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Group#4 The Failure of Disarmament (pages 118-120), image, image, image,…
Group#4 The Failure of Disarmament (pages 118-120)
The Geneva Disarmament Conference (1932–1934)
When the conference was finally convened, 60 nations were represented, including the United States and the Soviet Union. .
Hitler’s demands were forceful and they made France even more determined to resist pressure for it to disarm. Germany demanded ‘equality of status’, but this aspiration clashed with French security.
Why did the League fail to achieve disarmament?
Supporters of the League of Nations were perhaps the most disappointed by the fact that it failed to deliver on its disarmament promises.
The economic instability of the 1930s, following the Great Depression, caused, as we have already seen, nations to concentrate on their own problems.
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria undermined the idea of collective security and meant that nations with interests in the Asia-Pacific region would probably not welcome suggestions for disarmament.
The Washington Conference (1921–1922)
Great Britain, the USA, and Japan in particular continued to build up their navies.The cost of this military growth and the concern that the USA had regarding Japan’s growing strength led America to call for the fi rst post-war disarmament conference.
The agreement would involve nations destroying battleships until their quota was reached. In addition, no new battleships were to be built for 10 years.
A Nine-Power Treaty armed the territorial integrity of China and endorsed the concept of an ‘open door’ through which all nations could trade with China on an equal basis.
The London Naval Conference (1930)
The London Naval Conference revised the agreement made at Washington.
With the Great Depression now taking hold in Europe, the major powers were still keen to limit their defence spending.
France and Italy refused to take part in this agreement, though they did agree to continue the ban on building capital ships for five years.
The London Naval Treaty (1936) :
Japan no longer wished to limit its naval tonnage, Italians also left.
Although Britain, America, and France signed a treaty on cruiser tonnage, all disarmament agreements became meaningless given the rearmament programmes of Germany and Japan.
What were the effects of the Abyssinian Crisis on the
League of Nations?
It was a disaster. A permanent member had returned to
he successfully ignored the League and had been victorious through violence and war.
The League powers were not prepared to stand up to other major members of their interests were not directly threatened.
The Abyssinian Crisis is seen as the ‘final nail in the coffin’ of the League of Nations.
Collapsed, the league had a weakness with the one exposed for Hitler to exploit, which he easily did with the militarization of the Rhineland in March 1936.
