Versailles Settlement and International Politics between the World Wars Lucie Zimmermanová TheGreatWarConsequences Collapse of the Concert of Powers Fall of four empires + new nation states Different views of the victory states on the new international order Paris Peace Conference 1919 USA, UK, France, Italy (Japan) War guilt solely German (= reparations, territorial and population loss, disarmament) League of Nations Versailles Settlement VersaillesSettlementsatisfiedno-one Germany – humiliated, punished France - frustrated – settlement not hard enough to Germany Britain - upset – settlement too hard to Germany USA - uncomfortable – settlement too demanding to the US Italy - angry – the war was not worth it Japan - disappointed – settlement not supporting its interests in China Russia – out of the world map + very different views on the role of the LN Revisionistic tendencies, vengeful moods IRinthe1920sEurope -TheVersaillesSystem France -Major threats: strong Germany -Interests: filling the power vacuum + building a cordon sannitaire in the East-Central Europe – Poland, Little Entente -Collective security Great Britain -Major threats: bolshevism, instability -Interests: Hungary, Italy -Pragmatic cooperation Small nation states -Major threats: Empires restoration, later revisionism; territorial requests of the new states -Interests: survival (alliances, LN) GermanyandRussiainthe1920sEurope Different percepcion of threats -France – hard line towards Germany, full reparation payment, weak Germany = good Germany - further relations with Russia determined by payment of pre-war and war debts -Great Britain – seeks for resonable reparations cost for Germany, overal aim is stability in Europe - attempts to establish relations with Russia – trade agreement 1921 -Russia – uses ambivalent approach of the Powers to its advantage - acts as a trustworthy partner, minimizes ideological burden in its behaviour, implies possibility to pay its debts under certain conditions -Genoa Conference, April 1922 to negotiate a relationship between West and Russia - London Memorandum – sets conditions for Russia to obtain foreign capital RapprochementofGermanyandRussia Germany and the Soviet Russia in a similar situation – outsiders pushed out to the outskirts of IR Meeting in Rapallo, April 1922 - simultaneous to Genoa talks - Rapallo Agreement – establishes diplomatic relations between Germany and Russia, renounces mutual debts Germany + Soviet Russia - Rich military cooperation between 1922 and 1929 1925 economic agreement 1926 agreement of reassurance The Soviet Russia and Germany slowly return to the world politics (silent approval of Powers) -1924 British recognition of the USSR; France establishes diplomatic relations -1926 Germany enters the League of Nations -1934 USSR enters the League of Nations Hardlinersvssoftliners -Germany The Ruhr Crisis (January 1923) - French accuse Germans of avoiding reparations payment intentionally, occupy the Ruhr District -Germany loses 88 % of coal production and 48 % of iron ore production, population of the District applies passive resistence -Inflation, devalvation of currency, dissolve of economics in Germany The Dawes Plan (August 1924) -USA and UK criticise French hard-line policy, wish to avoid German bakrupt -the Dawes Plan – fusion of reparation and economic restoration; flow of foreign capital to help rebuild German economy The Young Plan (1929) - even looser payment calendar – for 59 years Diplomaticcornerstonesof1920s Locarno Conference, October 1925 Representatives of Germany, France, Belgium, UK, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Poland Final element of the Versailles Settlement Results: so called Rhine Guarantee Pact -Great Britain and Italy bind to guarantee inviolability of Western border of Germany (with France and Belgium) -States on the East German border attempt to reach similar guarantee Different perception of results - Great Britain – stabilisation of the Versailles Settlement - Little Entente and Poland – disenchanted - France – withdrawal from the position of German keeper Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928 -Renounces war (with an exception of self-defense) -Declaratory, no real sanctions The Great Depression AdolfHitlerenterstheinternationalscene January 1933 – A. Hitler becomes German Chancellor (in democratic elections) Hitler´s Germany: -cancells reparation payments -withdraws from the Disarmament Conference and leaves the League of Nations -starts expanding economically to the Central Europe and Balkans -gains time by signing non-aggression pacts with neighbors (Poland 1934, Austria 1936) -Starts constructing the Wehrmacht in 1935 Continuous, escalating breaching of the Versailles Treaty In six years, Germany changed from one of the weakest European states to one of the strongest. SovietrapprochementtoEurope 1932 non-aggression pact between France and the USSR (after cooling relations with Germany) 1934 USSR enters the LN 1935 joint alliance treaties between the USSR and France, and USSR and Czechoslovakia -Soviet military intervention in case of attack to Czechoslovakia determined by French action -Different perceptions - France uses the USSR as a leverage for normalisation of relations with Germany and Italy - The USSR sees collective security as a tool to prevent the West to unite against it DissolutionoftheVersaillesSystem 1933 Germany leaves the League of Nations 1935 Italian aggression in Ethiopia 1935 Germany reintroduces conscription 1936 reoccupation and remilitarisation of the Rhineland 1936-1939 Civil war in Spain March 1938 annexation of Austria (Anschluss) September 1938 Munich Conference (annexation of border areas of Czechoslovakia) March 1939 annexation of the rest of Czechoslovakia September 1939 Germany attacks Poland WWII