the failure of the League of Nations

Question 1

principles of the League

Answer 1

collective security based on internat law, collective action ag agression (sanctions, forces)
objective of disarmament

Question 2

the League of Nations

Answer 2

created by the treaty of Versailles in 1920
based in Geneva
french and english speaking
42 founding members, 58 max = universal

Question 3

the League of Nations organs

Answer 3

• general assembly = all states, meeting in sept
• council = = main executive body: permanent members (great pws) + non perm members (rotating basis)
• Secretariat = administration (based in Geneva)
• Permanent court of international Justice (based in the Hague)

Question 4

great pws politics after 1920

Answer 4

US: isolationist, dollar diplomacy, liberal, worried about the rise of Jpn
UK: opportunistic based on the balance of pw, liberal, worried about the rise of communism and by the weakening of G
Fr: worried about the possible revenge of G, system of alliances to maintain the Paris peace system
Russia, It, G and Hungary : revisionists

Question 5

Problems of the peace

Answer 5

• civil war in Russia until 1921 + ag Poland => USSR in 1924
• rise of fascism (Mussolini 1922) => revision
• US/Jpn rivalry
• treaty of Rapallo between G and USSR : partnership and military coop =rebuild of the Wehrmacht
• Reparations : G reluctant => occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 => Dawes Plan => Young plan reschedule the payment

Question 6

treaty to secure western borders of G

Answer 6

treaty of Locarno, 1925
Fr, Belg, G, Britain and It

Question 7

the “spirit of Locarno”: relations between Fr and G

Answer 7

• G in the League / Fr-G reconciliation (1926) : Briand and Stresemann
• Briand-Kellogg Pact, 1928, prohibits war
• Briand proposed to launch an european integration, 1929
• Evacuation of Rhineland in 1930

Question 8

wall street crash =>

Answer 8

financial crisis => eco (deflation process) => social/pol crisis => end of debts in 1931-1932

Question 9

solution of the Great Depression

Answer 9

protectionism (London Conf in 1933)

Question 10

national solution for the Great depression

Answer 10

• US: keynesianism (New Deal)
• G, Jpn: autarky
• Fr, B: colonial empire
• USSR: communism, collectivization

Question 11

ideologies in the 30’s

Answer 11

• liberalism : US,UK, Fr
• Fascism/ Nationalism: Sp, It, G
• Communism: USSR, Ch
  => no common values

Question 12

Jpn’s expansion

Answer 12

• annexation of Manchuria 1931
• withdrawal from the League 1933
• war in Ch 1937
• Indochina 1940-1941
• neutrality Pact with USSR 1941 to make a war only ag US
• Pearl Harbor 7/12/1941
• stopped in Midway 1942

Question 13

Hitler contained 1934-1935

Answer 13

• USSR joins the League 1934
• Franco-soviet treaty 1935
• Stresa Front : meeting between Fr,Br, It to limit G’s expansion 1935
• anglo-german agreement 1935 : limit its navy to a third of the british one

Question 14

withdrawal of G of the League

Answer 14

1933

Question 15

launch of G’s rearmement

Answer 15

1935
= first violation

Question 16

axis expansion (1935-1938)

Answer 16

• invasion of Ethiopia by It, 1935-1936 => sanction
• formation of Rome Berlin Axis 1936
• G expansion
• 1939: Hitler Stalin Pact => invasion of Poland

Question 17

G expansion (1936-1939)

Answer 17

• 1936: remilitarization of Rhineland
• 1938: Austria and Sudetenland => Conf of Munich: appeasement policy
• march 1939: invasion of Bohemia and Moravia = dismantlement of Czechoslovakia
• invasion of Poland

Question 18

WWII : G successes in 1939-1941, turning point and after

Answer 18

• G successes 1939/40: invasion of P, and the West (Norway, Denmark, Fr, Belg and Lux)
• G successes in 1941: Greece, Yugoslavia and Balkans
• turning point : El Alamein (42) => reconquest of North Africa + Stalingrad (43)
• after: defeat of It (43), Normandy (44), invasion of G (45)