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| 3. International Relations |
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| The era between the two world wars was a period of complex interrelations among states and involved a variety of other institutions. The major dividing point in the two decades is the beginning of the Great Depression, which can be dated from the collapse of the New York stock market in 1929. The interwar period may be divided chronologically into two phases: (1) the postwar period of adjustment and building, and (2) the era of the Great Depression. | 1 |
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| a. The Post–World War I Era |
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| The main lines of development of international relations during the 1920s were to implement the Versailles Treaty, to organize international relations among the major powers in the changing global context, and to adjust to the globalization of many different types of activities. | 2 |
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| 1919 |
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| Creation of the International Labor Organization and the International Commission for Air Navigation as a part of the development of the League of Nations organizational structures. Creation of the International Federation of Red Cross Societies, joining the various national societies into a single world federation. The formation of the Third International (Comintern) by Lenin. | 3 |
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| 1919, Nov. 19 |
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| U.S. Senate refused to ratify the Versailles Treaty (See July 10–1920, March 19) and the defensive treaties among the U.S., Great Britain, and France. This significantly weakened the whole structure of the international peace structure established at Paris. | 4 |
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| 1919–24 |
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| Conflicts over borders of peace settlement (See 1919–22). Numerous disputes in Eastern Europe took place, contesting control of Vilna (between Poland, Lithuania, and Russia), Teschen (Poland and Czechoslovakia), Bergenland (between Austria and Hungary), Fiume (between Italy and Yugoslavia), and Upper Silesia (between Germany and Poland). In the Middle East, there was a Turco-Greek War (1919–22) for the control of Western Anatolia, which the new Turkish nationalist movement won, driving Greek forces completely out of Anatolia. | 5 |
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| 1920 |
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| Creation of the International Chamber of Commerce. | 6 |
| Olympic Games resumed, after eight-year break, in Antwerp. Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi was major star. | 7 |
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| 1920, Jan. 10 |
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| Official birth of the League of Nations. The assembly met for the first time Nov. 15. | 8 |
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| April 19–26 |
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| The San Remo Conference of the Allied powers to discuss territorial arrangements and to assign League of Nations Class A Mandates. | 9 |
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| June 19–22 |
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| Conference of Hythe and Boulogne to discuss the Middle Eastern situation and reparations issues. | 10 |
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