To what extent did other nations contribute to Outbreak of War

Question 1

Why do we think of this question?

Answer 1

Because foreign policy is an interaction between different nations - for example the West helped the Nazis by forming the Anglo German Naval Agreement ; drove a gap between the rest of the allies (from Stresa Front)
It was also hard for the west to have formed an alliance with the USSR due to communist regime - what if they had done so? Would Germany have been able to create the Nazi Soviet Pact?

Question 2

International politics aiding move to war after WW1?

Answer 2

Central and Eastern Europe was highly volatile because borders, rulers and government systems had all changed ; policy of self-determination had created new independent states like Estonia and Lithuania that were economically, politically and militarily weak. Many of them disputed the borders they were given and this threatened to spill into war in 1920s creating an uneasy political atmosphere

Question 3

What other international influences were there?

Answer 3

League of Nations behaviour and reaction by other countries

Individual ideologies of nations and how they affected other countries

Question 4

Timeline of Ideological Divides

Answer 4

1) End of WW1 led to setting up Comintern which wanted to spread communism worldwide ; communist party membership grew in west so western governments saw it as a big threat. This resulted in the Western Powers helping fight the Bolsheviks on the side of the whites in the civil,war instead of form alliances - could’ve encircled Germany with alliances on both sides
2) Three countries also became dictatorships , Germany Italy and Japan ; United by anti communism, rejection of democracy, overturning the TOV and dictatorship through military. THIS APPEALED TO WEST TO HELP FIGHT COMMUNISM (PARTLY WHY THEY LED TO APPEASEMENT) BUT AS THEY BECAME MORE POWERFUL AND AGGRESSIVE THEY WERE SEEN AS DANGEROUS
3) USSR now had Stalin who would make a good ally against Germany and who was building up a significant red army

Question 5

Purpose of League of Nations

Answer 5

Collective security - cooperation between countries that agree to settle their disputes without resorting to war ; economic and military sanctions
Desire for peace after WW1
Ran a series of disarmament conferences to negotiate disarmament too

Question 6

Weaknesses of League of Nations

Answer 6

Membership
Bureaucracy
Enforcement

Question 7

Membership - weakness

Answer 7

Not all nations were part of the league therefore it’s validity as a world peace organisation was hindered ; countries that had fought the allies + Russia were not asked to join and the U.S. congress also refused to join despite President Wilson being the driving force

Question 8

Bureaucracy - weakness

Answer 8

Very weak to make decisions and members seldom agreed to economic sanctions ; it needed agreement if a significant majority to act

Question 9

Enforcement - weakness

Answer 9

Didn’t have its own army
Made to look weak because they were not decisive in their action
Most nations naturally act in their own self-interest and when it became clear that League couldn’t enforce there was less need to obey a ruling that was not in a country’s self-interest

Question 10

League of Nations success

Answer 10

Dispute between Germany and Poland over Upper Silesia in 1921

Question 11

League of Nations failures

Answer 11

Poland taking Vilma by force in 1920
More members that ignored it - weaker it seemed and also meant Nazis did not see it as a force to be reckoned with in foreign policy ; Hitler took Germany out of the league and disarmament conferences in 1933 ; many states did not feel secure to disarm

Question 12

Example of League being bypassed

Answer 12

Washington Naval Conference of 1921 resulted in the Five Power Pact agreement that limited Naval expansion in Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the USA
Made own alliances and treaties instead of using the league

Question 13

USSR and League of Nations

Answer 13

Russia not invited to join the league until 1934 when it asks to join because of dictatorial behaviour by Germany and Japan
Allies allowed this and USSR joined but relations never easy with West and smaller states that were suspicious of USSR taking them over
1936 meant Stalin’s purges plus involvement in Spanish Civil War ; both Britain and France tried to negotiate independently to end Stalin’s involvement in war but USSR did not leave and Nazi-Soviet pact put it under even more strain
USSR invaded Finland on 30th October and they were asked to leave on 14th December 1939

Question 14

How did attitudes of individual countries influence move to war?

Answer 14

Britain
France
Italy
USSR
Japan
USA

Question 15

Britain

Answer 15

Attitude to Germany until 1939 was to avoid an alliance but to pursue appeasement in the hope of keeping PEACE - VERY NAIVE - GENUINE DESIRE AMONG PUBLIC AND POLITICIANS FOR PEACE
Faced colonial unrest from India and Egypt ; political and public opinion hardened after Kristallnacht in 1938 and Poland was last straw
Appeasement allowed Germany, Italy and Japan to seize more territory

Question 16

France

Answer 16

France’s attitude to Germany until 1939 was one of resentment and anger because of TOV failures
Invasion of Ruhr too in 1923 ended in Failure
France turned to appeasement but had a very much real fear of a German invasion as could be seen with the Maginot Line Defences on its border with Germany
Made a variety of agreements with other countries like Czechoslovakia because it felt isolated - lost 1(4 of its men to the war and had a change in government 11 times in the space of 3 years ; this + economic problems made France weak at home and abroad and as with Britain it’s weakness + appeasement increased Hitler’s confidence

Question 17

Italy

Answer 17

Had many similarities with Germany - dissatisfied with Versailles + anti communism + autarky etc
Had an issue in 1934 with Hitler attempting Anschluss - Mussolini on top
Encouraged an alliance with Italy through mutual support during Spanish Civil War
They both found it difficult to trust each other and this can be seen with lack of Support for Czechoslovakia and Abyssinia ; despite Pact of Steel , Italy only joined in 1940 once France fell - PACT OF STEEL ENCOURAGED HIM TO GO TO WAR

Question 18

USSR

Answer 18

Isolated due to its communist ideology - open to attacks from East and West
Stalin wanted to build up his country for self-sufficient ; aims similar to Hitler - he reacted to Nazi-Polish non-aggression pact by joining the League of Nations and backed Spain against Germany and Italy
He held talks with Germany and the West even after humiliation of not being asked to join Munich Conference
July to August 1938, USSR was fighting Japan on its eastern border which made it more likely to reach an agreement with Germany to prevent war on both fronts

Question 19

USA

Answer 19

Followed policy of isolationism and disarmament - by 1938 had a smaller army than Belgium ; USA neutral over Spain and Abyssinia but still exported arms to Italy and Germany who backed Franco - very fact that USA openly said it would not go to war in Europe and produced a permanent Neutrality act in 1937 encouraged Hitler to go to war

Question 20

Japan

Answer 20

Didn’t feel treated like an equal by other allies in League of Nations (like Italy) - took much of Manchuria with Mukden incident in 1931 creating a new state called the Manchukuo ; Japan chose its leader and only Germany and Italy recognised the new state ; Japan left league in 1933 and formed alliances with ITALY AND GERMANY
Germany encouraged by this as Japan an enemy of the USSR and thus useful geographically to have an ally on other side of USSR
Plus Japan could act as a barrier against USA if they entered
Nazi-Soviet Pact was a shock but Japan only had Italy and Germany as allies

Question 21

Other influences that affected move towards war?

Answer 21

Economy

German domestic circumstances

Question 22

Economy

Answer 22

Depression in 1929 meant growing support for left and right wing political movements and helped the Nazis take power (discontent) ; also caused countries to trade less and this was crucial as the west were unable to trade with the new Eastern European counties, leaving them more likely to fall into the sphere of influence of Germany or the USSR

Question 23

Domestic circumstances

Answer 23

Rearmament helped Germany dal with the depression - also he had to meet expectations of the her,sn people and groups within such as industrialists and other Nazis
He underestimated the effect of domestic policies like Kristallnacht would have to opinions abroad ; changed British public opinion