NAME: ______DATE: ______BLOCK: ______

AMERICA AT WAR:

PACIFISM AND MILITARISM IN THE 1920’S AND 1930’S

During the 1920’s, there were two opposing views on the use of military force in Western society.

Many of the people who experienced World War One could not imagine a major war ever being fought again. To them, World War One was “the war to end all wars.” They believed that modern warfare was so horrible that no sane leader would ever lead his country to war again. Many of these people were pacifists, or people who felt that war was never a good option. These people believed that countries could talk out their problems in negotiations. Many people in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States were pacifists.

In some of the countries that went through World War One, however, there was a sense of betrayal and anger. Some people felt that all the hurt and sacrifice of World War One had been for nothing because their own government had betrayed them and the winning countries had punished the losing countries too harshly. In some cases, people in the winning countries felt that they did not get enough gains from being on the winning side, and they, too, felt that their government and/or the governments of the major winning powers had betrayed them. In these countries, there was a feeling of militarism, a feeling that the military should be built up and their country should use their military to take what was rightfully theirs.

For each of the following events, mark whether the event shows a feeling of militarism or pacifism, and explain why. You will get one point for indicating whether it is militarism or pacifism and one point for explaining why.

1920: The first meeting of the League of Nations took place.

1923: France sent troops into Germany to temporarily take over industrial areas because Germany was not paying its reparations payments from the Treaty of Versailles.

1923: Adolph Hitler tried to launch a revolution in Germany with the support of German veterans of World War One.

1924: The Dawes Plan sets up a system for Germany to pay its reparations payments. This system included loans from the US to Germany to help Germany make its payments.

1925: A series of treaties reestablishing normal relations with Germany are signed. It is agreed that Germany would be allowed into the League of Nations.

1928: Sixty-five countries signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which outlawed war.

1930: The film All Quiet on the Western Front was released. This film shows how a young German discovers that war was not glorious, as he had been taught.

1930: France began building a line of strong defenses on the German border. These defenses were known as the Maginot Line.

1931: Japan invaded the industrial northeastern area of China known as Manchuria.

1935: Germany and Great Britain agreed to increase the size of their navies in violation of the limits set in the Treaty of Versailles.

1935: The Italian dictator Mussolini invaded the African nation of Ethiopia.

1936: The German dictator sent German troops into the German region called the Rhineland, where Germany was not supposed to have any troops according to the Treaty of Versailles

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