HIST 1120 FINAL

19th century liberalism is 21st century conservatism: the surveillance society + “Big brother”

Socialism

• The ideology of the workers

• “Works of the world, unite!” - Karl Marx

• Liberalism was a sham ideology economic equality is more important than political equality

• Society based on class struggle and conflict 

• Capitalism will inevitably be replaced by socialism 

• Promoted internationalism to prevent bloody wars

• Nationalism was the enemy of humanity 

Anarchism

• Against all authority

• Proudhon “Property is theft”

• Anarchy is order

• Capitalism is disorder : war, homelessness, famine + poverty

• Shared ultimate revolutionary goals of Marx

• Belief in a communist society

• Disagreed over how to make the revolution

• Community democracy 

The century of nationalism

• Promoted from above by nationalism states

• Use of “national” education system

     The two faces of nationalism

• Liberal idealist nationalism

• -inclusive + democratic 

• Imperialistic/ militarist nationalism

• Increasing exclusionary + authoritarian 

• The 1st  was more evident pre-1850

• The 2nd type was more common after 1871 Franco-German war

Russian Revolution

Health Warnings

Core reasons for 1917– (Feb:Liberal/Oct: Socialist)

• The crisis of the old order

• Popular rebellion

• Revolutionary leadership

It's also possible to distinguish between short and long-term factors

• Short-term: Russian involvement in WWI

• Long-term: the absence of a liberal revolution

The crisis of Tsardom

Popular rebellion 

Anti-war beefing 

• Major problem for the Republic

• New government dependent on Anglo-French loans so uts hands were tired

• Foreign Minister Milyukon’s “War Note” pledge government to war against Germany

• Made public later April 1917 + provoked massive anti-government protests

Lenin’s leadership

The Kornilov Plot (August)

Red October (or November) (Jules vs. Greg)

Facism

A New -ism

• Counter-enlightenment ideology looked back to an imagined past

• Extreme, radical conservation - turn back the clock, anti-modernity 

• Destroy the threat of communism + ban labor unions

• Anti-liberal system - all freedoms restricted

• Anti-feminism: women in the home + Hitler’s KKK (kinder, kitchen, cooking)

• Pro-capitalism (not socialist, which is a big, dirty myth)

• Fiat, VW, BMW, Ford Motor Co. & big businesses in general benefited

• Some state control of arms-related industries

• Slave labor for big business + improved profitability

• Militarism of society - paramilitary groups, youth movement

• Obsession with uniforms/shirts - connected with WW nationalism

• Warlike, expansionist ideology + ultra-imperialism

• Make the nation “great again”

• Cult of leader – “the man of destiny”

Dictatorship: the new right-wing trend

• 28 nation states interwar Europe

• 1920: 26 = constitutional/democratic/ liberal

• 1939: 17/28 = dictatorship

• Old elites radicalized by fear of communism

• Military, landowners, church, monarchs rejected democracy, e.g. King Emmanuel + Mussolini

• Facism privileged elite interests

• Mussolini promised a new Roman Empire

• Make Italy “great again” (1922+), e.g. Ethiopia

• Hitler took power in Germany (1933)

• Both dictators came to power peacefully

• Both had full support of the elites

Love me, please

• Hitler was a radical patriot/extreme rightist

• Make Germany great again + build Empire: lebensraum

• Overturn the international status quo

• Myths: National-Socialist Party- but far right

• “Socialist” was a nod to SPD, Germany’s biggest party

• More Communist and Socialist in 1933 than Nazis

• After WWII conservative propagandists tried to disconnect facism from right-wing politics

• The “extremes touch” myth- proof for this

King Alfonso XIII + General Primo de Rivera

• Military coup 1923

• “My Mussolini”

• A conservative, military dictatorship

• Adopted some fascist traits, e.g. labor policy 1 party state

• Right-wing dictatorships from Poland to Portugal adopted fascism traits e.g. parades, silly walks, + salutes, symbolism, propaganda

Franco, a fascist curious dictator

Fascist curious monarchy

• Prince Philip of Greece’s “admiration”

• He later married Queen Elizabeth

• Wallis Simpson + the FBI

• King Edward VIII + the Duchess of Windsor

Wilhelm Reich + the mass of psychology of Facism

• Facism is instrumentalized sexual repression

• Authoritarian family is base of fascist society

• Hitler, a “sexual degenerate” - Mussolini

• A “sexually confused” serial killer (Volker Pilgrim)

• Unsubstantiated claims of pederasty

• Homosexuality (US intelligence)

• Can 6/7 partners be wrong? (Ian Kershaw)

• But this doesn't make Hitler “crazy”

• Although he was a “loser”

The master race? Or revenge of the jerks?

• Did the myth of the fascist “superman” mask personal feelings

• Franco was bullied by his father (like Stalin)

• Franco was a “Mommy’s boy” like Hitler

A psychotic with a God complex

• Stabbed a bunch of people

• Got expelled at 10 from Church school

• Narcissist who exaggerated his merits

• Given to speaking of his education and wisdom

• “I shall not die, because i will not die”

Road to WW2

Long-vs. short -term causes

• Social-Darwinism, e.g. Hitler’s master race

• Nationalist rivalries

• Militarism + arms races

• Imperialism + lebensraum + “a place in the sun”

Vs.

• Fallings of the Versailles Treaty (1919) & League of nations (1920)

• British policy of Appeasement – assumed Hitler was reasonable

• Anti-communism + indulgence towards facism

• Belief Hitlers would attack USSR (he said this in Mein Kampf)

• Alliance building + “Roberto (Rome-Berlin-Tokyo)” (1940)

End the “war to end all wars” or Old men sending young men to die again (Treaty of Versailles)

• Promised “open democracy” + “new world order” yet divided up German colonies

• “Satisfied” vs. “dissatisfied” powers

• UK + France vs. German, Japan, and Italy

• Japanese military wanted control of China

• Italian King felt cheated by London

• Anglo-French revanchism + “war guilt”

• Limited military; reparations; territorial loses

• Versailles Treaty pledged to defend “democracy”

• Keep the peace with the League of Nations

League of Nations: A meaningless club?

• Largely toothless body, no real bite

• Limited to moral + economic sanctions

• USSR excluded until 1934 + USA never joined

• Perceived as an Anglo-French club

• Japan quit 1933 to be more aggressive

• Aggressor countries ignored it, e.g. Italy + Abyssinia crisis

• Unable to stop Facist-Nazi support for Franco in Spain

The crisis years

• 1929: Wall Street Crash

• 1931: Japan led the way: Manchuria invasion

• 1933: Htler came to power

• He began rearming + preparing for war

• UK allowed it – pro-Nazis in elite

• This encouraged Hitler

• 1935: Mussolini invaded Abyssinia 

• 1936: military coup in Spain

• No defense of democracy as per Versailles Treaty

• Spain drew Hitler + Mussolini close = “Rober” Axis

• 1937: Sino-Japanese War

Let’s blame Britain: Appeasement of Hitler’s Germany

• Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland (Spring 1936)

• Lebensraum expansionism

• London spoke of “Germans joining Germans”

• Paris wanted military action

• London was Europe’s policeman still

• Paris warned against unilateral action

• 1937: the “Rape of Shanghai” (200-300k killed)

• 1938: Anschluss (union) - Hitler annexes Austria 

• London spoke of “Germans joining Germans”

The Czech Crisis of 1938

• Hitler demands the Sudetenland, a German speaking province in Czechoslovakia

• Stalin offered to defend Czechoslovakia

• Paris wanted to stop Hitler

• UK leader Chamberlain called for talks

• Munich “Peace” Conference (September 1938)

• Czechoslovakia + USSR were not invited

• Zero “open diplomacy”

• Sudetenland was gifted ti Hitler

• London said it’s “Germans joining Germans”

• UK gave in to Hitler (again

Why Appeasement?

• Anti-communism: belief Hitler was moving east

• Fear of communism in Germany if Hitler fell

• Pro-Nazism among UK elites

• All the while the Empire seemed safe…

• Due to economic crisis, UK military less strong

• 1936+ Hitler was strong – time to act had gone

• A way of buying time to rearm

• Popular pacifism – fear of another war so soon

• Lower classes were anti-Nazi but…

• How to enforce peace without going to war?

• “There is no peace without war” (Chinese proverb”

• Then the unthinkable occurred: the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, August 1939

• War started 1-9-39 (or 1937 in China)?

The Cold War

• But when?

• 194?-1991

• 1947-1991

• 1917-1991

A time of realpolitik

• The world was split into 2 ideological hostile blocs, each led by a “superpower”

• “Cold” War makes most sense in Europe – no way until 1991

• Europe split down the middle – conflicts resolved with negotiation 

• Conflict was more ideological + political

• Outside of Europe, it was “hotter” – wars between proxy regimes

• E.g. “Israel” vs. Syria + Egypt or Angolan Civil War or South American guerilla wars

• Often this bad little to do with ideology – both sides backed strange partners

• Not “communism” vs. liberal capitalism or “dictatorship” vs”democracy”

• “My enemy’s enemy is my friend

Realpolitik + “SOB” (son of a bitch) Friends (FDR) – “Defending the Free World”

The Traditional Perspective

• Originated in US State Dept after 1946

• Warned of Soviet threat + advised toughness

• Very influential with historians until 1970s

• Marxist goal of world revolution caused Cold War

• USSR was expansionist 

• It aggressively sought to export world revolution 

• Proof was the creation of an “evil Empire” in eastern Europe

• Roosevelt’s nativity was blamed

• He allowed the Red Army into the center of Europe

The Revisionist Perspective

• Very influential after Vietnam War (1959-1975)

• US Started Cold War with XXL fears of communism, e.g. 1947 Truman Doctrine

• 1949: Nato fed Stalin’s paranoia 1950: US military intervention in Korea (until 1953)

• In reply, USSR created Warsaw Pact (1955)

• But USSR did not want the conflict – it was always at a disadvantage

• US was true global economic + military superpower

• Its GDP doubled in WWII –  it had monopoly of nukes until 1949

• Soviet economy destroyed in WWII

• 27 million dead, nearly half of total casualties

• USSR abandoned its world revolutionary goals, e.g. Greece (1946-9)

• Stalin wanted a buffer zone between reconstructed Russian economy and the invaders from the West

Phases in the Cold War 

• 1918-22 US + UK military intervention in USSR

• 1920s suspected “communists” deported from US to USSR

• 1946-53: Stalin’s “iron curtain” descend

• Or Stalin the “traitor” (according to Tito, the Yugoslav Communist leader)?

• The Polish conflict of 1946 + the Uk stance

• From Napoleon to Hitler, the route of the invader

• Stalin insisted on a pro-Soviet regime

• But the USSR was in ruins, the US a colossus 

The Post-Revisionist perspective

• Less ideological, more equidistant – the most accepted view right now

• “It was six of one and half a dozen of the other” both sides to blame 

• Less intentionality on both sides

• Mutual fear + incomprehension of the goal so the other side

• Several combined and separate “accidents” or misunderstandings led to the Cold War 

• Both sides of had wrong idea of what the other ide wanted Intelligence communities talked up threat 

• Political uses of an external “enemy”

The Khrushchev decade (1953-64)

• Eisenhower’s “Doctrine of Massive Retaliation”

• The crisis years: Berlin (1961) + Cuba 1962)

Detente, 1963-1979

• “Make love, not war” – the cooler years

• Disarmament + arms reduction

• International observes + summits

• The Moscow - Washington “hotline” myth

• Proxy Wars heat up outside of Eruope

Repression in both backyards

The “High Frontier” or Luke Reagan vs. Darth Gorbachev

• 30 billion US tax dollars invested 1983+

• Clinton scrapped in it 1993

• NASA scientists admitted it didn't work

• But it won the Cold War

• Gorbachev raised the white flag

• The USSR’s “Empire” disintegrated 

The Collapse of the USSR, 1917-1991

3 types of stagnation caused regime collapse

• The aim of 1817 was to create a better, fairer, and more humane society

• The ideals of the revolution disappeared with Stalin

• Brutal repression, “terror, deceit + propaganda 

• A new elite society established

• Vast privilege for the party elite

• The dream was lost 

Economic Stagnation

• Khrushchev took over in 1953

• He wanted to liberaline + end repression

• Pragmatism, not humanitarianism

• Improve living standards to stabilize the regime

• Imported western technology

• Big problem was Cold War, an unwinnable arms race

• Military budget ate up state resources

• Also opposition protests, food riots + “real communion” (Hungary 1956)

• The liberaliser became a regressor

Physical stagnation + the Gentrotacracy (1964-1985)

• The old men strategize to remain in power

• The biggest state handout in human history with Brezhnev

• Communism or social control 

• Urban transport + food prices frozen until 1991

• Gas wa free, rents + e;ectricity heavily subsidized

• No money for infrastructural renewal

• Economic time bomb ticking away at the heart of the regime 

• 1980s housing crisis – 25% urban flats lacked hot water 

The 1980s Crisis

• Late 70s the system brown down + protest grew 

• Soviet society more liberate, so harder to fool

• TV censored but offered a glimpse of life in the West - it was clearly “ better”

• The artistic, academic + scientific elites realized how bad things were

• A “superpower” with feet of clay 

Alcoholism, absenteeism + mafias

• Massive shortages of basic items

• Mafias  met demand

• Mass consumption of surrogate alcohol, e.g. battery acid, cologne

• Rising absenteeism + economic decline 

The Gorbachev Era

• A spring lamb at 54

• He represented a new spirit, new ideas

• HE wanted to strengthen the USSR with reform

• Unwittingly, he undermined its very fragile foundations

• Perestroika (‘restructuring”) = capitalist economics

• Glasnost (“openness”) = hold back the KGB + reduce repression

The end of the “Evil Empire”, 1990-1991

• Spring 1990: Lithuania declared independence 

• The other Soviet Republics quickly followed

• Moscow could do nothing

• 1991: Gorbachev held free elections

• He expected grateful citizens to vote for him

• Instead, they voted for the opposition

• The new Duma  was controlled by reformists

• Gorbachev forced to accept the break-up of the USSR

• He went on to model luggage for Louis Vuitton

• Russian Federation created

A happy end?

• Yeltsin (ex-KGB) 1st Pres of Russian Federation

• The West’s chosen man

• 1991 ban on Communist party

• 1993: Parliament challenged him + he sent in the army

• 1994: invaded Chechnya

• 1999: invaded Dagestan

• 1999: invaded Chechnye 

• Putin (ex-KGB) took over the same year

• If “communism” failed so too has capitalism