Interwar Period Test

coalition government

• temporary alliance of several parties

• needed in many multi-party countries to form a parliamentary majority when no single party won a majority

Weimar Republic

• Germany’s new democratic government (1919)

• many weaknesses

  • lack of strong democratic tradition

  • too many political parties

  • almost no civilian support

Great Depression

• worldwide long business slump (1929-1939)

• economy plummeted

• millions lost their wealth and became homeless

recession

• period of law or reduced economic activity

• Herbert Hoover and his administration tried to stop the US recession during Great Depression, but just worsened things

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• US President elected in 1932

• reformed economic system with the New Deal

• preserved country’s Faith in its democracy

New Deal

• program of government reform implemented by President FDR during Great Depression

• provided jobs for unemployed

• founded businesses, forms, welfare and relief programs

• imposed regulation to reform stock market and banking system

• cured US Great Depression

John Maynard Keynes

• British economist

• advocated for government action to be taken in 20’s to help cure unemployment

• published the General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money in 1936

  • proposed new approach to capitalist economic theory (Keynesian economics)

  • introduced a more government involved economy, compared to Adam Smith’s economic philosophy of laissez-faire

fascism

• extreme system of government and militant political movement

• emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its leader

• many in other countries, who’d lost faith in democracy, converted to fascism

• many fascists promised a better economy, punishment for criminals, and restoration of order and national pride, which appealed to those frustrated by peace treaties after WWI and Great Depression

Benito Mussolini

• newspaper editor and politician in Italy

• founded the Fascist party in 1919

• made bold promises of a stable economy, strong leadership, and rebuilding armed forces, which gave him a lot support

• became Il Duce (Italian leader) by storming Rome and taking power

• turned Italy in totalitarian dictatorship

Adolf Hitler

• little-known political leader

• became Germany’s Nazist leader

• greatly contributed to WWII

• gained power after Great Depression

• worked his way up in political hierarchy to Chancellor.

• turned Germany into totalitarian dictatorship

Nazism

• German brand of fascism

• formed by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party

• set up a private militia called the storm troopers or Brown Shirts

• main source of Germany’s military during WWII

Mein Kampf

• book by Hitler in prison

• translates to “My Struggle”

• set forth his racist, violent goals for Germany

lebensraum

• living space

• Hitler promised more of it through imperialism by rebuilding Germany’s military and conquering eastern Europe and Russia

Hirohito

• Emperor of Japan during WWII and Interwar years

• led Japan’s raging nationalists to war with China for economic, imperialistic, and military purposes

appeasement

• giving into an aggressor to keep peace

• British urged appeasement when Hitler broke the Versailles Treaty by storming the Rhineland on March 7, 1936

Axis Powers

• alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan

• scared rest of Europe with their extreme nationalism, dictatorships, and unpredictable militaries

• influence Spanish Civil War

Francisco Franco

• Spanish general

• led a revolt of fascist army leaders

• eventually defeated Spain’s Republicans with the help of Hitler and Mussolini

• established a totalitarian regime as Spain’s fascist dictator in 1939

isolationism

• belief that political ties to other countries should be avoided

• many Americans supported it because of what they believed to be the US’s unnecessary involvement in WWI

• beginning in 1935, Congress passed three Neutrality Acts, which banned loans and the sale of arms to nations at war

Third Reich

• German Empire during Interwar years

• despite clear outlines in the Treaty of Versailles, Germany unionized with Austria, Czechoslovakia, and later tried to with Poland

Munich Conference

• meeting between Germany, France, Britain, and Italy in Munich Germany on September 29, 1938

• agreed on peace and that Germany stay clear of Czechoslovakia

• Hitler and Mussolini didn’t abide by their compromise