2.2

As there was a clear need to reduce growing tensions in East Asia, which were arising from Japanese expansion region the USA invited nine nations to Washington DC to discuss naval reductions and the situation forming in East Asia, in an attempt to resolve this issue. This was crucial as the created tensions threatened to cause a naval arms race that could potentially result in another war. This conference led to a series of treaties to guarantee peace in east asia.

USA, Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, China, and Japan. To discuss reduction of naval capacity the USA invited Japan, France, and Italy, while Belgium, China, Portugal, and the Netherlands invited to join in discussion about the situation in East Asia.

The Four Power Treaty, signed by the USA, Britain, France, and Japan agreed to respect each nations rights in the Pacific and Far East as well as agreeing to deal with future disagreements by negotiation, rather than military action. The Treaty also formally ended the 1902 alliance between Britain and Japan. Britain wanted the alliance to end for two reasons. One being that Britain’s naval rivalry with Germany no longer existed, and the other because in the event of any conflict between Japan and the USA, Britain would automatically be obligated to side with Japan.

The Five Power Treaty was signed by The USA, Britain, France, Japan, and Italy. Within the Treaty, Japan agreed withdraw from some of its recently acquired Chinese territory, and to limit the size of its navy to three-fifths of the British and US navies. In return the western powers promised not to develop any new naval bases near Japan. All Five of the countries agreed to limit their warship tonnage – Britain and the USA to 500,000 tons each, Japan to 300,000 tons, and the French and Italian to 175, 000 tons each.

This Treaty, signed by all countries, guaranteed protection for China against invasion and agreed to uphold an ‘open door’ policy, allowing for equal opportunity for all countries seeking to trade with China.

The treaties arising out of the Washington conference undoubtedly reduced tensions in East Asia. All of the countries involved had been willing to compromise in the interests of maintaining peace. However, the treaties were far from perfect. For example, although the Five Power Treaty limited the tonnage of each nation’s warships, it did not include all types of shipping. As a result, there was a race to build cruiser ships that could be deployed in the event of war. Moreover, the treaties lacked a means of enforcement – they did not specify what action would be taken if a country violated in agreements made.

10th of April 1922 - 19th of May 2022

The British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, brought together representatives from 30 European countries to meet in Genoa Italy, in order to discuss ways of easing post-war economic problems. The Conference was largely focused on German reparations, as Germany, facing its own massive post-war economic problems already, was struggling to keep up with the schedule of its payments. Britain had vested interest in restoring trading links with Germany and argued that the massive reparations imposed on Germany would undermine European Economic recovery, and should therefore be reduced.

France was represented by its Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré, who wanted the physical security and prosperity of France by means of holding Germany down and taking large reparations, all the while maintaining an expensive army and navy. Poincaré tried to prevent the conference altogether, and therefore refused to compromise. Fearing a revival of German power, and opposing anything that weakened the TOV, insisted that the reparations be made in full.

Despite their political and diplomatic isolation Soviet Russia and Germany were invited to the conference as Lloyd George believed that their inclusion was vital to achieving the aim of ‘the economic construction of Europe, devastated and broken into fragments by the agency of war.

the Conference achieved nothing. The USA, still pursuing its isolationist policy and determination to avoid involvement in Europeans affairs, declined to attend. And in the face of France’s unwillingness to compromise, Germany quickly withdrew from the conference. Feeling increasingly isolated and sensing an opportunity to develop their relationship with Germany, the Russian also backed out.

16th of April 1922

As WW1 and the PPC had left both Germany and Russia vulnerable and isolated, the two nations began personal discussions at the Genoa Conference. These discussions developed into the Rapallo Pact, in which Germany became the first foreign government to recognise the Bolshevik government. Further negotiations between Walter Rathenau and Georgi Chicherin (foreign ministers of the two nations), led to the signing of The Rapallo Pact.

Germany and Russia agreed to renounce all territorial claims against each other, and to cooperate in ‘a spirit of mutual goodwill in meeting the economic needs of both countries’. In facilitating increased trade between Germany and Russia, the pact was also of great economic benefit to both.

The treaty led to industrial and military collaborations that enabled Germany to evade many of the terms of the TOV. This included major German companies, such as Krupp, who built factories in Russia, producing tanks, artillery, aeroplanes, poison gas, and other military equipment that the treaty specifically banned them from producing within Germany. Germany also organised military training in Russia for German officers who had been dismissed from the army in compliance with the Treaty.

Germany’s military intervention also benefited Russia, as Russia’s major weakness during WW1 had been the lack of modern military equipment and training. The Russian armed forces were now able to learn from German military expertise and technological skills.

The Rapallo pact caused great concern elsewhere in Europe, particularly in France and Poland.

The French, who were fearful of communism spreading from Bolshevik Russia, and determined to keep Germany weak and isolated, felt threatened by the increasingly friendly relations between these two countries.

Poland was aware that both Russia and Germany claimed parts of the territory that composed post WW1 Poland. Flanked by Germany to the west and Russia to the east, Poland’s security was clearly under threat. Moreover, Polands own hopes of territorial expansion at the expense of both Germany and Russia were curtailed.

24th of July 1923

As the Treaty of Sevres, which arose from the PPC, had never been formally ratified as Greece had refused to sign the treaty due to its claims to more former ottoman empire territory, although Turkey had signed the treaty.

The Turkish National Movement, under the leadership of Mustafa Kamel, gained control over Turkey. Kamel’s government rejected the treaty of Sevres, claiming some of the territory that had been taken from the former Ottoman empire. This made matters more complicated. Turkey defied the peace settlement completely when its troops retook some of the land in 1922, including Smyrna and parts of Anatolia, awarded to Greece by the Treaty of Sevres.

Representatives from all the countries involved meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, with the aim of preventing any further border disputes.

Although discussions were tense, and there was constant protest from the Turkish representatives, the Treaty of Lausanne managed to set the borders of Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria, much as they are today. Turkey regained some land it had lost, including Smyrna, Thrace, and the Aegean islands of Imbros and Tenedos. This went some way to restore Turkish national pride, which had been badly damaged by the Treaty of Severs. The Treaty also formally recognised the independence of the Republic of Turkey with Kamel as head of state. As well as this, Turkey’s requirement to pay reparations was ended, and Turkey, in effect, became the first country to mount a successful formal challenge to the PPC.

The fear of communism started in october 1917 as the Bolshevik government came into power and Russia withdrew from the war by signing the treaty of Brest-litovsk with Germany. This caused great alarm across Europe as it became clear that Lenin intended to spread revolution as far as possible. Russian agents and propaganda appeared in all the major European cities.

Communists from all over the world were invited to a conference in Moscow in March of 1919, with the aim of encouraging a worldwide communist revolution. Its chairman, Grigori Zinoviev, proclaimed that “in a year the whole of Europe will be Communist”.

Given the political and economic turmoil Europe faced at this time, widespread revolution did indeed seem a genuine possibility. Even in the USA, fear that revolution might spread from communist Russia led to a nationwide panic, known as the Red Scare, in 1919 and 1920. Some countries, such as, Britain, France, the USA, and Japan, actively supported the Bolshevik’s opponents in the Russian civil war.

Although the Bolshevik government was clearly established in Russia by 1921, their hopes of a worldwide communist revolution under Russian leadership had not materialised. Lenin now accepted that Russia’s future depended on peaceful coexistence and economic cooperation with other countries.

In March 1921, Britain was prepared to sign a trade treaty with Russia, in effect recognising the Bolsheviks as a legitimate Russian government.

France however, remained deeply resentful of the Bolshevik success in Russia. Not only had it robbed France of a potential ally in the event of any future attack from Germany, but it also increased the threat of a communist revolution in France itself. Moreover, the Bolshevik government’s refusal to repay Russian debts to France resulted in great anger. It was largely with French insistence that France was not represented at the Paris Peace Conference. French concerns regarding Bolshevik Russia were heightened when the Treaty of Rapallo was signed in 1922, restoring full diplomatic relations between Russia and Germany, and ending the political and economic isolation of both nations, causing great concern across Europe, but particularly France and Poland.

It undermined the legitimacy of the various treaties that emerged from the Paris Peace Conference, and seriously damaged the credibility of the proposed League of Nations

In particular, it was a cause of great concern in France. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, both Britain and the USA guaranteed to help France in the event of any German invasion. When the USA refused to ratify the treaty, Britain used this as an excuse to cancel its own commitment. With no guarantee of American and British help, France was left feeling betrayed and vulnerable.

They justified this request by pointing out that the USA had benefitted from significant economic advantages during the war, and that its post war economy was in a much healthier state than their own. They argued this as they were already suffering from major economic problems in the immediate aftermath of the First World War.

The US rejected the requests and demanded that the amount be paid in full, posing a further financial problem for the European nations. In order to repay their debts to the USA, Britain and France were reliant on the reparation payments they were due to receive from Germany. Yet Germany, with its currency collapsing and confronting the problem of hyperinflation, was in no position to meet its reparation requirements. While Britain was prepared to compromise with the German government, keen to re-establish the lucrative trading partnership between Germany and Britain, France continued to insist that Germany meet its reparation payments in full.

France had been invaded twice by Germany in the space of less than 50 years. After the humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and the devastating effects of German aggression between 1914 and 1918, it is hardly surprising that France’s main priority was to ensure that Germany could never again become a threat.

At the Paris Peace Conference, Clemenceau had demanded that a harsh settlement be imposed on Germany, and, to some extent, his demands had been met in the Treaty of Versailles. However, the USA’s decision not to ratify the treaty meant that France no longer had the guarantee of American and British assistance in the event of any future aggression by Germany.

Due to the outcome of the TOV, France adopted a tough and uncompromising policy towards Germany throughout the period from 1919-1923. The aim was to ensure that Germany remained too weak, both militarily and economically, to pose a threat to French security. For this reason, France insisted that Germany should pay the full amount in reparations, as clearly demonstrated by French refusal to compromise at the Genoa Conference. Since this was to be paid over a period of 66 years, the French could feel assured that Germany would remain economically weak for a long time to come – too weak to contemplate further aggression against France.

It greatly increased the problem of inflation, which was already undermining the German economy; this made it even more difficult for Germany to meet its reparation requirements. And it severely damaged France’s relations with Britain, who wanted to encourage the recovery of the German economy as they were focusing on their imperial relations with NZ, AUS and CANADA; this had the effect of making France feel further isolated and even more insecure.

Despite the leading role President Wilson had played in negotiating the various peace treaties, public opinion in the US was divided on the issue. Most Democratic Party Senators supported President Wilson’s argument in favour of internationalism – that the USA should play a full and active part in international affairs. Most Republican Party senators opposed internationalism and argued in favour of isolationism – that the USA should keep out of international affairs unless its own interests were at stake. the USA decided in favour of isolationism. In November 1919, the US Senate rejected the Paris peace settlement and refused to allow the USA to join the League of Nations. Determined not to become involved in war and believing that the terms of the peace settlement made future conflict inevitable, most Americans were convinced that the USA should return to its traditional isolationist policy.

Germany had borrowed heavily to finance its war effort, and the combined effects of repaying these debts and meeting reparations requirements were catastrophic for the German economy. Because of this inflation spiraled out of control.

In early 1921, $1 was equal to 90 marks. In early 1922, $1was equal to 320 marks.

In 1923, angered by Germany’s failure to make reparations payments for the past year, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr – one of Germany’s most important industrial regions – with the aim of seizing coal and timber by way of payment. The German government ordered a policy of passive resistance, which effectively paralysed industry in the Ruhr as miners and factory workers refused to work. Germany was suffering from an extreme cause of inflation, causing enormous hardships to its population. Germany’s Weimar government, faced with numerous uprisings (such as the sparticists uprising), struggled to maintain control over the country. Not strong enough to fix wages and prices, the government simply issued paper money, which rapidly became worthless, making the issue even worse. And by December of 1922, $1 was equal to 7400 marks, but by November of 1923, $1 was equal to 4.2 trillion marks! In effect, Germanys currency became worthless.

Having borrowed heavily to finance its involvement in the First World War, Italy’s attempts to repay these debts led to damaging inflation. The value if the Italian lira fell from five to the dollar in 1914 to 28 to the dollar by 1921. In addition to this massive increase in the cost of living, Italians also faced high unemployment as industry reduced production to pre-war levels and the number of people seeking jobs was increased by the return of more than two million soldiers. These circumstances inevitably led to disorder. Strikes organised by trade unions in 1919 and 1920 quickly descended into rioting and looting. In many industrial cities, workers took control of their factories and established councils to manage them.

Due to the unstable and disruptive circumstances in post world war one Italy, and with the the creation of the Italian communist party in 1921, a revolution became a serious threat.

Formed in 1919, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini, the Italian National Fascist Party had gained a reputation for violence, it’s black-shirted members regularly attacking communist headquarters and newspaper offices. Nevertheless, the party had achieved increasing support from those sections of Italian society that had most reason to fear communism, such as, industrialists, landowners, middle-class property owners, the Roman Catholic Church and King Victor Emmanuel |||. In 1922, faced with the threat of revolution following the communist parties call for a general strike, the king asked Mussolini to form a government. Italy then became the world’s first fascist state.

Mussolini made it clear that his aim was to make Italy ‘great, respected, and feared’, in line with the aggressive nationalism that characterised his fascist government. ‘The Twentieth Century’ he declared, ‘will be a century of Italian power

In August of 1923, four Italians were killed while engaging in a League of Nations attempt to resolve a border dispute between Greece and Albania. Believing that Greek government was responsible for the deaths, Mussolini ordered Italian troops to bombard, and subsequently occupy, the Greek island of Corfu. Greece appealed to the League for help, which instructed Italian troops to withdraw from Corfu. Mussolini refused to accept the Leagues authority, and the Italian occupation continued until Greece paid a substantial amount of compensation.

Although Britain and France viewed Mussolini as a powerful ally against communism, his refusal to abide by the decisions made at the Paris Peace conference, and undermining of the League was a cause of concern throughout Europe.

Japanese power in East Asia had grown enormously during the First World War, which concerned the US greatly. Japanese expansion in East Asia was also of grave concern to the Western powers, which were keen to protect and extend their own trading activities in the region. The USA in particular increasingly viewed Japan as a threat to its open-door policy in China.