Treaty of Versallis

The interwar period (1918-1939) is understood within Western culture to be the period between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second World War. This is also called the period between the wars or (in American English) interbellum. This period was marked by turmoil in much of the world, as Europe struggled to recover from the devastation of the First World War. In North America especially the first half of this period was one of considerable prosperity (the Roaring Twenties), but this changed dramatically with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. It was at this time that the Weimar Republic in Germany gave way to two episodes of political and economic turmoil, the first culminated with the German hyperinflation of 1923 and the failed Beer Hall Putsch of that same year and, in the second one, rise of Nazism, who had previously tried to overthrow the Weimar Republic by force. In Asia, Japan became an ever more assertive power, especially with regards to China.

The interwar period was marked by a radical change in the international order, away from the balance of power that had dominated pre-World War I Europe. One main institution that was meant to bring stability was the League of Nations, which was created after the First World War with the intention of maintaining world security and peace and encouraging economic growth between member countries. This institution was hit by a number of issues that undermined its effectiveness and its legitimacy.

The new League of Nations found itself increasingly discredited through a series of crises, the most important the invasion of Manchuria by Japan . This event alone is seen as the first step towards the Second World War . The second event that was a crisis to the League was the Abyssinian crisis of 1935/36 in which Italy attacked Abyssinia. The League tried to enforce economic sanctions upon Italy but to no avail. Abyssinia was successfully defeated by Italy. From this incident the league showed its weaknesses, it showed that even though sanctions were imposed upon Italy they were not able to take them further than they could have. This is because neither France or Britain wanted to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally, though the limited actions they took still did push Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with Hitler's Germany. From this crisis Italy felt great resentment towards the League, it withdrew in 1937 and now looked to Germany as an ally. This