Interwar period

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Interbellum" redirects here. For other uses, see Interbellum (disambiguation).

"Between the Wars" redirects here. For other uses, see Between the Wars (disambiguation).

Europe, 1923.

Population densities in Europe, 1923.

The terms interwar period^[1]^[2]^[3] or interbellum (Latin: inter-, "between" + bellum, "war") nearly always refer to the period between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II—the period beginning with the Armistice with Germany that concluded World War I in 1918 and the following Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and ending in 1939 with the Invasion of Poland and the start of World War II.

Description of the Interbellum

This period of history was marked by turmoil as Europe struggled to recover from the devastation of the First World War. Later a period of considerable prosperity (the Roaring Twenties) followed, but this changed dramatically with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. It was during this time that the Weimar Republic in Germany gave way to two episodes of political and economic turmoil, the first culminated in the German hyperinflation of 1923 and the failed Beer Hall Putsch of that same year. The second convulsion, brought on by the worldwide depression, resulted in the rise of Nazism. In Asia, Japan became an ever more assertive power, especially with regard to China.

One main institution intended to bring stability was the League of Nations, created after the First World War with the intention of maintaining world security and peace and encouraging economic growth between member countries. The League was undermined from the start by the non-participation of the United States and the Soviet Union, and subsequently by the bellicosity of Mussolini's Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan - leading many to question its legitimacy and effectiveness.

A series of international crises strained the League to its limits, the earliest being the invasion of Manchuria by Japan and the Abyssinian Crisis of 1935/36, in which Italy invaded Abyssinia, one of the few free African nations at that time. The League tried to enforce economic sanctions upon Italy, but to no avail. The incident highlighted French and British weakness, exemplified by their reluctance to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally. The limited actions taken by the Western powers pushed Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with Hitler's Germany anyway. The Abyssinian war showed Hitler how weak the League was and encouraged his participation in the Spanish Civil War. He also remilitarized the Rhineland in flagrant disregard of the Treaty of Versailles. This was the first in a series of provocative acts culminating in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the beginning of the Second World War.

↑ Williamson R. Murray, Allan R. Millett. "Military Innovation in the Interwar Period"
↑ United States Foreign Policy in the Benjamin D. Rhodes. "Interwar Period, 1918-1941: The Golden Age of American Diplomatic and Military Complacency"
↑ Peter M. R. Stirk. "European unity in context: the interwar period"

Bibliography

Protectionism and Protectionists Theories in the Balkans in the Interwar Period

v t e History of Europe

Prehistoric Europe	Paleolithic Europe Neolithic Europe Bronze Age Europe Iron Age Europe

Classical antiquity	Classical Greece Roman Republic Hellenistic period Roman Empire Late Antiquity Early Christianity Crisis of the Third Century Decline of the Roman Empire

Middle Ages	Early Middle Ages Migration Period Byzantine Empire Christianization Viking Age Kievan Rus' High Middle Ages Holy Roman Empire Crusades Feudalism Late Middle Ages Hundred Years' War Renaissance

Early modern Europe	Reformation Age of Discovery Baroque Thirty Years' War Absolute monarchy Ottoman Empire Portuguese Empire Spanish Empire Early modern France Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Swedish Empire Dutch Republic British Empire Habsburg Monarchy Russian Empire

Modern history	Age of Enlightenment Great Divergence French Revolution Napoleonic Wars Nationalism Serbian Revolution Revolutions of 1848 Industrialisation World War I October Revolution Interbellum World War II Cold War European integration

See also	Art of Europe Genetic history of Europe History of the Mediterranean region History of the European Union History of Western civilization Maritime history of Europe Military history of Europe

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.

Interwar period

Description of the Interbellum

See also

References

Bibliography