SS20-1 The interWar period: 1919-1939

Issues to discuss:• What is the relationship between

nationalism and the pursuit of national interest?

• How does the pursuit of national interest shape foreign policy?

• What is the relationship between nationalism and ultranationalism?

Topics:• Treaty of Versailles• League of Nations• German Resentment• France’s False Sense

of Security – Maginot Line

• International Agreements

• The Great Depression

• Challenges to the League

• US Isolationism• Appeasement• Nazi-Soviet Pact

The Versailles Treaty• Most controversial of all WW1

Treaties• Britain, France, Italy and the US

sought their own interests• Germany blamed entirely for WW1• Harsh penalties for Germany• Provided the foundation for German

resentment and the growth of • ultranationalism

The Versailles Treaty

• President Wilson’s idea for European cooperation

• An attempt for the nations to have a forum to discuss issues and problems

• Really just a “club” for the victorious nations in the beginning

• Germany, USSR not allowed to join until later

• League was a good idea, but was powerless to enforce its will – no military power

• Aggressor nations took advantage - Italy, Japan, Germany

The League of Nations

The League of Nations

The Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations

y No control of major conflicts.y No progress in disarmament.y No effective military force.

The “Stab-In-The-Back” Theory

German soldiers are dissatisfied.

Decadence of the Weimar Republic

Dissatisfaction Leads to Resentment in Germany

• Weimar Gov’t widely blamed for agreeing to terms of the Versailles Treaty

• A number of political factions grew while feeding on the anger of the public

• One such group was the National Socialist German Workers’ Party – leader – Adolf Hitler

• His fiery speeches blaming the government, communists, Jews and the Versailles Treaty gained a following

France – False Sense of Security?The Maginot Line was a heavily fortified

defense line designed to protect France from German aggression. It failed because the Germans eventually just went around it!

France – False Sense of Security?

The MaginotLine

International Agreements – Success or Failure?

Locarno Pact – 1925y France, Germany, Great

Britain, Italy Guarantee existing frontiers Establish DMZ 30 miles deep on

East bank of Rhine River

Refrain from aggression against each other

Kellogg-Briand Pact – 1928y Makes war illegal as a tool of

diplomacy No enforcement provisions

The Great Depression

• The collapse of the North American economy began in Oct. 1929 with the Stock Market Crash

• 2 years later, 25% of U.S. work force was unemployed

• Industries failed, international trade stopped• The U.S. had been financing Germany’s war

reparations, but the Depression ended that• All of Europe was hurt because they were

depending on North America to help rebuild Europe after WW1

• Fear and unrest in Europe lead to the emergence of extremists and ultranationalists who promised their countrymen quick fixes to economic, political and social problems

• The result - dictatorial gov’ts rise in Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan (Fascism), and the USSR (Communism)

The Great Depression

Challenges to the League• EXPANSIONISM! – Japan invaded

Manchuria (1931), Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) (1935), Germany reoccupied the Rhineland (1938)

• League was powerless to stop them

• European nations also re-militarizing – the League had been created to prevent this!

The Manchurian Crisis, 1931

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935

Emperor Haile

Selassie

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

U. S. Neutrality Acts:1934, 1935, 1937, 1939

And Just Where Was the U.S. In All of This?

• Not directly involved! They adopted a policy of ISOLATIONISM in order to stay out of European affairs

• U.S. was embroiled in the Depression and wanted nothing to do with problems in Europe

• Although they suggested creation of the League of Nations, they never joined it.

• Isolationism would continue until the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Hawaii in Dec. 1941

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936

The “Pact of Steel”-Germany & Italy as allies

y Carlists [ultra-Catholic monarchists].

y Catholic Church.y Falange [fascist]

Party.y Monarchists.

y Anarcho-Syndicalists.

y Basques.y Catalans.y Communists.y Marxists.y Republicans.y Socialists.

TheNational

Front[Nationalists]

ThePopularFront

[Republicans]

The Spanish Civil War:1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War:1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

Francisco Franco

The Spanish Civil War:A Dress Rehearsal for WW II?

Italian troops in Madrid

“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

The Japanese Invasionof China, 1937

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

“Appeasement” in action!

Why Appeasement?• Germany’s aggressive move to

reoccupy the Rhineland, rebuild its military, and annex Austria sent fear through Europe – no one wanted another world war!

• France and Britain persuade the League of Nations to accept a “policy of appeasement” allowing Germany to take over (annex) part of the Sudetenland – a part of Czechoslovakia – Hitler promised not to move any farther

• This move secretly allowed France and Britain to build up their militaries in preparation for war

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do

business with.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

All of Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third

Reich: March 1939

The Dictators Make a Deal!• The Nazi-Soviet Pact caught the

world by surprise!• Fascists and Communists never

got along – each hated what the other stood for!

• Hitler and Stalin made a deal to never attack one another

• They also secretly agreed to invade Poland together – then each take a half!

• The last check on German aggression had been removed!

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop &

Molotov