WWII

The second Thirty Years War

“This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for Twenty years.” Ferdinand Foche, Marshal of France

WWII

“The economic clauses of the Treaty were malignant and silly to an extent that made them obviously futile. Germany was condemned to pay reparations on a fabulous scale. These dictates gave expression to the anger of the victors, and to the belief of their peoples that any defeated nation or community can ever pay tribute on a scale which would meet the cost of modern war.

The multitudes remained plunged in ignorance of the simplest economic facts, and their leaders, seeking their votes, would not dare to undeceive them.” Winston S. Churchill

WWII

5 times in 100 years Paris had been bombarded by Prussians/Germans

Since 1871 France had lived in the militaristic shadow of the German Empire

“Now, at the price of their life-blood, the long oppression had been rolled away. Surely, here at last was peace and safety. With one passionate spasm the French people cried, ‘Never again!’” Winston S. Churchill

WWII

“History will characterize all these transactions as insane.”

Some consequences of the treaty

Economically

Germany $56 billion in reparations

Receiving loans from US and Britain which allowed payment

US got back only 1/5 of its loans no chance of repayment

WWII

Politically

Germany/former Austria Hungary

Political/governmental systems with which there was no experience or tradition

In Germany the Weimar Republic was viewed by many as a foreign imposition

Territorially

Czechoslovakia

Poland

Loss of Rhineland

Loss of Saar Basin

Occupation of the Ruhr

WWII

Austria-Hungary

Treaties of St. Germain/Trianon “Balkanization”

League of Nations “Ingratitude towards their great men is the mark of a strong people.” Plutarch

Repudiated by US Congress

“And we, who had deferred so much to [President Wilson’s] opinions and wishes in all this business of peacemaking, were told without much ceremony that we ought to be better informed about the American Constitution.” Winston S. Churchill

WWII

Occupation of the Ruhr

1922 Germany defaults on war reparations (timber)

Jan 1923 French Prime Minister Poincare orders French troops into Ruhr/Rhineland. Belgium follows

Sanction under the Versailles Treaty

Ruhr area the center of German production

Coal

Iron

Steel

WWII

German response

Strike/passive resistance

Organized by German industrialists

Fritz Thyssen

Abetted by Berlin

Occupation causes outrage/Britain condemns

Right-wing organizations threaten revolution

Strike sets off hyper-inflation

WWII

Hyper-inflation

Berlin pays strikers in the Ruhr

No monetary reserves left

Government resorts to printing press

Destroys the currency

Wipes out all middle-class savings

January 1921: 64 marks to the dollar

November, 1923 marks to the dollar.

German sabotage

Bloody clashes in the occupied territories

Stresemann Calls off strike

Putsch

WWII

Gustav Stresemann

Rentenmark

Negotiations w/ Reparations Commission

Charles G. Dawes

American Banker

Dawes Plan

Two year moratorium

Graded installments

International loans would be advanced

WWII

Locarno 1925

Seven nations

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Poland

Germany, France and Belgium accept each others borders, set up by the treaty of Versailles

Britain and Italy agreed to ensure that all three countries kept to this agreement

Germany was allowed to join the League of Nations

WWII

Japan

Meiji Restoration 1868

Shogun seii tai shogun (Japanese, "barbarian-subduing generalissimo")

Tokugawa 1603

Shogunate 1192

WWII

Modernization campaign

Best of the west

England’s Navy

Prussia’s (Germany’s) Army

Bi-cameral house

Cabinet (Genro)

Prime minister appointed

WWII

Genro (Elder statesmen)

Oligarchy

Ito

Yamagata

Inoue

Matsukata

WWII

Genro

Ended feudalism

Wrote constitution 1889

Created representative body (Diet)

Authority lasted 20 years

Korea

Sino-Japanese War 1894-95

Japanese victory

Korea independent

China cedes Formosa

WWII

Post Sino-Japanese War

Japan major military power

Russo Japanese War 1904-05

Japan Victorious

Russian cede ½ Sakhalin Island

Evacuate Port Arthur/Manchuria

Korea recognized as w/in Japanese “sphere of influence”

Japan leases Trans-Siberian RR

Establishes permanent presence

WWII

WWI

At outset aligns w/ Allies

Seizes German territories

Tsintao

Marshall Islands

Marianas

Palau

Carolines

WWII

1912 Emperor Taisho

Taisho democracy

Growth of political parties

At odds w/ oligarchic cabinet (Genro)

Cabinet stymied unless it wins majority party

Power illusory

No power over the purse

Armed forces not responsible to Diet/direct to Emperor (Genro)

WWII

Encroachment into China

1915 Japanese forces

Shantung Province

Manchuria

1915 “21 Demands”

China recognize Japan's control of the region

WWII

Lebensraum (Living space)

“[W]ithout consideration of "traditions" and prejudices, it [Germany] must find the courage to gather our people and their strength for an advance along the road that will lead this people from its present restricted living space to new land and soil, and hence also free it from the danger of vanishing from the earth or of serving others as a slave nation.” Adolf Hitler

WWII

Lebensraum

Concept long a part of German geopolitics

Colonies

Solve internal problems

Make it militarily stronger

Make Germany become economically self-sufficient by adding food an other raw material sources

WWII

Hitler and Lebensraum

German Empire in Europe

Expansion east

Russia (Soviet Union)

Run by Jews

Sucking the life-force from Germany

Lebensraum in Nazi ideology

Expansion of Germany to the east

Unity between the German Volk and the land

Nazi concept of Blood and Soil

WWII

“Once Hitler’s Germany was allowed to rearm without active interference, a second World War was almost certain.” Winston S. Churchill

Reinstituted military conscription

Built up Navy (including submarines)

Secretly built up Air Force

Munitions

WWII

Franco Soviet Pact

Re-negotiation of Locarno

25 year pact

Demilitarization of the Rhineland

March 1936

Hitler re-occupies the Rhineland

“Purely Symbolic”

Re-occupation vital to Hitler’s prestige

The next step

WWII

ANSCHLUSS

11 July 1936 Hitler signs agreement w/ Austria not to interfere w/Austria in any way

15 July 1936 secret messages sent to Nazi party in Austria

Step-up agitation for national referendum

July 1936 German General Staff given instructions to plan for the occupation of Austria

WWII

5 November 1937

Hitler reveals geopolitical plan to his staff

Poland

White Russia

Ukrain

War at the earliest opportunity

Feb 1938 Hitler threatens Austrian Chancellor

Appointment of Nazis to key cabinet posts

“Case Otto”

13 March 1938

WWII

Sudetenland

Moravia

Bohemia

Ethnic Germans

Incorporated into Czech Republic

Industrialized

Badly hurt by depression

Susceptible

WWII

Sudeten German Nazi Party

Konrad Henlen

Stirs popular (German sentiment)

Hitler’s demands for “self-determination bellicose

France has agreement w/ Czechs to come to their aid if Germany invades (Locarno)

Chamberlain

16 Sept agrees to German Sudetenland separation

France acquiesced

Czechs had to

WWII

Hitler calls for immediate occupation

Sept 20-30 1938

Munich

Eduard Daladier France

Neville Chamberlain England

Mussolini Italy

Hitler, and Ribbentrop

No representatives from Czechoslovakia or USSR

WWII

Japan

19 September 1931 Mukden incident

Japan alleges Chinese plot to sabotage RR

Kwantung Army Seize arsenal at Mukden

Chinese forces w/draw

China boycotts Japan

WWII

1st Battle of Shanghai

Japanese effort to stop boycott

Chinese forces hold a month

Chinese end boycott

18 February 1932 Manchuko

Japanese place former Chinese Emperor Pu Yi on throne

Announce protectorate

WWII

January-March 1932

Japanese invade Jehol

Mongolian province

Justification: part of Manchuria

1934-37 continued Japanese expansion into northern China

7 July 1937 Marco-Polo Bridge Incident

Undeclared war between China & Japan begins 1937-1945