INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. CAUSES OF WW1

   • FIVE POWERS
     • Germany
       • Weltpolitik
         • Wanted to be the major importance in world affairs
       • Jealous of France and Britain's Empires
         • Wanted a 'place in the sun'
     • Britain
       • Isolationist
       • Wanted to protect her Empire
       • Wanted to be the most powerful naval force
       • Naval Arms Race
         • In 1906, Britain created the dreadnought which made all other ships obslete
           • More manoeuvrable, more guns, better armour
           • Germany started to build up their Navy with Dreadnoughts
             • By 1911, the Naval race had calmed down and Britain had 29 Dreadnoughts, whereas Germany had only 17
         • This caused a lot of tension between the two powers
     • France
       • Hated Germany due to the Franco-Prussian war
         • Wanted revenge
     • Russia
     • Austria-Hungary
     • Triple Alliance 1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy
     • Triple Entente 1907 France, Britain and Russia
   • The Bosnian Crisis 1908-9
     • Due to the recent fall of the Ottoman Empire, many Slavic states were not very well established and Serbia wanted to unite all the countries
       • In 1908 Austria-H decided to annex Bosnia to extend its Empire, however this angered Serbia, so they asked Russia to help and Russia backed Serbia as Serbia was too small to combat Austria-H by themselves.
         • Austria-H was too small to combat the forces of Russia and Serbia, so asked the Kaiser for help. he was annoyed at first as Austria-H had annexed Bosnia without consulting him, but he still backed them
           • Russia's forces were not big enough to fight both countries, so they backed down and Serbia therefore had to as well
             • Russia then decided to build up its army and Italy became less fond of the Triple Alliance as they did not back Austria-H's move into the Balkans
   • The Moroccan Crisis
     • 1905-6
       • As part of the Entente Cordiale Britain agreed not to oppose French rule of Morocco, however Germany wanted this land for itself
         • Wilhelm II went to Tangier to call for an international conference on the issue, however this backfired as only Austria-H and Morocco supported him,France had to recognise Moroccan independence but had control of its Banks, Military and Police
     • 1911
       • There were uprisings in Morocco and France were called in by the Sultan to help. In fear of France annexing morocco, Germany sent a gunboat (The Panther) to Agadir, however this angered the British as it was interpreted as a warlike action as it was close to the British Naval base in Gibraltar. All three countries prepared for war, but in a conference in Paris, France was given control of Morocco and in return, Germany was given two marshy strips of land in the French Congo
   • Assassination of Franz Ferdinand 28th June 1914
     • Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting Sarajevo to see a military demonstration in hopes of building relations between Austria-H and Bosnians. The Black Hand Gang were a group of ten men who were led by Gavrilo Principe that were supplied information by the Serbian government. One of the assassins threw a grenade which bounced off and injured 20 people, so the Archduke cancelled the tour and went to visit the wounded in hospital. The driver got confused and took the Archduke and his wife Sophia down the wrong road which Princip happened to be on. He saw this chance and killed the Archduke and his wife.
       • Austria-H delivered a 10 point Ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia did not want but accepted every point except from point 6 which stated that Austria-H would be able to have involvement in the Serbian justice system, which would result in Austria-H finding out about Serbia aiding The Black Hand Gang
         • Germany said that they would support Austria-H no matter what they decided to do
         • Austria-H declared war on Serbia on the 28th of July
   • The Schlieffen Plan
     • The German general, Schlieffen proposed a plan that would result in Germany winning the war. They would declare war on France and attack through the Belgium border, leaving them surprised. They believed that Russia was very undeveloped (they were wrong) and would take a very long time to mobilize, which would give Germany time to defeat France and then march on Russia.
     • An ultimatum was sent to France, demanding neutrality, which was ignored
       • Therefore Germany declared war on the 3rd of August
     • "Lunch in Paris, dinner in St. Petersburg"
   • Britain's Involvment
     • Britain was not originally going to get involved in the war, however Germany broke the Treaty of London by entering Belgium, which they used as an excuse to enter a war whereas they only entered the war to defend the French coast, as Britain believed that Germany would try to invade Britain if they had control of the French coast
     • Demanded Germany withdrew their troops from Belgium on August the 3rdand when this was not complied with, Britain declared war on Germany on August the 4th

2. THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

   • Aims
     • France
       • France was the harshest on Germany as it was their land that most of the war was fought on and they therefore had the most damage. Georges Clemenceau wanted reparations, the return of Alsace-Lorraine and for Germany to have no army
     • Britain
       • Lloyd George wanted to protect the supremacy of the British Navy and didn't want to ruin future trade deals with Germany. He also feared that if Germany was treated too harshly, then they would trun to Communism. However, the britsih public disagreed with these views.
     • USA
       • Woodrow Wilson didn't want the Treaty to be that harsh on Germany as he belived that this would only cause more hatred. He brought a 14 point plan to the conference, but very few of these were included
   • The war had ended with an Armistice on the 11th of November 1918, the at had been a disaster for Europe. 32 countries met in Paris to establish an agreement. Russia and defeated countries were not allowed to attend
   • The German army was limited to 100,000 men. Only 6 battleships and the Rhineland was demilitarised
   • Clause 231 was that Germany had to accept full war guilt
   • £6,600 million was to be paid in Reparations
   • German people called the Treaty 'Diktat' (enforced peace). Germany had lost 10% of its land, and 1.5 Germans now lived under Polish rule. Germany was humiliated and hated the Treaty, which is the main reason they elected Hitler

3. League of Nations

   • Formed on the 20th January 1920
   • At its largest, it contained 53 member countries
   • Germany and Russia were originally not allowed to join
     • Germany joined in 1926 but left in 1933
     • Russia joined in 1934
   • Italy left in 1936
   • Japan left in 1933
   • Organisation
     • The Covenant was 26 articles that all countries had to agree to
     • The assembly contained representatives of all member countries and met once a year to discuss issues
     • The council was meant to contain 5 members, but in the end it only contained 4 as the US never joined. The council made decisions on sanctions and other peacekeeping issues. They met 3-4 times a year.
       • Britain, France, Italy and Japan
   • The USA never joined
   • Why did the League fail?
     • Decisions could not be made unless they were unanimous
     • Became European based
     • Didn't have any sort of army, member countries would have to send in troops (which no one did)
       • Therefore, the League had no way of imposing its rules and regulations
   • The Manchurian Crisis 1931 - 1933
     • Japan was struggling during the 1930's due to the effects of the Wall Street Crash, Japan felt that it was becoming over crowded and this caused them to want to expand into Manchuria
       • Since 1904, Japan had been allowed to station troops at the South Manchurian railway. In September 1931, Japan claimed that there had been as explosion set off on the railway at Mukden and blamed it on China. They used this as a reason to invade.
         • The Lytton Commission was set up to investigate by request of china. It found that although Chinese rule was weak, Japan should not have invaded and it was ruled that Manchuria should become a new, independent state called Manchukuo
           • However Japan was still in Manchukuo and was ordered to remove her troops, however, Japan ignored this and left the League. The League did not do anything after this.
   • The Abyssinian Crisis 1935 - 1936
     • The Italian public was unhappy with the Treaty of Versailles, so they elected Mussolini. To gain popularity, Mussolini wanted to invade Abyssinia. This would boost Italy's economy and provide raw materials that were much needed for trading
       • Mussolini believed that he would not get much opposition from the League due to the Manchurian Crisis
       • In December 1934, there was a clash between Italian and Abyssinian troops which caused Britain to condemn their actions
         • On the 3rd of August 1935, Italy invaded. Britain and France introduced sanctions, which surprised Mussolini, but these sanctions did not include key items such as coal and iron.
           • The French leader introduced the Hoare-Level Pact, which stated that Italy would have 2/3 of Abyssinia, however this was leaked before it could be agreed upon and was therefore scrapped.
             • In May 1936, Italy captured the capital of Abyssinia and therefore took control of the country and left the League.

4. HITLER

   • Foreign Policies
     • Hitler wanted to make Germany into a great power again
     • To unite all German speaking people under his rule
     • To gain territory for Germany from 'inferior' Slavic states.
       • Lebensraum
       • He also wanted land from Russia and he hated Communism
     • Build up the German army
     • Destroy the Treaty
   • Return of the Saar 1935
     • A vote was held in the Saar by the League to see if they wanted to officially join France or go back to Germany. 90% voted to rejoin Germany
   • Rearmament
     • In 1932, the League held a disarmament conference, however no countries, especially France, wanted to disarm. Germany then left the conference and the League, due to France believing that Germany should not have equality when it came to armaments
     • In 1934, Germany signed a ten year non-aggression pact with Poland. this was a strategy from Hitler to make the British believe that he wanted peace and to stop Poland from opposing him when it came to Czechoslovakia and Austria.
     • Hitler introduced conscription in 1935 and he claimed that it was due to France lengthening conscription time and Britain increasing the size of her Air Force. This was clearly against the Treaty of Versailles, but neither France nor Britain acted.
     • In 1935, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed, which stated that Germany would only ever have 35% of the British Navy's ships. This was a success for Hitler as Britain had purposely gone against the Treaty.
   • Remilitarisation of the Rhineland 1936
     • On the 7th of March, 1936, Germany marched into the Rhineland. Hitler offered to sign a 25 year peace pact, however the League should have taken further action.
     • The League took no action due to larger issues, such as the invasion of Abyssinia, also Britain sympathised with Germany.
     • This led to...
       • the Treaty of Versailles becoming insignificant
       • Hitler believing that he could get away with anything
       • The German public favouring Hitler even more than before
       • Hitler signing the Berlin-Rome Axis Agreement
   • Anschluss 1938
   • Appeasement
     • For
       • Many pitied Germany
       • Politicians wanted an Anglo-German friendship
       • The British public was Pacifist
       • Britain did not have enough money for rearmament
       • The fear of Communist Russia was much greater than Germany
       • Britain lacked strong allies and wanted more
     • Against
       • Hitler had broken many promises, such as claiming that the Rhineland was his last territorial ambition
       • Hitler became increasingly confident that no one would ever oppose him
       • Appeasement allowed Hitler to gain power
       • Appeasement could be seen as going against protecting the people that the treaty had promised to protect

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