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Book No. – 52 (History)
Book Name – Modern World History (Norman Lowe)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. SUMMARY OF EVENTS
1.1. 1919 to 1923
1.2. 1924 to 1929
1.3. 1930 to 1933
2. WHAT ATTEMPTS WERE MADE TO IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND HOW SUCCESSFUL WERE THEY?
3. HOW DID FRANCE TRY TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM OF GERMANY BETWEEN 1919 AND 19337
4. HOW DID RELATIONS BETWEEN THE USSR AND BRITAIN GERMANY AND FRANCE DEVELOP BETWEEN 1919 AND 19337
4.1. The USSR and Britain
4.2. The USSR and Gemars
4.3. The USSR and France
5. THE SUCCESSOR STATES
5.1. Yugoslavia
5.2. Czechoslovakia
5.3. Poland
5.4 Austria
5.5. Hungary
6. UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY, 1919-33
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LANGUAGE
International Relations from 1919 to 1933
Chapter – 4
Table of Contents
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
1919 to 1923
- International relations between the two world wars can be divided into two phases, with the division at January 1933, when Hitler came to power.
- Before 1933, there was some hope for world peace despite the League of Nations‘ failure to curb Japanese aggressionin Manchuria.
- After Hitler took control, preventing war seemed impossible, whether limited or full-scale.
- The first phase (1919-1933) can be divided roughly into three periods:
- 1919-1923: Relations disturbed by problems arising from the peace settlement and the League of Nationsstruggling to resolve issues.
- 1923-1929: Turkey and Italy were dissatisfied with the settlement:
- Turkey defied the settlement (Section 2.10).
- Italy, under Mussolini (1922), showed resentment with the Fiume seizure (awarded to Yugoslavia) and the Corfu Incident (Section 3.4(d)).
- Later, Italy turned aggression towards Abyssinia (1935).
- 1930-1933: German reparations caused strained relations between Britain and France:
- France wanted a weak Germany; Britain wanted a strong Germany to buy British exports.
- Lloyd George’s attempt to reconcile France and Germany at the 1922 Genoa Conference failed.
- Relations worsened in 1923 when French troops occupied the Ruhr, leading to the collapse of German currency.
- The USA remained politically isolated but exerted economic influence, notably insisting on full payment of European war debts.
- Russia, under Bolshevik rule, was viewed with suspicion, with the Western countries and Japan intervening against the Bolsheviks in the 1918-1920 civil war.
- New states formed after the war, including Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Poland, had serious internal problems and divisions, affecting international relations.
1924 to 1929
- Improvement in international atmosphere due to changes in political leadership:
- France: Edouard Herriot and Aristide Briand.
- Germany: Gustav Stresemann.
- Britain: James Ramsay MacDonald.
- These leaders were keen to improve relations, leading to:
- Dawes Plan (1924) with American help, easing German reparations.
- Locarno Treaties (1925) guaranteed western European frontiers fixed at Versailles, removing French suspicions of German intentions.
- Germany joined the League of Nations in 1926.
- Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) signed by 65 nations, renouncing war.
- Young Plan (1929) reduced German reparations to a more manageable figure.
- All seemed set for a peaceful future.
1930 to 1933
- Economic difficulties began in 1929, contributing to deteriorating international relations.
- Japanese invasion of Manchuria (1931) partly driven by economic reasons.
- Mass unemployment in Germany played a key role in enabling Hitler to come to power.
- In this climate, the World Disarmament Conference (1932) met, but broke up in failure after German delegateswalked out (1933).
- Due to the complexity of this period, it is best to treat the various themes separately.
WHAT ATTEMPTS WERE MADE TO IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, AND HOW SUCCESSFUL WERE THEY?
- The League of Nations settled several international disputes but lacked authority as many states preferred signing agreements independently, showing limited confidence in the League.
- States were unwilling to commit military support to curb aggression, further weakening the League’s effectiveness.
- The Washington Conferences (1921-22) aimed to improve USA-Japan relations, addressing suspicions over Japanese power in the Far East and influence in China.
- Agreements included limiting the Japanese navy to three-fifths of the size of the American and British navies, Japan’s withdrawal from Kiaochow and Shantung province, and retaining former German Pacific islands as mandates.
- Western powers agreed not to build naval bases near Japan, while the USA, Japan, Britain, and France guaranteed China’s neutrality and respected possessions in the Far East.
- Though initially deemed successful, Japan became supreme in the Far East with the world’s third-largest navy concentrated in the Pacific, leaving China vulnerable in the 1930s.
- The Genoa Conference (1922), initiated by Lloyd George, sought to address Franco-German hostility, European war debts, and relations with Soviet Russia but failed due to French insistence on reparations, American absence, and German-Russian withdrawal to sign the Rapallo Agreement.
- French troops occupied the Ruhr in 1923 after Germany refused reparations, leading to German passive resistance and deadlock.
- The Dawes Plan (1924), chaired by General Dawes, aimed to ease tensions by setting German reparations payments to what they could afford and providing an 800 million gold mark loan, primarily from the USA.
- French troops withdrew from the Ruhr as German economic recovery began, easing international tensions.
- The Locarno Treaties (1925) involved multiple nations, with key agreements between Germany, France, and Belgium to respect frontiers, backed by Britain and Italy.
- Germany signed arbitration agreements with Poland and Czechoslovakia but did not guarantee eastern frontiers, creating potential trouble spots.
- The Locarno spirit brought optimism, leading to Germany’s entry into the League (1926), but ignored key issues like eastern frontier guarantees.
- The Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) involved 65 nations renouncing war as a national policy, but it lacked sanctions and proved ineffective, as seen with Japan’s war on China in 1931.
- The Young Plan (1929) reduced German reparations to £2000 million over 59 years, acknowledging errors in the Versailles Treaty.
- The plan faced opposition from the Nazi party, who demanded more radical revisions.
- The death of Stresemann (1929), the Wall Street Crash, and the Great Depression weakened international harmony, leading to six million unemployed Germans by 1932.
- The Lausanne Conference (1932) released Germany from most reparations payments, but Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 heightened tensions.
- The World Disarmament Conference (1932-33) failed as nations increased arms spending; France refused to disarm, and Germany withdrew, followed by its exit from the League.
- The failure of international efforts highlighted the dependency on economic prosperity, with tensions resurfacing as authoritarian regimes emerged, leading to renewed aggression.
HOW DID FRANCE TRY TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM OF GERMANY BETWEEN 1919 AND 1933?
- After the First World War, France’s primary concern was preventing future German invasions, which shaped its foreign policy throughout the inter-war years.
- France employed three tactics: keeping Germany economically and militarily weak, signing alliances to isolate Germany, and extending reconciliation and friendship.
- All three tactics ultimately failed.
- Clemenceau insisted on a harsh peace settlement at the Paris peace conference, including limits on the German army to 100,000 men, demilitarization of the Rhineland, and French control of the Saar for 15 years.
- Britain and the USA had promised assistance if Germany attacked again, but the USA rejected the settlement in 1920, leading Britain to cancel its promises, leaving France feeling betrayed.
- Reparations were set at £6600 million in 1921 to weaken Germany economically and prevent further aggression.
- Financial troubles in Germany led to missed reparations payments, and France grew desperate to force payment.
- Raymond Poincaré responded by occupying the Ruhr in 1923, leading to passive resistance from Germany, which caused inflation and collapse of the German mark.
- The episode revealed a British-French divide: Britain favored reconciliation and an economically strong Germany for stability, while France wanted to cripple Germany.
- France built a network of alliances with Poland (1921), Czechoslovakia (1924), Romania (1926), and Yugoslavia(1927), known as the Little Entente, though these alliances were weak.
- France sought a renewal of the alliance with Russia, but communist Russia made this impossible.
- France worked for a strong League of Nations, but the League’s less robust version was adopted, and Britain rejected the Geneva Protocol.
- By 1924, with the failure of the Ruhr occupation, Herriot adopted a compromise approach, leading to the Dawes Plan.
- Under Briand (Foreign Minister from 1925–1932), France pursued reconciliation with Germany, which led to the Locarno Treaties, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, the Young Plan, and cancellation of most reparations.
- Historians debate the genuineness of the reconciliation; A. J. P. Taylor suggested that while Briand and Stresemannwere sincere, nationalism limited their concessions, and Stresemann’s secret goals for a redrawn frontier with Poland and union with Austria created future friction.
- After Stresemann’s death (1929), the Great Depression and the rise of the Nazis led to a tougher French stance.
- In 1931, France blocked the proposed Austro-German customs union by referring it to the International Court of Justice, which ruled against it, causing the plan to fail.
- Relations worsened at the World Disarmament Conference (1932-33), and when Hitler withdrew Germany from the conference and the League, all of Briand’s efforts were undone, leaving the German problem unresolved.