Rise of the Modern State System

 

Agenda:

·        1900 – early part of the cold war.

·        Effects of WWI

·        Rise of the Soviet Union

·        League of Nations – Western Europe

·        Isolationist State – United States

·        Asia and Middle East

 

 

Overview:

·        Turn of the 20th century was a relatively peaceful time, with the exception of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)

·        No major war since 1870 in Europe.

·        Peace agreements and international law had been strengthened at the Hague Peace Conference in 1899 and 1907.

·        However, world power was still centralized– the European Great Powers controlled most of the world.

·        The British and French Empires dominated the world stage.

·        It is important to note that this was a time where the seeds were being sown for a new kind of world politics that came to dominate the 20th century.

·        The balance of power was about to shift from the European Colonial powers to a new kind of world power.

 

Effects of WWI

·        The optimism and peace was short lived with the outbreak of WWI in 1914.

·        Tension rose between the European powers. This led to the creation of two main alliances – they were the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente.

·        Most historians would agree that the trigger for WWI was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, in Sarajevo- although the growing tension between the alliances and the arms race were contributing factors.

·        WWI lasted from 1914-1918.

·        The period that followed the WWI was a crucial time in world politics.  It was a time when states were being restructured, where former empires collapsed and new states were created.

·        The three dominant states that collapsed were: Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire.

 

Rise of the Soviet Union

·        The Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 changed Russia’s role in WWI. The Bolshevik Revolution was the spark that later created a new power in Eastern Europe.

·        Like most revolutions, there isn’t an easy transition from one regime to another. 

·        Shortly after the 1917 Revolution –Civil War broke out.

·        The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed in December 1922.

·        Lenin died in 1924 and Joseph Stalin took power.

 

Rise of the Soviet Union meant that:

1.     The USSR had become a new European power.

2.     New state is created the leaders need to ensure domestic stability and they need to be recognized by the international community.

3.     USSR had to create diplomatic ties with Britain and France.

4.     Stalin’s doctine was “Socialism in One Country” – which meant that the new Soviet Union went through rapid industrialization.

5.     Purges of the Communist party and the Red Army – to control the domestic situation.

6.     Other independent nations being formed: Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

 

League of Nations and the Interwar Period

·        The end of WWI meant that European powers – Britain & France had been weakened, but there was also a sense of idealism emerging. 

·        The idea was that in order to prevent war there had to be a new international environment that promoted peace.

·        League of Nations was created in 1919, following the Treaty of Versailles.

·        The hope of the envisioned collective security would protect individual states and prevent secret treaties, which was one of the factors that caused WWI.

·        The main problem in IR was war; war needed to be prevented.

·        The idea behind the League of Nations was that International cooperation would promote peace.

·        Political idealism dominated international politics.

·        The interwar period has political significance for many reasons.

·        This was the period in which political idealism was developed. However, this was also a time in which Britain, France and the United States failed to agree on many issues.

·        What were some of these reasons?

o    Issue of reparations: France and Britain wanted Germany to pay for the entire cost of the war.

o    Both Britain and France was in debt to US due to costs of the war.

o    United States had not officially signed the League of Nations.

 

·        Many theorists believe that WWI and WWII was really another European 30 year war – that there was no interwar period. 

·        If this is true than the role of the League of Nations becomes less meaningful because the LofN was  created in the attempt to promote peace.

·        Woodrow Wilson had been instrumental in the League of Nations – he had proposed the fourteen points which influenced the post-WWI settlement.

·        Wilson considered one of the postwar idealists.

·        However, in the interwar period and even after WWII began in 1939 the United States took an isolationist position towards international relations.

·        Or a Neutral position and without the US support, France and Britain lacked the vision that the Lof N had created.

·        The American foreign policy was one of appeasement, particularly towards Germany and Italy, whose ideology was slowly turning towards fascism in the interwar period.

 

Asia/Middle East

·        Fall of the Ottoman empire saw the creation of Turkey, as a secular state.

·        The Communist Movement in China led by Mao Tse-Tung in the 1930’s.

·        The interwar period marked the rise of a new power in Asia – Japan. Becomes significant in WWII when Japan joined in the axis against allied powers.

 

Post WWII period:

·        Altered the distribution of power in the world.

·        The map of Europe changed during the “big three conference” of Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill at Yalta in 1945.

·        Post WWII saw the recreation of states by the allied powers and the Soviet Union.

·        The post war period saw emergence – United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers.

·        European colonial powers had been weakened.

 

Political Realism –

·        international politics is a struggle for power. Shift from the idealist view which states that international cooperation promotes peace.

·        The struggle for power creates a security dilemma for states because of misunderstanding and mistrust.

·        These factors led to the Cold War; which dominated international relations in the 20th century.

 

Conclusion:

 

·        By mid-twentieth century the balance of power had shifted from the European Colonial Powers to the Superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union. 

·        A new kind of arms race began, new alliances were formed.

·        North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – the alliance of Western Europe and North America.

·        However, it is interesting to note that the post war period also saw the creation of the United Nations.

·        The twentieth century marks a period in history where we see the international struggle for power continue, but increasingly a need for international cooperation.

 

** Peace and Stability in the 20th century.