HISTORY FTE

BASIC INFORMATION:

Set up after the Treaty of Versailles.
Idea of US President Woodrow Wilson for countries to work together to solve problems by discussions rather than by war.
In hope of creating Collective Security for its members.

KEY TERMS - AIMS OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS:

Covenant - the rules of the League of Nations, which member countries had to obey.
Sanctions - preventing or stopping trade - the way the League punished countries who broke the Covenant.
Set up to help refugees, stop slavery and drug addiction.

! - The League of Nations was a very good idea, however dependent on every nation obeying the Covenant. It was successful in the 1920s, especially in settling European disputes. I was unsuccessful in the 1930s when dictators deliberately broke the Covenant.

SUCCESSES

The Aaland Islands (1921) → Traditionally belonged to Finland; most of the islanders wanted to be governed by Sweden. Both countries could not come to a decision, and in 1921 they asked the League to adjudicate. The League decided that they should remain with Finland but no weapons should ever be kept there. It remains in force until this day.
Greece and Bulgaria (1925) → In 1925, sentries patrolling this border fired on one another. A Greek soldier was killed. As a result, Greece invaded Bulgaria. The Bulgarians asked for help from the League of Nations. The League ordered both armies to stop fighting and the Greeks to pull out of Bulgaria. After an investigation, the League decided that Greece was to blame and fined £45,000. Both nations accepted the decision.

FAILURES

Vilna (1920) → Seized by the Poles in 1920, Lithuania asked for the League’s help but the Poles could not be persuaded to leave the city. Vilna stayed in Polish hands until the outbreak of WW2. The use of force by the Poles had won.
The invasion of the Ruhr (1923) → France and Belgium invaded Ruhr, Germany’s most important industrial rules as a “lesson for Germany.” This is a violation of the League’s rules. To other nations, it seems that if you wanted to break the League’s rules, you could. France and Belgium received criticisms from a few countries.

THE SOCIAL SUCCESSES OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS:

Drug addiction/drug smuggling were attacked.
Teams were sent to the Third World to dig fresh water wells.
The Health Organisation started a campaign to wipe out leprosy.
Work was done in the Third World to improve the status of women there and child slave labour was targeted.

→ This is viewed as a success since the social problems were actively investigated first time by the League and were then taken on board by the United Nations must be viewed as a success.

WHY DID THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS FAIL?

Not all major countries joined.
Members preferred to look after their own interests.
It had no armed forces.
It was unable to stop aggression by major powers.

The war ended in November 1918.
Germany signed an armistice.
Heavy casualties

More than 9 million military deaths.
Overall death toll: ~ 40 million (civilians, starvation, disease)

THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

War Guilt Clause
Armed Forces Limitations
Reparations
German Territorial Losses
League of Nations

WAR GUILT CLAUSE - Germany to accept total blame for starting the war.

Military leaders blamed for war → guilty → poor leadership
Leaders blamed for this costly penalty
Germany was being bullied to accept the blame.
Germany looked weak. They lost the pride of a once mighty empire.

ARMED FORCES LIMITATIONS - Reduced to well below pre-war levels.

Army limited to 100,000 men

soldiers lost their jobs
lack of land security for Germany
Germans soldiers – emotional loss of respect for country

Conscription banned
No armoured vehicles, submarines, aircraft

Pilots → loss of jobs
Lack of air security for Germany
No air-force – pride of once strong navy air-force is lost

Only 6 battleships

Navy, sailors → loss of jobs
Lack of land security for Germany
No air-force – pride of once strong navy air-force is lost

Rhineland (border between France and Germany) demilitarised

Troops in Rhineland → loss of jobs
Rhineland - no military → open to enemies. Germany can’t protect if attacked
Can’t control their own lands

REPARATIONS - Had to pay 6.6 billion pounds for war damage

No money to buy/build future weapons.
No defense for Germany
No money for Rhineland for any development/defence
The country has to pay reparation for over 60 years.
The country is forever poor.

GERMAN TERRITORIAL LOSSES - Had to give up territories to neighbouring countries

Lost 10% of its land

no industries; can’t build factories → loss of jobs
financially unstable
no salary → poverty
removal of German army bases
soldiers → loss of jobs.
loss of respect
German’s once mighty empire → split apart

Lost 12.5% of its population
Forbidden to unite with Austria
Gave up overseas empire

LEAGUE OF NATIONS - Set up as an international body to resolve disputes

Germany was not allowed to join.

Effects of the Great Depression:

Loss of life savings —> Increase in number of poor people who were unable to afford goods. —> Companies stop making huge profits —> Wages of workers cut. Many were retrenched.

Impact:

Unemployment — Unemployment increase = Nazi vote increase proportionately.
Failure of Democracy

i) Weimar Govt. used proportional representation voting system —> coalition government involving many different parties. Coalitions struggled to agree what action to take and regularly collapsed —> Public’s loss of faith in democracy.

ii) 1919 - 1933: 13 Different German Chancellor (avg. of about 1 per year.) —> 8 Elections to the Reichstag —> political instability.

iii) Negative view of mainstream political parties, often arguing rather than improving people’s lives.

iv) Extremist parties offered simple solutions

v) New Proportional representation allowed small parties to get elected. That’s how the Nazis got represented in the German Reichstag, making the work coalition impossible to work —> President rule by decree. (ARTICLE 48).

Rise of Communism

i) Many Germans felt Weimar government not managing economy —> Several turned to Hitler’s Nazi (Extreme Right), many turned to German Communist Party - Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Extreme Left)

1928: Communist Party won 4 times more votes than the Nazi Party. However, many groups of people feared the Communist would take over the country.

—> Farmers feared communists: worried the state would take over all lands & assets.

—> Businessmen feared communists: worried that the state would take over big businesses and increase the strength of trade unions.

! - Hitler exploited these fears by promising farmers and businessmen that he would help them if he got into power —> Many rich businessmen and industrialists donated to the Nazi Party.

=> Therefore, Germany needed to restore stability.

Due to these problems:

Unrest in 1930s due to unemployment
Communists fought police in the streets of Germany.
Hitler used his armed forces (SA) to fight communists and break up meetings.

=> People looked to the Nazis to restore order.

Growth in Support for the Nazi

Hitler Factor

Charismatic speaker

powerful speaker/communicator
good organiser/politician
driven/believed that he had been called by God to become dictator of Germany and rule the world.
appeared sincere/seemed to understand the people’s needs
made use of his charisma and oratorical skills to win over the support of many people

Beer hall speeches
Addressed people’s concerns.

Use of Propaganda

Joseph Goebbels was in charge of the Nazi Propagandas.
Exploit Great Depression
use of newspapers and radios.
Blamed Jews for the country’s problems
Nazi promises to build up military
Blamed the Weimar Government for Germany’s economic problems (the Treaty of Versailles.)

SA & SS

SA: paramilitary organisation - Break up strikes and communist meetings
SS: Hitler’s personal bodyguard

L: Long Term Bitterness (anger over TOV)

Germans felt humiliated by massive financial reparations, land loss and guilt forced upon them.
Promised to rip up the Treaty and restore German pride, gaining millions of bitter supporters.

I: Ineffective Weimar Government

Proportional representation caused weak coalition governments that constantly collapsed.
Many Germans wanted a strong dictator back. When the crisis struck, no political party could stop Hitler.

M: Money (given to Nazi)

Wealthy businessmen feared Communism. They gave Hitler millions to fund expensive election campaigns, private planes and mass rallies.

P: Propaganda

Joseph Goebbels mastered posters & radio to blame Jews for all problems and present Hitler as Germany’s savior.

P: Personal Qualities

Master Orator — mesmerizing public speaker who worked crowds into emotional frenzies, holding listeners spellbound.
Fanatical Self-Belief — Believed God chose him to lead Germany. This intense confidence persuaded desperate people to trust him.
Cunning Politician — Ruthless organiser who knew exactly when to compromise and when to strike against political rivals

A: Attack

Nazi thugs physically beat up rivals. Sympathetic judges let them off easily, scaring opponents into silence.

P: Programmes (for different segment of society)

Nazi promises were tailored to catch every voter group: jobs for workers, land for farmers, order for the middle class, and military glory for veterans.

E: Economic depression

US banks pulled back loans. German factories closed, leaving millions starving on the streets.
Desperate people turned to extreme solutions. Nazi Reichstag seats soared from 12 (1928) to 230 (July 1932).

R: Recruited by Hindenburg

Nazis lost 34 seats. Hitler was depressed and bankrupt. The Nazi surge was actually ending!
Von Papen and President Hindenburg made Hitler Chancellor, foolishly believing “We can control him!”

CONSOLIDATION OF NAZI RULE IN GERMANY

REICHSTAG FIRE - 27 Feb 1933

The German Parliament (Reichstag) burned down. A Communist was caught red-handed with matches and fire-lighting materials. Hitler used it as an excuse to arrest many of his opponents, and as a major platform in his election campaign of March 1933. People claimed that the Nazis had burned it down and blamed the Communists.

ENABLING ACT - 23 March 1933

The Reichstag voted to give Hitler the power to make decisions. Nazi stormtrooper stopped opposition deputies going in, and beat up anyone who dared to speak against it.
The Enabling Act made Hitler the dictator of Germany with all the power to do anything he liked - legally.

GLEICHSHALTUNG (Co-ordination)

The Nazis were put in charge of the Police and Local Government.
All STATE PARLIAMENTS were controlled by the Nazis and later closed.
TRADE UNIONS were abolished on May day 1933. They were replaced by one Nazi Trade Union the DAF/German Workers Front — they were meant to represent German workers but would really side with employters and take a hand in controlling workers.
The GESTAPO - Secret Police was set up to keep control and intimidate.
JULY 1933 - LAW AGAINST THE FORMATION OF NEW PARTIES — All political parties (except the Nazis) are banned. Germany is now a ONE PARTY STATE.

NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES - 30 June 1934

SS killed SA - attacked by Hitler.

—> Hitler was in power in 1934, and there was no opposition left — the SA were an embarassment, not an advantage. Also, Rohm, the leader of the SA, was talking about taking over the army. On the night of 30 June 1934 — codeword “Hummingbird” — Hitler ordered the SS to kill more than 400 SA men.

ARMY AND OATH OF THE ALLEGIANCE FUHRER - 19 Aug 1934

When Hindenburg died, Hitler took over the office of President and leader of the army (the soldiers had to swear to die for Adolf Hitler personally). Hitler called himself “Fuhrer”.
Hitler was able to pass laws without consultation.
Hitler was above the law.
Army swore allegiance to Hitler.

LIFE UNDER NAZI RULE:

ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND UNEMPLOYMENT.

Hitler initiated public works programmes like the building of roads, motorways (Autobahnen), railways and public buildings.
Used deficit financing (borrowing money from the public through loan bonds) to fund grand programmes.

=> reduced unemployment + provided infrastructure & facilities for the public = welcomed by Germans!

Four Year Plan (1936) - Aim to prepare Germany for war in 4 years.

Rearmament a priority
Aim of autarky (self-sufficiency) in food and industrial production
Exerted greater control over labour, prices and raw materials
Aim to build up Luftwaffe (air force)

[!] - IMPACT:

Luftwaffe + Weapons & Equipment + Uniforms —> Jobs in: coal mines, steel and textile mills, engineering and design.
Boosted Hitler’s popularity.

SOCIAL IMPACT:

Women:

+) Kinder, Kuche, Kirche — Children, Kitchen, Church

+) were expected to be homemakers, focusing on domestic duties, raising children, and supporting their husbands

+) Procreation and Motherhood

+) education system focused on teaching girls to become obedient and loyal mothers/wives.

) Physical education was emphasized to prepare girls for motherhood/healthy childbearing.

+) League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Madel — BDM) —> Learn domestic task.

+) Mothers who had more than 8 children were given a gold medal

+) limitations on employment

+) forced to give up careers

—> Nazis were male-dominated and anti-feminist.

EDUCATION - YOUTH

YOUTH:

Hitler Youth (Hitler-Jugend) promote loyalty to the Nazi regime and militaristic values.
Nazi youth groups aimed to indoctrinate children/teenagers with Nazi ideology from an early age.
The Nazis replaced anti-Nazi teachers and University professors, and school lessons included hidden indoctrination - requiring children to calculate how much mentally disabled people cost the state, or to criticize the racial features of Jewish people.

Most young people in Germany were happy, since Nazi culture was very youth-oriented. Many parents were frightened that their children would turn them in to the Gestapo, which gave young people a power that they enjoyed.

EDUCATION:

Nazi ideology -> Racial superiority, anti-Semitism and German nationalism
Idolized Hitler and embrace the concept of German racial superiority.
History was rewritten to glorify Germany’s past, emphasizing Aryan achievements and military conquests.
Subjects like biology were skewed to promote Nazi racial theories/eugenics
Anti-Semitic ideas were incorporated into various subjects, promoting hatred towards HJEws.’
Physical education to produce strong/disciplined individuals for military service.
Emphasized activities that prepared students for war (marching, athletic competitions, and military drills)
Teachers had to pass Nazi ideological screening to ensure they were loyal to the regime
Teacher training institutions were restructed to align with Nazi values and principles.
Emphasis was placed on teaching Nazi racial doctrines and fostering loyalty to Hitler.

Some girls were unhappy with the emphasis of Kinder, Kuche, Kirche. Girls who were regarded as true Aryan girls were sent off to special camps where they were bred like farm animals with selected Aryan boys.

Youth gangs such as the Eidelweiss Pirates grew up rejecting Nazi Youth culture, drinking and dancing to American jazz and ‘swing’ music. In Cologne in 1944, they sheltered army deserters and even attacked the Gestapo. They would be hanged if caught.

HITLER & THE JEWS:

Nuremberg Laws - took away German citizenships from Jews.
Kristallnact - Night of the Broken Glass
The Final Solution - genocide and Holocaust

Opponents:

The Nazi’s used fear and horror against anyone who disapproved of their regime.

Hitler banned all Trade Unions on 2 May 1933.

Offices closed
money confiscated
leaders put in prison

Communists were put into concentration camps/killed
Protestant pastors such as Dietrich Bonhoffer were persecuted and executed.
Children were encouraged to report their parents to the Gestapo if they criticised Hitler or the Nazi party.
Each block of flats had a “staircase ruler” who reported grumblers to the police — they were arrested/murdered/sent to concentration camps.

=> Many Germans welcomed this because it brought political stability after the Weimar years.

UNTERMENSCH: —————— subhuman

The Nazi regime despised many groups which it thought were racially/socially inferior — people they called the ‘germs of destruction.’

Black people
Jews
Gypsies
Mentally disabled babies
Mentally ill patients
Physically disabled people
Families with hereditary illness
Beggars
Alcoholics
Homosexuals
Prostitutes
Pacifists
Criminals

=> Many Germans approved of this - or at least turned a blind eye.

EMERGENCE OF AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES

MUSSOLINI - HITLER

Fascist Italy - Nazi Germany

Hitler’s Aims:

Restore economy
Tear up Treaty of Versailles
Lebensraum
Destroy communism

Mussolini’s Aims

TIghten grip on country’s economy (banks, industries)
Build an Italian empire

Failure of League of Nation + Nazi Expansionist Policy + Policy of Appeasement —> Outbreak of WWII

GERMANY’S INCREASING AGGRESSION 1933-1930

1933: Leaving the League of Nations