International Relations

Germany,Austria-Hungary,Italy

What did they want? 

• empire, power, influence
• To take advantage of Ottoman empire decline while keeping its own empire

Conscription meant large land armies 

Dreadnoughts aided expansion of German navy

Empires- A-H in Europe, G+I in Africa 

Rapidly increasing industrial production in Germany

Britain and France 

Signed because both countries were worried about Germanys increasing industrial power and ambition for an empire

• Kaiser Wilhelm II engineered trouble to test Britain and France's relationship 
• France wanted to take over Morocco 
• The Kaiser told the moroccons that he supported their independance 
• Britain stood by France 
• Germany wanted to split up F+B but the Entente strengthened 

As a result:

• Tensions with Germany increased 
• F+B relationship strengthened 

Britain, Russia, France

• To stay number one, protect its empire, keep naval advantage
• To defend itself from Germany and protect its colonies

Large land armies - France and Russia 

Dreadnoughts - Britians navy biggest in the world 

Empire- British empire the biggest 

Industrial production - Britain losing ground to Germany 

• Rebellion in Morocco 
• France moved in and took power
• France offered compensation to other countries; Germany was not satisfied 
• Germany sent a gun boat to the port Agadir 
• David Lloyd George threatened war with Germany 
• Kaiser Wilhelm backed down 
• Germany was humiliated 
• Tension increased further- war seemed imminent  

What did these countries want out of the Balkans? 

Austria-Hungary 

• Serbs that wanted to join Serbia 
• Worried about Ottoman decline and expansion of Russian influence

Russia 

• Wanted sea access through the Dardanelles therefore needed friendly countries in charge there                                                               

Ottoman Empire (turkish)

• Controlled Dardanelles which gave access to Mediterranean 
• Britain back O-E to stop Russia getting the shipping route 
• weak, poor and corrupt

• Slav territories wanted independance 
• Russia encouraged Slav independance to gain sea access and increase their influence 
• Austria- Hungary tried to stop Slav independance 
• Ottomans tried to keep hold of their European territories 

• Austria- Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina to prevent Ottoman attempts to reclaim it 
• Ottomans, Russia and serbia objected to this 
• Germany made it clear they would protect Austria-Hungary 
• Russia and Serbia backed down 

• Increase in tension 
• Made Serbia and Russia look weak and they were determined to win the next dispute 
• Triple Alliance looked strong 
• Terrorist organisation the 'Black Hand' formed in Serbia to fight Austria Hungary in Balkans

• Turks fell out of power in O-E 
• Balkan league formed (Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro)
• Balkan league declared war on the Ottomans 
• Three weeks later, the Ottomans were almost completely pushed out of Europe 

• Decline of O-E worried Austria-Hungary because they feared the same may happen to them 
• Russia encouraged the Balkan league because it impoved their chances of sea access 

• The balkan league started to fight amongst itself 
• Bulgaria attacked its former allies because it was unhappy with its gains in the first war 
• The Ottomans also won back some land they had lost 
• Greece, Romania and Serbia recieved new territories from Bulgaria 

• Serbia became the most powerful Balkan country 
• Austria- Hungary forced Serbia to give up the sea access they had won 
• Austria- Hungary was worried about what the newly stong Serbia may do 

• Franz ferdinand was heir to the Austrian throne 
• Austro-Hungarian empire supressed Serbian nationalism 
• serbia wanted independence for Austro-hungarian serbs 
• Black hand were serbian nationalists 
• Austria-hungary believed serbia had helped the black hand group 
• Russia backed serbia 

• Officially to defend Belgium 
• Strategically to control Germanys strength 
• If Germany controlled Belgium and France it could control the English Channel 

Empire

• Britain and France wanted to keep their empires;Germany wanted one 

Alliances 

• Triple Alliance vs.  Triple Entente 

Power 

• Britain was the worlds biggest power; but had not tried to end the Balkan conflicts 
• Ottoman Empire lost control 
• Germany built up a powerful army and navy - began the naval arms race - increased tension 

Strategic aims 

• The Schlieffen plan - germanys plan to go through Belgium to France 

• Sarajevo 
• Domino effect - Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Russia, France, Germany 
• Germany gained strong position 
• Attack on Belgium brought Britain in 

• Germanys 'big push' had failed 
• Germany feared allied break through and invasion of Germany 
• Abandoned by its allies 
• Danger of communist revolution 
• Sailors refused to battle 
• Kaiser abdicated and fled into exile 
• better than unconditional surrender 
• civillians were suffering due to the blockade 

germany must: 

• Stop fighting 
• withdraw all troops and give up won land from Russia 
• allow occupation of allied troops within the border 
• hand over vast amounts of weapons and war vehicles including submarines 
• navy to be controlled by allies

• Germany had no say in terms 
• had to sign it 
• allies wanted to make sure they could not fight again 
• allies kept naval blockade, which was starving germans,going untill peace terms were agreed  

USA- Woodrow Wilson 

• wanted a fair treaty and a league of nations  to keep peace 
• wanted self determination 
• wanted arms reduction and no more secret treaties 

GBR- Lloyd George 

• wanted germany to pay 
• wanted germany weakened but not too harshly 
• didnt want league of nations 
• didnt want self determination 
• both things threatened the British Empire 

FRA- Clemenceau 

• wanted self determination 
• wanted reparations 
• wanted Germany broken up 
• wanted the Rhineland to be independant; act as a buffer zone between them and Germany

USA, GBR, FRA, ITA

Reparations 

• A ruined Germany would be a danger to peace in the future 
• Needed Germany as a trading partner to fight communism/ wanted to make Germany pay
• Wanted to make Germany pay to get revenge 

Territory 

• Didnt want a weak Germany - slef determination 
• wanted territory in payment for fighting against Germany 
• Wanted to carve up germany so it wouldnt be a threat
• wanted to keep Germany economically strong but also wanted overseas territories 

League of Nations 

• wanted to replace empires with fairness and justice for all (isolationism)
• worth trying if it would prevent a war 
• happy if it didnt threaten the British Empire (membership)

Land losses 

• all german colonies lost including European territories 
• Rhineland to be occupied by allies 
• no union between Germany and Austria (Anschluss)

Responsibilities 

• war guilt clause 
• kaiser and other leaders tried for war crimes 

Economic terms 

• reparations - £6600 million 
• France to control the Saar coalfields 

Military restrictions 

• 100,000 troops and 15,000 navy only 
• no conscription or submarines or planes , tanks , machine guns

League of nations set up to avoid war 

Treaty of St.Germain (Austria)

• broke up Austro-Hungarian empire 
• lost land 
• reparations 
• limited troops 

Treaty of Nuilly (Bulgaria)                                       Treaty of Sevres (turkey) 

• lost land                                                           Ottoman empire broken up
• reparations                                                       Lost european land; gained other land  
• limited troops                                                    No reparations 

Treaty of Trianon (Hungary) 

• made independant 
• lost land 
• reparations 
• limited troops 

Germany 

• Demilitarisation of the Rhineland made them weak and defenceless 
• treaty was a Diktat- no German participation 
• 'war guilt' - germany was actually forced into the war 
• huge reparations 

Other

• FR- wanst harsh enough
• GBR- too harsh, German econmony damaged too badly 
• USA- too harsh, favoured britain too much, USA prevented from joining League of nations or signing the treaty of versailles 

Historians 

+Wasnt broken up, like the french wanted, economic problems stemmed from its debts not reparations 

- harsh measures led to economic collapse, wasnt the only country to start the war 

• Reduced reparations - Germany couldnt pay 
• France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr which was Germanys industrial heartland 
• German workers went on strike and the economy collapsed 
• USA and GBR were not happy with France 
• League of nations couldnt prevent French actions 
• USA put together the Dawes plan 

Dawes plan 

• Set up by USA to help German economy so reparations could be paid 

Locarno Pact 

• Germany joins League of Nations 
• series of agreements to protect borders and prevents wars 

Kellogg-Briand Pact 

• 62 countries pleged to stop using war ( including Germany and the US) 
• all disputes to be peacefully settled 
• Did not prevent WW2

Assembly 

• Every member country had one vote and all decisions had to be unanimous to be agreed

Council 

• made the major decisions, met more often than the assembly, needed unanimous vote

Membership 

• only non- defeated nations could join, russia was excluded, USA refused to join (isolationism) to keep out of European politics 

Elements of the league 

• The permanant court of international justice - to settle international disputes 
• The secretariat - civil servants that carried out the administrative work of the league 

• No USA 
• No real power- didnt have an army to enforce decisions
• Organisation- unanimous vote made it hard to get decisions made quickly
• Sanctions- couldnt enforce decisions 
• Exclusion of the defeated nations- defeated countries saw the league as against them 
• dominated by Britain and France- didnt want to upset allies or agressive countries 

• Fall in Wall street share values 
• shareholders lose money 
• USA called in foreign loans so other countries suffered too 
• USA stopped importing so much 
• Economic depression spread around world 
• Great Depression 

Impacts in Europe:

• Money loaned by USA had to be repaid

Impacts in Germany: 

• Economy built on US loans 
• unemployment rose and reparations not payed 
• Hitler comes to power by exploiting the econmic hardships 

• Alleged attack on Japanese soilders by the Chinese 
• Japan invaded Manchuria 
• China appealed to the League of Nations 
• Japan ignored the League and invaded more of China 

• League couldnt help - no army 
• Britain and France didnt want to spend any money helping 

• Mussolini, the Italian leader, invaded Abyssinia in Africa 
• The leader of Abyssinia asks the league for help 
• The league impose economic sanctions against Italy but not against oil 
• Privately, Britain and France made the Hoare-Laval pact to give most of Abyssinia to Italy to keep Italy as an ally against Hitler 

As a result: 

• League discredited 
• Hitler saw the league was powerless 
• Italy did a deal with Hitler anyway (Rome-Berlin axis)

• Treaty of Versailles to be scrapped - symbol of humiliation (no more reparations,rearmament,retaking territory)
• wanted all german speaking people to be united in one country - Grossdeutschland 
• more room to expand - Lebensraum 
• greatest threat to Germany - communism and USSR's plans to spread it 

• Fear of another war 
• Needed time to build up forces 
• US isolationism- didnt want to get involved in European disputes
• League of Nations had no power to enforce decisions 
• Great Depression - Britain and France were preoccupied with their own economic problems 
• Fear of communism - needed a strong Germany to stand up to USSR
• mistaken belief that Hitler wanted to avoid war at all costs 
• Feeling that Versailles had been too tough 

Luftwaffe (airforce) and conscription                          Sudetenland (Grossdeutschland)

• TOV military restrictions                                     Czechoslovakia was a independant nation   
• no response                                                      B+F told Czechs to hand over majority
• Germany was a real threat again                         Hitler wanted more 

Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (German troops occupied it) 

• TOV banned troops from the Rhineland 
• Britain and France condemned the action but wanted to resist war; encouraged Hitler 

Anschluss (Forced austrian government to step down and be occupied by nazi's)

• TOV had banned the union 
• no action was taken because a plebiscite showd Austrians supported Anschluss 

Bohemia, Moravia, the saar and Memel

• Hitler was trying to expand Germany       B+F knew Hitler needed to be stopped- they guaranteed polands independance 

• Britain and France abandoned their commitments to defend Czechoslovakia 
• Anglo-German Declaration - agreement to never go to war 
• Gave Germany the Sudetenland - Germany took the whole of the Czechoslovakia
• USSR not invited - upset Stalin 

Pact of Steel 

• Germany and Italy to aid each other in the war
• war to start in three years 
• military allies 

Nazi-Soviet pact

• Stalin tried to gain allies against Germany but the communists werent trusted 
• USSR wasnt invited to the Munich conference - Stalin thought B+F were trying to get Germany to attack USSR instead 
• Stalin needed more time to prepare for war 
• plan to divide Poland between Germany and USSR 

• Germany invades Poland 
• Poland fell to the Nazi's in 10 days 
• Britain, Italy and the USSR couldnt stop him due to their respective pacts 
• Britain declared war on the third of september 1939