1. In what ways was the League successful after World War I? Unsuccessful?
Some of the successes of The League of Nations were that they solved several disputes. Some examples of the disputes were that they settled a dispute between Sweden and Finland over a group of islands, responded to a humanitarian crisis in Turkey, and prevented a war between Greece and Bulgaria over boundary issues. The League of Nations also had failures as well. Some of their failures were that the league lacked troops of its own, lacked the power to enforce their own decisions and a military backbone, were not very powerful when it proved unable to force Poland to leave a Lithuanian town, and showed their powerlessness on many other occasions. Many of their problems were that the three greatest nations did not join The League of Nations so they were not as powerful.
2. Many historians suggest that the terms of the Versailles Treaty were a major cause of World War II. Support that argument.
The reason so many historians believe that the Treaty of Versailles was a major case of World War II is because the treaty had been especially harsh on Germany and the Germans were not happy about that. The treaty fostered deep resentment and bitterness towards Germany and the victors. Germany wanted the lands that they lost in the war, back. The Treaty of Versailles also seemed to provoke Adolf Hitler in a way because of how the economy was doing in Germany and all the hardships and hunger that was happening to the people. He swooped in and became a leader of what they wanted to hear and do but also tricked them. Which led to Hitler breaking parts of the treaty and all the other nations getting mad about it and getting ready to start another war.
3. Some historians characterize U.S. policy
during the interwar period as isolationist. What actions, described in
the reading, could be called isolationist?
One way that the U.S. could be construed as isolationist is that they enacted legislation to limit immigration into the country which isolated many immigrants that would want to come into the country but were not allowed so the U.S. isolated themselves from foreign persons. During the interwar period, the U.S. mostly focused on itself which has historians to believe that it was isolationist. They only signed things that were in their favor and would help them in any way. They did interact somewhat with other nations but it was only for their benefit and no one elses.
4. How was U.S. foreign policy different in the Cold War from the interwar period?
U.S. foreign policy was different in the Cold War than in the interwar because the Cold War had many affects on it. The U.S. wanted to contain Soviet communism during the Cold War and it spread their involvement abroad. They were afraid that the communism would spread to places that were vital to the U.S. so they created U.S. foreign aid to contain it. This cost the U.S. a lot of money that they lent to other countries such as Greece and Turkey. Containment of the Soviet Union led to the creation of NATO which was states pledging to protect the freedom and security of member nations. In the end, it became clear that the U.S. wanted peace and security throughout the world.
5. What is "Wilsonian" thought? Why do some support it and some oppose it?
Wilsonian thought is the fourteen points that Wilson made and the concepts of multilateralism and collective security. Some people support it because they like his ideas and the way he thought. Some people oppose it because they think humans are predisposed toward power politics rather than peaceful diplomacy and that the United States should focus on its domestic problems. They think that multilateralism will threaten U.S. security. Wilsonian thought is supported by some but thought as naive and unrealistic by others.
