Download THE ROAD FROM PEACE TO WAR

THE ROAD
FROM PEACE
TO WAR (19201941)
Chapter 27—Part I
Was world war
inevitable?
THE ROAD TO
WAR
American Foreign Policy in the
1920s and 1930s
“The retreat from an active world policy in the 1920s
turned into a headlong flight back to isolationism in the
1930s. Two factors were responsible. First, the
Depression made foreign policy seem remote and
unimportant to most Americans. . . . Second, the
danger of war abroad, when it did finally penetrate the
American consciousness, served only to strengthen the
desire to escape involvement. . . . The growing danger
[by the mid-1930s] of war abroad led to a rising
American desire for peace and noninvolvement.”
“The United States emerged from
World War I as the richest nation
on earth. . . . Each year of the
1920s saw the nation increase its
economic lead as the balance of
trade tipped heavily in America’s
favor.”
During the 1920s, the U.S. was “careful not to make
any binding commitments on behalf of world order.
The result was neither isolation nor involvement but
rather an cautious middle course that managed to
alienate friends and encourage foes. . . . The financial
crash of 1929 halted the flow of American dollars
across the Atlantic and led to subsequent default on
debt payments, with accompanying bitterness on both
sides of the ocean.”
The Scorecard
• Five-Power Treaty
• Four-Power Treaty
• Washington Naval
Conference, 1921
• Kellogg-Briand Pact
• Dawes Plan
• Hawley-Smoot Act
Five-Power
Treaty
This agreement banned
construction of large warships
for 10 years; for every 5 tons
of ships the U.S. or Britain
owned, Japan could have 3
tons, and France and Italy
could have 1.67 tons
27C
Four-Power
Treaty
Implications of the
Four-Power Treaty
•
•
•
•
U.S., Britain, France, and Japan agree to
respect one another’s territories in the Pacific
U.S., Britain, France, and Japan agree to
respect one another’s territories in the Pacific
Disputes would be settled by a conference
Replaced the old Anglo-Japanese alliance with
a new Pacific security pact
Washington Naval
Conference,
1921
27C
•
•
•
Protected China from foreign powers
Was effort to moderate the naval rivalry
between Japan and the U.S.
Agreement failed when Japan invaded
China
27E
Kellogg-Briand
Pact
A treaty outlawing war
except in cases of selfdefense (1928); initially, 14
nations, including the U.S.
signed the pact; eventually,
62 nations were involved
27C
On August 27, 1928, French Foreign minister
Aristide Briand (above) and U.S. Secretary of State
Frank B. Kellogg (right) signed the Kellogg-Briand
pact. This treaty outlawed war.
On the surface of things, the U.S. and the 13 other nations that
signed this Treaty of Paris appeared to be a high minded, idealistic
commitment to guarantee a world without international conflict.
In fact, it was the culmination of an American effort to avoid
becoming entangled by obligations to its recent ally of World War
I, the French Republic
During the summer of 1927, Briand had approached the United States with a
proposal to formally outlaw war between France and America. While the idea
appeared attractive—particularly to pacifists—Briand’s true intention was to
bind the United States closely to France in the event of any future
international conflict. Kellogg adroitly guided negotiations so as to broaden
the terms of the agreement. Briand found himself in a somewhat awkward
position where he had no choice other than to agree to Kellogg’s counterproposal. The upshot was a diplomatic charade finally culminating “in the
elaborate ceremony in Paris.” If the treaty signatories agreed to “renounce
war as an instrument of national policy in all matters except for self defense,
in practical terms, the impact of the agreement was negligible. Enforcement
rested entirely on the “moral force of world opinion.” Once U.S. senator
described the treaty as nothing more than “an international kiss.” The United
States continued to keep itself aloof from involvement in international politics.
It neither picked up the mantle of world leadership nor expended any effort to
preserve world order. Indeed, as conditions in Europe began to deteriorate
during the 1930s, “the American people retreated even deeper, searching for
an isolationist policy that would spare them the agony of another great war.”
What Americans failed to realize was that “there was no place to hide in the
modern world. The period cartoon to the left satirizes the ineffectiveness of the
Kellogg-Briand Pact.
Dawes Plan
This proposal by
American Banker
Charles G. Dawes
(right) suggested that
the U. S. loan money to
Germany for payment
of reparations. Such a
policy would enable the
Allies to repay money
borrowed from the U.S.
during the war (1924).
Scorecard
Continued
•
•
Hawley-Smoot Act—
U. S. tariff passed in
1930; pushed tariffs to
high rates to protect
American
manufacturers from
foreign competition
(1930)
Clark
Memorandum—
Undersecretary of
State J. Reuben Clark
Clark drew up memorandum
declaring that the U. S. had no
right to send troops into Latin
America (1930). His declaration
amounted to a formal and official
repudiation of the Roosevelt
Corollary. At the same time,
Clark also asserted America’s
right under international law to
American lives and property.
Scorecard
Continued
•
•
Isolationism—belief
that the U. S. should
avoid any entangling
involvements or
agreements with other
nations
27D
Internationalism—
belief that as a great
power, the U. S. should
assume responsibility
for events abroad
Events reflecting America’s
willingness to participate in
international events in the
1920s
•Washington Naval
Conference
•Kellogg-Briand Pact
•Dawes Plan
•League of Nations
Conferences
Scorecard
Continued
• Nye
Commission
27D
Democratic Senator Gerald Nye (left)
chaired a committee investigating why
U.S. entered World War I. It
concluded that America had been
tricked into entering the war, that
international bankers who made loans
to the Allies were principally to blame.
It also attacked arms manufacturers—
the “merchants of death.” The
committee’s conclusions stimulated
isolationist sentiment in interwar
America and led to the neutrality
legislation of the 1930s.
Neutrality
Legislation
• 1935—in August, Congress passed a law banning
the sale of arms to nations at war and warned
Americans not to sail on the ships of belligerent
nations (an echo of the troubles of 1916-1917
preceding American entry into World War I)
• 1936—a ban on loans to belligerent nations
• 1937—the ban on loans were made permanent;
moreover, all trade other than sale of munitions
had to be conducted on a cash-and-carry basis
“Neutrality legislation played directly into the hands of Adolf
Hitler. Bent on conquest of Europe, he could now proceed
without worrying about American interference.”
The “Good
Neighbor Policy”
FDR proclamation (1933) to deal in more friendly way with
U. S.’s Latin American neighbors 27A
Both presidents Coolidge and
Hoover de-emphasized armed
intervention. Roosevelt made
dramatic changes. “With his
usual flair for the dramatic, he
[FDR] proclaimed a policy of
the ‘good neighbor’ and then
proceeded to win good will by
renouncing the imperialism of
the past.”
FDR & Cuba’s Batista
Nicaragua’s Samoza (below) & FDR. Other U.S.
diplomats and officials helped the president
implement his new diplomatic initiative.
U.S. Secretary of State,
Cordell Hull renounced
America’s “right to
intervene in Cuban affairs
under the Platt
Amendment loosened its
grip on Panama. By 1936,
American troops were no
longer occupying any
Latin American nation.”
Hull talks
with Cuban
leader
Zaldivar
Batista.
How President Roosevelt
strengthened relations
between the U.S. and Latin
America
• Institution of the Good Neighbor Policy
• Withdrawal of U.S. marines from Haiti
• Rejection of the Platt Amendment (that
restricted Cuban independence
• Personal visit to South America
Rise of World
Dictators
27E
Mussolini became dictator of Italy
in 1922. He exercised tight fascist
control over entire nation.
He was Hitler’s
role model
during the early
years of Hitler’s
administration.
How Mussolini
Gained Power in
Italy
• Murdered or imprisoned his political
opponents
• Suspended elections
• Supervised the economy
• Modernized Italy’s armed forces
• Supported active campaign of territorial
expansion (e.g., invasion of Ethiopia)
With respect to
Mussolini’s Italian
conquest of Ethiopia,
“the League’s
halfhearted measures
utterly failed to halt”
the invasion.
“Collective security
had failed its most
important test.”
Adolf Hitler –Leader of
Germany’s National
Socialist (Nazi) party
In 1932, Hitler was
elected as German
chancellor (right). He
was fiercely anticommunist, antiSemitic, and against
the provisions of the
Versailles Treaty.
Hitler enlisted the support of war heroes like
Herman Goering whom he placed in charge of the
revived German air force or Luftwaffe. In his book,
Mein Kampf (right), published while in jail for the
infamous Beer Hall putsch of 1923, laid out his
plans for reassertion of German power and
establishment of a thousand year German Reich.
Issues Giving
Hitler Popularity
in Germany
• Treaty of
Versailles
• Communism
• Charismatic
speaking style
The notorious peace settlement crafted at Versailles
in France (left) sewed the seeds of a second and
even greater worldwide conflict. By laying
impossible reparation payments, all but exclusive
war guilt on Germany, and ignoring Wilson’s
principle of self-determination in the restructuring
of postwar Europe, the diplomats at Versailles all
but guaranteed a future conflict. Moreover, by
stripping Germany of critical territory and
resources, they rendered the new German republic
incapable of meeting the reparation payments that
they demanded.
Totalitarian State
The government controlling every aspect of a
person’s life; state considered to be supreme;
few rights extended to individuals; all political
opposition forbidden
Devalue
To reduce the value of a currency (e.g., the dollar)
in relation to other nations’ currencies; aim was
to stimulate sale of American products on world
markets
How neutrality Acts
Became Progressively
Restrictive
27D
•
•
•
Neutrality Act of 1935—forbid loans to
nations at war and joint resolution
banning aid to either side
Neutrality Act of 1937—banned shipments
of non-military goods to warring nations
Stimson Doctrine—Secretary of State
Henry Stimson declared the U.S. would
not recognize Japanese territorial gains in
China (but without any plan for action)
Stimson’s failed to
change Japan’s flouting
of the treaties aimed at
preserving peace.
In 1937, Japanese bomber planes sank U.S. gunboat Panay on
patrol in Yangtze river, killing 2 crew members; government
accepted official Japanese apology and $2 million in damages
(reflected American desire to avoid war at any cost).
U.S Response to Japanese
Attack on China, 1937
27D & E
A Collision Course
• Japan lacked raw materials to sustain a
developing industrial economy
• Japan sought to expand onto Asian
mainland (right)
• 1905—took Korea
• 1931—invaded Manchuria
• 1937—invaded China
Although technologically
able, Japan found itself
without a wealth of
resources. This deficiency
led to imperialist behavior.
Deterioration of Events in
Europe
Munich Pact
27F
A conference in 1938 in
which the British and
French agreed to allow
Hitler to take
Czechoslovakia’s
Sudetenland (which
had a majority of
German population)
Munich—a Monument to Failed Foreign Policy
At left, Hitler, Mussolini and others descend steps in
the midst of the Munich Conference of 1938. British
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (right and
below) fell under Hitler’s charismatic spell (as had
many others including famous American aviator
Charles Lindberg).
Upon debarking from the airplane that brought
Chamberlain home from Munich, he triumphantly
waved treaty papers in the air and (like Benjamin
Disraeli in an earlier generation) proclaimed that he
had brought Great Britain “peace in our time.” The
subsequent flow of events revealed the folly of
appeasement when applied to unscrupulous leaders
whose word could not be trusted.
Neville Chamberlain—prime minister
of Britain who proclaimed “peace in
our time” after his return from the
Munich Conference
MolotovRibbentrop Pact
A non-aggression pact signed between Germany
and Russia in 1939. The agreement spared
Germany a two-front war.
Unlikely
Bedfellows
The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pace shocked the world.
Heretofore, official Nazi policy was decidedly anti-Soviet.
Moreover, Mein Kampf revealed Hitler’s dismissive evaluation
of both the communist system and the Slavic peoples. As the
cartoons of the period reveal, the German-Russian alliance was
a cynical undertaking. Hitler would turn on Stalin in 1941
when the Wehrmacht invaded Russia.
As for America, while the U.S.
government largely ignored
the Soviet Union during the
1920s, President Roosevelt
finally extended official
recognition to the Bolshevik
government in 1933.
“The successful aggression by Nazi Germany
brought into question the isolationist assumption
that American well-being did not depend on the
European balance of power. . . . The long retreat
from responsibility was about to end as Americans
came to realize their own democracy and security
were at stake in the European war. . . . Americans
were stunned [at Hitler’s conquest of France].
Hitler had taken only six weeks to achieve what
Germany had failed to do in four years of fighting
in World War I. Suddenly they realized they did
have a stake in the outcome; if England fell, Hitler
might well gain control of the British navy.”
Munich—A
Cynical Bargain
Notions that the situation in
Europe would work out were
"destroyed on August 23, 1939,
by the news of a Nazi-Soviet
pact. Fascism and communism
were political philosophies
supposedly in deadly
opposition. Many Americans
had secretly hoped that Nazi
Germany and Soviet Russia
would fight it out, neutralizing
each other."
Cynicism of Pact exhibited
pre-pact quotes by: " It is
quite possible to course that
there are madmen in
Germany who dream of
annexing the Soviet Ukraine.
If there really are such
lunatics in Ger., rest assured
we shall find enough
straitjackets for them in our
country" Stalin
"The ideas by which we are governed are
diametrically opposite to those of Soviet
Russia....our task is to destroy Marxism. We
will fight it to the death...Bolshevism is the
most malignant poison that can be given to a
people. Any treaty with the present Russian
government would be completely worthless"
Hitler. One is reminded of the old adage,
“’Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to
kiss.”
Winston Churchill
Churchill became British prime minister after
Chamberlain’s resignation when policy of
appeasement (see definition below, 11.) became
discredited. In fact, Churchill’s political career had
been largely in decline. As a younger man, he had
held many important government posts before
becoming persona no grata. During his “wilderness
years,” he was virtually a lone voice warning of the
dangers that Nazi Germany posed to the peace of
Europe and the world. It was only under the
extraordinary circumstances of the late-1930s that
his popularity revived and he became acceptable as
the national leader.
Appeasement
The policy adopted by Allies in dealing
with Hitler’s Germany; give in to
Hitler’s demands for territorial gains
hoping Hitler would eventually be
satisfied (or, as Churchill put it,
“feeding your neighbors to the tiger,
hoping that he would eat you last”)
27F
Blitzkrieg
“Lightening war” introduced by Hitler in 1939;
involved sudden, fast moving attacks with
planes and tanks
27G
The combination of Panzer tanks and planes proved
unstoppable.
Nations Conquered
by Germany by
1940
• Czechoslovakia
• Poland
• Denmark
• Norway
• Belgium
• The Netherlands
• France
Moving From
Neutrality Toward
Undeclared War
27D
Election of 1940
Wendell Wilkie was the
Republican candidate for
president in 1940. He
supported much of FDR’s
foreign policy, e.g., helping
Britain, the Selective Service
Act of 1940 (the 1st
peacetime draft in America).
Lend-Lease Act of
1941
President given authority to sell, exchange, lend, or
lease war material to any country whose
security/defense he considered vital to America’s
defense
27G
“The growing danger of war
abroad led to a rising
American desire for peace
and noninvolvement. The
United States deliberately
abstained from assuming this
role of leadership until it was
nearly too late.”
Depression
Diplomacy
FDR "was at heart an
internationalist but
like most world
leaders in the 1930s,
he placed revival of
his own country's
limping economy
ahead of general
world recover."
FDR and
Neutrality
During the 1930s, FDR played an essentially
passive role regarding preparing America for
war. While he anticipated the eventual entry of
the U.S. into the war, he publicly “bowed to the
prevailing isolationism.” At Chautauqua in 1936,
New York (left), FDR delivered an impassioned
speech denouncing war. A year later in Chicago,
the president “denounced ‘the epidemic of
world lawlessness’ and called for an
international effort to ‘quarantine’ this disease. .
. . The president had no intention of challenging
the prevailing public mood of the 1930s.
As with his domestic policy, "Roosevelt had no master plan in
foreign policy. . . . He gave conflicting signals as he groped to
respond to the international situation."
"Roosevelt had no carefully planned strategy to deal with
the rising tide of war in Europe in the late 1930s. He was by
no means an isolationist, but he wanted to keep the United
States out of the European conflagration. When he
announced, 'I hate war,' he was expressing a deep personal
belief that wars solve few problems. Unlike his distant
cousin Theodore Roosevelt, he did not view war as a test of
one's manhood. In foreign policy, just as in domestic
affairs, he responded to events, but he moved reluctantly
(and with agonizing slowness, from the point of view of
many of his critics) toward more and more American
involvement in the war."
Lend-Lease ended the fiction of American neutrality.
Congress authorized FDR to "sell, transfer title to, exchange,
lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of" was supplies to "any
country the president deems vital to the defense of the United
States." The cartoon to the right shows the American eagle
carrying much-needed weaponry across the Atlantic to the
British.
Along with this came $7 billion in appropriations ending the
"cash" aspect of the cash-and-carry program to the Allies.
Britain now had full access to U. S. war supplies. The
president could sell, lend, lease, exchange or transfer materials
to any country whose welfare/defense was vital to that of that
U. S.
Churchill apprised FDR that cash-and-carry would no
longer compensate for Britain's rapidly exhausting
financial recourses. This led to the lend-lease program,
one of FDR's "most ingenious and imaginative creations."
FDR presented the idea to Americans in a fireside chat in
which he stressed the evil intentions of the Nazis and the
dangers that a German victory would create. He called for
America to become "the great arsenal of democracy."
He compared the program to loaning a neighbor a hose to
put out a fire ravaging his house (a somewhat faulty
analogy).
Atlantic Charter
27H
The Atlantic Charter of 1941 was
an agreement between U.S. and
Britain to seek no territorial gain;
support right of “all peoples to
choose the form of government
under which they will live;” urging
all nations to cooperate
economically to raise general
standard of living through the
world; support of disarmament of
all aggressor nations after defeat of
Nazism; and establishment of
wide/permanent system of general
security
American Entry
into World War II
The bombing of Pearl Harbor by the
Japanese galvanized pro-war sentiment in
the U.S. It gave FDR the pretext that he
needed to do what he had known for a
long time that he would have to: lead
America into the fray and militarily
support the Allied cause.
27I
Contrasts with World War
I — It Differed in Origins
and Major Events
• World War II was far more a world war, involving
more territory in Asia, China, Africa, and Europe
• World War I had been largely a war for position;
WW II was in almost constant movement
• Weapons that were chiefly new were responsible
for greater speed and mobility in WW II.
– the airplane revolutionized war on land and sea
– almost 25% of the casualties in WW II were
airmen, e.g., those caught in "Flack Alley"
amounted to 70,000
– bomb targets were the manufacturing backbone
of the 3rd Reich, the industrial centers
Contrasts Continued
• The use of air warfare against civilian targets
eradicated the distinction between the fighting and
home fronts. . . World War II was more of a total
war than World War I.
• The production of planes, ships, munitions,
weapons, food, and clothing drew in civilians.
• World War I was in part a clash of ideologies and
systems of rule; World War II was a more acute
clash in a doctrinaire fashion, a kind of worldwide
civil war to decide not so much the kind of power
that would henceforth rule the world as the kind
of morality
Comparisons with
World War I
• Both wars were tied to the follies of Versailles
• Both were tied to the Great Depression
– World War I was a cause of the Depression
– World War II was in part the result of it
• The desire for German hegemony was a key
motive in both wars In this, Hitler becomes
representative of a general German imperialistic
drive as remote as the Bismarckian period; that
drive culminated in Hitler who radicalized "flight
from fears of the socialist menace" into
expansionist ideas
Comparisons
Continued
• Eastern Lebensraum had long been a part of
German
ideology; the big question was
whether hegemony would fall to the Teuton
or Slav.
• The concept of English neutrality to wage
successful war against France with
simultaneous conquest in the East—this
had roots in the Wilhelmian period
Six Causes for
World War II
1.
Versailles Treaty—planted the seeds of a new and greater
war. One historian calls World War II the "war over the
settlement of Versailles”—The peace left many national
and international problems unsolved—they all
contributed to the coming of war in 1939
2. Struggle between the Right and Left in Europe—both
were against democracy
– Rioting and the threat of communist revolution scared
those on the Right
– Communism and Fascism were alternative solutions
to cope with dissatisfaction over inefficient
government
– In times of crisis, people turn or lean to extremist
solutions and powerful leadership
Causes Continued
• Economic ills
– post-war inflation, especially in Germany and
Italy
– the Great Depression which followed inflation
• Fatigue—a lack of desire to become involved with
international problems This led the main
democracies to bury their heads in the sand, to
respond with appeasement, i.e., the giving of the
aggressor what he wanted
Causes Continued
• Failure of the League of Nations to preserve peace
– 1931—Japanese invasion of Manchuria
– 1935—Italian invasion of Ethiopia
– The League was powerless to prevent war—it had no
armed forces and had to depend on the military support
of France and England who were unprepared for war,
and lacked large
armies
– The League wouldn't render unified support to check
the actions of the aggressor states
• Rise of Aggressor Nations which Tested the Strength of the
Democracies—intense nationalism was given purpose by a
drive for conquest and a hatred of minority groups
Mussolini—"We have buried
the putrid corpse of liberty. . .
war alone sets the stamp of
nobility on the peoples who have
the courage to face it."
FDR—the security and
peace of 90% of the world
is being jeopardized by
the remaining 10%.