HIS103Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Appeasement, Realpolitik, Pessimism
Ensure safety of home islands
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Protection of Empire
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Two key elements to British grand strategy
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Great Depression
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Massive unemployment
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Threats to trade (lifeblood of Britain's finances and economy) and social fabric
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Britain relied on trade
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Government spent only what it acquired from revenues
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MacDonald took power in June 1929 --> reformist legislation
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Twenty percent unemployment
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Massive government spending cuts
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Presided over British political life for the remainder of the 1930s
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Interim coalition / "National Government" took over when government collapsed led
by Stanley Baldwin
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1930s were difficult for Britain
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Foreign Office largely determined the way that British governments pursued grand
strategy until 1937
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Pursuit of balance of power in Europe and in world to protect British interests (prestige,
markets, strategic outposts, lines of communication)
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Major changes to strategic basis underneath external policies
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Moved to control British foreign policy - cast aside reliance on balance
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Appeasement - realpolitik
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Chamberlain's rise
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British strategy was essentially one of isolation rather than commitment to
continental Europe
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Gibbs
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Foreign and defence policy built on balance of powers
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between 1930 until late 1937
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Adherence to appeasement
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final 20 months before war
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Two major periods in British foreign policy :
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Led until May 1937
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Concerned himself primarily with domestic politics
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Tried to ensure country's social stability
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Accentuation of class divisions after economic crisis
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Radical political alternatives emerged
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Mass democracy emerged out of WW1 - lower and middle classes demanded more
power over parliament, pushing up upper aristocracy
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Considered a poor administrator, and for not paying attention to detail
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Ability to read and respond to public mood
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Calm, careful leadership drained working class support away from labour party -
knew how to get average working citizen to abandon socialist and support
conservative
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Baldwin
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National reputation as a reformist minister of health in Baldwin's second ministry
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Emerged as Baldwin's chief lieutenant by being adept at political minutia, showing
administrative skill, and carried out effectively instruction from his Party Leader
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Presumption of authority and coldness - could make colleagues bend to his will
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Chamberlain
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National Security and Imperial Defense : British Grand Strategy and Appeasement 1930-1939
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Tutorial 2.6: Appeasement
March 30, 2017
1:00 PM
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Presumption of authority and coldness - could make colleagues bend to his will
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"micro-manager"
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Controlled treasury - retrenchment and improving trade became leitmotif of national
government economic policies domestically in the Empire and internationally
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National government ultimately proved willing to modify free trade
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Fiscal orthodoxy would not be compromised
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Government programmes were to be based on available public funds --> slow British recovery
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Mass democracy distinguished by rise of influential sectional interests and public opinion
groups, including agricultural, industrial, and financial bodies, trade unions, and other
organizations
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National Government policies reflected the desires and interests of the majority of
British voters
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Baldwin brought significant electoral support to Conservatives and National Government -->
succeeded where Lloyd George and other opposition groups failed
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Victorious powers of all dimensions were unwilling to abandon the pursuit of their
narrow national interests to disarm and to forsake seeking economic, political, and
strategic advantage one against the other
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Old diplomacy triumphed over the new
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New approach in conducting foreign policy proved impossible
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New European world order made at the expense of Germany
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Naval limitation agreement amongst five great naval Powers (Britain, U.S., France,
Japan, and Italy)
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Nine-Power guarantee of China's sovereignty
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Four-Power Pact (Britain, U.S., Japan, France) confirming post-war status quo in
Pacific Ocean
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1921-1922 response to China's instability, a multilateral conference at Washington brought
a system of security to East Asia
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Created trans-Atlantic tensions as Allies argued that they contributed as much blood
as the U.S. did with money
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1923 series of bilateral war debt agreements were signed between former Allies and U.S.
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Economy was weakened by reparation payments imposed by victorious Powers
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Politically and financially profitless
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1923 France and Belgium occupied Ruhr Valley to siphon off German industrial
production in lieu of defaulted reparation payments
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German economy collapsed in 1922 because of hyper-inflation brought on by export
of billions of gold marks
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New German currency, stabilized Germany's economy largely with American
loans, and regularized reparations
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International bankers laboured to revive German economy and restart reparation
payments
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Germany
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Reversing French efforts to keep Germany enfeebled economically
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Chamberlain broke deadlock - came to support Rhineland security pact in which
Britain would play the "honest broker"
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Germany was allowed to join the League and receive a permanent seat on the
Council
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System of European security created
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Locarno - Franco-German border became fixed
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British working to construct diplomatic initiatives with Britain a voice in the regime of
European security
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International security in latter half of 1920s
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Chamberlain endeavoured to use Britain's political strength to maintain Great Power
tranquility
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Ending French occupation of Rhineland
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Scaling down German reparations - accepted at The Hague in 1929/1930
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European disarmament
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War debt and reparations first to come under assault as a result of Great Depression
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War debt and reparations first to come under assault as a result of Great Depression
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States gradually migrated from French alliance system into German orbit
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Fascist regimes in Spain, Portugal, and Italy
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Other states adopted right-wing authoritarian regimes
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Maintained isolation from international political affairs and pursuit of aggressive
economic diplomacy to augment American fiscal strength
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Leadership of FDR in U.S.
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Also depended upon trade for economic survival
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Rise of militarist cabinets that saw armed expansion in China as the way to revive
national economic fortunes
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Conquest of Manchuria
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Japan
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Devastation of national economies and international trade spawned by the Great Depression
served as a catalyst that polarized nations politically
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Had to conform to the wishes of British voters as well as not jeopardizing the health
of the government
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British foreign defense policy threatened by Hitler's regime and entrenchment of
militarism in Japan
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Began in 1926 following conclusion of Locarno
Major budget cuts to defense budgets
Disarmament
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Meeting defence deficiencies
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Rearmament
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Argued that British foreign and defense policy for interwar period divides into three
periods
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Shift in British external relations after 1936 wen the National government
embarked on a programme to underpin foreign policy with military strength and
allow for better protection of the home islands and Empire
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Gibbs
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Used professional diplomats largely as tools to implement his policies
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Prime ministerial control of foreign policy ended with Lloyd George
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Lloyd George
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British reparations policy focused on balancing the German ability to pay with the French
desires to retard German economic and financial revival
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British disarmament policy: international limitation regime that would permit sufficient
British armed forces to protest its interests, find an equilibrium between French desires for
security and German demands to rearm
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Philip Snowden, chancellor of Exchequer, resolved reparations
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Arthur Henderson, foreign secretary, resolved disarmament
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Macdonald - amelioration of Anglo-American differences
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MacDonald's Government
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National Government took office solely to resolve domestic financial emergency -
once this was resolved, General Election was to be held in which the coalition
partners would run separately
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Despite foreign policy record, Labour government fell because of inability to square
domestic political requirements with international economic crisis
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National Government did not wish to do so either - only built to end depression
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War in Far East was unacceptable
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League attempted to resolve the crisis
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British worked through League to resolve
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Japan's actions violated the Washington nine-Power treaty, none of the other signatories
were willing to used armed force
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Fostered the growth of radicalism on both German left and right
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Frayed the fabric of constitutional government
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Meeting at Lausanne - accepted the Germany would be unable to pay
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Inability of the Weimar Republic to meet its reparation payments
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European threat to Britain
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