Western Democracies Stumble
11th and 12th Grade Literature and Informational Reading Texts
From its inception, which took six months to compose, divisions in philosophical approaches to the prevention of another world war doomed the treaty from the start. By the time WWI had ended in 1919, the Western democracies of the U.S., Great Britain and France appeared powerful. Together they had dominated the Paris Peace Conference and spurred hope for the spread of democracy in some of the newly formed nations in Eastern Europe. However, below the surface were grave, deep problems.
In Britain, the Labor party gained support over the Liberal party which was significant because of the Labor's party promotion of a gradual shift toward socialism. The middle class backed the Conservative party which ended up holding power during most of the 1920s. Additionally, by 1922, after years of violence with Ireland over self-rule, Britain agreed to Irish self-governance. France experienced political turmoil as well along with financial problems--specifically, how the French were going to extract war reparations from Germany. And in the U.S., the "Red Scare" was the cause of some domestic issues--the most significant being political controversy of the issue of limits to immigration.
In addition to domestic issues for each of the Allied countries, the three democratic nations faced a difficult international situation in that the peace settlements that were the result of the Treaty of Versailles caused substantial friction in Germany and within some ethnic groups in Eastern Europe. Additionally, friction increased between the three democracies because of conflicting ideologies about the implementation of the conditions of the treaty. France's chief concern after the war was to secure its borders against Germany to prevent future invasion which resulted in the building of massive fortifications known as the Maginot Line along the French-German border.
Additionally, France strengthened its military and sought out alliances with other countries such as the Soviet Union who agreed with the French that Germany remained weak. Britain disagreed with this belief, fearing that if Germany remained weak, both France and the Soviet Union would become too powerful. Despite disagreements, many of the nations that had been involved in WWI did work to maintain the recent peace that had been reached at the end of the war. One example of this effort was the Kellogg-Briand Pact, an international agreement signed by almost every nation in 1928, to stop using war as a method of national policy. One action that was a part of this spirit was the practice of disarmament, the practice of reducing a nation's armed forces and weapons.
The goal of preventing a future world war was shared by all of the members of the League, but because of the many integral weaknesses of The League of Nations, its number one goal in preventing a second world war would fail miserably, eventually leading to its demise.
The League of Nations was created in direct response to Woodrow Wilson's desire to avoid future wars through a "general association of nations", both big and small, that could gather and peacefully resolve international disputes. By pursuing policies related to disarmament and the principle of collective security, war (at least in theory) could be rendered obsolete. Collective security is the idea that countries can maintain peace by entering into agreements whereby an attack against one member is viewed as an attack on all members. Unfortunately, The League of Nations was weak from the start.
Several powerful countries were initially left out of the formation of the League following World War I, including Germany and Russia. The United States itself failed to join; for fear that the country would be under obligation to enter into yet another horrendous foreign conflict. Without a military or even the full cooperation of member nations, the League lacked the power to effectively carry out its rulings. As a result of the League's weaknesses, it was often ineffective in halting acts of aggression committed by larger countries seeking to expand their territory, restore their national honor, and to overcome the humiliations handed out at Versailles following World War I.
During the 1930s, the Great Depression was a global phenomenon resulting in economic collapse in virtually every nation around the world. By the end of 1932, the worldwide unemployment rate was estimated at 30 million people.
Unfortunately, the impact of the Great Depression was not limited to economics. Another response to the Great Depression was the establishment of fascism and militarism in some nations such as Germany, Italy, and Japan. In Germany, Hitler's Nazi Party promised to restore the country's economy and to rebuild its military.
In 1932, after becoming chancellor, Hitler outlawed labor unions, restructured German industry into a series of cartels, and after 1935, instituted a massive program of military rearmament that ended high levels of unemployment. In Italy, fascism developed even before the onset of the Depression under the leadership of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In Japan, militarists seized control of the government during the 1930s. In an effort to relieve the Depression, Japanese military officers conquered Manchuria, a region rich in raw materials, and coastal China in 1937.
A similar response to the Depression was totalitarian communism. In the Soviet Union, the Great Depression helped solidify Joseph Stalin's hold on power. In 1928, Stalin instituted a planned economy. His first Five Year Plan called for rapid industrialization and "collectivization" of small peasant farms under the control of the government. To obliterate any opposition to his program, which required peasant farmers to give their products to the government at low prices, Stalin exiled millions of peasant to labor camps in Siberia and instituted a program of terror called the Great Purge. Historians estimate that as many as 20 million Soviets died during the 1930s as a result of famine and deliberate killings.
President Wilson had hoped that "making the world safe for democracy" through self-determination, young democracies would be born that would assist in promoting world peace and security. But, in the years following the Great War, democracy after democracy struggled. Leader after leader arose and made promises to provide food and jobs for people while the social order continued to break down around them. Instead of democracy flourishing in the post-war world, democracies gave way to powerful leaders who secured their power through brutal means and controlled every aspect of society. The 1920s and 1930s were the decades characterized by the rise of totalitarian dictatorships. Totalitarianism is a form of government whereby a leader or small council of leaders have total and complete authority, controlling all aspects of a country's political, economic, and social life.
In Britain, the Labor party gained support over the Liberal party which was significant because of the Labor's party promotion of a gradual shift toward socialism. The middle class backed the Conservative party which ended up holding power during most of the 1920s. Additionally, by 1922, after years of violence with Ireland over self-rule, Britain agreed to Irish self-governance. France experienced political turmoil as well along with financial problems--specifically, how the French were going to extract war reparations from Germany. And in the U.S., the "Red Scare" was the cause of some domestic issues--the most significant being political controversy of the issue of limits to immigration.
In addition to domestic issues for each of the Allied countries, the three democratic nations faced a difficult international situation in that the peace settlements that were the result of the Treaty of Versailles caused substantial friction in Germany and within some ethnic groups in Eastern Europe. Additionally, friction increased between the three democracies because of conflicting ideologies about the implementation of the conditions of the treaty. France's chief concern after the war was to secure its borders against Germany to prevent future invasion which resulted in the building of massive fortifications known as the Maginot Line along the French-German border.
Additionally, France strengthened its military and sought out alliances with other countries such as the Soviet Union who agreed with the French that Germany remained weak. Britain disagreed with this belief, fearing that if Germany remained weak, both France and the Soviet Union would become too powerful. Despite disagreements, many of the nations that had been involved in WWI did work to maintain the recent peace that had been reached at the end of the war. One example of this effort was the Kellogg-Briand Pact, an international agreement signed by almost every nation in 1928, to stop using war as a method of national policy. One action that was a part of this spirit was the practice of disarmament, the practice of reducing a nation's armed forces and weapons.
The goal of preventing a future world war was shared by all of the members of the League, but because of the many integral weaknesses of The League of Nations, its number one goal in preventing a second world war would fail miserably, eventually leading to its demise.
The League of Nations was created in direct response to Woodrow Wilson's desire to avoid future wars through a "general association of nations", both big and small, that could gather and peacefully resolve international disputes. By pursuing policies related to disarmament and the principle of collective security, war (at least in theory) could be rendered obsolete. Collective security is the idea that countries can maintain peace by entering into agreements whereby an attack against one member is viewed as an attack on all members. Unfortunately, The League of Nations was weak from the start.
Several powerful countries were initially left out of the formation of the League following World War I, including Germany and Russia. The United States itself failed to join; for fear that the country would be under obligation to enter into yet another horrendous foreign conflict. Without a military or even the full cooperation of member nations, the League lacked the power to effectively carry out its rulings. As a result of the League's weaknesses, it was often ineffective in halting acts of aggression committed by larger countries seeking to expand their territory, restore their national honor, and to overcome the humiliations handed out at Versailles following World War I.
During the 1930s, the Great Depression was a global phenomenon resulting in economic collapse in virtually every nation around the world. By the end of 1932, the worldwide unemployment rate was estimated at 30 million people.
Unfortunately, the impact of the Great Depression was not limited to economics. Another response to the Great Depression was the establishment of fascism and militarism in some nations such as Germany, Italy, and Japan. In Germany, Hitler's Nazi Party promised to restore the country's economy and to rebuild its military.
In 1932, after becoming chancellor, Hitler outlawed labor unions, restructured German industry into a series of cartels, and after 1935, instituted a massive program of military rearmament that ended high levels of unemployment. In Italy, fascism developed even before the onset of the Depression under the leadership of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In Japan, militarists seized control of the government during the 1930s. In an effort to relieve the Depression, Japanese military officers conquered Manchuria, a region rich in raw materials, and coastal China in 1937.
A similar response to the Depression was totalitarian communism. In the Soviet Union, the Great Depression helped solidify Joseph Stalin's hold on power. In 1928, Stalin instituted a planned economy. His first Five Year Plan called for rapid industrialization and "collectivization" of small peasant farms under the control of the government. To obliterate any opposition to his program, which required peasant farmers to give their products to the government at low prices, Stalin exiled millions of peasant to labor camps in Siberia and instituted a program of terror called the Great Purge. Historians estimate that as many as 20 million Soviets died during the 1930s as a result of famine and deliberate killings.
President Wilson had hoped that "making the world safe for democracy" through self-determination, young democracies would be born that would assist in promoting world peace and security. But, in the years following the Great War, democracy after democracy struggled. Leader after leader arose and made promises to provide food and jobs for people while the social order continued to break down around them. Instead of democracy flourishing in the post-war world, democracies gave way to powerful leaders who secured their power through brutal means and controlled every aspect of society. The 1920s and 1930s were the decades characterized by the rise of totalitarian dictatorships. Totalitarianism is a form of government whereby a leader or small council of leaders have total and complete authority, controlling all aspects of a country's political, economic, and social life.