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Conflict and Tension– 1918 –1939

Topic areas:

• Peacemaking

• The League of Nations and interna-

tional peace

• The origins and outbreak of the Sec-

ond World War

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1. Armistice & Paris Peace Conference

• November 1918: Germany signed the Armistice.

Armistice = TEMPORARY stop in the fighting.

Terms of Armistice:

Germany gave all its weapons to victorious countries.

Germany gave up most of its ships.

Agreed to pay reparations (though the amount wasn’t set yet).

• To work out the terms of the Treaty, many countries attended the Paris

Peace Conference at the Palace of Versailles in June 1919.

Germany was NOT part of the negotiations.

The terms of the eventual treaty were mainly worked out by the ‘Big Three’.

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2.What were the aims of the ‘Big Three’ at the Paris Peace Conference?

Georges Clemenceau (French Prime Minister)

David Lloyd George (British Prime Minister)

Woodrow Wilson (USA President)

He wanted revenge, and to punish the Germans for what they had done. He wanted to make Germa-ny pay for the damage done during the war. He also wanted to weaken Germany, so France would never be invaded again.

He wanted Germany to still be able to trade. He wanted ‘justice’, but he did not want revenge. He said that the peace must not be harsh – that would just cause another war in a few years time. He tried to get a ‘halfway point’ – a compromise be-tween Wilson and Clemen-ceau.

He wanted to end war by making a fair peace. In 1918, Wilson published ‘Fourteen Points’ saying what he wanted. (See next revision card) He also promised self-determination for the peo-ples of Eastern Europe.

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2. Woodrow Wilson—Fourteen points

Wilson = President of USA. He was an idealist. The fourteen points were

sees as a blueprint for a fair settlement at the end of the war

Published his Fourteen Points in January 1918. The Fourteen Points were

about what he wanted the world to be like after WW1 had ended.

Some of his aims:

Self-determination of nations

Disarmament (getting rid of weapons and making armies smaller)

League of Nations to be set up to prevent future wars.

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2. The main points of the Treaty of Versailles

1. Germany had to accept the blame for starting the war.

2. Germany was forbidden to have submarines or an air force. She could

have a navy of only six battleships, and an army of just 100,000 men. In ad-

dition, Germany was not allowed to place any troops in the Rhineland, the

strip of land, 50 miles wide, next to France.

3. Germany had to pay £6,600 million, called reparations, for the damage

done during the war.

4. Germany lost land in Europe. Germany’s colonies were given to Britain

and France.

5. Germany could not join the League of Nations.

6. Germany could never unite with Austria.

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2. Summary of Versailles and the other peace treaties

Treaty Result

Treaty of Versailles – Germany

Severely punished (see notes on previous card)

Treaty of St. Germain – Austria

Austria-Hungary split. Both ordered to pay repara-tions.

Austria forbidden to unite with Germany. Loss of territory to new countries e.g. Poland & Czechoslo-vakia.

Hungary lost land to Greece, Romania and Yugosla-via. 3 million Hungarians ended up in orther states

Treaty of Trianon – Hungary

Treaty of Neuilly – Bulgaria

Loss of territory to Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia

Treaty of Sevres – Turkey

Loss of Ottoman Empire. Controversial – Turks chal-lenged the Treaty and was given Smyna back as part of the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923).

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2. How did Germany react to the Treaty of Versailles?

• Called it a diktat (dictated peace).

• The Germans were angry at War Guilt Clause; they said they were not to

blame for the war.

• The Germans were angry about reparations; they said France and Britain

were trying to starve their children to death. At first they refused to pay,

and only started paying after France and Britain invaded Germany (January

1921).

• The Germans were angry about their tiny army. They said they were help-

less against other countries.

• The Germans also thought the loss of territory was unfair. Germany lost a

tenth of its land. Other nations were given self-determination – but the

Treaty forced Germans to live in other countries. Germans were also angry

that they could not unite with the Austrian Germans.

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2. How did the big three react to the Treaty of Versailles?

Georges Clemenceau (French Prime Minister)

David Lloyd George (British Prime Minister)

Woodrow Wilson (USA President)

Liked the harsh things that were in the Treaty:

Reparations (would re-pair the damage to France),

The tiny German army, and the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland (would protect France),

France got Alsace-Lorraine, and German colonies.

But he wanted the Treaty to be harsher.

Many British people wanted to ‘make Germany pay’, but Lloyd George hated the Trea-ty. He liked:

the fact that Britain got some German colo-nies,

the small German navy (helped British sea-power).

But he thought that the Treaty was far too harsh.

Wilson got self-determination for the peo-ples of Eastern Europe, and a League of Nations, but he hated the Treaty:

few of his ‘Fourteen Points’ got into the Treaty,

when Wilson went back to America, the Senate refused to join the League of Nations, and even refused to sign the Treaty of Ver-sailles!

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3. The League of Nations The idea of Woodrow Wilson. In February 1918 he had put for-ward a proposal for peace known as the Fourteen Points. This had included plans for the establishment of a League of Nations. The League of Nations was established so that the Great Powers and other member countries could discuss issues rather than re-sort to war. The League also had other responsibilities e.g. a world health programme and an international court of justice.

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3. How was the League of Nations structured?

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3. What were the strengths and weaknesses of the League of Nations?

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

•Forty-two countries joined the League at the start. In the 1930s about 60 countries were members. This made the League seem strong. •Britain and France were the main members, helped by Italy and Japan; they were quite powerful countries. •Four powers of the League:

1. Covenant (all members had prom-ised to keep the peace). 2. Condemnation (the League could tell a country it was doing wrong). 3. Arbitration (the League could offer to decide between two countries). 4. Sanctions (stopping trade).

Membership: USA, USSR and Germany were not members of the League.

• Although Wilson wanted American membership, many leading American politicians wanted to keep out of international affairs.

• This policy of keeping to themselves was known as isolationism. • The USSR was not allowed to join until 1934 • Germany was not allowed to join initially as one of the punish-

ments imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. (Germany was a member from 1926-1933).

The League did not have an army.

• If a conflict arose, member states had to supply forces at their own expense. All were reluctant to do so, especially Britain and France

Organisation.

• All the main decisions were made by the Council, made up of permanent members Britain, France, Italy and Japan in 1920 (plus a number of temporary members). Each member of the council had the right of veto, which meant that one vote against could stop action being agreed.

• All member countries sent delegates to the Assembly. This only met once a year and all decisions had to be unanimous. This made decision-making very slow (if a decision was reached at all!)

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Refugees The League did great work in getting refugees and former prisoners of war back to their homelands. It is estimated that in the first few years after the war about 400,000 prisoners were returned to their homes by the Leagues’ agencies.

When a refugee crisis hit Turkey in 1922, hundreds of thousands of people had to be housed in refugee camps.

Woking condi-

tions

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) was successful in banning poisonous white lead from paint and in limiting the hours that small children were allowed to work. It also campaigned strongly for employers to improve working con-ditions generally. It introduced a resolution for a maximum 48-hour week and 8 hour day.

Health The Health Committee, which later became the World Health Organisation, worked hard to defeat the dreadful disease leprosy. It started the global campaign to exterminate mosquitoes, which greatly reduced cases of malaria and yellow fever in later decades.

Transport The League made recommendations on marking shipping lanes and produced an international highway code for road users.

Social prob-

lems

The League blacklisted four large German, Dutch, French and Swiss companies, which were involved in the illegal drug trade. It brought about the freeing of slaves in British-owned Sierra Leone. Where the death rate among African work-ers was a staggering 50%. League pressure brought this down to 4% which they said was ‘a much more acceptable fig-ure.’

Even in areas where it could not remove social injustice the League kept careful records of what was going on and pro-vided information on problems such as drug trafficking, prostitution and slavery.

3. How did the League of Nations help the world?

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3. What happened in Manchuria?

CAUSES EVENTS RESULTS

Manchuria had lots of raw

materials that Japan

needed.

Japan owned the South

Manchurian Railway.

Sept 1931: Explosion on

the South Manchurian

Railway.

Japan said the Chinese Ar-

my had bombed the rail-

way; China denied this.

Japan invaded Manchuria

and set up a puppet

government.

Renamed Manchuria as

Manchuko.

China appealed to the

League of Nations for

help.

League sent Lord Lytton to

investigate.

Lytton Report published

1year later.

Lytton Report said that Ja-

pan should leave Man-

churia.

Japan ignored the report

and left the League of

Nations.

Japan invaded the rest of

China.

League made to look weak

– it couldn’t do anything

to stop Japan.

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3. What happened in Abyssinia in 1935/6? CAUSES EVENTS RESULTS

Abyssinia had defeat-ed Italy in previous war.

Mussolini wanted an empire.

Abyssinia bordered two Italian colonies in Africa.

Mussolini didn’t think Britain and France would do anything to stop the invasion.

October 1935: Musso-lini invaded Abyssin-ia.

Abyssinian Emperor asked the League for help.

League banned sale of weapons to Italy.

League DID NOT ban oil exports, Italy could juts get this from USA anyway.

League DID NOT close the Suez Ca-nal.

Hoare-Laval Pact:

Hoare-Laval Pact showed Britain and France were selfish (they wanted to give Mussolini 2/3 of Ab-yssinia).

Hoar-Laval Pact was supposed to be se-cret. When it was leaked, the League was made to look weak because it was clear that important countries were only interested in them-selves.

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4.What were Hitler’s main ‘Foreign Policy’Aims?

Hitler aimed to make Germany into a great power again and this he hoped to achieve by:

• destroying the hated Versailles settlement,

• building up the army/rearming

• recovering lost territory such as the Saar and the Polish Corridor, and

• bringing all ‘Germans’ together within a ‘Greater Germa-ny’ (Grossdeutschland), and carving out an empire in Eastern Europe to give Germans extra ‘living space’ (lebensraum).

This last aim would involve the annexation of Austria and the acquisition of territory from Czechoslovakia and Poland, both of which had large German minorities as a result of Versailles.

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4. Hitler’s main steps to war

1933 Hitler comes to power in Germany and promises to get back all that was lost by the Treaty of Versailles. He promises to make Germany power-ful and to gain lebensraum (living space) for the Aryan master-race.

1934 Hitler introduces conscription for the army. He orders the build up of submarines, tanks and an airforce. This rearmament was strictly forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles.

1935 Germany regains the Saar after 15 years under international rule following a plebiscite in which its people chose to rejoin Germany. Hitler claims the credit.

Hitler announces the existence of the Luftwaffe (airforce). Britain and Germany sign the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. The German navy was limited to 35% of Britain’s. Mussolini attacks Abyssinia and falls out with Britain and France. League of Nations seriously weakened.

1936 Hitler remilitarises the Rhineland. The League takes no action even though this is forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler and Mussolini sign the Rome-Berlin Axis. Mussolini promises not to intervene in Austria.

Germany and Italy support Franco in the Spanish Civil War and take the opportunity to test out/show off their new techniques of aerial bomb-ing.

1938 Hitler forces the Anschluss with Austria. Britain let Hitler do this. Nobody in Britain wanted a war with Germany.

In September 1938 Hitler forces Czechoslovakia to give up the Sudetenland. Britain’s Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, agrees to Hitler’s demands. Chamberlain believed that if Hitler got what he wanted, Britain could avoid war with Germany.This was called appeasement.

1939 In March 1939, Hitler invades the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Hitler and Mussolini sign the Pact of Steel.

In August 1939 Hitler and Stalin sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Hitler invades Poland. The Second World War begins.

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5. The Saar 1935

Treaty of Versailles had meant the Saar area was controlled by the

League of Nations for 15 years.

1935: Plebiscite (referendum) held. People living in the Saar voted on

whether they should be part of Germany again.

90% of people voted to be part of Germany.

Success gave Hitler confidence to challenge more terms of the Treaty.

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5. Rhineland 1936 Rhineland was demilitarised under the Treaty of Versailles. This meant that it was still

part of Germany but they couldn’t put any soldiers there.

Hitler invaded the Rhineland in March 1936. This broke the Treaty of Versailles. It was a

bluff – the German army had only 22,000 soldiers and had orders to retreat if they met

any resistance. But, Britain and France did nothing to stop the German soldiers march-

ing into the Rhineland.

Hitler’s action was very popular with Germans.

Historians think this was the last chance to stop Hitler without starting a war.

Why did Britain and France not intervene? • The French were nervous of going to war without Britain’s backing.

• Many British politicians felt that Hitler should be allowed to go “into his own back gar-den”.

The British public did not yet see Hitler as a threat, rather he seemed a strong potential ally against Russia.

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5. Anschluss 1938

Anschluss (uniting Germany and Austria) was banned by the Treaty of Versailles.

Following pressure by Hitler, the Chancellor of Austria called a plebiscite to ask

Austrian people if they wanted to join with Germany.

Hitler put troops on the Austrian border and threatened to invade.

Austrian Chancellor resigned and an Austrian Nazi invited the Germans to restore

order.

Plebiscite was held: 99.75% of Austrians voted in favour of Anschluss. Germany

and Austria were now united.

Britain did not protest – even Chamberlain felt that Germany and Austria had the right to be united and many politicians agreed that the Treaty of Versailles had been wrong to separate them.

The Anschluss dealt a severe blow to Czechoslovakia, which could now be

attacked from the south as well as from the west and north.

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5. What was ‘Appeasement’?

Policy introduced by Neville Chamberlain (Prime Minister of Britain after

Anschluss).

Key features of Appeasement:

Stop any future war.

People of Britain wanted to avoid war.

Giving in to Hitler’s demands because they seemed reasonable e.g. Uniting

all German speaking people.

Gave Britain more time to rearm in order to prepare for a possible war.

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5. Arguments for and against appeasement

FOR AGAINST

There was a lot of support. British people were very keen to avoid another war.

Many people agreed with Hit-ler’s view that the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh.

Fear of Communism. A strong Germany would stop Communism spreading across Europe.

Britain was not ready for war. In 1938, the army was too weak to oppose Hitler.

Winston Churchill and others criticised Appeasement at the time.

Because Chamberlain kept giving in to Hitler’s demands, it made Britain look weak.

Failed to prevent another war. Chamberlain missed oppor-

tunities to stop Hitler when Hitler was weak.

Hitler made Chamberlain look foolish.

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5. Sudetenland 1938

Sudetenland was the part of Czechoslovakia that bordered Germany.

Most people living in the Sudetenland though of themselves as

German, not Czechoslovakian.

Hitler encouraged Sudeten Germans to start campaigning for more

rights.

April 1938: Hitler put troops on the border.

September 1938: Sudeten Germans rioted. There were crushed by

the Czech government. Hitler threatened war.

Chamberlain met Hitler.

Mussolini persuaded Hitler to attend a conference in Munich

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5. Munich Agreement –September 1938

Munich Conference aimed to solve the Sudeten Crisis.

Four countries were represented: Britain. France, Germany and Italy.

Czechoslovakia was NOT invited.

It was agreed that the Sudetenland would become part of Germany.

Britain and France also forced Czechoslovakian President to accept

this.

Chamberlain returned to Britain a hero. He had managed to maintain

peace.

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5. Why Czechoslovakia?

After the Anschluss Hitler turned his attention to Czechoslovakia and the three million Sudeten Germans. The region was now bordered by Germany on 3 sides.

Czechoslovakia was a new country, created as part of the Treaty of St. Ger-main (the treaty which had dealt with Austria-Hungary in 1919.) Note that it had NEVER BEEN PART OF GERMANY BEFORE WW1 and therefore has noth-ing to do with Hitler breaking the terms of the Treaty of Versailles..

Czechoslovakia was ethnically diverse with large numbers of Czechs, Slo-vaks, Poles and Hungarians. One of the largest minority groups was the Su-deten Germans who lived in the mountainous region of western Czechoslo-vakia. This region was relatively wealthy compared to the rest of the country and contained all the major industrial complexes such as Skoda.

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5. Occupation of Czechoslovakia March 1939

After losing the Sudetenland, the rest of Czechoslovakia was very

weak.

The actions in the Sudetenland persuaded people who wanted a

separate country for Slovaks to start rioting.

New Czechoslovakian President appealed to Hitler for help. In the

end, he had no choice but to invite the Germans into the rest of

Czechoslovakia to help stop the riots.

Britain and France did not oppose Hitler’s annexation of Czechoslo-

vakia because he had not invaded.

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5. Nazi Soviet Pact 1939

The Soviets and the Nazis were enemies, so this agreement was a huge

surprise.

Germany and the Soviet Union promised not to attack each other.

Germany and Soviet Union agreed to divide Poland between them equal-

ly.

Pact allowed both the Nazis and Soviets time to prepare for a future war

against each other.

Britain tried to make a deal with Stalin, but he became fed up because it

was clear they weren’t very committed.

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5. Invasion of Poland 1939

April 1939: Britain and France promised to help Poland if it was

attacked by Germany.

1st September 1939: German army invaded Poland.

Chamberlain failed to persuade Hitler to withdraw.

3rd September 1939: Britain and France declared war on Germany.

WW2 had begun.

17th September 1939: Soviet Union invaded Poland.

Poland was defeated within weeks. Britain and France couldn’t do an-

ything.

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6. Why did it lead to war?

Britain had promised to support Poland if it was attacked. This was intended as a warning to Hitler that appeasement had gone far enough.

Tension mounted when Mussolini, supported by Hitler, invaded Albania in April 1939, and in May 1939, Italy and Germany signed a military alliance known as the Pact of Steel.

On August 31st Hitler ordered some SS soldiers to dress up as Polish soldiers. These men crossed into Poland secretly and attacked a German radio station on the bor-der. This gave Hitler the excuse to declare war on Poland.

On September 3rd 1939 both Britain and France issued an ultimatum to Hitler to end his attack on Poland. It was ignored. The Second World War had begun.