Graduate Course Paper VI : INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CONTENTS Post-First World War Peace Settlement The Bolshevik Revolution and its Impact on International Politics Rise of Fascism and Nazism in Europe and its Impact on International Relations League of Nations : Its Role; Reasons for Failure Factors Leading to the Second World War and Post-War Settlement Origin and Evolution of the Cold War Decolonization and Emergence of the Third World : Its Impact on International Politics Nonalignment : Objectives, Characteristics and Relevance Detente and the End of the Cold War 10. United Nations : Objectives, Role and Performance 11. Regional Organizations : Arab League, OAS, ASEAN, SAARC, EC and APEC 12. New International Economic Order ypenanns wn e Editor : Dr Parmanand Reader in Political Science SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING UNIVERSITY OF DELHI 5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007LESSON 1 POST-FIRST WORLD WAR PEACE SETTLEMENT Dr Niranjan Barik Reader in Political Science S.B. Women’s College, Cuttack ‘The First World War was the first of its kind in human history. Tt was the first “Total War”, in which all the resources of the countries involved were mobilized. It was the first war tobe marked by the use of the ‘aeroplane, the tank and the poison gas and submarine, In scope and intensity, in the scale of causalities, in the involvement of every national interest and the employment of every society in its service, the First World ‘War was, in fact, unprecedented. The peace conference which followed the conclusions of this great war was also the first world peace conference. ‘The War of 1914-18 was the first global war to cover all continents; Whitemen, Blackman, Yellowmen and American Indians were all in this war. Fighting occurred on nearly every continent, except North- America, and on every ocean, except those surrounding the Poles. Less than 8 per cent of the world Populations, comprising chiefly the Scandinavians, Dutch, Swiss, Spaniards and the Latin-Americans of Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela avoided the struggle. During the 4 years of the Great War, as World War I was called, approximately 9 million men in uniform were killed and 21 million wounded. ‘The number of dead civilians totalled an additional several millions. Long before the atom bomb, war had already become so costly that the questions about its usability ‘were widespread. The long and extremely costly Great War was the first modern war to raise the issue of the legitimacy and rationality of warfare as an instrument for ‘advancing a nation’s interest. David Thomson has very appropriately remarked that its greatest novelty historically was a remarkable disparity between the end sought, the price paid and results obtained. ‘Years before the first shot was fired in 1914, an acute feeling of insecurity had gripped the nations of Europe. Race for armaments, hatred, suspicion and distrust marked the politics of the day. Excess of nationalism, militarism, economic imperialism and the system of secret alliances were the fundamental ‘causes behind this war. On the eve of the war the continent of Europe was divided into two armed camps the ripe Alliance and the Tripe Entente. The newly unified states like Germany and Italy had also Joined the cut-throat competition for colonial possessions. ‘The murder on June 28, 1914, of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir apparent of the Habsburg throne, and his wife, in the streets of Serajevo, the Bosnian capital, bya Serbian youth, Gavrilo Princip, was the fatal spark, in the volatile situation to trigger the process for war. While the news of the assassination ‘was received with deep shock in the whole continent, Austria decided to settle her account on the question of Serbia for which Germany promised her full support. On July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia and the next day Germany ordered mobilization. Russia gave similar orders for war preparations. On August 1, Germany declared War and, on August 4, invaded Belgium. On the same day Britain declared war on Germany. On August 3, Germany had declared war on France. On August 1, Russia, Paying no heed to Germany's ultimatum to stay neutral, joined ‘the war. Thus, the war was waged between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers, The Allied Powers were England, France, Italy, Russia, Japan, China, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Belgium, Portugal and the United States. The Central Powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, After the Bloshevik revolution (1917), and owing to her reverses in the battles, Russia deserted the allies, This was, however, more than compensated by the United States which joined the Allies in April 1917. America’s joining the war, in fact turned the table in favour of the Allies. By September 1918, the Central 1Powers had been completely exhausted, and the German military leaders had informed the Government that war could not be won and demanded immediate armistice. On September 30, after the fall of Austria and Bulgaria, German General Ludendorff advised the Kaiser to conclude peace with the Allies. The terms of the armistice as demanded by President Woodrow Wilson were : (1) Germany should withdraw her troops from the soil of the Allied Powers and (2) She should announce a democratic government in place of the despotic one. On October 20, the German government agreed to these demands, The declaration regarding Kaiser's deposition and the establishment of democratic government came on November 9. On November 11, the armistice was signed between Marshall Foch, the General of the Allied Powers and the German representatives. Germany surrendered almost unconditionally. According to the terms of the Armistice, Germany (1). withdrew her army from the territories of the Allies, (2) declared the Rhineland as a demilitarized zone, (3) surrendered her war materials, submarines, baitleships in large numbers to the Allies, (4) repudiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk previously concluded with Russia (1918), and (5) also repudiated the Treaty of Bucharest concluded with Romania previously. Afler the Armistice, it took 5 more years to complete the general peace settlement. In 1919, the Allied and Associated Powers concluded the Treaty of Versailles with Germany (June 28), the Treaty of St. Germain with Austria (September 10), and the Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria (November 27); and in 1920, the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary (June 4). The final Treaty of peace was signed with Turkey on July 23, 1923 at Lausanne, and with the coming into force of this treaty on August 6, 1924, peace was at last formally established throughout the world,! The powers interested in the Pacific Ocean had also assembled at Washington in the winter of 1921- 22 and concluded a series of treaties designed to establish a status quo in the Far East. All these treaties, with a host of minor treaties and agreements arising out of them, may be said to constitute the peace settlement? Paris Peace Conference & The Treaty Of Versailles After Germany's surrender, invitations were sent to Allied countries, big and small, to send their delegates to the conference to be opened at Paris to formulate peace terms for the defeated powers. Del- cegates from the defeated countries (i.e. Germany Austria, Hungary, Turkey & Bulgaria) were not invited to participate in the process of peace-making. The conference, which was a more widely representative body than the Congress of Vienna in 1814, consisted of the representatives not only of “the Allies” but also of the “Associated Powers”. During the final stages of the War many countries had become belligerents, largely in order to gain a voice in the final settlement.? So the group of “Allied and Associated” powers was a large one., In January 1919, the conference finally met at Versailles in Paris and started the stupendous task. Architects of Peace Among the diplomats assembled at the Paris Peace Conference, most prominent were President Woodrow Wilson of America, British Prime Minister Lloyd George, French Prime Minister George Clemenceau and, Italian Prime Minister Viutorio Orlando. This group of the diplomats. popalarly known as “Big Four” took all important decisions. The most outstanding figure of the conference was President Wilson of the United States, who on his arrival in Europe, had been accorded rousing welcome by people everywhere. An ex- Professor of Political Philosophy at Princeton soaring high in the heavens, a brilliant orator, an unskilled statesman from the European standards, unaccustomed to rough and tumble bargaining with his, political equals, Wilson is said to be credited with a curious capacity to close his eyes to unpleasant. realities. Wilson, who had brought America to war and declared that the aim of the war was to make the World safe for democracy and formulated the famous 14 points, was not on many points convincing to the European diplomats. His insistence on “Open Covenants of peace openly arrived at” and his advocacy of the principle of self-determination created many thorny problems. for the statesmen of Europe. 2