13.1 An Unstable Peace

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Analyze Japan’s efforts to expand its empire in Asia and the Pacific
  • Discuss Hitler’s actions in the 1930s and how they led to World War II
  • Explain how and why the United States was less engaged in responding to threats to peace in the 1930s
  • Discuss why Japan eventually decided to attack the United States

The attempts by Western nations to build a structure of world peace with the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations ultimately unraveled during the 1930s. National and international grievances, competing ideologies, and economic self-interest all hammered away at the fragile international order.

This lesson has no exercises.

The content of this course has been taken from the free World History, Volume 2: from 1400 textbook by Openstax