International Relations
1.
Were the Peace Treaties of 1919 - 1923 fair?
Aims of Big 3:
France (Clemenceau):
 2/3 of army had been killed or injured
 Germany was biggest threat and wanted revenge by creating treaty to weaken Germany
forever
USA (Wilson):
 Make Europe peaceful using 14 points (No secret treaties, Disarmament, LoN)
 Germany to be punished but not too harsh so no revenge
 Democracy
 Self-determination, no empires
UK (Lloyd-George):
 Germany to lose colonies and navy because it threatened british empire
 No need to crush as Germany was still good trading partner
 Promised to make Germany pay in elections
Terms of ToV:
Land:
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Alsace-Lorraine to France, Polish corridor and Upper Silesia to Poland
Rhineland demilitarised
Anschluss forbidden
10% of Land, 12.5% of Population, 50% of Steel industry
Military:
 Limited to 100,000
 Conscription was banned
 No tanks, submarines, planes, only 6 battleships
Reparations:
 Accept blame for starting war
 Pay 6.6b GBP
Consequences of ToV:
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Germany fell behind on reparation repayment by 1922 so France invaded Ruhr in 1923
as they felt it was owed to them
Strikes - killing economy
France killed 100 and expelled 100,000. Germany producing no goods and no one was
paid
Hyperinflation in 1923, money was worthless
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Hitler tried to overthrow gov’t. Backfired - Hitler arrested
ToV was fair:
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Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to Russia was harsher. 34 population, 32 land, 54 industry, 26
railways
By 1925 German steel production was double GB
Started war
Big 3 had problems
France lost ⅔ of army and needed security
GB lost 1m men
ToV was not fair:
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Lost 12.5 land and 7m Germans
6.6b GBP would take until 1984 to pay
Clemenceau just wanted revenge
GB and France just taking advantage to add to empires
Germany only country to disarm, vulnerable for attack. France invaded Ruhr in 1923
Other Peace Treaties:
Trianon - Hungary:
 Lost land to Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia
 Lost 60% of population
 Couldn’t afford reparations
St. Germain - Austria:
 Lost land to Czechoslovakia and 4 other countries
 Empire fallen and dismantled
Sevres - Turkey:
 Lost land to Greece
 Ottoman empire fell
 Totally disarmed
 Civil war split
 Negotiated treaty in 1923, Treaty of Lausanne
Neuilly - Bulgaria:
 Lost land to Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece
 Totally disarmed
 $100m reparations
 Lost access to sea
2.
To what extent was the League of Nations a success?
Aims of League:
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Stop aggression
Improve conditions
Disarmament
Enforce ToV
Successes of League:
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Weimar Germany and Poland.
 Both lived in upper silesia, league oversaw peaceful vote and region was divided
into 2.
Sweden and Finland.
 Both countries claimed Aaland Islands. Sweden claimed as 90% of population
was Swedish. Finland claimed as it was closer. League decided Aaland Island
belonged to both and ruling was accepted
Bulgaria and Greece.
 Bulgarian soldiers mistakenly killed greek soldiers so greece invaded bulgaria.
League demanded both sides to stand down and greek forces withdrew. Greece
told to pay 45,000 GBP in compensation. If not followed, league would impose
sanctions.
Failures of League:
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Poland and Lithuania.
 Polish army took over VIlna, capital of Lithuania. League decided Poland was
aggressor and told to withdraw. But poland refused and GB and France did not
send troops to enforce League’s decision.
Italy and Greece.
 Mussolini blamed Greece for dead soldiers and invaded Corfu. League decidied
italy as aggressor and mussolini refused to listen. Mussolini asked to resolve
corfu crisis and GB and France gave his demands
Manchuria Crisis:
Causes:
 Explosion on japanese owned South Manchuria railway in China. Owned and patrolled
by japanese army who claimed china was responsiulbe
 Using incident to expand empire, army invaded manchuria and set up pro-japan gov’t
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China ansd japan appealed to league and league ordered soldiers to withdraw from
area. Sanctions and reparations to responsible country
Japan argued protecting assets in mancuria and invaded to keep peace
Response:
 League said japan was aggressor.
 Japan resigned from league and continued to invade china
 Leaders reluctant to involve as far away and didnt want to lose more soldiers
 Some sympathetic to japan ansd hitler wanted to see league’s reaction before invading
rhineland
Abyssinia Crisis:
Causes:
 Dispute between italy and abyssinia soldiers
 Mussolini demanded apology from abyssinia before abyssina took to league
 Mussolini planned full scale invasion
Response:
 League said italy was aggressor and imposed sanctions and banned weapons
 League did not ban supply of oil, coal, rubber and iron
 GB feared if Suez Canal closed, italy army route to abyssinia would cross GB navy
 GB and France decided to divide abyssinia in half giving mussolini richer half. But after
mussolini accepted plan leaked to press and caused uproar among GB public causing
Hoare and Laval to resign
 League tried to imposed harsher sanctions after Hoare-Laval pact but italy already
conquered abyssinia
Why League failed:
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Weak powers. Countries unwilling to send armies abroad and enforce league’s
decisions, league didnt have own army
Absent members. US, USSR and Germany not members
Slow decision-making. Assembly met once a year and decisions had to be unanimous,
took one year for manchuria and 10 months for abyssinia
Depression. Countries unwilling to impose sanctions fearing it would damage economy
Unfair ToV. many believed ToV was unfair and harsh
GB and France acted for own interests
Japan, Italy and Germany became more aggressive and began remarmament and
invasions