Europe and the Search for Peace After 1918: The Failure of Collective Security and the Eruption of World War 11

The ravages of World War 1 convinced world leaders that a future war was to be avoided at all cost. The war had claimed 12 million lives, left 21 million people wounded and wrecked havoc on the entire economies of the belligerent states, especially those in Europe. Because of this massive scale of destruction WW1 was seen as “a great turning point in the history of the West” according to historian Marvin Perry.

It was with this economic burden that Europe and the rest of the world entered the second decade of the 20th century. On Tuesday November 11, 1918 at 11:00 am on Marshall Ferdinand Foch’s railway carriage, an armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany. With this, Germany conceded defeat and the First World War came to its end. Perry again observes that this war was considered “the final war for human liberty.”

With a guilty conscience for starting the war, Europe assumed a leading role in searching for peace especially as the U.S had decided to stay aloof from world affairs in its new policy of isolationism. Also, Europe alone bore the greatest burden in terms of destruction during the First World War. It became clear to European statesmen that peace was the shortcut to recovery and reconciliation if future war was to be avoided.

With this mindset, Europe became the centre of global diplomacy after WW1. The brief time lapse between the end of the war in November 1918 and the start of the Paris Peace Conference attests to the fact that the search for peace was top on the agenda of European leaders.

The starting point for European peace was the Paris Conference based on a fourteen-point program laid down by U.S President Woodrow Wilson. It was on the basis of these fourteen points that peace settlements were finally reached with the defeated nations – Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. The Treaty of Versailles which dealt with Germany was the most significant in terms of its effects on subsequent developments in Europe and the world.

The Birth of the League of Nations

The League of Nations which saw the light of day on January 10, 1920 was founded on President Wilson’s call for a “general association of nations to guarantee the territorial integrity and political independence of all states.” The League was charged with the responsibility of settling international disputes and thus prevent war from breaking out again. True to this calling, the League kept hopes of peace alive by creating an impressive record throughout the 1920s.

The League averted war in border disputes between Bulgaria and Greece (1925), Iraq and Turkey (1925-1926) and the conflict between Poland and Lithuania in 1920. Besides conflicts, the League had a noticeable success in the areas of drug control, refugee work and famine relief. This was thanks to the effectiveness of the committees and commissions of the League. These included; the Disarmament Commission, the Mandates Commission, the International Labor Organization and the Refugee Organization.

The Rise of the “Locarno Spirit”

Despite their underlying hatred, mistrust and suspicion after Versailles, Britain and France drew closer to Germany in the Locarno Agreements of 1925. The most important of the Locarno treaties was the “Rhineland Pact.” By its terms, Germany agreed to certain frontier adjustments with its neighbors especially France and Belgium. At Locarno, German Chancellor Gustav Streseman kept hopes of peace alive by assuring the other parties that Germany’s eastern frontiers could be changed in future by peaceful means.

Meeting regularly at the League’s Council, the Locarno statesmen gave the League additional respect and prestige, and compromise replaced conflict. This spirit of compromise inspired the Briand-Kellog Pact of 1928 by which 65 countries resolved never to go to war except in self defense. Neville Chamberlain, British Premier, picked on this groundwork of peace to fashion his policy of Appeasement by conceded to some of the demands of the disgruntled powers. Efforts were also made to achieve disarmament.

These efforts at achieving peace raised considerable hopes in Europe in the 1920s. These hopes were, however, short-lived as the mutual distrust and suspicion inherent in the peace treaties started producing cracks on the entire system of “collective security.” Japanese aggression in Asia also revealed that European diplomacy was “inward looking” and neglected threats of war from outside. Within Europe itself, Adolf Hitler succeeded in destroying every structure that aimed at achieving peace – The Versailles Treaty, the League, Locarno and disarmament. The result was the eruption of World War 11 in 1939.

The eruption of war in 1939 disproved the Eurocentric notion of peace in the 1920s. “Europeans … thought it reasonable to assume that the settlement of European problems would lead automatically to the settlement of world problems,” says historian Jack Watson. This failure notwithstanding, the diplomatic institutions of the interwar years (despite the changes they have undergone) still continue to shape European and world history till this day.

Calvocoressi, Peter and guy Wint. Total War: Causes and Courses of the Second World War, 1972.

Perry, Marvin et al. Western Civilization, Ideas, Politics and Society Vol. 11 1989.

The copyright of the article Europe and the Search for Peace After 1918 in E European History is owned by Tongkeh Joseph Fowale. Permission to republish Europe and the Search for Peace After 1918 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

May 21, 2009 9:23 PM

Sam Kessler :

First of all, the armistice was not originally considered a German defeat as it was just an agreement for all sides lay down their arms, but with the possibility of still going back to war if negotiations didn't work out. At that time, no one was going to put all the blame on Germany until the allies realized that they needed to repay their debts that they had incurred from being able to prolong the war.

Also, you did not mention the fact that Wilson practically caved in on all the 14 points that he promised Germany, except for one, The League of Nations. Both David Lloyd George (British Prime Minister) and Raymond Poincare (French President) had no intention of keeping their word on any of the 14 points other than the League of Nations which they didn't take seriously, mostly to please Wilson. However, if Wilson hadn't compromised most of everything he had in his 14 points, he might have been able to keep France and Britain in line so that Germany wouldn't have been the main fall guy and lose all its valuable state assets.