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