3. Reading - League of Nations; Threats to Peace



[pic] | | |

|Title |3. Reading - League of Nations; Threats to Peace |

|Description | |

|Keywords | |

|Objectives | |

|Author |M G Callagher |

|Organisation | |

|Version | |

|Date | |

|Copyright | |

Focus Questions

1. What role was the League of Nations intended to play in keeping the peace?

2. How was the League of Nations weakened from the start?

3. For what reasons did the French not put their faith and security in the new League of Nations?

4. By what other means did the French seek to secure their country against future attack?

5. What were some of the threats to peace in the early 1920s?

League of Nations – Aims

|The aim of the League of Nations was to secure | |

|world peace and international cooperation. |[pic] |

| | |

|The idea to establish a League of Nations was the|The League of Nations at opening session. Geneva, 15/11/20 |

|14th point of Wilson’s plan: The establishment of| |

|a general association of nations | |

Steps to secure aims

All members were to be guaranteed their territorial integrity (ownership and control of their own area)

This was to be achieved through the following steps:

▪ Member countries would first seek to resolve their problems by talking rather than fighting. All disputes would go before the League for arbitration (settlement)

▪ The principle of Collective Security would apply – meaning that an attack on one member is to be considered an attack on all members.

▪ All Trade & financial ties would be cut with any aggressor, ie sanctions would be imposed.

▪ If sanctions were unsuccessful a League of Nations army would be made up to defeat the aggressor. (The League could only use force in a dispute if all the members agreed)

League Weakened from the beginning

At its formation the League was weakened by the omission of three of the world’s strongest powers:

1. USA

2. Germany

3. Russia

USA doesn’t join

|The League of Nations had | |

|been Wilson’s idea. |[pic] |

|When Wilson returned to | |

|the USA the Isolationist |Punch, 10 December 1919 |

|mood was widespread | |

| | |

|Wilson needed the approval| |

|of Congress and the Senate| |

|for the USA to join the | |

|League of Nations. | |

|He failed to convince | |

|Congress of the League’s | |

|merits | |

|Americans were afraid the | |

|League of Nations would | |

|tie them up in future | |

|European disputes | |

| | |

|The world’s potentially | |

|most powerful nation never| |

|joined the League. | |

Germany not invited to join

It was agreed that Germany would have to prove itself worthy before it could be admitted to the League.

Germany’s view of the League of Nations:

Germany saw this as further punishment on top of the harsh Treaty of Versailles provisions. Germany also felt that the League was formed to help enforce the Treaty.

Russia not invited to join

| | |

|Russia was mistrusted by other nations. It was isolated and |[pic] |

|feared in Europe because it claimed its communist system | |

|could be forcefully spread to other states. The Comintern |Symbol of Comintern: Workers of all countries – unite! |

|(Communist International) had been set up to achieve this |Globalize your class-struggle for the victory of world |

|aim. |revolution! |

|Russia’s new Communist Government had been attacked by | |

|Britain, France, Poland and USA and was currently involved in| |

|a civil war. | |

| | |

|Russia’s view of the League of Nations: | |

| | |

|The Russians saw the League as a club of hostile capitalists.| |

| | |

|“The League is a robber’s den to safeguard the unjust spoils | |

|of Versailles” (Lenin, Soviet Leader) | |

Reliance on Britain & France

Without three of the World’s major powers (USA, Russia, Germany) it relied on the strength and will of Britain and France for its support.

Britain

Britain felt less endangered now that the German Naval threat had been eliminated. The English Channel provided a safe buffer.

The British also wished to limit their commitments for financial reasons.

France

The French initially saw the League as a means to enforce the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany.

Their faith in the League of Nations was weak.

They would later seek other means to ensure their security.

Some successes

Despite its weaknesses the League boasted some successes

The League successfully:

1. Mediated some border disputes – eg Greek invasion of Bulgaria in 1925 was successfully resolved through the League.

2. Helped Former German and Turkish colonies became League Mandates – Under the mandate system, the Allies (eg Britain and France) took over the colonies and ruled them in trust for the League.

3. Organised commissions to deal with special tasks such as disarmament and health

4. Helped refugees

5. Formed Interpol (International Police force) which helped to suppress drug trafficking and the white slave trade

However, the true test would come if there were to be a dispute between the major powers

French Search for Security

French policy was based on the fear of a German resurgence. France had been invaded by Germany twice in the past 50 years.

The French sought future protection by keeping Germany as weak as possible while keeping herself as strong as possible.

This was to be accomplished in three particular ways:

1. Harsh enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles

2. Forming of Military Alliances

3. A Defensive Build-up

Treaty of Versailles

France took it upon herself to harshly enforce the Treaty of Versailles. The intention was to keep Germany as weak as possible both economically and militarily.

Revisit the Treaty of Versailles provisions and consider what aspects of the Treaty you think that France would most want to enforce to weaken Germany either (a) militarily or (b) economically

Treaty of Versailles Provisions:

|Psychological |Territorial |

|War guilt |German colonies to be handed over to the League |

|No membership of new League of Nations |Polish Corridor created splitting Germany from East Prussia |

|Economic |Sudetenland becomes part of Czechoslovakia |

|Reparations |Alsace-Lorraine returned to France |

|Saar coalfields |Anschluss forbidden |

|Military | |

|Germany to disarm |[Link to further Treaty of Versailles details] |

|Rhineland demilitarised | |

|Army of occupation | |

Military Alliances

|France surrounded Germany by forming | |

|military alliances or treaties with: |[pic] |

|Belgium 1920 | |

|Poland 1921 |French Alliances in the 1920s |

|Czechoslovakia 1924 | |

|Romania 1926 | |

|Yugoslavia 1927 | |

| | |

|Questions to consider (use map): | |

| | |

|Which of these French Allies are major | |

|powers? | |

|Which Allies could be reached directly by | |

|French troops? | |

|What potential threat does France expose | |

|itself to by forming these alliances? | |

Defensive build-up

| | |

|Army |[pic] |

| | |

|In the 1920’s the French embarked on a military expansion which |Maginot Line with demilitarized Rhineland |

|enabled them to boast the largest, most powerful army on the face| |

|of the earth. Much of their equipment was good, and they had | |

|large resources in their colonies upon which to draw. | |

| | |

|Maginot Line | |

| | |

|By 1927 France had planned and approved the building of a series | |

|of impregnable fortifications on the French-German border. | |

|Construction began in 1930 | |

| | |

|[pic] | |

| | |

|Gun defences along the Maginot Line | |

Maginot Line

| | |

|[pic] |[pic] |

|Anti-tank defences |Underground rail |

1923 Ruhr Crisis

The Ruhr was the industrial heartland of Germany located on the Rhine River near the Belgium border.

[pic]

Map showing Ruhr area

German Reparations Payment Problem

In 1921 the Allies announced that Germany would have to pay reparations of ₤6,600 million.

Germany paid its first instalment using all of its gold reserves and spare coal, wood and iron.

In 1922 Germany announced that it could not afford to pay the second instalment of the reparations.

French Reaction

|It was important to France|[pic] |

|that German reparations |French troops invade the Ruhr industrial area |

|were paid: | |

|The money was needed to | |

|pay back war debt demanded| |

|by the Americans | |

|Enforcing reparations was | |

|important to keep Germany | |

|economically weak and | |

|therefore less of a future| |

|threat | |

|France responded to | |

|Germany’s non-payment by | |

|invading the Ruhr | |

|Industrial heartland of | |

|Germany to take the | |

|payments by force from | |

|coalmines and ironworks. | |

German Response

|The German Government’s reaction was to tell the workers in the Ruhr to |[pic] |

|go on strike and not help the French |German poster encouraging a striking worker to |

|The strike led to two problems: |refuse to work in the face of French threats |

|Nothing was being produced so Germany was short of products. | |

|The striking workers still needed to be paid | |

Hyperinflation

|To pay the workers the Government |[pic] |

|decided to print extra banknotes | |

|There were extra banknotes but no more| |

|goods so prices rose, so the | |

|Government kept printing more and more| |

|banknotes. | |

|By November 1923 a loaf of bread cost | |

|428,000,000,000 marks | |

The French Take Over

|The French responded by sending in their own workers and deporting the |[pic] |

|German strike leaders |“Hands off the Ruhr” (Translation) – |

|Germany united in opposition but could do little about it |1923 |

|Some French soldiers were killed in protests and riots | |

Attempted Nazi Revolt

|The Nazi Party |[pic] |

| |Nazi Party Leader – Adolf Hitler |

|The Nazi Party was formed in 1920 out of a group of disaffected working class Germans who felt|(Austrian) |

|betrayed by their leadership and the way that Germany had been treated at Versailles. They | |

|stood for a strong, nationalist and pro-military Germany. | |

|A very promising speaker, Adolf Hitler, had been invited to take over the leadership in 1921. | |

| | |

|Munich Putsch | |

| | |

|Taking advantage of the Ruhr Crisis of 1923 the small Nazi Party attempted a Putsch | |

|(takeover). | |

|The Putsch was poorly organised and easily put down by the army which backed the Government. | |

|Hitler was arrested and put on public trial. He becomes a national figure who seemed to care | |

|about German welfare. | |

|Hitler was convicted of treason and imprisoned. | |

|In prison he wrote a book about his life called Mein Kampf (My Struggle) | |

|He only served 9 months of a 5 year sentence | |

Summary

Main Points

• The League of Nations, formed in 1920, stood for Collective Security.

• The League was weakened by the absence of the three major powers: Germany, Russia, USA. It therefore had to rely on war weary Britain and France.

• France was unwilling to put its future defence in the hands of the League. It built up a series of alliances to surround Germany. It also built up its military and planned the construction of the Maginot Line.

• There was an early setback to peace with the failure of Germany to meet reparations payments. France took measures into its own hands by invading the Ruhr. This led to hyperinflation.

• The small Nazi Party attempted to take over power. The failure of the Putsch in Munich led to Hitler serving prison time and becoming a national hero to many.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download