Transcript Presentation 13: From Crisis to Crisis to World War II

From crisis to
crisis to World
War II
Europe in 1937
Collective Security in the
Interwar Period
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The League of Nations:
• Possibility of sanctions and collective
action against aggressors
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France allies with countries
surrounding Germany:
• Poland
• Little entente:
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Czechoslovakia,
Romania,
Yugoslavia
UK doubtful: considers this provocative
The spirit of Locarno (1925)
Locarno Pacts:
 Work of Gustav Stresemann & Aristide Briand
 Signed by France, Belgium, Britain, Germany,
Italy; also Poland, Czechoslovakia
 Accept Versailles frontiers & demilitarization
of the Rhine (German territory bordering
France)
 Guarantees of non-aggression
 Provision for arbitration, mutual assistance
Kellogg-Briand Pact (Pact of Paris,1928)
 Signatories ban war as instrument of national
policy
Re-militarization of the Rhine
(1936)
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League takes no action
Silently accepted by the British
France,
• preoccupied with internal concerns,
unwilling to take action because
League has not acted
• Rely instead on Maginot Line
Anschluss (1938)
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Austria, rump state, deeply divided
Brief civil war, 1934
Austrian Nazis undermine Dollfus gov’t
Germany demands that Seyss-Inquart
(Austrian Nazi leader) becomes chancellor
Seyss-Inquart requests assistance, troops
Austria annexed
Result endorsed in plebiscite
Sudetenland (1938)
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Hitler condemns Czechs for allegedly mistreating the
Sudetenland Germans (3 of 13 million)
Demands self-determination for Sudetenland
Neville Chamberlain, UK Prime Minister
• meets with Hitler at Berchtesgaden (15 Sept. 1938)
• gains delay
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Czech gov’t concedes self-determination in exchange for
British & French guarantees
Hitler increases demands at Bad Godesberg meeting:
• Immediate annexation of Sudetenland
• Plebiscites in other German-speaking areas
• Polish and Hungarian claims to be met
• Acceptance by Sept. 28th
Czechs reject, mobilize
British and French mobilize
Munich (1938)
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Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain, Daladier meet on
Sept 29th (Mussolini’s suggestion) europe 1937
Agree that German annexation of Sudetenland,
Oct. 10th
• Plebiscites to be held in other minority areas
• British and French will guarantee new frontiers
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Soviet Union offers to aid Czechoslovakia, but
• Poland and Romania object to Soviet troops crossing
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Czechs must either accept or fight alone
Slovakia secedes, becomes German satellite
Same fate awaits the Czechs.
• Ruthenia is annexed by Hungary
Chamberlain’s position
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Apparent sincere desire
to work with Hitler
Show that ‘legitimate’
claims could be
achieved by diplomacy
Leader of a country
which was neither
ready nor necessarily
willing to fight for a
distant land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CAAqfS8lUQ
http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/international_politics/clip
s/7057/
http://www.entertonement.com/clippr/349
Problems with UK position
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Hitler not a ‘reasonable’ opponent
Nor necessarily appeased or
appeasable
Munich agreement surrenders
defensible borders
Prague invaded, March 15, 1939
Britain declares guarantees invalid
because Czechoslovakia has
disintegrated
Outbreak of war (1939)
In aftermath,
 Britain signs treaties guaranteeing independence
of Poland, Romania, Greece, Turkey
 Germany begins making demands on Poland
• increased access across Polish corridor and Danzig
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April 6th: UK & France guarantee Polish borders
Germany & USSR sign non-aggression pact:
• interests prevail over ideology
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Germany makes further demands
• Invades, Sept. 1st – pretext of fake Polish attack
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Britain & France demand withdrawal, declare war
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yENAzd3qesQ
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USSR attacks Poland from east, Sept. 17th
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/euro1942.htm
Some considerations
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Absence of effective international institutions
Failure of deterrence:
• Britain and France unable to engage USSR against
Germany:
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Problem of Poland
Problem of mutual mistrust
• Fail to enlist Italy against Germany:
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Instead German Italian rapprochement from 1936
Pact of Steel. May 22, 1939
Fundamental misperception of German aims by
the British?
Or did anti-Bolshevism prevail?
Differences between WW I & WW II
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World War II more of a global conflict
• Fought on two theatres:
 Europe and North Africa / Asia/Pacific
More extensive engagement of 20th c technologies
• Role of air power, radar, cryptology
• Mechanized warfare and role of new strategies - blitzkrieg
Greater involvement of civilian populations during & after:
• WWI: borders invented & adjusted but people left in place
• WWII:
 With exception of Poland, boundaries stayed broadly
intact
 But people were moved.
 The term ‘ethnic cleansing’ might not have existed but
the practice certainly did and nobody denounced it.
Staggering losses – 50 million dead
More extensive planning for peace
For discussion:
•
Was this
• one continuous conflict, beginning in
1914, with a pause in between?
• or were these discrete wars?
•
Could World War II have been
avoided?
• If so, when and how?