Interwar period

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Europe, 1923.
Population densities in Europe, 1923.

The terms interwar period123 and interbellum (Latin: inter-, "between" + bellum, "war") nearly always refer to the period between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II—the period beginning with the Armistice with Germany that concluded World War I in 1918 and the following Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and ending in 1939 with the Invasion of Poland and the start of World War II.

Description of the Interbellum



A series of international crises strained the League to its limits, the earliest being the invasion of Manchuria by Japan and the Abyssinian Crisis of 1935/36, in which Italy invaded Abyssinia, one of the few free African nations at that time. The League tried to enforce economic sanctions upon Italy, but to no avail. The incident highlighted French and British weakness, exemplified by their reluctance to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally. The limited actions taken by the Western powers pushed Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with Hitler's Germany anyway. The Abyssinian war showed Hitler how weak the League was and encouraged his participation in the Spanish Civil War. He also remilitarized the Rhineland in flagrant disregard of the Treaty of Versailles. This was the first in a series of provocative acts culminating in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the beginning of the Second World War.

World War II World War I Machine Age Great Depression Roaring Twenties

See also


  2. ^ United States Foreign Policy in the Benjamin D. Rhodes. "Interwar Period, 1918–1941: The Golden Age of American Diplomatic and Military Complacency"


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