Inter wars

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke “This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years” - Commander-in-chief Allied Armies Ferdinand Foch

WWII will start 20 years and 65 days after the signing

-Wilson's hopes for a lasting peace rested in the League of Nations. The U.S. refused to join and it would fall apart quickly Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawed war on the world stage.

-the reparations demanded of Germany would contribute greatly to the next war -Germany owed approximately 33 billion marks to be paid in annual installments if 2.5 billion

- 1st-year installment was paid - 2nd year it was not US officials come up with a plan that will both help Germany pay their reparations and the Allies pay their debt back to the US banks

  • the US experiences an economic boom b/c of WWI and during the 1920s
  • Europe experiences a boom also but it is built on credit
    • In the late 1920’s the US wanted its money back which causes the system to fall apart
Depression in Europe
  • The very first thing that the French do when Germany doesn’t pay up takes the Ruhr Valley *

Germany After WW1 Germany created the Weimar Republic to rule as the government -It was this government that signed the treaty and agreed to the stipulations in it -Germany had never been a republic before and had many political parties. This made it hard for the new government to function.

The unstable government and economic policies had 2 lasting impacts:

  1. run away (supper high inflation) along with __High unemployment (a__pprox. 4.68 million out of work)
  2. Political instability allowed for the rise of a strong leader (Hitler)    France
  • WW1 had resulted in the death or wounding of almost every man between 18-40 years old -France would change Prime Ministers 40 times between 1920-1940 -Because France had the territory of Alsace-Lorraine it was financially more stable than Germany

Great Britain -WW1 Seriously hurt British trade causing economic troubles after the war. -¼ of Britain was unemployed

-Between 1921-1926 Various forms of independence were granted to Ireland, Egypt, India, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. -This created the British Commonwealth of Nations

  • Economist John Maynard Keynes began promoting a new idea about governments and economics. He believed that governments should spend money to create jobs for their people.
    • He was mostly ignored
United States

The US had experienced an economic BOOM since the 1890s

  • It was built on credit and spending   -The us economy crashed in Oct 1929
  • FD Roosevelt was elected in 1932
    • He liked the idea of John Maynard Keynes and his “New Deal” is based on these economic ideas.
Dictatorships

-Europe began to grow in number. One reason historians believe that the U.S. did not turn to a dictatorship is the opportunity to own land was open and available to everyone. Most still believed they could reach the ‘American dream -as Europe struggled with economic issues “strong leaders” were gaining popularity -once in power several dictators would turn their control into a totalitarian dictatorship

-Similarities among dictators.

* They used propaganda to promote their ideas.

*They had a secret police force as enforcers Under their rule the needs of the state took priority over the needs of the individual.

*They stayed in power through force They took control of all aspects of society -Political, Economical, Cultural, etc One political party was in control, and no opposing opinions Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Russia, Germany*

Italy

Although Italy had been promised many things to join WWI on the side of the allies they had not received any of them, however, they did have a large debt because of the war

Causes of Italy’s dictator in the 1920s -Economic Downturn -High Unemployment Benito Mussolini would become Italy’s dictator in the 1920s -1921- Mussolini would organize the Fascist party as a political party in Italy -Name comes from the old Roman Empire

  • Most Italians were not Fascist but desired the peace Mussolini offered
  • 1925 Once Mussolini gained control of the Italian government he would take total control making himself a totalitarian dictator. -Lateran Treaties- Although Mussolini was in complete control politically. The church in Rome was still a huge influence. These treaties created an agreement between the church and Mussolini’s government. -The church would support Mussolini and Italy would recognize Vatican City as a separate nation
Russia

Lenin died, and there was a power struggle for control of the politburo and the USSR itself between Trotsky and Stalin. Ultimately Stalin would win the power struggle and go on to become one of the worst rulers in world history -once in power Stalin would create a totalitarian dictatorship so that he alone could maintain control of Russia

-Economy Stalin quickly implemented his “5-year plans” to boost the economy of the USSR by industrializing the country. -Not everyone agreed with him. Stalin would use the secret police to enforce his will all throughout the country. The secret police often would burn homes or kill individuals who spoke out against **Stalin. -**When the world’s economies began to struggle in 1932 approximately 5 million citizens of the USSR starved to death.

-violence For Stalin maintaining power is the #1 priority. He did this in many ways but killing those he feared was the most common. His rule is often referred to as the “reign of terror” by historians -in the late 1930’s Stalin systematically killed several of his top military officers and approximately 800,000 communist members for “plotting against him” -unfortunately WWII would start shortly after this and the USSR would pay a heavy price for it

HITLER -wanted to be an artist but failed out of school

  • He would go off to war during WW1 -He would be gassed by the Allies and consequently refuse to use gas as a weapon during WW2 -Was very angry at gov for signing a peace treaty ending WW2 -in 1920 he would join a political party that would eventually become known as the national socialist german workers party or NAZI
  • The Nazis had their own militia that acted as enforcers that wore brown shirts as part of their uniform they would become known as brown shirts -became known as the brown shirts or SA
  • Hitler would feel threatened by these and created his own force that wore black shirts as part of their uniform -they would become known as the SS

  Gestapo- the elite group or the secret police, Killed Jews a lot

  • in 1923 the nazis would lead a failed attempt to overthrow the German government called the beer hall putsch -the revolt would fail and Hitler would spend time in jail where he would write a book called mein kampf (my struggle) while in jail Hitler would realize that the nazi party needed to take control of the government legally

5 reasons the Nazis gained control-

  1. Weak weimar republic
  2. German anger on war guilt clause
  3. Economic hardship
  4. Very anti-communist
  5. Hitler’s own strong personality -Hitler would study himself on film to become a better more persuasive speaker
  • Hitler and the Nazi party would do several things to gain power -by 1932 the Nazi party was the largest in Germany -By 1933 Hitler was chancellor of Germany Nazis used lots of propaganda
  • Enabling act Was a law passed by the german reichstag (congress) that allowed Hitler to do whatever was deemed necessary to get Germany out of the economic state it was in. It gave Hitler, and his nazi permission to ignore the German constitution. -Hitler would begin to concentrate power on all of Germany because he was improving life for citizens
Life under Nazi rule:
  • Economically: Hitler Began to remilitarize Germany going against the Treaty of Paris this provided many with jobs bringing Germany's unemployment down from over 5 million to less than 500,000 Antisemitic- for the nazis the Jewish caused all issues
  • in 1935 Germany began issuing anti-Jewish laws. If you were deemed Jewish you lost your German citizenship and civil rights, the right to own property, and the right to marry a nonjew. Mixed marriages were expected to get divorces
  • For the nazis, the Aryan race was the supreme race of all races Women were encouraged to have kids not work stay home, and care for families women who weren't Aryan were encouraged to not have kids
  • Propaganda was used a lot to persuade people of certain things, mostly to join the war