Troubled International Relations 1929-1934

1. Global Economic Depression

World trade boomed in the late 1920s, with the Unites States driving the global economy in trade and banking. With international trade, many nations grew richer and this reduced international tensions that existed post-WW1. This period of growth ended with the Wall Street Crash in October 1929. With the failure of the US stock market came the collapse of banks and businesses, while many saw their savings completed wiped out.  This period became known as the Great Depression; a long phase of economic decline that resulted in changes within and between countries. From here countries began to move back towards economic nationalism from previous internationalism.  Protectionism: attempting to protect domestic industries by introducing tariffs (taxes on imports) in order to limit or stop imports. Britain, France and the US followed this principle and it resulted in unemployment and business failure.  Rearmament: countries like Germany, Japan, Italy and Britain began to rearm in order to boost industry and create jobs.   

2. Emerging European Dictatorships: Germany

The First World War left Germany's Weimar Republic in a political and economic mess. It was by the end of the 1920s that prosperity and stability began to return to the German state, this was due largely in part to US loans. With the Wall Street Crash in 1929 the US requested the payment back of loans from Germany; unemployment and economic collapse followed in Germany.  With many Germans dissatisfied with their government. people began to turn to extremist parties. In 1933, the Nazis led by Adolf Hitler came into power and he began to promote the Nazis aggressive nationalism in both economic and international policies.  Economic solutions:  rearmament programme for Germany spread of state control of industry and investment in projects (e.g. road building)  ending the Treaty of Versailles and terminating Germany's reparations payments International policies:  reclaim the land lost under the Treaty of Versailles Lebensraum, meaning 'living space', was the goal of obtaining land for Germans to live in eastern Europe destroy communism wherever it is located 

Italy

Italy had been under the control of a Fascist Party led by Benito Mussolini since 1922. Fascism was a form of aggressive political nationalism, under which Mussolini gained control of banks and industries during the Great Depression. Mussolini's vision for Italy bought up questions over maintaining international peace:  Mussolini wanted to restore Italy to its former Roman glory, which involved attempting to gain territory in Africa (i.e. Abyssinia 1936)  Mussolini thought that Britain and France were declining international powers Mussolini found common goals between Germany and Italy and commenced discussions of an alliance 

The Soviet Union

The First World War resulted in a revolution in Russia and brought the communists to power. Communism led to total state control over the economy and industry, alongside a dictatorship under Vladimir Lenin. The communists turned the Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), while spreading communist ideology through an organisational body called Comintern (Communist International). By 1929, the supreme leader of the USSR was Josef Stalin:  Stalin believed anti-communist states would attempt to crush the USSR  Stalin felt mainly threatened by the emergence of Italy and Germany   Stalin built up the USSR industrially to prepare for future war, these actions created suspicions in the international sphere

3. The League of Nations Fails: Manchuria

The Great Depression hit Japan hard, resulting in famine and hardship. Tariffs from the US and China meant that Japan was unable to sell goods (silk and textiles) with the prices of Japanese goods falling by 50%. Moreover, just as in Europe, people began to turn towards hard-line nationalist politicians.  Most of these men were military commanders who believed the path to Japanese growth was military expansion and occupying new territories (new markets and raw materials). Japan became a MILITARY DICTATORSHIP.  In 1931, in the Machurian region of China, nationalist leaders claimed that Chinese troops had attacked the Japanese army at the South Machurian Railway, which the Japanese army controlled. Japan used this incident as an excuse to invade and establish a government in Manchuria. Soon after this, China appealed to the League of Nations for help.

Response of the League:

The League approached the situation carefully as Japan was a core member. After a year investigation by league officials under British Lord Lytton a report was completed in September 1932. The report was explicit: Japan acted illegally and Manchuria should be given back to China.  In February 1933, instead of withdrawing, Japan outlined intentions to invade more of China. Apparently, this was required for Japanese protection and Chinese political stability. The report was voted on in February 1933 passing 42 votes to 1; only Japan voted against it. This resulted in Japan resigning from the League of Nations a month later.  Manchuria proved that Britain and France were not going to risk war with Japan and more importantly the League of Nations had to mandate if a strong nation pursued an aggressive foreign policy. 

4. Disarmament Failure

The Manchurian crisis bought to light the questions of disarmament from the 1920s. In February 1932, the Disarmament Conference got under way. This conference came up with proposals to ban bombing of civilians and the restricting of certain types of weapons. However, the nations present failed to agree how to enforce these constraints.  Furthermore, when Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933 he began to rearm the country in secret. Germany pulled out from the conference in October 1933.