Did Isolationism Limit the Effectiveness of the Geneva Conferences - Essay Example

To what extent did isolationism limit the effectiveness of the Geneva Conferences in facilitating disarmament? Section A: Plan of the investigation Isolationism is a foreign policy adopted by some countries at a particular time period in order to protect its political or economical interests. Isolationism may help a nation to protect its interests; however it can cause severe damages to the interests of the external world. For example, the isolationism policies adopted by United Sates during The World Disarmament Conference which took place in Geneva on 01 February 1932, is one best example for the negative impacts isolationism may cause to others. Many people believe that the US isolationism policies caused the failure of the 1932 Geneva disarmament conferences and the Second World War. This paper briefly analyses the consequences of US isolationism policies and its effects on global politics and the failures of the Geneva Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments in 1932, using secondary research data obtained mainly from internet. Section B: Summary of evidence 500-600 Geneva conference and its decisions were thus unacceptable to the Americans and they declared their isolationism policies based on the following assumptions; “U.S. unique with no interests threatened; U.S. superior to a corrupt world; U.S. impregnable to attack and "devil" theory of war”(U.S. Isolationism in the Republican Era of "Normalcy" 1921-1933) To satisfy France, the U.K. and U.S. signed the Anglo-American Guarantee on June 28, 1919, which proposed that in the case of a repeat of the German invasion, both the United States and the United Kingdom would immediately come to France’s aid. Unfortunately for France, the U.S. Senate did not ratify the document, and so both signers of the Guarantee withdrew their promises (IB History). At the World Disarmament Conference of 1932-1933, a number of important issues began to achieve something akin to consensus in the world community. There was recognition, for instance, that military aviation could not be limited unless civilian aviation (that could quickly convert to military uses) also was controlled. At the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva, the British — sensitive to their new vulnerabilities — tried unsuccessfully to prohibit strategic aerial bombardment (distinguishing “tactical” from “strategic” emerged as a contentious issue). The French proposed that all “strategic” aircraft, civilian and military, should be placed under control of the League of Nations, with nations allowed to retain only short-range “tactical” aircraft in their national air forces (Geneva Conference 1932-1934) Senator Swanson led the United States Delegation to the General Disarmament Conference in Geneva. He was noted for his strong stand in favour of a large U.S. Navy and for his prediction of a possible war with Japan. Germany, whose military power had been severely limited by the Treaty of Versailles, responded by claiming that if world disarmament to the German level was not accomplished, Germany had the right to rearm and achieve military equality(Disarmament Conference) The Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members of the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled (The League of Nations) The United States never joined the League of Nations which weakened the League The Anglo-American guarantee never happened Germany was angry as it thought the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and harsh and so wanted the treaty revoked Italy was angry as it was on the winning side, however it did not receive much territory and so the Italians wanted to revise the treaty in favour of Italy Japan was only interested in issues concerning itself and not the issues concerned with the European aspects of the peace settlement   The United States retreated into isolationism The USSR was isolated throughout the1920's (with the exception of the Treaty of Rapallo with Germany) France and Britain disagreed on the strategies concerning Germany The Great Depression of 1929 had reduced the optimistic outlook and international co-operation. The United States wanted the elimination of offensive weapons, however there where disagreements to what weapons where offensive and which were defensive (Enforcement of the Provisions of the Treaties: US Isolationism, the Retreat from the Anglo-American Guarantee, Disarmament-Washington, London and Geneva Conferences) Section C: Evaluation of sources The article, Enforcement of the provisions of the treaties: US isolationism, the retreat from the Anglo-American Guarantee, Disarmament-Washington, London and Geneva Conferences, is one of the two major articles relied for the completion of this paper. This article gives us very good ideas about the topics such as US isolationism policies, Problems with Enforcing of the Treaties, The Anglo-American Guarantee, Rising Tension Between Japan and the United States, Disarmament, Support for disarmament, The Washington Conference, Terms of the Washington Treaties, The London Naval Conference 1930, The London Naval Conference 1935-1936, The Geneva Conference 1932-1934 etc. All these topics helped me immensely in knowing more about the backdrop reasons of US isolationism policies and the failures of Geneva conferences. All the major points are marked as bullet points in this article which helped me to know the exact facts and figures in a concise manner. At the same time, the major limitation of this article is the fact that the reader may not get deep knowledge about any of the topics mentioned in this article because of the lack of details included in the article. The second major article used for writing this paper is Geneva Conference 1932-1934. This article clearly discusses the major events happened in between the two world wars. This article gives us a clear idea about the feelings developed among people and various organizations about the necessities of disarmament immediately after the First World War. The main body of this article deals with the Geneva conference 1932-1934. Most of the topics discussed in the Geneva conference are explained comprehensively in this article. Moreover, the areas of controversy and the topics agreed after the discussions were explained in this article. The Versailles treaty and the Hitler’s arrival as the Chancellor of Germany etc were also mentioned in this article which helped me a lot in knowing more about the reasons of failures of Geneva conference. This article is descriptive in nature and in order to understand the topics mentioned in this article clearly, one should need more researches. Section D: Analysis The Geneva conference was attended by League of Nations members, as well as United States and the former Soviet Union. America and Soviet Union were the superpowers of that time and hence any global peace meetings without the presence or cooperation of these two superpowers were meaningless at that time. Even though, Geneva meeting did succeed in ensuring the presence of these two superpowers, it failed to arrive at a unanimous agreement on arms reduction mainly because of America’s adamant policies. Many people blamed France for the failures of Geneva conference because of France’s adamant stand on putting all the civil and military aviation under the control of the League of Nations. France had concerns of a possible attack from Germany and hence they argued in favor of total disarmament. In fact Germany was humiliated by the terms and conditions of the Versailles treaty to put an end to the First World War. They have seen more dangers in accepting the Geneva agreement. However, France was adamant in disarming Germany in order to reduce threats from Germany. However, United Sates did not consider the arguments of France seriously. Many people believe that America declared the isolationism policies because of the above stands of France. France was keener in protecting their interests and they suspected an attack from Germany. So they tried to seek a guarantee from the League of Nations that the Anglo-American forces would protect them in case of an attack from Germany on France. America was not much interested in giving such an assurance to France. Since most of the other countries in the League of Nations had not shown any objection to the demands of France, America forced to sign the Anglo American guarantee. The process of disarming has started from Germany. Versailles treaty succeeded in the disarmament of Germany, the major culprit of the First World War. It was difficult for United States to give the control of all its aviation activities to the League of Nations because of their superiority in civil and military aviation in the world at that time. It is an accepted fact that the major reason for the First World War was the arms race. So reducing the arms was the only option available in front of the League of Nations in preventing a future war at that time. However, the non-cooperation of America, one of the major superpower of that time, prevented League of Nations from attaining the objectives of Geneva Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments. The Geneva conference agreed in principles that arms race was a major cause of war and hence reducing arms would reduce the threat of future wars. Moreover, this conference also accepted the fact that most of the countries were struggling to find enough resources for the growth of their economy because of the over emphasize given to the strengthening of their military. America also accepted the above facts; however, they differenced in the segregation of offensive and defensive weapons. They have realized that reduction of all the offensive and defensive arms would affect their interests more than anybody else since they were one of the heavily equipped countries in the world as far as the possession of arms and ammunitions were concerned. After the First World War, America became the most wealthy and powerful nation in the earth and hence they have started to establish a separate law and order for America. They started to implement one law for America and another for the rest of the world which was unacceptable to the other countries. Even though, President Wilson was sincere in his effort to disarm the world, he was failed to continue in power and his successors started to violate the core principles of League of Nations and the disarmament agreements. Section E: Conclusions To conclude, America’s reluctance in executing the agreements reached in the Geneva meeting was paved way for the Second World War. America calculated that being the number one powerful country in the world after the World War 1, any efforts to disarm the entire world would affect them more than anybody else. They liked to continue their supremacy on global political and economical matters and declared isolationism in order to stay away from the liabilities of implementing the agreements reached in the Geneva meeting. America’s lack of interests in disarming the world motivated countries like Germany to accumulate arms again and starting the World War 2. If America was serious in disarming the world, the Second World War and the subsequent wars could have been avoided. Instead of working for the disarmament, America declared isolationism in order to protect their interests which resulted in the failures of the Geneva Disarmament Conference Works Cited 1. “Disarmament Conference”. Web. 03 January 2010. 2. “Enforcement of the Provisions of the Treaties: US Isolationism, the Retreat from the Anglo-American Guarantee, Disarmament-Washington, London and Geneva Conferences”. 2010. Web. 03 January 2010. 3. “Geneva Conference 1932-1934”. Web. 03 January 2010. 4. “IB History”. Web. 03 January 2010. 5. “The League of Nations”. Web. 03 January 2010. 6. “U.S. Isolationism in the Republican Era of "Normalcy" 1921-1933”. 2004. Web. 03 January 2010. Read More