CAUSE OF THE WAR

Evening Star, Issue 23492, 5 February 1940, Page 8

CAUSE OF THE WAR

. NOT VERSAILLES ALONE HITLER'S CLAIM REFUTED TREATY DISCUSSED “ All efforts to fix a sole cause of the present chaos in international affairs are of necessity lacking in logical sequence and conviction,” stated the Rev. E. N. Herrington, D.D., of Otago, in an address given at the recent conference at Lower Hutt of the League of Nations Union of New Zealand. “ The popular denunciation of the Versailles Treaty as the main, if not the only, cause of the European war is a mere echo of one of Hitler’s most useful slogans. Although the treaty was far from perfect, it must be viewed in the light of previous events and tendencies, such as the militaristic panGermanism of pre-war times, the de- ’ duration of war by Austria and _ Germany in 1914, the invasion of Belgium’s neutrality, the ‘ frightfulness ’ ot German war policy, the threat of a German victory during four agonised years, the escape from such a fate within the last few months of the war, the Armistice, with its acceptance of Wilson’s Fourteen Points, and the myriad difficulties of conflicting interests at the Peace Conference. To those must be added the real fear of an early recrudescence of war.” SOUND PRINCIPLES. Dr Herrington quoted several new works on the subject, whose writers had reminded students of the great international principles contained in the treaty ushering in the League of Nations, the international Labour Organisation, and the humanitarian objects which have been undertaken by the League. Professor R. W. SetonWatson said that the treaty was_ “ the first international settlement which its authors deliberately tried to erect upon definite ethical principles.” The writers investigated Hitler’s claims that the Versailles Treaty departed from the Fourteen Points on the basis of which the Germans asked for an armistice. The result of the careful examination showed that, on the contrary, the items in the Fourteen Points which affected Germany were actually embodied in the treaty, on any reasonable basis of interpretation. When compared with the BrestLitovsk Treaty which Germany imposed on Russia on March 3, 1918, after only three days’ opportunity for discussion, the evidence of the “ inhuman cruelty ” alleged by Hitler against the Treaty of Versailles was transferred to the Germans’ own precedent. Russia was compelled to pay vast sums in gold, also heavy reparations in bonds and goods. Russia lost 34 per cent, of her population, 32 per cent, of her agricultural land, 85 per cent, of her sugar-beet land, 54 per cent, of her industrial undertakings, and 89 per cent, of her coal mines. ‘Russia was cut off from the Black Sea and pretty well from the Baltic. The terms of the treaty undoubtedly stiffened the American President in his attitude towards any future treaty with Germany. REPARATIONS, The Versailles Treaty did not fix the amount of reparations to be made by Germany for damages inflicted upon the civilian populations of France and Belgium, but left it to a Commission to decide. That was the source of many difficulties, and, no doubt, errors, on the part of the Allies, particularly of France, whose intransigeance led to the seizure of the Ruhr. The absence of the United States from the inception of the League of Nations gravely jeopardised the prospects of success in every direction, and not least in' regard to the Commission on Reparations, for _ thereby the commission lost a judicial member. It may be admitted that this matter helped to lead Germany along the path to war. In reference to disarmament, indicated as eminently desirable “ to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety,” after the inevitable disarmament of Germany, the treaty itself could not be blamed for the fact that the Allies did not give effect to this proviso. That was a matter of later history, and not of the treaty itself. France knew that Germany was secretly rearming, and declined to go far in this direction. Britain reduced her Navy to a level regarded now as dangerous to her security. In any case, Hitler, after coming into power, torpedoed the Disarmament Conference by withdrawing from it and the League. Colonies were submitted to mandates. The Versailles Treaty restored several submerged nations to the dignity of independent political life, Belgium, Czecho-Slovakia, and Poland mostly concerned us. . The principle of self-determination was applied on the basis ’of equality of States. For Hitler, self-determination plucked from the treaty was purely for Germany’s “superior” race, but it was denied to surrounding peoples. Some errors of boundaries, particularly in Central and South-eastern Europe, were mistakes which must bo debited to the treaty. The economic policy of the Allies was also a bad one. COUNSELS OF DESPAIR. The rise to power of Hitler in 1933 changed the whole scene. National Socialism began to rearm frantically. Locarno and Geneva were disowned. The oppressive methods of the Nazi regime were put into practice. Force and the threat of force became the dominant policy. Treaties and pledges to Austria, Czeeho-Slorakia, and Poland were violated. Force was unleashed on Poland, as guile had been employed on Czechoslovakia. Dr Rauschning, a former Nazi, showed in his book, recently published, entitled ‘ Germany’s Revolution of Destruction,’ that Hitler aimed at nothing less than world domination, based upon the “ supremacy ” of the German race, trampling down all who Stood in her way by intimidation, persecution, and truce-breaking. “ The Versailles Treaty and Allied policy since the World War have shown defects common to all human institutions, especially as based on the notions of sovereignty, but blame for the present conflict cannot be concentrated upon them,” concluded Dr Herrington, “ for they have sought peace for all nations and a better world order of international relations. The immediate cause of the return to the jungle is to be found in the reversion to uncivilised and nn-Christian conceptions of policy as practised by the loaders of the National Socialists since their assumption of power in 1933. “ The hope of Europe and the world is to be sought in a return to the principles of international co-operation, possibly based on a revised form of the League of Nations with a federation of the States of Europe, in which the prevailing policy of Hitlerism will be superceded by collective security and peaceful change.”