Total War, Totalitarianism, and the Arts ca. 1900–1950

These flashcards encompass pivotal vocabulary related to the themes of total war, totalitarianism, and the arts from 1900 to 1950.

Total War

War involving more than two nations. Affects not only military targets but also civilian infrastructure and populations, leading to widespread devastation. No holds barred

Shaped the 20th century

Total war and dictatorship

New technology and weapons made warfare more impersonal and more devastating than ever before

Military was not left behind, but evolved rapidly.

WWI: Machine guns, tanks, submarines, airplanes, poison gas, Trench warfare ( not weapon but main tactic)

WWII: atomic bombs were the main technological advancements

Underlying causes of WWI

-Industrialism

-Colonialism

-Militarism

-Imperialism

-Expansionism

-Nationalism

-Patriotism

-& Alliances

What caused World War I (or the Great War of 1914)?

Assassination of ArchDuke Ferdinand. Austria, Hungry and Germany wanted to dominate vast portions of Eastern Europe.

WWI marked the end of

The age of innocence, nothing would ever seem certain again

Totalitarianism

A political system in which the state holds total control over the society and seeks to assert total authority over the public and private life.

Industrial revolution

Exciting but brought a lot of chaos, leading to significant social, economic, and political changes.

Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany and the leader of the Nazi party which would

Lead Germany again into world war II

Mein Kampf

Autobiographical manifesto by Adolf Hitler outlining his ideology and political plans for Germany. Set forth a misguided theory of “Aryan racial superiority”

Gestapo

Nazi secret police that eliminated all opposition to his program of purification and mass conformity

Holocaust

The genocide of six million Jews and millions of others by the Nazis during World War II.

Pablo Picasso's Guernica

Painting by Picasso
Protest/response to the bombing at Guernica during Spanish Civil War in 1937
Uses cubism which contrasts social realism
Shows grief and pandemonium
Mocks military idealism

Captures the grim brutality and suffering of the wartime

11 ft x 25 ft

What do the bull and horse in Guernica symbolize?

Bull: Hero and victim the traditional combat. man's irrational side and a icon of Spanish culture
Horse: represents the anguish of Spanish citizens, and the end of civilization. One glimmer of hope here is from the woman dashing toward the horse,Picasso identified himself with the bull in many paintings. It's a symbol of masculinity, power, fertility, strength, etc.

Date and Inspiration of Guernica

Painted in 1937, Guernica was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the 1937 Paris International Exposition and directly inspired by the bombing of Guernica, a Basque town, by Nazi German and Fascist Italian air forces.

Artistic Style and Symbolism of Guernica

Utilizes a Cubist style with a monochromatic palette ( to convey the stark brutality and suffering of war, focusing on civilian victims and anti-war sentiment

The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats

-Poem reflecting the after math of the first world war

-Response to violence of WWI and unrest in Ireland

-Title alludes to coming of Jesus and nameless force that threatened to enthrall world in darkness

Themes in The Second Coming

Chaos, violence, the center (Europe) falling apart, ceremony of innocence drownd. Gyre: spiral

Triumph of the Will (1935)

First aerial and tracking shots, showcasing Adolfs promise to make germany strong again

Riefenstahl

German filmmakers working for Hitler turned motion pictures into outright vehicles of state propaganda.