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