Conflict and Tension
Cards (67)
- Impact of WW1 on France-1 million casualties-2 million homeless-750,000 homes destroyed-4,800km of road-2,300 factories-large areas of farmland
- Impact of WW1 on Britain-Nearly one million casualties-Great loss of men in communities-Damaged buildings and 100 killed from air attacks-Owed £1 million to USA
- Impact of WW1 on Germany-Almost two million casualties-Damage from air attacks-Ports blocked by Britain caused widespread starvation
- Impact of WW1 on Russia-Nearly two million casualties-Gave up areas of land on western borders- 1/3 to Germany
- Impact of WW1 on USA-Approx. 100,000 casualties-Gave supplies to other countries who now owed them
- Aims of Georges Clemenceau-Land (including Alsace-Lorraine) and money-Smaller German army-Security on the border-Revenge
- Aims of David-Lloyd George-Germany to have a smaller navy than Britain-Punishment (not too much though because he thought if they were treated too harshly they'd want revenge)
- Aims of Woodrow Wilson-Peace-Had ideas for the future called '14 points' (included League of Nations)
- What Georges Clemenceau got-Reparations-Alsace-Lorraine and other land-German colonies-Tiny German army-Border security through demilitarised Rhineland
- What David-Lloyd George got-Bigger navy-German colonies
- What Woodrow Wilson got-League of Nations, but USA Senate refused to join
- Terms of the ToV- Land-10% of Germany's land-Germany's African colonies were given to the LoN to control as a mandate (so Britain and France controlled them)-16% of coalfields-1/2 iron and steel industry-12.5% of population-anschluss was forbidden
- Terms of ToV- Army-100,000 soliders, volunteers-No aircraft, submarines, tanks-6 ships-Demilitarised Rhineland-Saar ally-occupied (under LoN control) for 15 years
- Terms of ToV- Money-Germany was set to pay £6.6 billion over 42 years
- Terms of ToV- BlameClause 231, the War Guilt Clause, justified blaming Germany for the war and setting the repirations
- Germany felt:-Forced to sign (threatened with war, only agreed when Britain and France invaded)-Pride hurt by Clause 231-Loss of land and population would destroy economy-Innocent Germans were misplaced
- Results of ToV in Germany-revolts-Wiemar Constitution drawn up, with rules for a new democratic Germany-Jan 1923, Germany misses a reparations payment and France invades the Rhur, a key German industrial area-Nov '23, Hyperinflation takes effect e.g. a bread loft costs 200,000 million marks-Aug '24, America lends 800 million marks to help rebuild their economy, 'The Dawes Plan
- Strengths of the ToV-League of Nations-Re-shaped Europe-Britain and the USA were allies
- Weaknesses of the ToV-Failed peace, mostly about revenge-Different leaders couldn't agree-A reason for WW2-How LAMB affected Germans-Land was fought over-Germany's economy was ruined-USA didn't join, Germany and Russia not asked to join League of Nations
- Aims of the League of Nations-All major nations would join-Members would disarm-Disputes taken to the League and any decision accepted-Protect each other if attacked: The Covenant-A member breaks The Covenant: faces sanctions, invasion
- The Assembly-Met once a year, like a world council-Each country had one vote, decisions were unanimous
- The Council-Smaller, met in crisis-Had four permanent members (Japan, Britain, France and Italy) and four non-permanent members-each member had a veto to stop what they wanted
- Sanctions-Moral- condemned actions-Economic- Stopped trade-Military- Sent armed troops from Britain and France as League didn't have its own
- Secretariat-Based in Geneva-Handled reporting, statistics, administration
- Disarmament CommissionAttempted to persuade members to reduce weapons
- Special Committees-E.g. Health Organisation-Looked into world problems
- International Labour OrganisationImproved working conditions, women's rights, helped refugees
- Permanent Court of Justice-15 judges-Helped with legal conflicts
- Why didn't USA join?-Americans hated the idea-Already unhappy with WW1-Wanted separation from Europe, isolationism-Had own problems-Cost involved
- Some League successes--Attacked slave traders in Africa and Burma and freed 200,000 slaves-closed down four big Swiss drug companies which were selling drugs-set up camps and fed Turkish refugees-took home half a million POWs-stopped Greece invading Bulgaria
- Some League failures--Disarmament Commission (1926) failed because Germany demanded equality of armaments with everyone else-Commission on Armaments (1921) failed because Britain objected to disarmament-Kellog-Briand Pact-Manchurian and Abyssinian Crisis
- The Locarno Treaty-In 1925, German foreign minister Gustav Streissman invited French foreign minister Aristide Briand to meet and sign a treaty to improve relations-Signed treaties that said Germany accepted the loss of land from the ToV, France and Germany would solve disputes through the League-Happened outside of the League as Germany was not a member-But enabled Germany to be a member
- Greece invading Bulgaria-Greece and Bulgaria shared a border-in 1925 patrolling sentries shot at each other, Greek soldier killed-Greece invaded Bulgaria-Bulgaria appealed to the League, which ordered the fighting stop and Greeks leave-After sending experts to the area, decided Greece was to blame and it was fined £45,000-both nations accepted the League's decision
- Poland and Lithuania and Vilna-Poland and Lithuania were new countries created by the post war treaties-Vilna was the capital of Lithuania but it had a largely Polish population-In 1920 a private Polish army took control of it-Lithuania appealed to the League, who asked Poland to withdraw-Poland refused, troops should have been sent in but France didn't want to upset Poland because they were an ally against Germany and Britain wouldn't act alone-So the League did nothing and the Polish kept controlling Vilna
- The Kellogg-Briand Pact-In 1928 65 countries met in Paris and signed a peace agreement-Outside the League as the first involved were Germany, France and the USA-Showed League couldn't make practical solutions on its own-however later it was just ignored
- Manchurian Crisis- Intro-Manchuria was in north-east Asia-It had rich resources of coal, minerals, lots of land and agriculture-Japan had already taken over four areas of land in China, but wanted Manchuria the most-They had already built the South Manchurian Railway there
- Manchurian Crisis- What happened?-On September 31st 1931, an explosion was reported at the railway-Japan claimed aggression by China, who denied it-But Japan invaded and took over in months-In February they had set up a puppet government and renamed the area Manchukuo
- Manchurian Crisis- What did the League do?-China appealed to the League, and Japan claimed defence-The League hesitated because Japan was a major member and they had previously agreed Manchuria was an area of Japanese influence with trade rights-But Japan had used military aggression-Economic sanctions weren't used because of the Depression but a commission was set up when Japan ignored moral sanctions
- Manchurian Crisis- How did it end?-Lord Lytton from Britain was sent to Manchuria and wrote a fair report on the situation-It took months, finished a year after the crisis started-It favoured China. All but Japan accepted it.-They left the League in 1933 after refusing to back down. In 1937 they began a complete invasion of China.-League looked weak
- Abyssinian Crisis- Intro-Abyssinia was a poor, underdeveloped country in north-east Africa. It was next to Italian colonies.-Italy had attempted to invade in 1896 but failed at the Battle of Adowan where 6,000 Italians were killed and the army's reputation was ruined-But Italy still wanted to invade