DEPRESSION AND THREATS TO INTERNATIONAL PEACE

AND COLLECTIVE SECURITY:Manchuria 1931-3 and

Abyssinia 1935-6

The impact of the Great Depression

The Great Depression is the single greatest reason for the collapse of international peace.

It led to aggression and the collapse of international co-operation.

The Manchurian crisis exposed both the L of N and collective security as hollow concepts.

Overview contd. It brought Hitler to

power and undermined the Geneva disarmament talks.

It weakened the UK and France.

This made it possible for Mussolini to engage in aggression in Africa ending hopes for preserving peace.

Impact of Depression on international relations.

The causes of the Great Depression are not the focus but how it influenced international relations.

The Great Depression had an impact on events in Manchuria and Abyssinia.

It also had an impact on the ability of the world to continue seeking peace and harmony.

The Great Depression It was not caused by the Wall Street crash of

1929 this was a signal that it had arrived. The roots can be found in the weakened

states of many nations after WW1, in particular – Germany and the UK.

The turmoil in the USSR and Eastern Europe had further weakened trade and world markets.

The burden of war-debts, government deficits, and the political and social turmoil caused by WW1 all played a role.

Devastation The Depression

devastated the spirit of the world.

It resulted in a terrible struggle to survive by any means.

Nations were no longer willing to co-operate through trade and exchange.

Democratic states Countries adopted a bomb-shelter

mentality.

They cut off contact with their neighbors, raised tariffs and cared little for affairs outside of their own borders.

This insular attitude was worse in the democratic countries.

Insular Democracies Citizens demanded that their govts give

money to domestic problems and ignore the problems of the world.

No resources and energy should be wasted on international agreements or enforcing them.

Domestic hardship was to be the focus not armaments to control aggressive foreign states.

Aggressive states Those who were driven

to extremes of hardship saw war as a solution to their problems.

Japan’s attack on Manchuria was an example of this.

The Japanese argued that without Manchuria they would starve – it was every nation for himself.

Hitler The great Depression,

more than any other reason, brought Hitler to power.

His primary goal was the destruction the of Versailles settlement by whatever means.

His solution to economic weakness was to advocate Lebensraum – territorial expanses – to seize resources.

Great Depression – International Peace

It is important to understand the impact of the Depression on the efforts to maintain world peace.

It is the single greatest reason for the collapse of the previous efforts to develop international understanding and co-operation.

It destroyed the economic welfare of the world.

Destroyed Spirit It also destroyed the optimism created by

Locarno, Kellogg-Briand, the L of N and other attempts at international co-operation.

These progressive idealistic agreements were forgotten or ignored in the selfish, cynical world of the 1930’s.

Survival of the fittest was becoming the order of the day.

League Failure The Depression created the reasons for

aggression in the Manchurian crisis.

It also took away the ability and motivation of nations to work together to preserve the peace.

The League and its founding principle of collective security was exposed as a hollow idea unable to guarantee a peaceful future.

Weakness The powers that had pledged to uphold collective

security were now even less likely to stand behind it and had no desire to do so.

The Depression seriously weakened GB and France who had tried to defend Versailles and the precepts of the League.

Their weakness was exposed by the Manchurian crisis which encouraged Mussolini to attack Abyssinia which gave Hitler an ally in his desire for conquest.

Manchuria 1931 - 3 A wide range of issues

caused the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

Japan had become the largest industrial power in Asia.

This growth and development was based on the success of her exports to the rest of the world.

Economy Japan has few natural resources and

because of her growth population could not feed herself.

She depended on the export of goods, primarily to the US, to maintain her prosperity.

The collapse of the US markets created enormous hardship in Japan with massive unemployment and starvation in rural areas.

Government The disastrous economy led to a decline

in the popularity of the liberal democrat government.

It led to demands of action by radical nationalist groups often made up of army officers.

They demanded the govt take action to protect the population from the failure of the liberal capitalist economic system.

Objective The specific

objective was to take over the Chinese province of Manchuria.

Manchuria held a vast wealth of natural resources of all kinds.

Decision The decision to

invade was made easy because Japan had made economic investments in the region since the Russo-Japanese War.

It had also kept troops in Port Arthur to protect her interests.

Expansion As a result of the civil war in China,

Manchuria had become its own autonomous province under a warlord.

Japan had been looking to expand into China and had increased her presence there under the T of V.

It had also increased its territory in concessions forced from a weak Chinese govt during WW1.

Military power It made sense to invade Manchuria and

posed very little risk.

Manchuria is very close to Japan and its colony Korea. (Japanese since 1910)

China was involved in civil war and offered no resistance.

Military might Since the Washington Conference of

1922, Japan had military supremacy in E Asia.

None of the Great Powers had forces or bases in the region to oppose her.

The Depression had caused cuts in armaments spending in the West and the UK, France and the US were in no position to intervene.

Invasion Japan invaded Manchuria claiming that

her property and citizens had been attacked by Chinese troops.

This was completely fabricated by the radical nationalists to force the civilian govt to support military action.

The Chinese were defeated and in 1932, Japan created the puppet state of Manchukuo.

Collective Security The invasion was a clear

challenge to the principle of collective security and the League.

China was a member and asked for help against Japan.

The league sent officials to study the problem (this took a year.)

In Feb 1933 it ordered Japan to leave Manchuria.

Japan refused and instead left the league.

Legacy for the League The Japanese

withdrawal did not lead to the end of the L of N.

Japan and Manchuria were not important concerns of European powers.

No vital European interest had been at stake in Manchuria.

It did not threaten Europe.

Legacy contd. The USA and the UK were not able to co-

operate on a policy with respect to Manchuria.

Neither country wanted to take the lead.

This made it even less likely that any effective response could be mounted against the Japanese violation of the Covenant.

Appeasement The UK and the USA had entered into a

policy of appeasement . (Pg 69)

They hoped this would accommodate the demands of the revisionist powers.

In the hopes they would become less aggressive and not create conditions for another world conflict.