The Bankruptcy
of the Collective
Security
Global History
Submitted to : Barry Halloran
Submitted by :Oriane Misonne
A)Reminder: what the "collective security"?
The collective security designates the mode of organization of the
international relations of the interwar period. Fruit of the Conferences of Peace held in Versailles after the Great War, it joins completely in line with the optics of the 14 points of Wilson and is inaugurated by the League of Nations.
Carried by the pacifist fervour relieving the abomination of the atrocities of 14-18, the League of Nations intends to solve the international tensions by the dialogue and by the law and either by the trial of strength. It thus makes of the diplomacy the main lever of the relations between States, legitimizing the call to arms only in case of ultimate recourse.
This political line, tinged with idealism, tilts more to recognize to the States of the praiseworthy intentions rather that a will to satisfy strictly national interests. This tendency of optimism deforms the vision that the League of Nations gives itself of the international context. Its trust
renewed in the policy of reassurance prevents it from dreading with realism the threats which weigh on the world. The development of the League of Nations, too late, will not allow any more to avoid the worst.
B)New international tensions bound to the imperialism
of the authoritarian regimes
The objective risk of the war is inherent to the authoritarian regimes which were set up in Europe after the World War I. It is registered in the doctrine of the fascism which governed Italy since 1922 and in the one of the Nazism which takes control of Germany in 1933. Because of their national ambitions, these regimes developed a will of hegemony. This presents the war as a normal and natural phenomenon, a logical result of their
nationalist aspiration.
From this point of view, Nazi Germany, especially, threatens the European balance. Since 1933, it leaves the League of the Nations which it had joined in 1926. Denying then the clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, it restores in 1935, the compulsory military service and throws a busy schedule to endow the country of a modern military aviation. The
necessity of Lebensraum, at the heart of the Nazi doctrine, legitimizes the war. Hitler calls upon it determinedly in his speeches. He wants that it is offered to him to celebrate his fifty years. He was born in 1889.
In Italy, the pro-birth policy led by Benito Mussolini also justifies the territorial expansion. He wants to make of Italy the pivot of Danube and Mediterranean Europe. He also tries to spread his influence in Africa by the colonial conquest.
the continent, a territorial base of a domination called to extend over the continent.
C)Localized conflicts translate the powerlessness of the
collective security
From 1923, the annexation of the port of Memel by Lithuania casts a first depreciation on the League of Nations. Three conflicts briefly presented below tarnish definitively the image of the international organization. All commit member states of the League of Nations. All confirm successively, in the eyes of the world, its incapacity of realizing the objective for which it was established: "offer mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to the small as to the big States ", according to the fourteenth point of Wilson.
The affair of the Manchuria
From the first years of the twentieth century, Japan among which the army and the big industrial groups impose their sights on the political world, made of the Manchuria its zone of economic expansion favoured in China. Its investments bring it so to administer the entire south-Manchurian railroad. These railroad infrastructures are protected by a garrison of 30,000 Japanese soldiers, but the Japanese staff never stops planning a strengthening of its troops in the region. In 1931, the military occupation of the Manchuria becomes the only possible outcome to relieve the demographic surplus of Japan and take out the country of the world economic crisis which strikes it quite hard.
In September, an attack committed by the Chinese against the south-Manchurian railroad is a pretext for the Japanese military intervention. This incident, relieved by the propaganda is a put-up job by the Japanese army which, in three months only, occupies all Manchuria. When China carries the affair in front of the League of Nations, this one refers its protests in Japan and sends a commission of inquiry asked to study the situation. These measures do not stop Japan. In 1932, it renames the Manchuria to make a so-called new independent State “Mandchoukouo”, which is in reality only a Japanese protectorate. In 1933, the League of Nations condemns Japan and demands its withdrawal of Manchuria. It withdraws only from the League of Nations, without any penalty. The policy of the fait accompli won it: the Japanese invasion of China continues.
The annexation of Ethiopia
Italy enters later than the other European powers the race in colonies. In 1889, it acquires Eritrea, then Italian Somalia, which will form with
independence in Africa. Here as in Manchuria, a minor, fast amplified incident, is a pretext for the military deployment.
In December 1934, 30 native soldiers of the Italian army in Eritrea, patrolling border zone, there fall under the fire of their Abyssinian counterparts. Immediately, Ethiopia notifies this affair of the League of Nations. An Italian-Ethiopian treaty of 1928 indeed committed both
countries to try nothing of harmful to their respective independence and to subject any dispute to the conciliation.
However, Mussolini refuses any refereeing and the League of Nations fails to reunite its most influential members, France and England, in a common position. France has to defend nothing in East Africa; in contrast, England is afraid in this region of the formation of Italian pincers susceptible to threaten its interests in Sudan and in Egypt. Both powers favour their national interest to the detriment of the collective security. Eventually time goes by and Italy grows tired of waiting.
In October 1935, Mussolini moves into the attack. Then only, the League of Nations condemns Italy and takes economic sanctions against it. But these are revised downwards to not strike too much Italy which could get closer to the Nazi Germany. They do not stop, thus the advance of the Italian troops in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa falls in May 1936. Mussolini declares then Ethiopia annexed to Italy and confers to King Victor Emmanuel II the emperor's title of Ethiopia. Confirming the policy of the fait accompli, the League of Nations lifts in July 1936 all the economic sanctions striking Italy of which the takeover by force is a brilliant success, the League of Nations on the other hand, made the proof of its irresistible decline.
The Spanish civil war (1936-1939)
Spain enters in the 20th century as it crossed all the 19th century,
ceaselessly in the grip of the political instability and of the social unrest. It opened less than the rest of Europe in the Industrial revolution. Its rural anchoring hinders its development and makes her economically
dependent of her neighbours. In 1931, the institution of a republican system, succeeding a military dictatorship in position since 1923, is pledged of opening and social progress. This prospect annoys the conservative right compound of the army, the Church and the big
landowners, all three regular to govern the country. In front of this National Front, the Popular Front - Frente popular - a coalition of left-wing parties, wins the general legislative election of 1936. This new political situation is unacceptable for the army which, on July 17th 1936, attempted to take over managed by General Franco, from the Spanish Morocco.
The fast organization of people's armies through the country and the reaction speed of the servicemen remained faithful to the Republic
still the insurgents, do not delay starting again of the ground to the
Republicans or the loyal supporters. The final victory of Franco, in 1939, is connected to the international context of this time.
From the beginning of the uprising, the Spanish Republic calls for help the nearby democracies. The English people refuse it any support: to help the Spanish Republicans amounts for them to hasten the victory of the
communism in Europe. In France, Léon Blum, head of government and leader of the Popular Front, stands by the republican cause. He however has to compromise with the opposition of right, more favourable in Franco and not to strike the opinion of the British ally. Quite logically, France thus opts for the neutrality. But if the Republicans cannot benefit from the help of the western democracies, Blum tries to deprive also the Rebels of any foreign reinforcement. From this perspective, in August 1936, he plans a pact of non-intervention committing the signatories to send to Spain no military aid favouring the one or the other camp. As this pact is developed without the League of Nations, it is also addressed to the States which denigrate it, as Germany, Italy or still the USSR. By associating these authoritarian regimes with the negotiations the pact appears as an effort of conciliation which allows to not irritate them, the aim of the
democracies being to avoid any link between Italy and Germany. All the European powers ratify it, but the Fascist Italy and the Nazi Germany do not wait that the ink of their signature dries at the foot of the pact to rest the troops of Franco by a massive sending of men and military equipment. The USSR denounces their attitude and follows suit them, but not in a much lesser measure and in favour of the Republicans this time. Besides, at the instigation of the French left, the Kominterm sets up, from October, the international Brigades, the militia compound of volunteers stemming from all the countries, from all the left-wing parties and which hate
unanimously the fascism.
The principle of non-intervention thus short-circuits the League of Nations, become totally powerless and incredible because it is one of its main founder members, France, which introduced it. It frees so the member states of any obligation on the international scene. So, during all the duration of the conflict, the multiple requests sent to the League of Nations by the Spanish republican government to enforce its real
legitimacy stay without any answer. It ends after all in a vast hypocrisy which makes of Spain the privileged military training ground of Italy and Germany and facilitates, while it tried to avoid it, the link of these two powers which seal their alliance within the Axis Rome-Berlin in November 1936.
D)
The takeovers by force of Hitler
The remilitarization of the Rhineland (in March 1936)
Hitler intends to rearm the Rhineland since 1935, when he restores the compulsory military service in Germany. The slowness and the lack of reaction of France and England in the affair of Ethiopia urge him to take action in 1936. The 7th March, 30.000 soldiers of the Wehrmacht penetrate
in Rhineland. England, convinced that it is again necessary to try to calm the tensions to protect the peace, dissuades France, directly concerned by the geographical closeness of the Rhineland, to intervene militarily. The League of Nations declares that Germany was lacking in its international obligations by violating the Treaty of Versailles, but Hitler refuses
altogether his proposals of conciliation. No continuation is given to this first insult, even though the German army, in full reorganization, was incapable to fight to keep the region which it had just taken back.
The Anschluss (the annexation of Austria - March 1938)
In the front row countries called to join Reich to form the big Germany which Hitler describes in Mein Kampf, figures his own homeland: Austria. In the beginning of March 1938, the Führer begins a campaign of intimidation the target of which is the Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg. Banking on the activism of the Austrian Nazi party, Hitler imposes to Schuschnigg to
appoint the leader, Seyss-Inquart, Home Secretary. He leaves with him one week to reach this requirement, not without specifying that after this deadline, the soldiery of the Reich will break out on Vienna.
Schuschnigg repels the ultimatum and plans a wide referendum. By this way, he wants to demonstrate that the majority of the Austrians are not favourable to the merger with Germany, contrary to the fact that accredits the propaganda of the Nazi party. But the Austrian chancellor, in the grip of the harassment of the Austrian Nazis and under the inexorable pressure of Germany which brandishes the imminence of a military intervention, is forced to the resignation and resigns. Seyss-Inquart replaces him
immediately to the chancellery.
On March 11th 1938, Hitler enters Austria and proclaims the Anschluss. In April, he organizes a referendum which confirms the annexation of Austria at 97 %. The western democracies which, at no time, brought their support for Schuschnigg, say themselves worry, but envisage nothing to prevent similar actions on behalf of Hitler in the future.
The dismantling of the Czechoslovakia (September 1938 -
March 1939)
After the success of the Anschluss, Hitler hardens the tone and the strike of the fist. On September 12th 1938, during the annual Congress of the Nazi party in Nuremberg, he announces his will to dismantle the
The cutting up begins with the recovery of the border regions of the
Sudetes, populated with three million Germans. The tactics of Hitler bases on the blackmail and the eroding. It consists in formulating small
requirements, but in increasing them as soon as they are satisfied so that an agreement cannot be found, the definitive settling of the question being left so with the strength of weapons.
Hitler proceeds as in Austria, by encouraging a party brother, the German party of the Sudetes managed by Konrad Henlein, to campaign on the theme of the return in Germany. Controlled by radio since Berlin, Henlein demands at first from Edouard Benes, the Czech President, a wide
autonomy for the Sudetes, this request is satisfied and he protests more: the reinstatement to the Reich. The propaganda of the German party of the Sudetes spreads its undermining: the Germans of the Sudetes are victims of unacceptable discriminations on behalf of the Czechs. Bloody clashes arise. After the speech of the 12 of September in Nuremberg, Benes proclaims the state of emergency. The war seems inevitable. This prospect decides the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, to meet Hitler. The purpose of the western democracies is to gain a
maximum of time before the confrontation if they do not succeed in defusing the crisis. Because Hitler has an advantage mattering on them: he rearmed more prematurely and more massively than them. It confers to Germany a military superiority which France and England have to catch up. The dictator uses a democratic argument in front of his British
interlocutor: he demands the return of the Sudetes in Germany by virtue of the right of peoples to self-determination.
On September 21st, because of the western pressing requests, the
Czechoslovakia agrees to get loose from the Sudetes. When Chamberlain announces the transfer of the Sudetes in Germany with the agreement of Great Britain, France and Czechoslovakia itself, Hitler does not answer and increases his requirements: the transfer has to be made immediately and without preliminary negotiations with the Czechoslovakia, nevertheless the first concerned. Benes refuses and mobilizes a million men. France decrees the general mobilization and assures the Czechoslovakia of its support by virtue of a treaty signed with it and undertaking it to defend its territorial integrity against any aggression.
In this explosive context, France and Great Britain imagine a conference where they would meet Italy and Germany to solve the crisis. Hitler accepts the idea with difficulty, although it is officially planned by
Mussolini, Hitler wants to unstitch it by weapons. This conference for four is held in Munich, on September 29th. From the beginning of the
negotiations, the French representatives, among whom the principal private secretary, Edouard Dalladier are almost isolated by their British counterparts. In the impossibility to share their respective point of view on the evolution of the negotiations, they cannot hold a common line of
unhealthy atmosphere worked on purpose by the German hosts, Munich agreement is signed on September 30th, Germany makes a commitment to not demand other territories in Czechoslovakia, France and Great Britain guarantee then for the transfer of the Sudetes and make a commitment to guarantee the territorial integrity of the new Czechoslovakia.
For the Czechs, Munich amounts to a treason, because France gave up them, denying its commitments to them. Six days after the Agreements, Benes resigns and exiles himself in London. He is replaced by Emile Hacha. For Chamberlain, Munich is a success which allowed to save time and to protect the peace. Back in London, he exclaims: "It’s peace for our time". More realistic, Dalladier considers that he failed; he has no more illusion on the will of Hitler's hegemony. Applauded as a hero when he returns in Paris, he confides to a close collaborator: "Ah the idiots, if they knew!". For Hitler finally, the conference of Munich is a masquerade which certainly handed him the Sudetes, but which especially made him waste time: the war is its program, the sooner the better!
After the signature of the Munich agreement, Hitler who does not intend to respect them, thinks immediately of bringing down what he calls "the remaining Czech republic ". It is a question of separating Bohemia-Moravia of Slovakia so that the Czechoslovakia stops existing as an independent State. He makes for it appeal to Lord Jozef Tiso, a Slovak priest, a leader of the Slovak People's Party, a pro-nazi political formation which demands the autonomy of the Slovak people inside the Czechoslovakia. He adds this one to declare the independence of Slovakia, otherwise it will be annexed by Hungary, allied fascist State of the German Reich. On March 14th 1939, Tiso gives in to the blackmail and does it. Slovakia becomes a satellite State of Germany. That evening, Emile Hacha is instructed to accept the military occupation of Bohemia-Moravia and to prevent any shape of resistance to the German occupant. In front of the bombardment’s threat on Prague which Hitler brandishes, Hacha has no other choice than the surrender. On March 15th, German troops cross the border. The same day Hitler makes of Bohemia-Moravia a German protectorate. Czechoslovakia stopped existing.
The Polish crisis and the release of the Second World War
breakthrough on the Polish ground if he has no guarantee that Soviet Union will not push him away. From this perspective, the German-Soviet pact is signed on August 23rd 1939. This treaty concludes between both powers, ideologically brought into conflict, a strictly tactical alliance. It is about a non-aggression pact: Germany and the USSR make a commitment to display no military operation between each other for a duration of 10 years. It is accompanied with a secret protocol which plans the division of Poland between both contracting parties and which recognizes in the USSR the rights on Finland, Baltic States and Bessarabia. In July 1941, Hitler denounced this pact without any scruple when he will throw the
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