PEACEMAKING/POLITICAL EFFECTS

Overall argument: why did peacemaking after WW1 in Europe fail?

It humiliated Germany without weakening it, creating resentment the League of Nations could not contain

Overall argument: why did peacemaking after WW2 in Asia succeed in its main aim?

Japan never threatened peace again, because the US reformed and rebuilt Japan instead of punishing it

Overall argument: where did WW2 peacemaking in Asia fail?

Across the wider region: unresolved territorial questions (Korea, Taiwan, the Kurils) led straight into new wars

Para 1 topic sentence: reparations and economic aid

Peacemakers had to choose between punishing and rebuilding. After WW1, heavy reparations created resentment US aid only temporarily eased; after WW2, light reparations and US aid turned Japan from enemy into ally

Total German reparations (1921)

132 billion gold marks

Who called the reparations 'Carthaginian'?

Keynes

Besides Germany, who also had to pay reparations after WW1?

Austria and Hungary

Sally Marks on reparations

Not that punitive; Germany could have paid them. The resentment mattered more than the actual cost

When did France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr, and why?

January 1923, because Germany defaulted on reparations

Chain from the Ruhr occupation to hyperinflation

Ruhr occupation → passive resistance funded by printing money → hyperinflation (1923)

Dawes Plan: date and effect

1924: US loans and rescheduled payments stabilised Germany

Young Plan: date and effect

1929: reduced the total reparations further

How did the Wall Street Crash (1929) undo US aid to Germany?

US banks recalled their loans, unemployment soared, and support for the Nazis grew

Para 1 WW1 analysis

The aid depended on US prosperity, so when the Depression hit, the peace settlement's economic foundations collapsed with it

Which treaty settled Japan's reparations, and when?

Treaty of San Francisco (1951)

How did Japan pay reparations?

It accepted it owed them but had limited capacity to pay, so paid through bilateral agreements in goods and services

Japan's bilateral reparations agreements (3 countries + dates)

Burma 1954, the Philippines 1956, Indonesia 1958

How did Japan's reparations compare to Germany's in 1919?

Much smaller in scale

What was the 'Reverse Course'?

From 1947–48, the Cold War led the US to switch from reforming Japan to rebuilding it as an ally against communism

How much US aid did Japan receive, 1946–51?

About $2 billion

Dodge Line: date and effect

1949: stabilised the Japanese currency

What did PM Yoshida call the Korean War boom (from 1950)?

"A gift of the gods"

Para 1 WW2 analysis

Unlike Weimar Germany, Japan's recovery was tied to US security interests, so the aid kept flowing and prosperity removed any reason for resentment

Para 2 topic sentence: territorial changes

Both settlements stripped the defeated power of territory, but Germany's losses created grievances it fought to reverse, while Japan lost its whole empire with little resentment. Post-1945 instability lay in the lands Japan left behind

How much territory and population did Germany lose under Versailles (1919)?

Around 13% of its territory and about 10% of its population

Alsace-Lorraine went to…

France

Eupen-Malmedy went to…

Belgium

Polish Corridor and Posen: what happened?

Given to Poland, cutting East Prussia off from the rest of Germany

Status of Danzig after Versailles

A 'free city'

Saar and Rhineland under Versailles

Saar placed under the League for 15 years; Rhineland demilitarised

What happened to Germany's overseas colonies?

Placed under League of Nations mandates

How much pre-war territory did Hungary lose, and under which treaty?

72%, Treaty of Trianon (1920)

Para 2 WW1 analysis

Millions of ethnic Germans and Hungarians were left outside their states, giving Hitler his justification for the Sudetenland and Danzig claims

What happened to Korea after WW2?

Became independent, but divided at the 38th parallel (1945), leading to the Korean War (1950–53)

Taiwan and the Pescadores were returned to…

China

Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands went to…

The USSR

What happened to Japan's Pacific islands (Marshall, Mariana, Caroline)?

Became a US-administered UN Trust Territory (1947)

Until when did the US control Okinawa?

1972

Why did Taiwan's status become unresolved?

The GMD retreated there in 1949

Why have Japan and Russia never signed a peace treaty?

The USSR refused to sign the San Francisco treaty; the dispute over the Kurils remains

Which Chinese governments were invited to San Francisco?

Neither the PRC nor the ROC

Para 2 WW2 analysis

Japan accepted its losses, so there was no revanchism; the territorial failures were in the power vacuum Japan left behind

Para 3 topic sentence: achieving lasting peace

The key difference was treatment of the defeated power's political system: Versailles discredited Germany's democracy and relied on a weak League, whereas the occupation rebuilt Japan from within, making peace self-sustaining

How did Versailles undermine the Weimar government?

Through its association with the treaty ('November Criminals'), provoking anger from left and right

Left-wing uprising against Weimar (date)

Spartacist Uprising, 1919

Right-wing uprising against Weimar (date)

Munich Putsch, 1923

Two League failures at collective security that encouraged Hitler

Corfu Incident (1923) and Hoare-Laval Pact (1935)

What further convinced Hitler he would succeed?

Pacifism and the policy of appeasement

ILO: date and achievement

1919: standardised working conditions and workers' rights; still exists as part of the UN

Permanent Court of International Justice: date, success and limit

1922: brought rule of law into international disputes, BUT could only give the League Council advisory opinions

Henig on the League's Secretariat

'Ground-breaking and increasingly effective'

US occupation of Japan: dates and leader

1945–52, under MacArthur

What did the 1947 Japanese constitution do?

Created a democracy; Article 9 renounced war

How was the emperor treated, and why did it matter?

Kept as a symbol, Hirohito not put on trial, avoiding the humiliation 'November Criminals' caused in Germany

Which reforms widened support for Japan's new system?

Land reform and the vote for women (1946)

Tokyo Trials: dates and outcome

1946–48: 7 leaders executed, including Tojo

Criticism of the Tokyo Trials

'Victors' justice', e.g. Judge Pal's dissent

US-Japan Security Treaty: date and effect

Signed the same day as San Francisco (1951); guaranteed Japan's security, so it had no need to rearm

How did the UN differ from the League in Asia?

Unlike the League over Manchuria (1931), it acted: UN forces sent to Korea in 1950

Why could the UN act in Korea in 1950?

The USSR was boycotting the Security Council

Three post-1945 wars showing no peace in the wider region

Chinese Civil War (1946–49), First Indochina War (1946–54), Dutch vs Indonesian independence (1945–49)

Para 3 WW2 analysis

Peacemaking succeeded with Japan but failed across the region, because it focused on the defeated power rather than on what replaced its empire

Conclusion line

WW1 peacemaking punished Germany enough to create resentment but not enough to stop it; WW2 peacemaking succeeded with Japan by reforming rather than punishing, but failed in the wider region, so peacemaking was better at ending wars than preventing new ones