interwar years + totalitarianism

interwar years

  • germany was very unhappy with the outcomes of the treaty of versailles
  • issues with versailles:   * german bitterness   * US congress rejected the treaty   * japan + italy were upset bc they wanted more land   * chinese may 4th movement.
  • territorial changes in europe after WW1   * russian revolution (1917) - end of romanov dynasty   * russian empire →soviet union/USSR   * autocratic monarchy →communist dictatorship
  • territorial changes in asia after WW1   * japan acquisition of the shandong penninsula →may 4th movement in china   * korea wanted independence from japan
context
  • improved production methods   * interchangeable parts, mass production, assembly-line production
  • change to business   * rise of corporation + strikes   * trusts + monopolies   * trade on a global scale
  • new economic theories + ideas   * laissez-faire capitalism, socialism, communism
  • improvements to communication   * telegraph, telephone, photography, radio, movies/film
  • improvements to transportation   * railroads, steamboats, automobiles, aircraft

after ww1

  • europe   * war-wariness   * multi-party democracies + coalition governments
  • the united states   * return to isolationism   * focus on internal affairs

weimar germany in the 1920s

  • hyperinflation (1912-24) + current revolution (1924)
  • US →dawes plan (1923)

causes of the great depression

  • in the united states   * overproduction   * unequal wealth distribution   * buying on credit + stock speculation   * wall street crah of 1929
  • in europe   * the treaty of versailles + war debt   * trade barriers/tariffs

effects of the great depression

  • global economic collapse   * massive unemployment, collapse + closure of businesses, government spending cuts, bankruptcy
  • the growing popularity of radical ideologies   * socialism, communism, fasicism

response to the great depression

  • rise of keynesian economics   * deficit spending to stimulate the economy   * ex: U.S. & FDR’s “New Deal”
  • growth of democratic socialism   * increased government spending on public works & social welfare   * ex: Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden)
  • fascism   * state-managed production & manufacturing to strengthen the state, especially militarily   * ex: Italy (Mussolini), Germany (Hitler), & Spain (Franco)

communist russia under lenin + stalin

  • lenin   * russian civil war (1917-22)   * CHEKA & “Red Terror”   * reforms     * abortion & homosexuality legal     * new economic policy (NEP)
  • stalin
  • command economy & collectivization   * holodomor
  • five-year plans
  • stalin’s purges (1936-38)

fascist italy under mussolini

  • mussolini as “Il Duce” (“the leader”) by 1925
  • suppression of opposition   * labor unions, press, political opponents, etc.
  • loss of individual liberties
  • collaboration with big business
  • female domesticity & emphasis on increasing birth rates

hitler + the nazi party

  • originally anti-big business, anti-bourgeois, and anti-capitalist
  • later evolved to promote pan-german nationalism, racism, anti semitism, & pseudoscience (e.g. eugenics) among other things

rise of adolf hitler

  • Beer Hall Putsch (1923)
  • Mein Kampf (1925)
  • German Presidential election (1932)   * Nazi Party as largest political party in Germany
  • Appointment as Chancellor (1933)
  • Reichstag Fire (1933)

developments in china

  • 1911 Revolution & end of the Qing Dynasty
  • Temporary alliance between Communists & KMT/Nationalists
  • Shanghai Massacre
  • Chinese Civil War (1927- 1937; 1945-1949)   * Jiang & KMT vs. Mao & Communists

developments in japan

  • Meiji Restoration & rapid modernization
  • Initial expansion   * 1st Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, WWI
  • Failed democracy (1920s)
  • Militarism of the 1930s   * Manchuria   * “Border incidents” with China

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