Tension in Europe in the 1930s

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Military Ambitions Threatened Peace in the 1930s

The military ambitions of leaders in Germany, Italy and Japan in the 1930s posed a threat to international peace.

Germany

Hitler offered solutions to the German people.
- including rearmament, an end to the Versailles treaty, and state control of industry
The German public responded well to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy because:
- Resentment was still held by some in the wake of WWI.
- Ebert and the others who had signed the Treaty of Versailles were still called the 'November Criminals'.
- The Great Depression caused rates of unemployment and poverty to boom.

Italy

Mussolini took control over industry and banks.
In late 1934, Mussolini used an attack on Italian troops at Wal-Wal, 50 miles inside Ethiopia, as an excuse to invade. France and Britain had troops in the area to assist the Abyssinians (Ethiopians) but chose not to intervene.

Italy: Hoare-Laval Pact

Britain and France negotiated the secret Hoare-Laval Pact.
- Giving Italy two-thirds of the country in exchange for support against Hitler.
The plan was leaked and caused huge reputational damage to the League of Nations.
Mussolini ignored the planned agreement and supported Hitler.
- Signing an alliance called the Rome-Berlin Axis.

Japan

In 1931, Japanese soldiers disguised as Chinese staged an attack on a Chinese border (the South Manchurian railway).
- Used as an excuse to seize Manchuria, a fertile area in north-east China, good for farming.
China went to the League of Nations for help.
- But the investigating delegation took a year to report (the Lytton Report).
- They only condemned the Japanese when it was too late.

Japan: invasion

The League did not have the military strength to threaten Japan.
Instead, the Japanese moved further into China.
In March 1933 Japan resigned from the League.

Appeasement of Hitler

Over the course of the 1930s, Hitler kept pushing his luck and the response was to appease him in the hope that he eventually became satisfied with his territorial gains.

Remilitarisation of the Rhineland

Hitler used the confusion of the Abyssinian Crisis to re-militarise the Rhineland. No one stopped him from stationing troops there and the German soldiers just marched in.
- This was one of many examples of appeasement during the period, when democratic countries and members of the League of Nations failed to challenge dictators.

Violated treaties

Hitler bombed the Spanish city of Guernica in April 1937 as a way to test carpet bombing tactics. In March 1938, Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by uniting Germany and Austria in the Anschluss.
Politicians like Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler because they were scared of starting another war and hoped that he would eventually be satisfied with his territorial gains.

Czechoslovakia

In September 1938 the Munich Conference met to deal with Hitler’s demand for the Sudetenland.
Hitler first claimed parts of the Sudetenland, then pressed to take the whole region.
Britain and France agreed to the Munich Agreement.
- Allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland to avoid war.
Czechoslovakia was excluded from the talks and, in March 1939, Germany occupied the rest of the country.

Perspectives on the Munich Agreement

Chamberlain thought that the conference had been successful in preventing a war from breaking out. The British public also believed that the negotiations had gone well.
However, Czechoslovakia and the USSR weren't happy because neither was invited to attend.