Diplomatic Relations in the 1920's

After the WWI and the signing of peace treaties there were still tensions between some nations. To prevent these tensions the League of Nations was established.

I. 1919: League of Nations

- rejected the alliance system

- rejected the balance of power policy

- wanted collective security

® an organised community of nations acting together to preserve peace

1920's: The League of Nations helped settle minor disputes between small

nations, but less successful in solving crises that involved bigger nations.

II. 1924: Dawes Plan

- the USA gave loans to Germany, this way Germany could pay

reparations to Br. and Fr., and eventually Br. and Fr. could repay the

loans that they had received from the USA

® G. could gradually recover and pay reparations

Þ European economy recovered by the second half of the 1920's

1929: Young Plan

- it would have been the continuation of the Dawes Plan but the Great

Depression prevented it

III. 1925: Locarno Pact

- aim: to improve relations in Europe

® Western European nations:

- guaranteed the existing borders

- agreed to seek peaceful solutions to any dispute

- Germany agreed to find peaceful solutions to the dispute about its

Eastern borders (with Poland and Czechoslovakia)

® 1926: Germany joined the League of Nations

IV. 1928: Kellog-Briand Pact ( Kellog- Am. Secretary of State

Briand- Fr. Foreign Minister)

- rejected war as an instrument of national policy

® 62 nations signed it

® symbolised the optimism and idealism of the period.... but in 1929 the

whole world collapsed because of the Great Depression