Superpowers

16 Pages 3893 Words

ted in concert. The memories of World War One however,
were too powerful, and the general public would not condone a military
solution at that point. The aggression of Germany, and to a lesser
extent that of Italy, can be explained by this decline of imperial
power. They were simply attempting to fill the power vacuum in Europe
that Britain and France unwittingly left. After the economic crisis
of the 1930’s, Britain and France lost much of their former
international standing--as the world markets plummeted; so did their
relative power. The two nations were determined to maintain their
status as great powers however, without relying on the US or the USSR
for support of any kind. They went to war only because further
appeasement would have only served to remove from them their little
remaining world standing and prestige. The creation of a
non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany can be viewed
as an example of imperial decline as well. Stalin explained the fact
that he reached a rapprocheme...