Posted by: admin, in Search For Security
Before World War 2 New Zealand had always depended upon Britain for its defense, especially the British Navy. In the early 1930s we helped to build a naval base in Singapore which could be used by the British Navy to protect us.
In 1939 Britain was at war with Germany, this meant that the British would not be able to send all its navy to protect us. By 1941 New Zealand was at war with Japan. The British sent out 2 warships which were sunk. It was the USA who eventually defeated the Japanese. The war had clearly shown that Britain could no longer defend us.
How does a small country like New Zealand remain secure?
create a “protection pact” with surrounding countries ie: Australia, Fiji, etc
introduce compulsory military training to build up our armed forces
become a nuclear country and use weapons to protect ourselves.
The “protection pact” is the best idea of the three because:
unity with countries means that they won’t declare war on us
larger army means larger chance of victory.
New Zealand and especially our prime minister, Peter Frasier, was very critical of the Veto. The great powers however, said either they have the Veto or they wouldn’t be in the UN.
Frasier also became important when the UN was set up because he was chairman of the trusteeship committee which set up the trusteeship system. New Zealand joined the UN but still felt that it would not give us complete security.
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Posted by: admin, in Origins of WW2
The League of Nations
In 1918, Woodrow Wilson had put forward his 14 Point Plan for Peace. One of these points called for the setup of the League of Nations(LoN).
The Steps:
1. All members were guaranteed their territorial integrity
2. All disputes were to be settled peacefully if possible
3. If any one member was attacked it was regarded as an attack on all
4. All trade and financial ties would be cut with any aggressor i.e. sanctions would be imposed
5. LoN members would make up an army to defeat the aggressor.
The Weaknesses of the League of Nations
- The three Major Powers, USA USSR and Germany, were not involved
- The British wished to limit their commitment
- The LoN did not have a standing army
- It was overly reliant on Britain and France
Despite these weaknesses, the LoN was initially successful. They were able to help many refugees and mediate in border disputes between the New Powers in Eastern Europe such as Poland and Lithuania.
Image Reference:
https://soiseth.wikispaces.com/file/view/league_of_nations.png
Image Explanation:
This cartoon shows that the League of Nations was really just an illusion of power. The snake is representative of International Strife, or World Wide Fighting. The rabbit represents the League of Nations and the fact that International Strife could easily overwhelm it. The death of the ‘League/Rabbit’ is inevitable.
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Posted by: admin, in Origins of WW2
German Reaction:
The Germans claimed the treaty was unfair because:
-It was a ‘diktat’, they had no say in the Treaty and the 14 point plan for peace said they would be treated better.
-They were given all the blame.
-Only the losers were forced to disarm.
-Only the losers lost territory.
-The cost of the war was not worked out but they had to pay the reparations stated by the Allies.
French Reaction:
The French claimed the treaty was fair because:
-Germany lost and had to suffer the consequences.
-The treaty was no more severe then the Brest-Litovsk had been on the Russians or the 1871 treaty forced on France by Germany.
-Germany was still potentially strong and had to be weakened.
Ken
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Posted by: admin, in Origins of WW2
The Paris Peace Conference was a meeting held
in Versailles, just out side Paris. The reason was to discuss the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles and the punishments that would b implied on Germany. 30
nations partook although the main four or the ‘big four’ as they were
known as, Britain, France, USA and Italy Dominated the rulings.
The big four were Clemenceau or ‘Tiger’ of France, David Lloyd George of Britain, President Woodrow Wilson of the USA and Vittorio Orlando of Italy.
France wanted the harshest punishment possible for Germany as she was threat to them and wanted her to stay weak and powerless. Germany was also angered by the Treaty of Versailles and the fact it was forced upon them.
The ‘Big Four’ outside the Paris Peace Conference.
Jordan
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Posted by: admin, in websites
While looking to research the Spanish civil war for class I came across the Photos that changed the world site again.Take a look at some important and often shocking moments in history
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Posted by: admin, in Uncategorized
Welcome to blog.kkc.school.nz. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
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