"Diplomacy" by Kissinger book summary with integrated class notes for IRGA, History of Int'l Relations semester 2, Appunti di Storia Delle Relazioni Internazionali

Scarica "Diplomacy" by Kissinger book summary with integrated class notes for IRGA, History of Int'l Relations semester 2 e più Appunti in PDF di Storia Delle Relazioni Internazionali solo su Docsity! History of International Relations Prof Massimo de Leonardis International Relations and Global Affairs at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano Academic Year: 2018/19 Book: Diplomacy (Henry Kissinger) All chapter summaries and class notes by Francesca Sardi Diplomacy of the Great War (28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918) There were tensions that build up in 1914 mainly: • Triple Alliance (1882) vs Triple Entente (1907) • Arms race: all states had expanded military and navy, heightened military power • Conflict in the Balkans • First Balkan war (AT-HG vs Ottomans) caused by annexation of BH by AT- HG (Treaty of London 1913) • Second Balkan War: Bulgaria attacked allies Serbia and Greece who are not respecting the Treaty of London (solved by the Treaty of Bucharest, 1913) Alliances were not about the casus belli (an act or event that provokes or is used to justify war) but their purpose was that the ally would mobilize as soon, if not just before, an adversary did. • Any decision of a state to mobilize meant general war (doomsday machinery) • Russia welcomed a general war, because it did not want Germany to stay out of it and dictate the peace terms –> Obruchev (Russian general staff officer) saw benefit from Russia’s alliance with France to prevent a localized war • Durnovo (Russian politician) saw the war has a no-gains situation • No permanent territorial gains by fighting with UK • Territorial gains would be central Europe (Poland and Ukraine) which would spur demands for indepencedence • Darndalles are strategically empty gains • Russia’s economy would be gained and reparations impossible to pay • The war would inevitably lead to a social revolution • Germany’s chief staff Schlieffen gave attention to mobilization schedules too and developed a military plan of a two-front war 1892 • First Germany had to destroy the French army (in the West) through the invasion of Belgium before the Russian army was fully mobilized, then it could stay defensive on its Eastern front • Plan did not leave military initiative to Germany’s enemy • No possibility of failure • This plan was different Moltke’s military strategy to limit a two-front war by being defensive on both fronts. Compromising with France who would attack to gain back Alsace-Lorraine and to offer compromise with Russia too after pushing the army back a significant distance –> whichever force first achieved victory would be available to the other front • Sacrifices, political solution and scale of war are balanced • Schlieffen plan also had to consider a reason to assault France should France stay on the sidelines and that UK would inevitably join the war if Belgium and the Low Countries were not kept neutral What triggered WWI, the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 was irrelevant to the European balance of power. • It was a terrorist reaction to AT-HG annexation of Bosnia in 1908 and the German Kaiser gave AT-HG the blank check for having Germany as an ally whatever decision it took. • GER believed that Serbia would not have Russia’s help, but Russia was motivated to join WWI instead • RU was tired of AT-HG aggressive Balkan policies and began to sense GER influence behind such policies. RU was motivated by its sympathy for Serbia not the assassination of the legitimate heir to a monarchy in Europe (RU was a conservative power who believed in legitimacy) • The crisis of the assassination ran out of control because the powers were respectful to the letter of the Treaties that established their relationships • The paradox of July 1914: the countries which had reasons to go to war were not tied to mobilization schedules, those that didn’t have political reasons like Germany and Russia had rigid schedules. • The UK had no interest in the Balkan crisis but it wanted to preserve the Triple Entente • Its involvement in war was that it must not allow GER to rise victorious over France, but GER’s decision to invade the Low Countries guaranteed its involvement anyway • Austria’s ultimatum to Serbia on July 23rd made Russia realize among other things the end of Pan-Slavism she fought hard to obtain. AT-HG was trying to turn Serbia into her protectorate, Bulgaria was leaning towards Germany and Germany was establishing herself at Constantinople. • Under German pressure, AT-HG declares war on Serbia Declarations of war • 28 July: AT-HG declares war on Serbia • 1 Aug: Germany declares war on Russia since it mobilized its army and did not stop it • 3 Aug: Germany declares war on France so follow the Schlieffen plan • 4 Aug: UK declares war on Germany because it invades Belgium to attack France • 6 Aug: AT-HG declares war on Russia following German suit • 12 Aug: UK and France declare war on AT-HG since Russia is decalred war on by AT-HG and Ger The United States entered the war after Germany attacks its naval ships and in the Zimmermann Telegram stated to help Mexico gain back territory in the south of the USA. It played a determining role is assisting the Allies and making the emerge as victors. The Concert of Europe failed miserably and did not even attempt to provide political solutions, diplomacy was no longer an option. 1 • USA’s allies were too drained to challenge Wilson’s ideas and withdraw from the settlement France seemed especially in a dramatic, especially the great economic decline and feared its inability to protects its frontiers from the defeated power (GER). The aim of the conference was to reshape the new European equilibrium after a major war, more specifically: • Freedom of nationalities principle (a State for each Nation). • (formal) destruction of multinational Empires. *The defeated Great Powers (the new Germany, the new Austria and the new Hungary) were not invited. Most important documents: Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919): Peace with the new Weimar Republic (Germany). Treaty of Saint-Germain (10 September 1919): Peace with the new Republic of Austria. Treaty of Neuilly (27 Nov 1919): peace with Bulgaria Paris Conference closed because after WWI there are clashes among the victory powers, in this case there were clashes between UK, FR, USA, IT. Treaty of Trianon (4 June 1920): Peace with the new Republic of Hungary Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920): Peace with the Ottoman Empire Paris Peace Conference Congress of Vienna i) Victors did not remain allied, USA and USSR withdrew altogether, UK highly ambivalent ii) coalition of powers was needed to surmount imperial Germany iii) defeated powers not included i) makers stayed united and formed the Quadruple Alliance ii) coalition of powers defeated Napoleon iii) included defeated powers The Conference was lengthy, with many issues of territorial nature, others of war guilt and war criminals, reparations, labour, and finally the League of Nations. At the PPC there were many 27 states in different committees, among those the Big Four which formed the Supreme Council • Woodrow Wilson (USA) and his representative team echoed his Fourteen Points (League of Nations and collaboration) –> not punitive position *USA obtained war aims: no European hegemony and Japanese control of China • Clemenceau (FR) was very aggressive and anti-German. France experienced partial German occupation during the war and wanted the German army to be defeated too • Lloyd George (UK) took a hard position, not to the extent of France. He was focused on the whole European states equilibrium –> balancing power * UK had already obtained its war aims: dismantling the German navy and taking back German African and Asian Colonies • Vittorio Orlando, Italian prime minister. The Allies had induced Italy into the war by promising South Tirol and the Dalmatian coast in the Treaty of London –> nevertheless these claims were against the principle of self-determination. Orlando deadlocked conference until South Tirol was turned over *The Supreme Council of Five included Japan Lenin’s Russia was not invited either, and he attacked the whole enterprise as a capitalist-led organization. *the exclusion of the two strongest powers in Europe (GER and RU had largest military potential) set up the failure of the Versailles settlement. The Big Four tried to organize a new world order • They were able to define the new political geography of Europe and of the Middle East • it did not manage the political equilibrium in the Asia-Pacific Theatre • this left a huge amount of instability, particularly on the Eastern side of the world The German problem (main diplomatic problem at the Conference) • Germany was (and still is) too powerful to be an equal state among other European States, however, it is also too weak to stand alone • Two fold: • A Strong New Germany meant danger • A Weak German Republic was also problematic The terms of the Treaty of Versailles humiliated Germany –> Germany never entered the Paris System • German army was completely disarmed and dismantled (only 100,000 troops) and no heavy armament • A German fleet was given to the UK and FR and rivers internationalized • The Rhineland was demilitarized, so France & Belgium could enter easily without resistance • The Saar (near the French & Belgian Border) was occupied by the UK, France & Belgium • Lost its colonies in Africa and Asia • Economic penalty 132 billion gold marks, coal to France, foreign assets seized and no tariff changes • Germany was redesigned and reduced • There were many German minorities outside the new German border (eg Dansk under the control of the league of nations, and other regions under polish control) • The treaty of Versailles and the treaty of Saint-Germain forbade the unification of new German and new Austria • The new state would be more powerful than the old German Reich • It was a betrayal of the principle of nationality • War Guilt clause, art 231, stated Germany was solely responsible (not true!) for the outbreak of WWI and all previous punitive measures were taken on this basis 1 France feared the rise of Germany, its Eastern neighbour, the most. It sought many strategies of containing it and persuading others to do the same or cooperate for the same aim • In general, France had three strategic choices: • Form an anti-German coalition • Partition Germany • Conciliate • The only way it could have maintained equilibrium is if it broken into its component states • FR encouraged separatism in the Rhineland by occupying Saar coal mines • Partitioning Germany was too hard because Bismarck built it too well and the Allies (USA) would not have tolerated the violation of the principle of self determination • France pushed for tangible guarantees that implied weakening of Germany and an assurance that in the case of another war other countries, US and UK, would take France’s side • The zone of safety by the Rhine meant an inter-allied oocupation of the river –> France demanded a separate Rhineland instead (not supported by the US) • FR interpreted the LoN as the military assistance against Germany should it be needed –> Bourgeois (French rep at PPC committee) pushed for international army or other enforcement mechanism for Treaties settlements *no enforcement mechanism was included –> another weakness of the LoN • Lacking a Great power in the East with which to ally, it sought to strengthen the new states and support their effort to extract more territory from Germany or from what was left of Hungary. *the Treaty of Versailles magnified French vulnerability and German strategic advantage Ultimately, no country achieved its objective: Germany was no reconciled, France was not made secure and the USA withdrew from the settlement Also, despite the process being carried out in the name of self-determination, many people lived under foreign rule, the new nation-states were weak and unstable and in possible conflict with one another. Art 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations allowed for Mandates in the Middle East –> previous territories of the old Ottoman Empire were given to the European Great Powers (France & the UK) PPC left two problems unsolved: 1. There was no new principle of legitimacy: it was unable to give concreteness to the national self-determination and democracy. - Both European realists and US idealists failed in finding a broader and shared principle of legitimation 2. There was a Eurocentric approach to this new system: inability to understand that the empires spread farther than Europe This meant three consequences: • This was exemplified by the Treaty of Rapallo: an agreement signed on 16 April 1922 between the two under which each renounced all territorial and financial claims against the other following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and World War I. - Within a year the two were negotiating secret military and economic agreements The German Problem, part 2 • Dec 1921, Germany began to demand relief on cash payments for the year of 1922 - Hyperinflation, economic depression struck its economy deeply • France searched for diplomatic compensation for Germany's eased position in two alliances - first with UK which rejected since it feared French hegemony in Europe - then later there was the Little Entente: Franco-Polish alliance (February 1921) and the Franco-Czechoslovak entente (Jan 1924) • France searched for compensation in the economic destruction of Germany - Conference of Boulogne on June 1920 – 269 billion gold marks to be paid in 42 years - Jan 1921 Conference of Paris, UK pushed for reparation cost to be just 210 billion marks - July Conference of Spa, France had to be given half of the marks • The reduction of reparation costs was driven by Keynes's idea that a strong German economy would be helpful to Europe • Between 1920 and 1923 Germany could not pay reparation because it was suffering from hyperinflation, but France continued to ask for political powers • In the 1920s the left-led coalition that created the democratic Weimar republic was defeated by an extreme-right new elite who supported the payment of the reparations to show how paying such costs created more crises. (German fulfilment tactic) At the end of 1922, with reparation payments elusive, disarmament controversial, meaningful British guarantees unavailable, the German-Soviet alignment, France decided in to invade the Ruhr with Belgian troops in Jan 1923. • It invaded as a guarantee for German payments • This led to French international isolation - UK started to believe France was conductive aggressive foreign policy, and Germany should be re-established as a bulwark against Paris • German workers call for strike and general passive resistance, so France could no longer extract raw material from German mines Stresemann, German Foreign Minister then Chancellor, developed the fulfilment policy • He first wanted to solve the issue of reparations –> the Dawes plan of 1924 reduced the reparation schedule of payment for five year - Germany received loans bigger than reparations from the USA and modernized its industry, and this was the beginning of the rebuilding of economic and military power • The UK had to accept the new German military equality now that Germany was paying reparation - This could have led to UK siding with FR to counterbalance Germany, but it would also mean entanglement in French issues in Eastern Europe - The UK signed a limited alliance with FR and BEL to guarantee their borders in Germany and to resist a German aggression in the West. 1 Stresemann, Mussolini, Brand and Chamberlain signed the Locarno Treaties of 1925, the borders of Alsace-Lorraine were fixed by international guarantees and UK and IT policed the treaties. • The casus belli was no longer an aggressive act by a specific country but the violation of alegal norm by any country The Treaties benefitted great powers • Germany had the occasion to enter the League of Nations in 1925 - no longer the defeated powers • France's problem if Alsace-Lorraine is overcome • diverted the attention of Germany to its eastern boundaries, where hundreds of thousands of German people lived • The old Franco-German rivalry was overcome • British found in Berlin a counter balance to the possible French hegemony Locarno treaties did little materially • They created two classes in frontiers in Europe: those accepted by Germany and the other powers, those not accepted by Germany or the other powers (eastern front) • For Stresemann it was a way to gain further revisionism • Brian tried to slow the process of a newly-again stronger Germany • Chamberlain believed fully in the Locarno treaties • Mussolini was never infused with the Locarno spirit –> Italy gained recognition as a Great Power • USSR, Poland and CZS were alarmed by Locarno because many regions with German minorities were kept out of international guarantees, hence Germany was forced to revise the eastern frontiers (disagreement among historians as to reasons why these frontiers were not considered) –> aim was definitely to settle the territory of Alsace-Lorraine considered most important • Poland and CZS no longer trusted France foreign policy Stresemann and Briand were strongly criticized by the public opinion for reaching an agreement, but the Locarno treaties created a good condition for politics, economics and diplomacy –> the european GDP rose, more trust in the future, and society modernized, bourgeoisie and capitalism spread, creating a middle class who supported democracy. The last attempt at a general settlement between FR and GER was in 1926 • France would return the Saar without the plebiscite called by the ToV. French troops would evacuate the Rhineland within a year, and the Inter-Allied military Control Commission would be withdrawn from Germany. In return, Germany would pay 300 million marls for the Saar mines, speed up reparations due to France and fulfil the Dawes plan. Post-Locarno France retreated gradually from the Versailles settlement under constant British and American pressured to go even further. American capital poured into Germany, accelerating the modernization of its industry. • With the abolishment of the IMCC in 1927 the German secret rearmament accelerated • The IMCC was never really useful and effective in controlling the disarmament anyways Wall Street Crash on Oct 24th 1929 (aka Black Tuesday) • Changed the relation between capitalist system and state • Triggered worldwide depression • Rise of protectionism in international trade • Search for political and economic influence in new places • Geopolitical economic block (sort of empire) Locarno treaties led to collaboration and economic growth • The Young Plan of Aug 1929 which further reduced the German reparations Briand Plan for Europe, August 1st 1930, first great project for a federal unification of Europe • During the great depression there is a growth of the extreme political positions • No more consumerism, no middle class, etc The rise of new political doctrines • Defence of a particular identity: nationalism, chauvinism, racism • Defence of a local production: protectionism • Defence against free market: state controls the economy • Defence from free international trade: creation of great geopolitical and economic blocks, autarchism The great power's reaction to the great crisis was a radicalization on int'l competition, there was a return of an aggressive foreign policy to build geopolitical and geo- economics areas • Geneva disarmament conference (feb 1932) and London Economic Conference (June 1933) • Both failed due to heightened competition. The Asia-Pacific theatre • During WWI Japan used the war against Germany to transform China into a protectorate, since China was in a civil war status (Age of Warlords) and the western powers were concentrated in Europe, Africa and the Middle East –> led to publication of the Twenty-One Demands –> Japan comes out of WWI victorious: has a permanent seat at the LoN, obtains economic right in previous German Chinese territories and the mandate of previous German pacific islands *did not obtain the recognition of the Twenty-One Demands and the Racial Equality Proposal Washington Conference (1921-22) • “Paris Peace Conference” for Asia • The goal of the Washington Conference was to end a post-WW1 naval arms race and stabilize power relationships in the Pacific • The result was the Four-Power Treaty (United States, Great Britain, France and Japan) • Terms: The 4 countries agreed to respect each others territory in the Pacific and, if there were future disagreements, to enter into open negotiation • Weakness: Mutual defense agreements were unspecified • The Five-Power Treaty was signed too (United States, Great Britain, France, Japan and Italy) • The 5 countries agreed to freeze naval production at 1921 levels and halt the production of large battleships. The pact further agreed that Great 1 • Both IT and UK considered FR as a problem: mainly due to an ideological different. FR led by a leftist party since 1924 and followed an anti-fascist foreign policy • Yet kept little rivalry with France • Fought for the hegemony in the Balkans • IT wanted them for a Latin empire • FR wanted them to counter-balance a new rise of Germany • Italy was focused on own territorial policies Mussolini’s political and military actions • Bombing of Corfu of 31/08/1923 was the first (re)action of the new fascist government • Marked the discontinuity with the previous liberal politicians • It was a warning to its European partners • It was a militaristic turn – Italy cannot be treated like the great powers did in Paris • Until the 1930s the great part of the Italian diplomatic corp was the same as the pre-WWI years • Treaty of Rapallo 1920: According to the treaty, the city of Rijeka/Fiume would become the independent Free State of Fiume, thus ending the military occupation of Gabriele d'Annunzio's troops. This part of the treaty was revoked in when Italy and Yugoslavia signed the Treaty of Rome (1924), which gave Fiume to Italy and the adjacent port of Sušak to Yugoslavia. • Fiume became part of the Kingdom of Italy, which was a great success for the new regime • Lateran Treaties of feb 1929: recognized Vatican City as an independent state, with the Italian government, at the time led by Benito Mussolini as prime minister, agreeing to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States (pacification between Italian state and the catholic church) • obtained support of the Church and clergy and could control the Catholic Church's movements • Great success in terms of public opinion in Italian and globally • 15 July 1933 Four-Power Pact • The crisis in the LoN of 1933, Mussolini hoped that France, UK and IT and GER would become a sort of Directory for adopting common policies about revision of European treaties and colonial issues • Italy wanted to use the German revisionism to force France to collaborate and at the same time to use FR and UK to balance GER –> Italy maintains a double trick policy • Important tool for Italy to play a great role in the int'l system • UK understood this Italian political move and the pact failed! • After the failure, in the following years Italy tried to collaborate with UK and FR to contain Germany • June 1934 Mussolini meets Hitler in Stra (Venice) without breaking links with FR and UK, so to reach an agreement • Met not because of the shared ideology but to get involved in the system, and to use the other (in the case, Germany) as a tool to gain power • In those years there are two informal blocs: western democracies vs fascist regimes –> Italy is in between • Meeting fails • When Mussolini and Hilter meet Mussolini condemned the Night of the Long Knives *Mussolini is back with the democratic bloc *Italy became closely associated with fascism –> fascism started to have a distinctive internal connotation as well (note architecture of EUR) Stresa Front • 25 July 1934: Nazi tried to occupy Austria after a coup d'état • Fascist Italy moved its troops to the Austrian border, defending the little republic of Austria *Italy fully in the democratic bloc • 16 march 1935: using the pretext that the other powers had not disarmed, Hitler announced that Germany was going to create a new army and conscription (beginning of the remilitarization of Germany) • Fascist Italy, FR, UK, reacted by organizing a tripartite conference known as the Stresa Conference of April 1934, which reaffirmed the conclusions of the Treaty of Versailles: no unification between Germany and Austria, no change in European borders • Arguably the most important attempt in Europe to stop Hitler before WWII Italy's new policy • Italy was part of the game but wanted to be paid with the empire • Mussolini knew that Italy was an important player to contain Germany, and FR and UK needed it • Italy asked for French and British nihil obstat for the invasion of Ethiopia • FR and UK apparently gave their permission Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1936) “Stabilization of Europe can be paid with the instability in Africa” • Italy was supposed to have UK and FR support when attacking Ethiopia in 1935 • But UK, FR, at LoN declared economic sanction against Italy –> they were very light one, in fact UK did not close the Suez canal • For the UK an Italian Ethiopia (added to Italian Libya and Somalia) was a threat to British possession in Africa and India • In theory Italy could have had an eastern African bloc • Italy was a proletariat great power, and was against the demo-plutocratic great powers • "Democracy is something made for rich, and we are poor" • Italy creates a geo-economics block "buy Italian, hire Italian" and wanted to achieve so with the conquest of Ethiopia 1 • Italy left the LoN in 1936 due to the economic sanctions imposed *League of Nations fails following the Manchuria attack by Japan in 1931, the rearmament of Germany in 1935 and the Ethiopian crisis of 1935 • Moreover, in 1935, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed • For the Germans, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was intended to mark the beginning of an Anglo-German alliance against FR and the USSR, whereas for the British, the Naval Agreement was to be the beginning of a series of arms limitation agreements that were made to limit German expansionism • the British had made the agreement without consulting France or Italy • This Agreement went agains the treaty of Versailles and the Stresa Front • Mussolini was furious and realized there was no turning back for Germany’s power, so he began siding with Germany Dino Grandi's policy of the Peso Determinante • Policy made of equidistance between UK, FR, GER and changing Italian diplomatic position by flirting with the highest bidder (this policy is formalized, despite being followed for many years beforehand) • The British and French reaction was the recognition of their mistake, lost Italy as player against Germany • Since 1936 Italy was not totally against Germany, but stood in between *keeping a player and losing what player wants, or losing a player and keeping what player wants? IR dilemma • Italy and GER helped the Spanish nationalist faction led by Francisco Franco in the Civil War (17/07/1936–1/04/1939) • Anti-Comintern Pact –> Created the Rome-Tokyo-Berlin Axis on nov 25, 1936 • Alliance of the anti-communist powers • 1936: as a reaction of the situation, the USSR signs an agreement with FR • The political axis, but not military alliance, with FR and UK, was an anti- hegemonic coalition • Geographically, USSR is encircled by Japan in Asia and Germany in Europe of the Anti-Comintern pact * Italy can be used to attack USSR and FR, the counter-balance of the counter- balance Italy made further colonial gains in April 1939 with the invasion of Albania • Italian control over Albania already had been growing throughout the 1920s through agreements with the Albanian regime • When Albania’s King Zog refused to accept a trade agreement, however, the Italian army took control of the main strategic centres of the country and installed Italian loyalists in the civil service. • Victor Emmanuel was made king of Albania. King Zog escaped to Greece. Germany led an aggressive foreign policy, so Italy tried to keep a distance from Germany but failed because Italy did not have a partner • Mussolini then signed the Pact of Steel on May 22 of 1939 • His objectives were the destruction of the Paris System and the revision of the Treaty of Versailles • He wanted to redraw the German borders under one country • Nazi Germany believed the order shaped at the Paris Peace Conference was wrong. Post WWI equilibrium was set up to limit Germany and any future expansions, for it was considered responsible for the war • Treaty of Versailles and Treat of Saint-Germain forbade the unification between the new Republic of Weimar and the new Austria • Left many German citizens were living under new-born non-German states like Poland and Czechoslovakia Political and military actions • Until 1936 German moves did not a real purpose and often failed – they were tactical initiatives • Like the organized coup-d'état in Austria in 1934 but the great powers reacted with a common front, the Stresa Front, which saved the European status quo and reaffirmed the spirit of Locarno • In 1935 the creation of the Wehrmacht, part of the German rearmament actions, where the UK was negotiating with Germany the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. In this case there was no common front because ITA and FR held a hard line against GER but London destroyed the common front • France reacted by signing with USSR a treaty of mutual assistance –> but it was ineffective because Germany used Japan through the Anti-Comintern act to counterweight Russia • With the final remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936 Berlin begins the aggressive foreign policy –> Hitler's upper hand in European matters • This marks the overthrow of the last remaining safeguard of Versailles and Locarno –> it was argued that Hitler would be satisfied it he was conceded his own national borders • the remilitarization of the Rhineland gave German the certainty that it wouldn't be attacked by France, as it happened in 1923 • Hossbach Memorandum declares Hitler's next steps. The occupation of Austria and Czechoslovakia • Nov 1937- Feb 1938: Hitler replaces conservative members of his govt/team with Nazis "Nazification of foreign policy and German administration" • 1938-39: Creation of the lebersraum "living state" –> a pan German state, a new bigger Reich with all Germans • Austria annexed thought the Anschluss of 1938 • France tried to react to the Anschluss but wasn't backed up by great powers ■ There were politicians in France who feared but admired Germany, and supported anti-Semitic ideas • Sudeten-land question resolved in 1938 • Seudeten-land was under the sovereignty of Vienna and it was desired by Adolf Hitler, it was a German area that was kept out the Locarno treaties 1 • Hitler asks CZS Seudeten-land which was refused –> Hitler threatened war and the Berlin Conference was called at which it was decided that the Seudeten-land was to become German • Danzing and polish question in 1939 • Hitler wanted Danzing, in Poland. Poland had a link with UK and FR, so they start to use Poland as a counter weight to GER. • Poland is considered a pillar also against USSR and the soviet revolution Int’l relations • Nazi Germany created a triple alliance system with three pillars so it would not be attacked, given its geographical position which allowed it to be surrounded by enemies • Pact of Steel with Italy (May 1939) • Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact with USSR (Aug 1939) • agree a on a non-aggression pact, which includes a supplementary secret protocol about a Nazi-Soviet division of Poland and East Europe • Germany and USSR are allied de facto • Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan (1936) –> a pact against the USSR *Germany protected at three fronts • Munich Conference of 1938 is the greatest example of appeasing expansionist totalitarian states - Participants: Daladier (FR), Mussolini (ITA), Chamberlain (UK), Hitler (GER) • USSR not invited –> can no longer trust UK or FR - settlement that permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia • Czechoslovak government hoped that Britain and France would come to its assistance in the event of an invasion, but British Prime Minister Chamberlain was intent on averting war • Britain and France would not support any Czech resistance - The appeasers continued to live under the ideals of Wison after WWI but when Hitler invaded CZS, claimed Czech portion a German protectorate and Slovakia an independent (but satellite) state it proved Hitler did not want the fulfilment of self-determination but a European Empire –> no more morally tolerable, brink of WWI Nazi Germany foreign policy were intertwined with the origins of WWII. From the historiographic point of view that are two positions 1. Nazi's aggressive policy: Hildebrand "Hitler had a consistent problem with aggression" –> from the start he planned to occupy and to be aggressive in his foreign policy 2. Reaction of western powers: Anti-appeasement critics like W Churchill Revisionist: the issues was the mistakes of the western democracies 1 Finally the so-called European second front was opened, USSR was not alone in fighting the Third Reich on the European ground. –> this avoided a possible separate peace between USSR and GER USA, democracies and power politics A stable world needs a stabilizer, a great power who regulates the system. Now-a-days it is the USA, following WWII, more specifically now-a-days there a competition for hegemony between USA and China. • After the great war the US declined its responsibilities as potential world hegemon, focused on internal issues only • US did not want relations with Europe, kept an isolationist policy • US did not join the League of Nations, left it to UK, FR, ITA There are three phases 1. Isolationism 1918-23 • With the occupation of the Rhur b y the French, americans withdrew from the zone • Attacked LoN because it jeopardized the Monroe Doctrine and isolationism • Supported disarmament conferences (Washington Naval conference of 1921-22) • European countries were a safety valve for USA • The difference in diplomacy styles was felt in the interwar period • European countries, esp FR, did not accept America’s legacy of collective security and international arbitration, its juridical view of war and peace • Still they knew that a war against GER could not be won without USA • European countries grew dependent morally and materially on America. FR would not act without UK, and UK without USA 2. Interest in European affairs 1923-29 • USA changed its position and helped Europe again, with the Dawes plan – > creates a connection of economies between European one and US one • Two main episodes of us collaboration is the Kellogg-Brian plan and the Young Plan 3. US isolationism 1929-41 • When Japan invades Manchuria and turns into a satellite state in 1931, USA only sanctions it by policing the refusal to recognize territorial changes brought by force • Between 1935-37 US Congress passes Neutrality Acts • US was happy to be away from Europe -> continent of war, dictatorships • Nye Committee Report of 1936: spread a new wave of isolationism, Europe seen as evil and too strong • Rise of protectionism in int'l trade, search for political and economic influence in "new" places, geopolitical economic blocks (informal empires, but really South America and concept of Pan Americanism) *Destroyed by President F.D. Roosevelt • The New Deal is not only the application of Keynes but the answer to the economic crisis and the attempt to create a geopolitical bloc focusing on Latin America. • Prior, there was the bad neighbour policy: 1912-1921 US troops intervene in Nicaragua, Mexico, DR, Haiti, etc and other Latin America states • Good neighbour policy was installed to counter-act the rise of fascism or Nazism in south America, which was populated by many Italians and Germans. Likewise it was driven by the fear of European bloc under fascist rule and east-Asian bloc under Japanese empire. ■ Form an economic point of view, Latin American industrialization process was based on raw and agricultural products. In 1934 there is the reciprocal tariff program –> successful President Roosevelt (US President from 1933-45) • Determinant in pushing American people and the Senate in Congress in approving of America’s entry into WWII - All around him democracies had been faltering following the Great Depression and progress been slowing down • He perceived the threat to the European balance of power caused by Hitler as a reason to join the international arena • Despite the strong isolationist sentiment in America, he drove the nation into a war inconsistent with American values and considered irrelevant to American security • Roosevelt joined to help England first –> France was not only occupied under the Vichy regime but also demoralized • What triggered popular opinion to side with Roosevelt’s ideas was the attack of Pearl Harbour by the Japanese in December 1941 • What impelled Roosevelt to act was the Munich Conference of 1936 • In his famous Quarantine Speech of 1937 he referred to IT, JAP, GER as countries who are jeopardizing the world and calls the community to act against the spread of this disease. • In 1938 USA doesn’t react to the Anschluss, like European power • In 1938 Roosevelt begins to find ways to go around the Neutrality Acts and assures Chamberlain America’s help to the UK (morally and materially) • Following the occupation of Prague of April 1939 Roosevelt takes a stand for small nations whose independence is violated –> this threatens the American national safety and prosperity • The German invasion of Poland and the British declaration of war in Sept 1939 forces Roosevelt to invoke the Neutrality acts, but searches for alternatives in the meantime – like stationing American troops in Danish Iceland and Greenland • the passage of the U.S. Lend Lease Act in March 1941, was assured U.S. material support • In May 1941 he announced America’s commitment by outlining the Four Freedoms and that Hitler was the exact opposite of what America believed in 1 • The Atlantic Charter of August 1941 was a joint document between Chamberlain and Roosevelt - Declared aggressor countries (JAP, GER, IT) to be permanently disarmed, and the peaceful ones to have limited armament - It did not refer to a new balance of power • In Sept 1941 the US crossed the line into belligerency • America won the war at sea with the Axis powers UK and US appeasement and non-reaction to the Nazi and Japanese provocation, there was a desire to avoid war and sympathy for dictatorships. *indirectly responsible for the instability of the IR system France was in a contradictory position since the 20s • They also feared a new war • Actions in the inter-war years can be considered as the prototype of failure • Contradiction between alliances with East Europe new states and the search for an agreement with Germany (Locarno and Munich) • Contradiction between foreign policy and defence policy There are 3 pillars of US Foreign policy 1. Monroe doctrine • 2 dec 1923: President Monroe defines the difference between US and European systems • US does not want to be involved in European IR system 2. Manifest Destiny • President Jackson and journalist O'Sullivan: using metonymy to call Americans only US citizens (?) 3. Open door policy • 1899, policy of free market aimed for China, then extended to Latin America The end of the progressive Era • Last president is T Woodrow Wilson • Era marking the US rising and progressive era (1890-1920) • Industrialization, modernization, power-projection, Federal reserve and the control of US economy, Women's suffrage and the new form of democracy, economic growth, and social change following the Great War • Harding and the US "New Normalcy" – US focused • The occupation of Ruhr in 1923 marked the change of US foreign policy The great powers' exit strategy was the London conference, which also focused on rebooting int'l trade, there was an agreement on currencies (gold standard) • The USA opposed the actions taken (did not collaborate) - Stalin, however, consented readily to Churchill’s provisional suggestion for zones of influence in southeastern Europe: • the U.S.S.R. should be preponderant in Romania and in Bulgaria, the • western powers in Greece, • western and Soviet influences should counterbalance one another evenly in Yugoslavia and in Hungary. - The timing of the next western and Soviet offensives against Germany was also agreed, - some accord was reached about the scale of the eventual Soviet participation in the war against Japan. • Yalta Conference, 1945 - plan the final defeat and occupation of Nazi Germany • been decided that Germany would be divided into occupied zones administered by U.S., British, French, and Soviet forces. • the Allies had no duty toward the Germans except to provide minimum subsistence, • declared that the German military industry would be abolished or confiscated, • agreed that major war criminals would be tried before an international court, which subsequently presided at Nürnberg. - The determination of reparations was assigned to a commission - Poland continued to be discussed but no decision was taken - No postwar political arrangements were taken to the dismay of UK who wanted to restore France to Great Power status, resist the dismemberment of Germany and reduce exobirant Soviet demands • USA focused on UN and GA • USSR was eager to enter a war against Japan (more spoils!) • Postdam conference 1945 - immediate administration of defeated Germany, - demarcation of the boundaries of Poland, - occupation of Austria, - definition of the Soviet Union’s role in eastern Europe, - determination of reparations, - further prosecution of the war against Japan - The four occupation zones of Germany conceived at the Yalta Conference were set up, each to be administered by the commander-in-chief of the Soviet, British, U.S., or French army of occupation. Berlin, Vienna, and Austria were also each divided into four occupation zones - The governments of Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria were already controlled by communists, and Stalin was adamant in refusing to let the Allies interfere in eastern Europe USA's Grand Design (structurally similar to the Holy Alliance) • Organized by the new Dealers, F.D. Roosevelt, and developed by H. Truman • It had three dimensions • Geostrategic, "Four policemen": only four great powers, the winners, had the golden share of IR and decided the geopolitical dynamics –> new type of European Concert • Economic, "One World" and "Global Open Door": wanted a free, open economy • Institutional, "One World" and "United Nations" 1 • It succeeded! The First Cairo conference (1943) and Yalta conference (1945), Bretton Woods conference, Dumbarton Oaks conference (1944) and San Francisco conference (1945) accomplished these three dimensions Roosevelt’s post war ideas • did not want any American involvement in the reconstruction • rejected the idea that a total defeat of GER would create a power vacuum which would be filled by the USSR • wanted to put an end to French and UK colonial empires • offered Russia overseas territories but were refused since Soviet objectives had to be in the reach of Soviet armies • gave Russia a sphere of influence in northern China to encourage him to participate in a world order that would make spheres of influences irrelevant. Thanks to WWII, USA claimed its global power, while European and Asian cities were destroyed • 6% of world population and 66% of gold • Economy peaked • US GDP was five times the British Empire GDP and three times the USSR GDP • 75% of world capital and produced 50% of world material goods • Controlled the most impressive army and navy in history • Had the atomic bomb Arthur Schlesinger Jr: “Roosevelt had preprared a fall-back position in case of Soviet- American relations went sour: overseas bases, great army, Anglo-American monopoly of atomic bomb” Susan Strange: "the persistent myth of lost hegemony" • USA had the structural power, the power to set the rules of the game • World system was, in fact, shaped by USA –> others followed Soviet Project: EurAsian cordone sanitaire • Traditional BoP system • East European cordon sanitaire surrounding the USSR • A system of protection controlled by Moscow that would avoid another German invasions • Stalin was scared by the Western great powers • Stalin's wanted to consolidate its political power • USSR was in competition with London • USSR did not share the enthusiasm of the US with regard to the collective security projects like the UN • Stalin’s concessions to the allies was a Joint Declaration on Liberated Europe which promised free elections nad the establishment of democratic govts in Eastern Europe British project: keeping the Empire • Reshape the BoP system and keeping the Empire and colonies • Organized by C Attlee and W Churchill • Focused on economy, and this was in contrast to USA policies • UK feared a possible soviet hegemony in Europe taking advantage by the weakness of Germany (same scenario as post WWI) • UK knew it was too weak to counterbalance the USSR and turned to US for political and military help - Must create a situation to keep US in Europe • Churchill (with Roosevelt) painfully accepted Russia’s 1941 borders, considering he had gone to war to preserve Polish territorial integrity British/Churchill idea was to use Italy as a tool of projection to contains the USSR, but USA plan was eastward. All of eastern Europe was under the Soviet Union • Churchill and Stalin defined the spheres of influence in oct 1944 • The fourth Moscow conference (informal conference) and came about due to fear of the two players who mistrusted each other Critiques of the Four Policemen project • The four players did not perceive their global golas in the same way • Stalin knew that UK would not counterbalance USSR: this would create a large vacuum that would serve as pretext to a later confrontation with the USA • America was unprepared to intervene wherever peace was threatened • Until American visions changed, resistance to Soviet expansionism was impossible • China was included to have an Asian anchor in the superior design • For Stalin, China was even less capable of UK for the role Roosevelt gave to it Geopolitics • America involved in Europe • Germany and Japan to be restored for equilibrium • Soviet Union embarked on tension and strategic overextension. WWII Apocalypse of Modernity • End of European centrality, end of old Westphalia European system • New int'l law and reduction of authority of state, the recognition that sovereignty is not absolute and politicians have to respect of their own citizens • New system with UN at the centre –> UN performed better than the LoN • "civilization" of war • Great number of casualties in Asia The unipolar movement begins in 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, if you compare the performance of the USA with other states in 1991, and you note the same in 1945, the year of 1945 was the true unipolar moment. • Managed the possibility of the rise of China, a possible world power Two main geopolitical problems 1. The 3rd Reich 2. Japan *these two continents had the same geopolitical dynamics The future of Germany is the same as post-WWI • Weak or strong Germany are both dangerous • Germany is united but occupied by the winners (USA, USSR, FR, UK) • Hopefully neutralized too • Winners redraw the borders and many German minorities were outside the new borders • Berlin was occupied by the four winners too 1 Phase 1(a): 1945-50: Cold War genesis *Important personalities are Stalin, Churchill, Attlee, Truman • The beginning of the transition in the Soviet system • Moments of great friction between the two blocks • Afghanistan war • Tiananmen Square riots *All these movements depend on decisions coming from USA, USSR and China Shaping of Cold War blocks Sovietization: USSR created its Cordon Sanitaire, conquering and organizing its puppet states • 1945-47: Romania, monarchy was abolished and turned into a republic • 1946-48: Poland, other parties dissolves • 1944-48: Bulgaria, monarchy abolished • 1945-48: Hungary, other parties dissolved • 1948: Czechoslovakia, following a dramatic coup-d'état *this scared all the western powers, ITA, UK, FR Soviet diplomatic pressure • USSR was pushing Turkey and Greece to reach the Mediterranean, Iran and Persia to reach the Indian ocean, and inner Mongolia for reaching China • Similar situation to the 19th C • The Mediterranean was very important to UK, and the pressure in Asia was a threat to India (UK's empire) and the pressure in Europe was a problem to the balance of power *indirectly these were all problems for the USA The British reaction to the sovietisation of Europe • March 1946 Churchill's Iron Curtain speech • This speech created the mentality of the cold war, the USSR at that time just started to create its system - Western overreaction • Churchill spoke of the iron curtain to polarize UK and USA –> same front against USSR (the violent power) • A new wave of red scare –> USSR as an aggressive power • The idea that the Soviet moves destroyed British and Americans plans for the future USA reacted assertively: strategy of containments • British mind, American acts • Kennan, policy maker who shaped the answer of the USA and entire of western world • "Long Telegram" sent from Moscow on Feb 1946 - Became an article "sources of soviet conduct" –> claimed USSR was recreating the previous the previous Russian empire by geopolitics and Marxism • The only countermove was containing Moscow –> political and military reactions from western powers were needed –> must face USSR, not include it in the system Containment policy • US countermove to the Soviet pressure in the Mediterranean: Truman doctrine –> march 1947 • US countermove to the Soviet pressure in Europe: European Recovery Program (ERP) –> Marshall plan of June 1948 • US countermove to the soviet pressure in Europe: Atlantic Alliance of April 1949 *these created the Western Space –> capitalist and liberal-democratic *no place is isolated, the Asia-pacific dynamics are connected to the euro-Atlantic ones, and vice versa Truman doctrine (12 March 1947) • First move of reactions of the west • UK gave the way to USA as leading power of western world –> power transition moment (symbolically) • UK was until WWI the most important power in the world, but USA became the most important one after WWII • The cold war genesis and Truman doctrine made UK realize USA had to lead • USA sent fleet on Turkish Strait to face the Soviet pressure in the Mediterranean • US first real presence into the Mediterranean theatre • USA took over UK as Mediterranean leading power • GER not considered Marshall plan • Part of the ERP of June 1947 • USA sent 14 billion $ to western Europe to stabilize Europe, avoid social conflict and pro-communist revolution in Europe • Avoiding a new USA economic overproduction crisis after the war *entire stabilization of the western world Signing of the Atlantic allice, April 4, 1949 • Turning point • Fist Euro-US entangling permanent alliance • In theory it was military instrument, but until the early 50s it was only a political alliance • Italy was included in the alliance thanks to France despite being defeated in the world war • Germany was not included • Supported the idea of a western, liberal-democratic civilization Chinese civil war, Sino- Soviet alliance, Korean War and Indochina Wars The problem of the cold war was no just Europe! • After and during the WWII USSR followed the geopolitics of the Tsar, despite the Soviet Union being economically and military weak, Stalin pushed conquests on Turkey, Afghanistan and Europe, and Eastern Asia • UK feared USSR the most - UK looked to USA for help –> westerners organized themselves to face the threat of the Soviet Union and led to the Doctrine of Containment policy Eastern Asia situation –> the beginning of the Chinese civil war • 1945-49: new phase of the civil war, won by CPC • Creates structural basis of cold war geopolitics • Peri-centric vision of the IR system • Cold War was just a game played among the global northern great powers • The Global South decolonization was more important • The beginning of the Chinese civil war and the winning of communist China create the condition for the Cold War Chinese civil war and the Asia-pacific theatre (1945-49) Def: military struggle for control of China waged between the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists under Mao Zedong. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), China was effectively divided into three regions i. Nationalist China under control of the government, ii. Communist China, and iii. the areas occupied by Japan. Each was essentially pitted against the other two, although Chinese military forces were ostensibly allied under the banner of the United Front. By the time Japan accepted the surrender terms of the Potsdam Declaration in August 1945, China had endured decades of Japanese occupation and eight years of brutal warfare. The end of World War II did not mark the end of conflict in China. Both leaders wanted to modernize China, since both considered it a great power in the int’l community. They had difference views as to how to modernize it • Kai-shek wanted a pro-capitalist and traditional China, closer to the western world with the burgeoise at center Phase 1(b): 1950-53: High tension phase in Asia • Mao wanted it more similar to the soviet system, with the proletariat at the center The Double Tenth Agreement of Oct 1945 called for collaboration in peacetime after the war against Japan but was destroyed soon after with the beginning of the Chinese civil war. Japan’s defeat set off a race between the Nationalists and Communists to control vital resources and population centres in northern China and Manchuria. • Nationalist troops, using transportation facilities of the U.S. military, were able to take over key cities and most railway lines in East and North China. • Communist troops occupied much of the hinterland in the north and in Manchuria Even before the Japanese surrender had been finalized, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai- shek had issued a series of invitations to Communist leader Mao Zedong to meet with him in Chongqing to discuss reuniting and rebuilding the country. • On August 28, 1945, Mao (accompanied by American ambassador Patrick Hurley) arrived in Chongqing. • On October 10, 1945, the two parties announced that they had reached an agreement in principle to work for a united and democratic China • A pair of committees were to be convened to address the military and political issues that had not been resolved by the initial framework agreement, but serious fighting between government and Communist troops erupted before those bodies could meet US President H Truman responded to the outbreak of violence by dispatching George C. Marshall to China in December 1945. • The Marshall Mission succeeded in bringing both sides back to the negotiating table, and on January 10, 1946, an armistice was concluded between the government and the Communists Agreements were developing on army division, constitutions, principles of voting, of reforms, and more. But before any of these agreements could be put into practice, renewed fighting broke out in Manchuria. • The withdrawal of Soviet occupation troops in March–April 1946 triggered a scramble; Nationalist troops occupied Mukden (Shenyang) on March 12, while the Communists consolidated their hold throughout northern Manchuria In late August Marshall tried to create a coalition government, but the effort was fruitless, as neither side wished to give up its military gains On December 25, 1946, the National Assembly, without the Communists or the left wing of the centrist Democratic League, adopted a new constitution. It was to be put into effect exactly a year later. Until the new constitution was enacted and a new president elected, the Nationalists would continue to be the ruling party. Communist forces, however, made critical inroads into central China in September 1947 • Manchuria! China’s internal strife was closely linked with its diplomatic relations with the United States and the Soviet Union. By late 1948 the Communists had gained complete control of Manchuria, about half of Inner Mongolia, and large portions of the other major Chinese provinces • The Yangtze River was essentially the Nationalists’ last remaining line of defense against a Communist attack on the cities of Nanking (Nanjing) and Shanghai In the remaining nationalist areas, there was great public discontent caused mainly by economic problems leading to impoverished life conditions. The two-decade struggle for China between the Nationalists and the Communists reached its conclusion in 1949. • The year began with a Nationalist appeal to the “Big Four” (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union) to mediate a settlement with the Communists. • The United States, which had for so long supported the Nationalist cause, immediately replied that such an effort would not serve any useful purpose. • On January 14 Mao declared his willingness to negotiate on the following terms: (1) punishment of “war criminals,” (2) abrogation of the 1946 constitution, (3) abolition of the existing form of government, (4) reorganization of Nationalist armies, (5) confiscation of “bureaucratic” capital from Nationalist Party elites and functionaries, (6) land reform, (7) abrogation of “treasonous” treaties, and (8) establishment of a democratic coalition government without the participation of “reactionary” (Nationalist) elements. • New nationalist leader Li Tsung-jen • With the fall of Peking, the • Germany and Korea were both divided artificially, and experienced a legitimacy crisis (“what is the real Korea/Germany?”) • SK and WG are clearly supported by the US and its wealthy democratic allies and are part of their systems. • NK and EG are surrogates of the Communist Behemoth Similariti s and differenc s between Koreaan Germany during th C ld W r Phase 2(b): “to i c ase dialogue ne mus increase tensions” a Peaceful oexist nc