World War II. Liberalism in the Interwar Period Treaty of Versailles (1919) Disillusionment with...

World War II

Liberalism in the Interwar Period

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

Disillusionment with BOP politics

National self-determination: – Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Baltic countries

Liberal Idealism:– Woodrow Wilson: “The Fourteen Points”

The League of Nations (1920)

Collective security principle– Aggression against one is aggression against all (art. 16)

– Outlaw aggression

– Pledge to assist victims of aggression

– Act collectively against aggressor

Decisions by unanimity

US did not join the League

Treaty of Locarno (1925): allows Germany into the League

The Failure of Collective Security

Japanese invasion of Manchuria (1931)

Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935)

German annexation of Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) 1938– Munich Agreement between Hitler and Chamberlein

Hitler’s Rise to Power

National Socialist Party (Nazis) win and becomes chancellor: 1933– National humiliation– Economy devastated– Hyper inflation

Totalitarian state system

Fascist and nationalist ideology

Expansionist foreign policy

Appeasing Hitler

March into Rhineland (1936)

Annexation of Austria (1938)

The Munich Agreement over Czechoslovakia (1938)

Treaty between Germany and USSR

Blitzkrieg and Over-reach

Germany invades Norway, Holland, Belgium, France, pushes back the British

Germany invades USSR (1942)

Japan and the US get involved (1941)

Germany defeated: 1945

The Nuremberg Trials (1945-1949)

Causes of WWII?

Structural Causes

Post WWI peace unstable: Treaty of Versailles

Failure of institutions and collective security

Failure to balance German power

Domestic Politics

Rise of fascism in Germany, Spain, Italy

Isolationism in the US

Imperialism in Japan

The Great Depression and economic collapse

Internal divisions in liberal democracies

The Role of Individuals

Hitler’s war?

Poor judgment on the part of Neville Chamberlain?

Miscalculation of by Japanese leadership?

Wrong lessons learned from WWI?

Was World War II inevitable?

What factors contributed most to this event?

Lessons of WWII

Appeasement leads to larger conflicts

Nationalism taken to extreme dangerous

Disillusionment with collective security and international institutions

The Holocaust: “Never Again!”

War and Its Causes

Frequency of war: 5500 years of recorded history: 14,500 wars.278 from 1480 to 1940.224 from 1816 to 1980Several causes of war (Farnsworth, 1992):

Human nature Balance of power theory: imbalances cause war, equilibrium causes

peace Arms races and security dilemma Number of states in system - both directions: some argue more equal

powers equals less war; others like Waltz that fewer is better Demands of domestic system - capitalist economies battle over rights

to resources; competing economic/political systems; colonial wars; Nationalism Bad leadership and policy choices