-
Treaty of Versailles signed with Germany
Germany and the Allies signed the Treaty of Versailles, which put an end to World War One. Germany was forced to disarm, cede land, make financial reparations, and give up all of its colonies abroad under the conditions of the treaty. It demanded the establishment of the League of Nations, an idea that President Woodrow Wilson had first proposed in his Fourteen Points and for which he had great support. The United States Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles in spite of Wilson's efforts -
Aaland Islands Dispute
The Aaland Islands were claimed by Finland and Sweden. The islands, which are owned by Finland but are home to a Swedish-speaking population, were the focus of a territorial dispute between Sweden and Finland following World War I. The islanders requested a reunion with Sweden and asserted their right to self-determination. -
Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy
After the March on Rome, on October 31, 1922, King Victor Emmanuel III named Mussolini prime minister, making him the youngest person to hold the position at the time. the first fascist tyrant in Europe throughout the 20th century. Mussolini strove to reduce government expenditures, eliminate state-owned industry that was inefficient, modernize the frequently abused tax system, and impose tariffs to safeguard emerging sectors. -
Corfu Crisis
Greece and Italy were embroiled in a military and diplomatic crisis during the Corfu incident. It began when two of his staff officers and Italian general Enrico Tellini were killed in Greek territory while leading a committee to settle a border dispute between Albania and Greece. Benito Mussolini responded by giving Greece an ultimatum, and when it was not met, he sent soldiers to take Corfu. -
Dawes Plan
The Dawes Plan called for Germany to make larger annual reparations payments to the US to aid in the country's recovery, with the amount gradually increasing as the country's economy improved. However, the total sum that needed to be paid remained unclear. The Reichsmark, a new currency, would be introduced, and economic policy decisions would be reformed in Berlin under foreign supervision. -
Zinoviev Letter
the British Daily Mail newspaper published and sensationalized a forged letter known as the Zinoviev letter. The letter claimed to be an instruction for the Communist Party of Great Britain to engage in seditious actions, sent by Grigory Zinoviev, the leader of the Communist International in Moscow. The letter might have helped the Conservative Party by speeding up the steady decline of the Liberal Party support, which led to a landslide victory for the party. -
Locarno Conference
. Also known as the Locarno Pact, the treaty guaranteed Germany's western frontier, which the bordering states of France, Germany, and Belgium pledged to treat as inviolable. As signatories of the agreement, Britain and Italy committed themselves to help to repel any armed aggression across the frontier. The Rhineland, a part of western Germany occupied by the victorious Allied Powers after World War I, was permanently demilitarized and occupying forces withdrawn. -
Germany joins the League of Nations
After a protracted period of political reconciliation, Germany was granted admission as a League of Nations member and voted into a permanent seat on the Council on September 8, 1926. Following a series of political talks, the First Committee of Experts on Remedies adopted a plan that resulted in the Locarno Settlement, several of whose provisions came into effect when Germany was admitted to the League. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
A deal to forbid war was known as the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Though it was one of many worldwide attempts to avert another World War, the pact—sometimes dubbed the Pact of Paris after the city in which it was signed—had little impact on deterring the rise of militarism in the 1930s or averting World War II. -
Young Plan
The head of General Electric and a member of the Dawes committee, Owen D. Young, chaired a scheme that cut Germany's total reparations to over $29 billion, to be paid over 58 years. People had more money to spend or save because to the Weimar government's ability to slash taxes as a result of the smaller reparations payments.