Karel
Schelle
The
Faculty of Law of the Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Paris Peace Conference (1919 – 1920)
and its influence
(To the 90 Anniversary of the
Beginning of the Negotiaton of the Paris Peace Conference)
1. Peace Negotiations at
the Paris Peace Conference
A truce was signed by the Triple
Entente and the German block for a period of thirty-six days. Five times during
this period, Germany demanded conclusion of preliminary peace. However, the
Entente did not accept these offers. We
are waiting for Wilson was their unofficial answer. But waiting for Wilson who arrived to Paris
on December 13, 1918, was not the only reason they had. The victors still did
not manage to agree on peace conditions. Hence, the truce had to be prolonged
several times.
The conference had officially started on January 18, 1919 and there were
twenty-seven states and five British dominions (India, Canada, Australia, South
Africa, and New Zealand) participating in it. Russia was not invited and the
Montenegro’s seat remained empty. The five main powers divided the positions of
leaders of this conference. G. B. Clemenceau was elected chairman and the
American Secretary of State R. Lansing, Prime Minister of Great Britain Lloyd
George, Prime Minister of Italy V. E. Orlando, and Japanese Marquis Saionji
became vice chairmen.
The delegations from particular countries were led by their Prime
Ministers and Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Only the delegation from the United
States was led by the president W. Wilson. All countries represented at the
conference were divided into four categories. In the first category, there were
the powers that had been engaged in war and which had interests of a general character (USA, Great Britain, France,
Italy, and Japan). These countries participated in all meetings and committees.
In the second category, there were the countries having interests of particular character (Czechoslovakia was in this
category too). These countries were supposed to participate in meetings where
issues respecting them would be negotiated. In the third category, there were
states that discontinued diplomatic relations with the German block. Their
representatives were supposed to participate in meetings that would be dealing
with issues respecting them. Lastly, the fourth category contained the neutral
countries that were in the process of constitution. These were allowed to
express themselves either verbally or in writing when asked to attend special
meetings on issues respecting them by, at least, one of the main powers.
The conference had its own bodies. Especially, it was the plenary
session of all countries which, however, turned out to be of small importance.
Only seven such plenary sessions took place during the conference. The victors
did not let the smaller countries to get engaged in the new lay-out of the
world. Clemenceau said openly that the great powers that had been able to line
up about 12 million men and decided the way the war had turned out, were
unquestionably entitled to make decisions on peace.
The key role on this conference was granted to leaders of particular
delegations and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the five powers, i.e. the
American president Wilson, Prime Ministers Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Orlando,
Makimo, and Ministers R. Lansing, S. Pichon, A. J. Balfour, S. Sonnino, and S.
Chinda. Soon, there were less people engaged in this body. Japan was interested
only in Asian issues especially then in territories of the former German
colonies (these colonies had originally belonged to China, which led China to
refuse to sign the peace treaties). Italy whose territorial demands had not
been satisfied in compliance with vision of Rome withdrew their representatives
from the conference for a short time. The chiefs of delegations started to
negotiate on certain issues on their own. These events gave birth to the “Big
five”, “Big four” (without Japan) and, lastly, “Big three” – Wilson, Clemenceau
and Lloyd George.
The negotiations on the conference were getting more difficult. An
atmosphere was worsening rapidly. Even the disputes were growing, especially
over: German colonies; an amount of monetary damages and their ratios; division
of spheres within the Middle East where Britons gave contrary promises to
Frenchmen and Arabs; demands of Japan that was promised by Englishmen and
Frenchmen to gain the former German colonies, even though it had originally
belonged to China, and others. In spite of these disputes, Wilson was trying to
save his Fourteen Points. In disputes over German colonies in Africa and Oceania
that had been, in fact, portioned out by France, Belgium, and especially Great
Britain and its dominions, the president Wilson was able to push through at
least the former rule that the negotiations would be dealing with changing
these territories into mandates given under control of particular countries, as
being prepared by the League of Nations, rather than on direct annexation such
territories. However, there were all kinds of similar problems.
Despite the intricacy, the negotiations got developed into a stage when
German delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs U. Brockdorff-Rantzau
could be invited. This took place on April 28, 1919. It was a first time on May
7 when German delegates attended the negotiations with representatives of
victors. The conditions were too hard on Germany and the German delegates tried
to defend themselves. On May 29, 1919, U. Brockdorff-Rantzau granted the
conference a note wherein he protested against all parts of the proposal. The
chiefs of the conference, however, satisfied his objections only in a few
points. Especially, they decided that Saarland would not get under French
control but be given under control o the League of Nations, further, the Upper
Silesia would not be given to Poland automatically but there would rather be a
plebiscite on this issue. All the adjustments were written in a red ink into
the original large book of peace conditions. These conditions were handed over
to Germany on June 16, 1919. Germany was given seven days to accept or reject
the conditions in the wording they had
been written. In the case of delay or rejection, the allies would enforce fulfillment of the conditions.
But Germany was defeated. Its disintegrated army could not have
successfully resist, which was admitted even by the generality in charge of
decision-making. The government led by Scheidemann resigned and a new
government was gotten together by a social democrat G. Bauer and H. Müller
became the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This new government agreed on signing
the peace treaty, however, with a reservation to admitting that it was Germany
who was guilty of starting the war. Nonetheless, the answer from Paris was
clear: No changes! On July 23, 1919,
the German Reichstag finally passed an acceptance to the submitted peace treaty.
On an anniversary day July 28, 1919, in Versailles was definitely signed
the agreement between Entente powers and Germany, the so-called Treaty of Versailles. Accordingly,
Germany obliged itself to return Alsace-Lorraine within the borders of 1870 back
to France; to hand over all its colonies to victors; and to abolish the
compulsory service in army. Nonetheless, the German military-economic potential
was not eliminated but only limited. Germany waived its rights and privileges
in China, Thailand, Liberia, Morocco, and Egypt and agreed on French
protectorate over Morocco, British protectorate over Egypt, etc.
Having finished with Germany, the victors started with negotiations with
its allies. On September 10, 1919, there was a peace treaty concluded with
Austria in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (the so-called Peace Treaty of Saint-Germain). Austria obliged itself to hand over parts
of Corniola and Carinthia, Seaside and South Tyrol to Italy. The Austrian’s
territorial gains were to be handed over to Yugoslavia and Romania and the
Austrian military and business fleet was to be given to victors. Hence, the
Habsburg Empire lapsed.
It took long negotiations before a Treaty of Neuilly was concluded with
Bulgaria on November 27, 1919. Romania was given Dobruja and Bulgaria passed
over part of its territory to Yugoslavia. Thrace remained in hands of victors
who later gave it to Greece. This Treaty stated new requirements on the field
of reparations and contributions.
Hungary was trying to delay its signature, in hopes that a miraculous
change would occur. However, the so-called Treaty
of Trianon was concluded on June 4, 1920. Accordingly, Slovakia and
Carpathian Ruthenia were handed over under the supremacy of Czechoslovakia,
further, Yugoslavia was given Croatia and Slovenia. Transylvania and Banat
(except a part that was handed over to Yugoslavia) were passed to Romania.
Hungary stayed with no access to sea. Hence, victors were monitoring the
Danube.
The last treaty (the so-called Treaty of Sèvres signed on August
10, 1920 in Sèvres) was concluded with Turkey that had been in a big
mess. This treaty stated that Turkish territory got smaller by three-fourths
and that Turkey was obliged to hand over its fleet to victors. The victorious
powers were also given a right to have control over Turkish finances, or to be
more precise, over almost all its economy. The Turkish military forces were
lessened to a minimum.
All the signed treaties formed a so-called Versailles system that was
supposed to originate a new lay-out of the world. As it was shown in the
following years, so right had been the ones who had been pointing out the old
wisdom that each artificial organization of the world based on dividing spheres
of supremacy and influence of great powers, anticipated new conflicts. Despite
intending to be more fair, democratic, and progressive than the ones preceding
it, the new system did not prove its permanence.
2. The Development of
Efforts to Ensure Collective Safety between World Wars
Origination, Organization, and Purpose of the
League of Nations
One of the significant outcomes of the Paris Peace Conference was the
origination of the League of Nations
(Société des Nations, Liga
nacij) that was the very first realized attempt to establish a permanent
international organization that would have united all countries and its purpose
would have been an achievement of international peace and security.
The idea of forming the League of Nations was included already in the
Wilson’s Fourteen Points presented in American Congress in January 1918. It
read that it was of significant importance to create a general association of
countries that would provide reciprocal guarantees of political and territory
independence to both the large and small countries. Wilson brought this idea
with him to Paris Conference too. He was sure, that this organization would be
able to repair all possible errors and injustice that the Peace Treaties might
cause and that it would guarantee just and democratic development of mankind.
It is why he put it ahead of all other issues. He himself became a chairman of
Committee for the League of Nations which was attended also, among others, by
Karel Kramář. The Plenum of the Peace Conference authorized this
Committee to develop a conception of the League of Nations. This layout should
be based on idea of forming an alliance
of states for permanent cooperation that would ensure fulfillment of
international obligations and that would give guarantees against wars.
Along with Wilson, especially the British lord Robert Cecil and the South
African Boer general Jan Smuts were working on this project too. The works on
this project were developing fast and the Plenum of Paris Conference approved
the basic layout of the League of Nations February 14, 1919. All other
negotiations dealing with the League were depending, more or less, on Wilson’s
position. Finally, after some partial problems had been solved, the Plenum
passed the final wording of the Pact of the League of Nations on April 28,
1919. This Pact was included in all the Peace Treaties as their very first
part. June 28, 1919 is considered to be the day of origination of the League of
Nations. The Pact gained legal force on January 10, 1920.
The purpose of the League was to develop an international cooperation
and guarantee an international peace and safety. In order to achieve this
purpose, the members of the League accepted an obligation of not resorting to
war. They also announced that they would be developing their international
relations publically in a just and honest way and they would understand all the
rules of international law as the bounding standards of their behavior.
Further, they proclaimed that they would defend fairness and comply with all
contractual terms. These common goals were detailed in such measures as setting
limits on armament; staving off conflict among its members; protecting its
members from an external attack on their integrity and political independence;
development of international, social, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation.
The League was supposed to achieve these goals especially through coordination
and control of activities of already existing international organizations and
alliances and by helping to attain wealth and development of the nations that
had not been able to govern themselves on their own, i.e. colonies.
The League’s founding members were the victorious allies. The neural
states were entitled to apply for membership right away. However, Wilson did
not put through a membership for the defeated ones. They, same as Russia, could
have been accepted as members if they had been approved by two thirds of the
League’s members in an unrecognized future. All other states and dominions that
were governing themselves were allowed to become the League’s members if they
had given effectual guarantees and had been able to fulfill requirements on
their armed forces and military equipment. All members were allowed to leave
the League with a two years notice if having been complying with their
international obligations including the ones of the Pact.
Twenty-six states, four British dominions and India were the original
members of the League. Thirteen states were allowed to join the Pact within two
months. However, the number of members was changing a lot, which was the reason
why this organization was not strong. Despite having brought the League to its
birth, the United States never joined the organization. Where could be find a
cause to this paradox? While Wilson was negotiating his positions on the Peace
conference, his political opponents strengthen their standing in the United
States. They were asserting that Wilson wanted to connect the United States
permanently to the continuous disputes throughout Europe. Hence, they claimed
that he would put the lives of the American young man in danger again. Wilson
had to leave the negotiations in Paris and go home where he had to advocate his
views on this issue during an election campaign. His absence on this conference
weakened the American positions on negotiations and that is why he could not
have achieved bigger diplomatic success in Paris. Continuously, he lost a part
of his positions within the American domestic politics too.
The opposition against Wilson’s foreign policy culminated on September
19, 1919 when the American Senate refused to approve the Peace Treaty of
Versailles. The Treaty was opposed especially by the so-called implacable isolationists who, next to
that, criticized the whole politics of the Democratic Party.
The official arguments against
the United States joining the League of Nations were being looked for neither
in the real disputes of powers nor in the conflicts of political parties. The
argumentations aimed at emphasizing the old principles and phrases that if the
United States had joined the League of Nations it would have interfere with its
sovereignty and it would have limited the free decision-making of the American
government. Some asserted that a membership of the United States would have
been inconsistent with the American Constitutions. As a result of these
approaches, the American Congress terminated the state of war with Germany as
late as on July 2, 1921, followed by signing a separate peace agreement with
Germany, Austria, and Hungary.
Also a membership of the Soviet
Union was problematic. Until the end to the first middle of thirties, the USSR
was almost isolated from the international political scene due to its domestic
situation. An overall turnover took place on 1933 when the USSR entered into
diplomatic relations with USA and it accepted an invitation of thirty states of
the League to join the organization in September 1933. After joining the League
of Nations, the USSR brought up a couple of reservations. Especially, the USSR
let everybody know that it does not take responsibility for all decisions made
and treaties concluded prior it joined the League. Further, having rejected the
mandate system as incompatible with a principle of equality of all nations and
races, the USSR proclaimed that it would not participate in any activities of
the International Labor Organization because of the nature of ILO’s activities
and the structure of its bodies. The Soviet representative Letvinov emphasized
in his report that the USSR had joined the League of Nations with only one
target in its mind – to cooperate with all nations in all possible ways to
conserve an indivisible peace.
Even many other states limited the period of being members of the
League. Especially in the thirties, many states left the League. First of all,
it was Germany, Italy, and Japan. For example, the League had fifty-eight
members in 1937, but was abandoned by fifteen states between the years
1938-1940.
The League of Nations had the following bodies: Assembly, Council and Secretariat.
The Assembly consisted of all member states and it gathered together
regularly once a year, usually in September. However, a chairman was entitled
to call for a special session if requested by any member consequently joined by
at least a half of the other members. The Assembly was the main body of the
League and its powers covered all issues within the sphere of the League’s
activities or regarding world peace. Next to that, it had another tasks, such
as: accepting new members; electing non-permanent members of the Council;
approving the Secretary General; etc. Every member of the League had one vote,
i.e. all the members were equal. Unanimity was requested for Assembly’s
decisions on fundamental issues. Nonetheless, this was one of the hindrances to
decision-making power of the League. If deciding about acceptance of new
members and electing non-permanent members of the Council, the Assembly had
decide by two-thirds majority.
The Council had its sessions much more often that the Assembly. It was
dealing especially with particular questions regarding international peace. It
was also dealing with such things as: solving political disputes; recommending
military sanctions; excluding members who had not been complying with the Pact;
appointing the Secretary General, etc. The Council consisted of both the
permanent and non-permanent members – the elected ones. Of course, the great
powers made the permanent members. Initially, it was considered that the
leaders of the Peace Conference would be permanent members too. However, this
idea could not have come true because USA never joined the League and Japan and
Italy left it. Hence, only Britain and France became the permanent members. For
a certain period of time, Germany and USSR became permanent members of the
Council. The number of non-permanent members had been originally set to four.
However, the number got continuously increased to eleven.
The ordinary sessions of the Council took place five times a year. Next
to that, the members of Council met on extraordinary sessions too. The
chairmanship was rotating between the Council’s members according to alphabetical
order. Unanimity was required for all decisions, except those on procedural
issues.
The administrative and technical tasks of the League were taken care of
by the Secretariat led by Secretary General (represented by France and Great
Britain). The Secretariat, among other things, was in charge of accepting
international treaties concluded between the League’s members.
The League of Nations was domiciled in Geneva, the Palace of Nations.
The official languages were French and English. The League was a legal entity
capable of concluding international treaties. The officials of the League, same
as the representatives of its members, were enjoying the same privileges and
immunities as diplomats usually have.
The origination of the League of Nations was an important landmark
within the integration efforts, especially in Europe. Nevertheless, soon it was
shown, that the League was almost incapable of solving more serious conflicts.
The years of the League’s existence had proven it. Specially, in the thirties
when it was important to counter the ingoing fascism, the League showed itself
as completely impuissant. There were lots of causes. Some of them were already
mentioned. It is important to ponder over the whole system of the collective
safety which was contemplated by the Pact. First of all, there was no
prohibition of “war of aggression” and in some of its parts, the Pact even
allowed its members to start the war of aggression (if they complied with the
three months moratorium). It was legitimate to declare a war against a member
who did not accept arbitrary of judicial ruling or a unanimous report of the
Council. A promise of members to tackle a collective action against aggressor
and to help one another if attacked was not sufficient. By looking at the
Pact’s article 16, one finds out, that having resorted to illegal war, the
member, as a matter of fact, committed an act of aggression against all other
members. Nonetheless, it did not mean that there was a state of war between the
aggressor and all other members of the League automatically, and that all
members were obligated to give a hand to the one attacked.
During the World War II, the League of Nations got, if fact, fallen
apart. However, its formal dissolution took place in 1946 on a special session
of the Assembly which was called together just for this purpose.
Efforts Aimed at
Security among States in the Twenties
During the twenties, one can see many attempts to order the proportion
of powers between competing states, on the European political scene. The League
of Nations that was supposed to replace the need of the former alliances
demonstrated many signs of its weakness. Shortly after the war ended, there
were many alliances of allies. Especially among states that intended to
safeguard themselves against any new threats by the defeated powers, and before
their eventual claims to revision of the state of affairs. These new treaties
were supposed to be an addition to the mechanism of helping to peaceful
solution of any disputes and to obligations of collective safety which were
included in the Pact of the League. Further, these treaties established a
security system that deepened, repeated, and amended the obligations that were
welling up from the Pact. At the same time, there was a certain block of
nations inside the League, which were interested in deepening the international
security, as opposed to a majority of other members who were aiming at
mislaying these aspects of the international organization. One of the most
successful activities towards deeper integration was the creation of the
so-called Little Entente.
The idea of the Little Entente was given birth already on the Paris
Peace Conference and it was understand as a similitude of and an addition to
the intentions of France joining an alliance together with USA and Great
Britain. Because its signatories expended their sphere due to the dissolution
of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, they understood all attempts to restore the
Danubian monarchy as the greatest risk. Also they were aware of revisionist
tends coming out from monarchistic and nationalistic societies in Hungary. Next
to that, all these countries were also a part of the cordon sanitare that was separating the Soviet Union.
The Little Entente was originated by a joint action of Czechoslovakia,
Romania, Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia while leading negotiations on
the Peace Treaty of Trianon. The legal base was founded in 1920-1921 by
concluding parallel bilateral agreements. Having been concluded for a period of
only two years notwithstanding, these agreements were being repeatedly
prolonged. For the case of an unprovoked attack of one of the parties by
Hungary, the other parties were obliged to provide a help to such attacked. All
that was supposed to be done in accordance with requirements of special
military treaties. These states also obliged themselves not to conclude any
agreement with any third power without asking the others first. In the original
Czech-Romanian Treaty, there was an obligation of making an agreement on issues
of foreign policy regarding their contacts with Hungary. Next to that, the
Yugoslav-Romanian Treaty contained an obligation of making an agreement on
foreign policy issues regarding Hungary and Bulgaria.
The role of Little Entente was strengthened even by the agreements that
were concluded by France with all its allies. Thence, it was given chance to
lead and influence this alliance.
On the beginning of thirties, the Little Entente developed in a union of
states having its own periodical conferences. This was based on an accepted
statute of 1930 and on common rules on peaceful solution of disputes. On the
Little Entente’s Conference of Belgrade that took place in December 1932, there
was concluded a basic treaty on origination of a Council and Secretariat of the
Little Entente. The final agreement on these issues was signed on February 16,
1933 in Geneva (the so-called Pact of Organization).
Of course, the creation of the Little Entente was not the only
significant activity towards integration. Because it was not sure that the
League of Nations was able to prevent any future conflicts, the Treaty of
Guarantee between France, England and the United States was concluded. However,
this agreement did not gain force because the United States had not joined the
League. Hence, because of the failure of this attempt, France turned the other
way. There was a new draft of a treaty which was supposed to aim reciprocal
help under the security of the League, in 1923. However, any hopes of its
passage were in vain. The draft of the treaty was sent to the particular
states, but no one was willing to accept it without reservations.
In 1924, the so-called Geneva
Protocol was concluded within the League of Nations. It stated that the
members were supposed to give up wars of aggression and such war was proclaimed
an international crime. Nonetheless, due to the reservations of England, not
even this act entered into force.
Just a year later, in 1925, a new attempt to secure peace throughout the
Europe was made on the Locarno Conference. It was attended by France, England,
Italy, Germany, Belgium, and partially Czechoslovakia and Poland.
Among others, the outcome of this conference was a treaty whose
signatories were obliged to conserve the territorial status quo that had been
stated by the Treaty of Versailles. The states obliged themselves neither to
undertake any attack or invasion nor to resort to a war against each other. In
the event of controversial questions that could not have been solved just in
the regular diplomatic way, the treaty stated so that such issues were
forwarded to a conciliation board or an arbitrary court. For the cases, that
any of the parties did not comply with the terms, all the other parties were
obliged to give a hand to the party that the act of aggression had been aimed
at.
The Washington Conference
that was initiated by the United States took place on February 6, 1922. There
was concluded a new treaty on limits to a maritime armament between five great
powers (USA, France, Great Britain, Italy and Japan). The Washington Conference
was followed by the London Conference of 1930, where there was concluded a
treaty on limits and cut-down of maritime armament between the abovementioned
great powers. Nevertheless, the treaty gained efficiency only between USA,
England, and Japan because France and Italy agreed on mutual proportion of
maritime powers.
The next step that was aiming at ensuring peace throughout Europe was
the so-called Kellogg-Briand Pact that was being negotiated by French and
American diplomats in August 1928. There were the contracting parties as
follows: France, England, Italy, Japan, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, and
Poland. All other states were invited to join the Pact. By the means of this
Pact, a war of aggression was made illegal and the signatories agreed on never
using such war as an instrument of their policy. However, the practical value
of this document was low. The Pact neither contained any terms that would have
been able to counter the then actual danger of a new armament nor it
strengthened collective safety. Its special importance was given by the fact
that it was signed not only by the biggest world powers but also by the USSR.
The Thirties in the
Light of Upcoming Fascism
The second decade between the world wars was unambiguously in the light
of taking up and expense of fascism. Especially, after Hitler became the Reich
Chancellor in January 1933, the fascism became a huge danger for democratic
freedoms in particular states, for independence of all nations and for world
peace. The fascist aggressors started calling for revision of the Peace
Treaties and wanted to achieve a new world order by the means of war. The new
events that occurred on the European political scene resulted in a growth of
the international tension and forced the international relations to acclimatize
to such events. The succession of Germany from the League of Nations and its
feverish armament led many states to having established diplomatic relations
with Soviet Union. France was negotiating with it about the so-called Eastern
Pact that was supposed to guarantee the order of borders and reciprocal help by
the means of multilateral agreements between eastern states and Germany.
Nonetheless, the plan failed because of an opposition of Poland and Germany. In
1934, the Soviet Union joined the League of Nations and became a permanent
member of its Council.
The policy of collective security was trying to achieve a system of
international treaties on reciprocal help that would have ensured that all the
parties engaged would have come out collectively against any aggressor. This
would have created a barrier of all the peace-loving countries that would have
stopped any fascistic attack against peace. However, this goal was not
attained. Only France and Czechoslovakia made a fundamental step towards this
goal by concluding a pact on reciprocal help with Soviet Union in 1935.
The French-Soviet treaty was signed in Paris in 1935. It was a follow-up
to the obligations of the League’s Pact. Especially it was supposed to
guarantee the obligation of leading consultations in cases of threats or danger
of attack by any European state; and the promise of mutual help and support in
cases of unprovoked attack as stated in the Pact’s article 16. Consequentially,
negotiation between Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union took place and resulted in
an agreement on help between these both countries. This agreement was signed in
Prague on May 16, 1935. The object of this agreement was similar to
French-Soviet agreement and there was a similar protocol attached to it too.
This protocol contained an important reservation stating that both of the
governments agreed that the obligations of the mutual help would be effective
as long as there would be conditions anticipated by this agreement and if the
party attacked were helped by France too. This clause complicated the situation
of Czechoslovakia in 1938, because the help of USSR was tied to a help France
that was not willing to provide it. The Treaties of Alliance of France,
Czechoslovakia, and Soviet Union could have become the pillar of safety
throughout the Central Europe because a joint policy of those three states
against aggression and their military forces would have been able to keep
Germany in certain boundaries.
In the following years, the situation was getting worse. In 1935, the
Italian forces attacked Abyssinia without even declaring a war. The League was
forced to mark the Italy as aggressor and pass sanctions against it (to stop
supplies of material needed for war), but, in practice, the requirements of the
Pact were not fulfilled.
In 1936, Italy and Germany helped to victory of fascism in Spain. In the
same year, Germany withdrew from the Treaty of Locarno and occupied the
demilitarized zone of Rhineland in March. In the same year, Italy finished the
process of taking power over Abyssinia. All that took place without any
strong-minded protests of western powers that started with a so-called policy
of appeasement.
The danger of fascism was appearing in very explicit form. On March 11,
1938, the German army occupied Austria and it was apparent that it was just a
beginning of German military plans. It was an open and gross violation of both
the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain, but the western
powers did nothing but raised formal protests. After having established its
supremacy over Austria, Hitler intensified his aggression against
Czechoslovakia. The so-called plan “Grün” which targeted breakage of
Czechoslovakia by means of the German national minority was drawn up. Hitler’s
attacks against Czechoslovakia culminated by signing and executing the
so-called Munich Agreement and by breaking the last remains of Czechoslovakia
in the middle of March 1939. Having attacked Poland on September 1, 1939,
Hitler ended up the interwar period.
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