Hong Kong, Singapore and India could be at risk.

France has internal political problems, which made them delay rearmament and become isolated. France came across the same problems as all the other countries. Loss of jobs, homes and the country became desperate. France had no money or army and problems from Italy lead to the collapse of the league because Britain and France couldn’t do anything.

Conclusion.

The league helped settle some disputes. It helped improve international communications, people’s living but the league never achieved its main aim which was to prevent wars. Without the USA the league could not stop Japan and Britain and France could have stopped Italy if they had acted quickly but they were to scared of invasion. The league did not help to stop the aggression because they did not believe it was in there best interest. Self-interest is one of the main reasons why the league failed.