Unit 14---The Interwar Period

Results and Effects of WW1

• Most countries faced destroyed economies after WW1

  • Except for the US and Japan, because neither was a battlefield. Both also expanded trade throughout the war.

• New democracies are unstable

  • Old dynasties are falling

    • Hohenzollerns Germany (300 years)

    • Habsburgs/Magyars Austria-Hungary (500 years)

    • Romanovs of Russia (300 years)

    • Ottoman Turkey (500 years)

• Coalition Government: A Temporary alliance of several political parties, which needs to form a parliamentary majority

  • In some countries, gaining enough support to govern effectively was impossible because there were too many political parties, some more than a dozen.

Weimar Republic in Germany

• Germany’s new democratic government

  • Three weaknesses

    • Lack of strong leadership

    • coalition government

    • Blamed for Germany’s defeat and the Treaty of Versailles

Efforts at Lasting Peace

• In 1925, Germany and France signed a treaty stating that they would never go to war again

  • Treaty of Locarno - allowed Germany to join the League of Nations

• 1928- The Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact was signed by almost every country

  • War could not be an instrument of foreign policy. Outlawing it ( not enforcement)

The Great Depression

• Flawed US economy

  • Four weaknesses in the US economy:

    • uneven distribution of wealth

    • overproduction (manufacturing & agriculture)

    • imbalance of supply/demand

    • Lessening demand for consumer goods

• Stock Market Crash

  • Middle-income people bought stocks on margin

    • Means paying a small percentage for stock and borrowing the rest

    • The system works as long as the stock price goes up

    • If the stock fell, investors had no money to pay off the loan

• The Great Depression: a severe economic slump that followed the collapse of the US stock market

  • Banks failed

  • Business shut down

  • Homes were foreclosed

    • In 1933, ¼ of Americans had no employment

Global Depression

• Because of a stock market crash, American Bankers demanded repayment of their overseas loans (Germany)

• The US Congress placed high tariffs on imported goods so that Americans would be forced to buy American goods.s

  • In response, other countries increased their tariffs.

Germany Struggles Economically

• Germany struggles to figure out how to pay for operations

  • decides to print money (bad idea)

• The German mark immediately becomes worthless

  • 1923: 1 mark was worth 4.2 trillion marks

• In 1924, the US introduced the “Dawes Plan,” a loan that would prop up the German economy by helping Germany pay its reparations.

Great Britain Takes Steps to Improve Economy

• Britain’s economy relied on foreign trade.

  • A coalition known as the “national Government” created policies designed to rescue GB from the economic crisis

    • These policies include

      • High protective tariffs

      • raised taxes

      • regulated the currency

France Responds to Economic Crisis

Economic Crisis —> Political instability

• 1930: Five coalition governments rise and fall

• popular front

  • reforms included

    • Raised wages

    • 40-hour work week

    • holiday pay

• It was not effective at solving the issues of the Great depression

Socialist Governments Find Solutions

• Sweden’s large public works programs

• all of the Scandinavian countries

  • raised pensions for the elderly

  • increased unemployment insurance

  • subsidized housing

• Paid for by taxes

Recovery in the US

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1933

• The plan for recovery, called the “New Deal”

• Goal: Government spending would create jobs and start economic recovery

Totalitarianism

Stalin Becomes Dictator of The Soviet Union

• Lenin did not trust Stalin, believing that he was a dangerous man

• Stalin was able to come to power behind the scenes

Stalin Builds a Totalitarian State

• Terrorism: A government that takes total, centralized state control over every aspect of public and private life

  • challenging views of Western democracy, such as reason, freedom, human dignity, and the worth of the individual.

Stalin Seizes the Economy

• A command economy system in which the government made all the economic decisions

• Industrial Revolution in the USSR

  • Five-Year Plans: development of the soviet union economy

    • set high quotes and resulted in people facing a severe shortage of housing, food, clothing, and other goods

• The government controlled all aspects of the workers’ lives. The secret police would execute or imprison citizens not contribute to the economy

• The Five-Year Plans produced fantastic results

Agrucultural revolution in USSR

• Very successful, but far more brutal than his Industrial Revolution

• Collective Farms: Large government-owned farms. Peasants resist fiercely, and many killed livestock and destroyed crops in protest. Stalin used terror and violence to force peasants to work for them.

• Kulaks: wealthy farmers who resisted the soviet government. The government eliminates them.

• By 1938, 90% of peasants worked on collectives.

Weapons of Totalitarianism

• Police terror-use of violence and terror to rule and crush opposition

  • Great Purge: Stalin's campaign of terror was enacted to eliminate anyone who threatened his power

  • The police had a quota to meet, or they could also get arrested

• The Great Purge was responsible for 13 million deaths

• Inductrination and Propaganda

  • Indoctrination: instruction in the government’s belief

• The soviets stressed the importance of sacrifice and hard work to build the communist state.

  • Propaganda: biased or incomplete information used to sway people to accept certain beliefs or actions

    • Radio and newspapers glorified the achievements of communism

  • socialist realism: Artistic style that praised soviet and communist values

• Censorship: Stalin would not tolerate individual creativity. The government controlled all newspapers, movies, and radio.

Religious Persecution in the USSR

• “League of the militant godless” officially sponsored group of atheists spreading propaganda attacking religion.

• “Museums of Atheism”-Displayed exhibits to show that religious beliefs were mere superstitions

• Religious leaders were killed or sent to labor camps.

Daily Life Under Stalin

• Soviet Women: With the revolution, women won equal rights to men

• Under Stalin, women had to join the labor force, performing the same jobs as men

• Motherhood was considered a patriotic duty, providing the state with loyal citizens

Fascism

• Emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to the state’s leader

• promise to revive the economy, restore national pride, and punish those who brought hard times

• Each nation had uniforms of a selected color, used special salutes, and held rallies

Fasciam vs. Communism

similarities

• Denied individual rights

• statewas supreme

• rule by a dictator through one-party rule

Differences

• Fascists believed each class had a place in society

• fascist parties made up of aristocrats, industrialists, war veterans, middle class

• Fascists were nationalists

Benito Mussolini

• Italy was disappointed with poor territorial gains after WW1

• High inflation and unemployment

• Mussolini began his career as an editor for a newspaper

• promised strong leadership and founded the fascist party in 1919

Popularity of Mussolini

• Economic conditions turned for the worse

• Mussolini's publicity criticized the Italian government

• March on Rome- October 1922, 30,000 Fascists

• King Victor Emmanuel III conceded to Mussolini’s rule

Il Duce

• Benito Mussolini became known as Il Duce, or leader, in Italian

• abolished democracy and outlawed non-fascist parties

• censorship and outlawed of strikes

• failed to ever gain total control of Italy

Rise of Adolf Hitler

• Born in 1889 in Austria

• fought in WWI and earned two Iron Crosses for bravery

• joined right-wing group called National socialist German Workers Party in 1920 (nazi)

  • The middle and lower classes focus

• The party adopted the swastika as its symbol

• set up a private militia called stormtroopers

Hitler as Führer

• Leader of Nazi party

• inspiration from Mussolini's march on Rome

• plotted to seize power in Munich and failed

  • “Beer Hall Putsch”

• Hitler's impression, where he served for less than 9 months

In Prison

• Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, which means “My Struggle”

  • used as the blueprint and plan of action for the Nazis later on

  • Blond-haired and Blue-eyed people, Aryans, were the master race (Übermensch)

  • Non-Aryan races were inferior/subhuman (untermensch)

• The Versailles Treaty was despicable and promised to regain the lands lost because Germany needed more living space

• Promised to conquer Eastern Europe and the USSR

Revival of the Nazi Party

• The German economy collapsed when the stock market crashed in the US

• Over 30% of German workers were unemployed in 1932

• Germans turned to Hitler for security and leadership

Hitler Becomes Chancellor

• Nazis were the largest political party in 1932

• The conservative party named Hitler as Chancellor in 1933 and stood against the communist party

• Nazis won a slim advantage in parliment

• Hitler demanded absolute power for 4 years- Enabling Act

• Turned Germany into a totalitarian state

• arrested opposition and banned all other political parties - “Night of the Long Knives”

Reich and Technology

• Liudspeakers were placed in cities and towns

• Every family received a radio

  • state-controlled messages

• Motion pictures will be used as propaganda showing he power of the nazr party to Germans

  • Triumph of the Wills - 1935

Power Hungry

• Hitler desired to control every aspect of German life

• Use of the press, radio, literature, paintings, and film as propaganda

• led to book burnings and restrictions on churches

• Hitler was influenced by social Darwinism, meaning that continued struggle brought victory to the strong.

World Drifts toward War

• Japan: Democrtic in the 1920’s but with an emperor. With the Great Depression, militaty leaders take over japan, keeping Emperor Hirohito as head of state.

Japan Targets China

• China would provide land and resources for Japan’s rising population

  • Japans invades Manchuria(1931)- Chinas northern industializedprovince

    • First challenge to the League of Nations

• The League issued the Lytton Report 6 months later, condemning Japanese aggression. Japan left the League. proved ineffective in helping China

• 1937: China is completely invaded by Japan

  • “The Rape of Nanjing”-Demonstration of Japanede racial hatred.

Mussolini Attacks Ethiopia

• Wanted the African Empire for Italy

• May 1936: Italy invades Ethiopia. The League of Nations was unable to help Ethiopia.

  • Britain and France give in to Italy, hoping to keep peace.

War on Jews in Germany

• Anti-smeitism was key to Nazis thought

• Nazis used jews as scapegoats for gemanys troubles

• Laws passed beginning in 1933 discriminated against jews- the Nuremberg Laws

• November 9, 193, Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass

Lack Of Intervention

• The League of Nations cannot contain Hitler

• Germany retakes the Rhineland, the French do not respond.

Appeasement: The acceptance of Hitler’s annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia with the belief that peace and stability would be met if demands were allowed.

Futher Advancement of Nazi Party

• Belgium and France open for attack

• Led to an alliance with Italy and Germany (Pact of Steel), called the Axis Powers.

• Civil war in Spain- General Franco, backed by Italy and Germany, takes over Spain with Fascism

  • Practice for Blitzkrieg “Lightning war”

Western Democracies Fail

• Hoping to keep peace, fascists keep taking land. The US stays isolationist: IS believes that political ties to other countries should be avoided

Third Reich Expands

• The German Empire targets Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland

• Marhc 1938: Hitler takes Austria (The Anschluss)

• Munich Pact (Sept. 1938)- France and Britain agreed to give Hitler the Sudetenland if he stayed out of the rest of Czechoslovakia

• Hitler takes over Czechoslovakia, demands Poland.

• Non-Aggression Pact: Agreement between the USSR and Germany not to attack one another.

• September 1st, 1939- Invasion of Poland, WWII Begins.