Inter-war Foreign Policy (1921 - 1933)
- Created by: mel.maharjan
- Created on: 16-11-14 15:48
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- Inter-war Foreign Policy (1921 - 1933)
- 'Normalcy'
- A return to what things were like before WWI
- Warren G Harding advocated 'normalcy'
- US should focus on its own domestic issues, especially the economy
- Rejected membership of the League of Nations
- Still sent observers to LON meetings and conferences
- US joined the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
- Part of the League designed to protect workers
- Isolationism meant not being tied with treaties or being directly involved in the policies of Europe
- Didn't mean ignoring Europe completely
- War Debt
- Britain and France still needed to repay US loans but their economies were in no state to do so
- As part of the Treaty of Versailles, reparations of $33 bn imposed on Germany
- Germany would pay in instalments to Britain and France and they would use them to repay the US
- By 1923, Germany unable to repay instalments so combined French and Belgian force invaded the Ruhr and took reparations by force
- The Ruhr rich in steel, iron, and coal
- Government responded with 'passive resistance' - i.e. going on strike so steel and coal production came to a halt
- German government continued to print money - caused hyperinflation
- The Dawes Plan (1924)
- US would loan money to Germany to help rebuild economy
- Germany then able to pay reparations then Britain and France able to pay off US loans
- US would loan money to Germany to help rebuild economy
- The Young Plan (1929)
- Cut reparations by a third and extended repayment period to 59 years
- Wall St. Crash (1929) meant US withdrew loans from Germany
- With Germany losing money, unable to pay loans
- 1931 - President Hoover issued a public statement that proposed a one-year moratorium (delay)
- With Germany losing money, unable to pay loans
- Disarmement
- Support for disarmament in US for peace and to cut federal spending
- Less money spent on arms meant more countries would have to spend on trade
- The Washington Naval Treaty (1922)
- Tried to prevent another arms race at sea
- Set ratio of battleships the US, Britain, France, Japan, and Italy at 5:5:3:1 and 3/4:1 and 3/4
- Another agreement in London in 1930 set ratio of cruisers
- Geneva Conference on disarmament (1927)
- Now that there was protection from the League, countries didn't need so many weapons
- US didn't attend but sent observers
- US refused French security
- Now that there was protection from the League, countries didn't need so many weapons
- Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
- Renounced the use of war as a policy
- 62 nations and 2 million signed the pact
- Frank Kellogg won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929
- US Senate voted 85-1 in favour
- Latin America
- Coolidge withdrew US soldiers from Cuba and the Dom Rep
- Also paid $25 million compensation to Colombia for the Panamanian revolution
- Dangerous conflict with Mexico smoothed over by US ambassador and by visit from air hero Charles Lindbergh
- 1932 - President Hoover went on a good will tour of the area
- US troops withdrew from Nicaragua in 1925
- Civil war broke out so Coolidge sent the marines back in
- Americans imposed free elections in 1928 and gradually withdrew troops
- Last marines left in 1933 but Nicaragua ended up with a brutal dictatorship until the 1970s
- 1923 - 100 year anniversary of Monroe Doctrine
- Coolidge's Under-secretary of State J. Reuben Clark produced a Memorandum (1930)
- Suggested much less interference by the US in Latin America
- US only concerned if America's security was threatened
- Coolidge's Under-secretary of State J. Reuben Clark produced a Memorandum (1930)
- US business and investments worth $3.52 bn in 1929
- United Fruit Company operated in Latin America and had a bigger budget than Costa Rican government
- Private investments from US companies in foreign companies rose from $700 mil (1919) to $17,200 mil (1930)
- Coolidge withdrew US soldiers from Cuba and the Dom Rep
- The Far East
- US signed the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922 partly due to a desire to limit Japanese expansion
- US, Britain, France, and Japan signed a 'Four Power' Agreement (1921)
- Signed a 'Nine Power' Agreement to respect the territorial integrity of China (i.e. wouldn't try to take over China)
- Broken in 1932 when Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria
- 'Normalcy'
- Isolationist
- Interventionist
- Both
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