Causes of WWII
The Story:
Failure of Collective Security
- Treaty of Versailles (1919)
- Establishment of League of Nations (1920)
- Washington Conference (1921-22)
- Treaty of Rapallo (1922)
- French occupation of Rhineland (1923)
- Dawes Plan (1924)
- Locarno Treaties (1925)
- Germany admitted to League of Nations (1925)
- Kellogg-Brian Pact (1928)
- Introduction to the Young Plan (1929)
- Great Depression (1929)
- London Naval Conference (1930)
- Japan invades Manchuria (1931)
- Abyssinian Crisis (1935)
Problems for the League of Nations
- The League of Nations main weapon against countries was economic sanctions
- The USA didn't join the League of Nation because there they didn't want to get drag into more disputes in Europe and associate with the Versailles Treaty.
- No country wanted to use its own army for the League of Nation when military intervention was needed.
- Without the USA two problems existed, the USA had the largest economy at the time and the Leagues main weapon was economic sanctions. Secondly, the League was mainly European instead of worldwide.
- Initially Germany wasn't in the league of nations and it looked like a victors club, Germany was still powerful even after the war.
- The small states in central Europe in the League of nations didn't contributed very much and required help.
- Without the USSR the league of nations looked like a club of capitalists
Why did the League failed to achieve disarmament?
- The League of Nation failed to achieve disarmament because the Great Depression caused economic rifts in nations that would concentrate on their own problems first. Rearmament was used as a way to create jobs and help the economy.
- The Soviet Union, the weak states in central Europe and Germany made disarmament very uneasy to do.
Attempts to strengthen League of Nation
- France initiated the Draft Treaty of Mutual Assistance which means that if any country were to be attacked all of the countries in the League would come to aid it.
- France also initiated the Geneva Protocol of 1924 which meant there was an arbitrator to settle disputes.
- Both of these were rejected because the countries didn't want a commitment
- France felt threaten territorially by Germany because it was close