1) ‘ The views of J.M. Keynes were the most important factor in explaining Britain’s treatment of Germany in the years following the Treaty of Versailles until 1929.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. (24 marks) John Maynard Keynes, an economist and financial representative for the Treasury during the Treaty of Versailles of 1929, held bold and influential views about the treatment of Germany. The question is, how powerful were these views in affecting the actions and policies of the British government towards Germany in the years which followed? When Keynes rejected the scale of reparations placed on Germany and resigned from his post at the Treasury, he lead the way for what many leading politicians were to understand later on.
The treaty of Versailles greatly humiliated Germany forcing it to accept soul responsibility for the war. Another fault in this treaty was that it did not work as intended. The idea that Germany could ever afford to pay the reparations to full amount was ludicrous as it was already suffering from the defeat of war. These reparations caused runaway inflation throughout Germany. But perhaps the biggest problem of all was that those who created it themselves did not enforce
This is not to say that the League of Nations wasn’t warned of the potential danger of their absence in world affairs. Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia addressed the League and said “It is us today. It could be you tomorrow. (Document 2)” At the Munich conference, which was organized by Benito Mussolini, Hitler reassured France and Britain that if he were given the Sudetenland, he would discontinue Nazi expansion through military conquer. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain truly believed that they had made peace with Germany so once more France and Britain appeased Germany (Dr. Seuss).
Wilson stated, “No people must be forced under sovereignty under it does not wish to live. (Wilson, p. 71)” However, for Wilson’s plan to work scores of Germans in Prussia and in the West had to be displaced. Even though some areas were given plebiscites, he still had forced his vision on them. The creation of Yugoslavia out of many small ethnic states created a potential powder keg. As well, the only way that the Wilson plan would have survived the political intrigue of the Europeans was either through a league that had real teeth, or a super power willing to intervene as a worldwide police officer.
This could be noted with the US not joining the League of Nations. So on September 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria and renamed it Manchuko, establishing a puppet government. Even though the League of Nations is set up to take action against barefaced assault they did nothing except give Japan a slap on the wrist with passing a resolution condemning Japan for its actions. With this failure to do anything it showed this the League of Nations problem with trying to keep peace, it’s nearly impossible without the world’s super power. This showed the world that the actions of this group should not be taken seriously.
French leaders were particularly concerned about Germany’s efforts to undo the treaty of Versailles. The Ruhr occupation in January 1923, convinced French leaders that in future, they should not attempt to enforce The Treaty of Versailles single-handedly. The occupation of the Ruhr saw the takeover of the Germany industrial heart, with the intention of forcing Germany to meet its financial obligations. German authorities adopted a policy of passive resistance, with the result that industrial production in the
Germany responded only with the destruction of the steamer Sussex in March. At this point, Wilson threatened to end all diplomatic relations with Germany, an act that would surely bring the United States into war against Germany. To prevent this–the German Emperor knew he could not defeat the combined strength of the Entente powers and the United States–Germany agreed to respect certain shipping lines. War had been averted, but only for a
The British did not want to have war, but after hearing about the ultimatum that was sent to Belgium, Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany asking them to respect that Belgium was neutral. Germany refused, and on August 4th Britain declared war on Germany. In late August, Japan joined in on the war on the side of the allies. Turkey soon joined the war on the side of the Central Powers. By the end of 1914 the central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and
Now it was clear that Hitler could not be trusted and unlike Studenland, the rest of Czech was never part of Germany before thee war, so this was clearly an invasion. Britain and France told Hitler they would declare war on him if he invaded Poland. * Stalin had been worried about Germany all along cause he read about Hitler’s plans about taking over the east of Europe, he also knew Britain and France would not stand in his way cause they supported his idea of anti communism. So instead he went to Hitler and they agreed on ‘The Nazi Soviet pact’ which was that Hitler would not invade Russia and Poland can be divided in 2 between them. Stalin wanted the east, to take over the Baltic states and he knew that Hitler would not keep his word but he had hoped that the agreement would give him time to build up his forces.
the “bad guys” (Germany and their allies). This has officially removed every obstacle in front of President Wilson’s way to join the war because as he had said before, he did not want to be sided with a tyrant, Russia. All he has to do is say the words and in a second we would be in the War, helping not only our own country, but our long good friends Britain as well. It is not difficult to realize that we don’t have the best army and navy, and that we mobilize slowly, but this is yet another reason for why we should start right here, right now. If we are successful to mobilizing quickly and having a military draft, our army would be almost unstoppable to other nations.