The Causes of WWII Spring2012
The Treaty of Versailles- A treaty between Allies, between the winning countries of WWI, which were Italy, France, United Kingdom & the U.S. The Treaty so the Allied forces could agree on what they wanted to do with the Central Powers, the losing countries of WWI, which were Germany, Austria- Hungary, Bulgaria & the Ottoman Empire signed on May 7 1919.
There were four main terms of the treaty:
The War Guilt Clause: Germany had to accept all responsibility for starting the war therefore responsible for the damages done by the first world war.
Reparations: After the devastation of World War I the victorious Western Powers imposed a series of harsh treaties upon the defeated nations. These treaties stripped the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary, joined by Ottoman Turkey and Bulgaria) of substantial territories and imposed significant reparation payments. Germany had to pay 6,600,000 pounds for the damage caused by the war & give a large sum to the Allied forces.
Disarmament: The size of Germans army was restricted, Germany lost territory in Europe & was forced to give up territories from over sea colonies. Their weapons & arsenal; the army was reduced 100,000 men & no tanks were allowed, Germany was allowed six ships & no submarines, they were not allowed an air force & the Rhineland was kept free from German control. Territorial clauses; Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria, Germany lost land to other countries, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, Eu pen and Malmedy were given to Belgium, North Schleswig was given to Denmark. Land was also taken from Germany and given to Czechoslovakia and Poland. The League of Nations took control of Germany's colonies.
The Great depression- the severe economic crises by the U.S Stock market crash in 1929. ( ruinous business collapsed, banks failed suddenly millions of citizens had no savings, factories, shops shut down. The depression swept over the world in the 1930s from the conditions created by the peace settlement following WW I.
Failure of Appeasement- a group of countries agreeing to keep the peace instructed by President Woodrow Wilson based on the idea of the fourteen points. Britain & France thought the terms of the treaty of Versailles placed restrictions on Germany that was unfair.
The Failure of the League of Nations- An international organization established by the treaty of Versailles. The league was designed settle country disputes & to avoid another world war. It originally consisted of 42 countries, 26 of which were non-European. At its largest, 57 countries were members of the League. the League aimed to promote international cooperation in economic and social affairs. It was intended that all countries would be members of the League and that if there were disputes between countries they could be settled by negotiation rather than by force. If this failed then countries would stop trading with the aggressive countries and if that failed then countries would use their armies to fight.
Reasons why the League was ineffective:
Not all countries joined the League.
Although the idea for the League of Nations had come from Woodrow Wilson, there was a change of government in the United States before the signing of the treaty and the new Republican government refused to join. As a punishment for having started World War One, Germany w
as not allowed to join and Russia was also excluded due to a growing fear of Communism. Other countries decided not to join and some joined but later left.
The League had no power.
The main weapon of the League was to ask member countries to stop trading with an aggressive country. However, this did not work because countries could still trade with non-member countries. When the world was hit by depression in the late 1920s countries were reluctant to lose trading partners to other non-member countries.
The League had no army.
Soldiers were to be supplied by member countries. However, countries were reluctant to get involved and risk provoking an aggressive country into taking direct action against them and failed to provide troops.
Unable to act quickly.
The Council of the League of Nations only met four times a year and decisions had to be agreed by all nations. When countries called for the League to intervene, the League had to set up an emergency meeting, hold discussions and gain the agreement of all members. This
process meant that the League could not act quickly to stop an act of aggression.
