WHIS study guide - Interwar period

Weimar Republic

  • 1919-1924 politically unstable

  • coup d’etats: small group (military) that takes control of a country by force

    • Spartacists (leftists rebellion)

    • Kapp putsch (right-wing group)

    • Beer Hall Punch (Hitler Rebellion)

  • assassinations

    • minister of finance

  • economic disaster

    • Ruhr occupation: France and Belgium sent soldiers to Germany’s Ruhr region because they stopped paying war reparations from WWI

    • hyperinflation: banks (money) were worthless

    • Many Germans never forgave republic

Stresemann Golden Years

  • Stressemann Chancellor: helped stabilize Germany after economic/political crisis

  • economic recovery

    • Dawes plan: to help Germany pay war reparations

    • US loans

    • 1928 recovered to pre-war levels

  • politics stabilize: less polarization

  • cultural revival

    • art, architecture, cinema

    • Bohemian Berlin: berlin was the center of art and culture

  • foreign policy

    • Locarno treaty: aimed to improve relations between countries

      • Germany entering League of Nations

    • Kellogg-brand pact: to resolve conflicts

    • negotiated changes to Versailles

      • Young plan: reduced war reparations to 2 billion

problems

  • economy

    • reliant on US loans

    • right got richer: economic inequality, social unrest

    • poor farmers, shrinking middle class

  • politics

    • 30% votes anti republic

    • democracy gave stable conditions to opposition: can express their views, debate can happen peacefully. can also cause chaos

  • culture

    • many wanted return to structure and conservatism (keeping things the same or going back to tradition)

  • foreign policy (how country deals with another)

    • Locarno pact - accepting Versailles

was the Weimar Republic Doomed?

  1. broken after the war: Germany was left weak

  2. too democratic constitution - difficult to form majority: hard for one group to control

  3. signed armistice: agreement to end WWI, germany is blamed for this

  4. early crisis: economic troubles and political violence

  5. treaty of Versailles killed economy: huge reparations

  6. prosperity dependent on US loans: unstable if US stopped lending

  7. Great depression revealed weaknesses: caused economic collapse, showing a weak republic

stab in the back myth

  • idea that germany army not defeated on battlefield, but by civilians, politicians and Jews

  • Undermines legitimacy of the weimar republic

  • gives rise to far right: nazis grew, as they promised to restore germany

  • feeds anti-semitism sentiment amongst hitler and nazis: nazis used myth to blame jews for problems

Roaring 20s in the US

industrial boom

  • US profited immensely from WWI

    • steel production increased

    • agriculture yield went up: amount of crops grew

    • banks had extra cash to loan

    • americans bought homes and cars

  • new technologies

    • The Bessemer process: to make steel from iron

    • assembly line: method of mass production (build along conveyor belt)

  • fueled by republican policies: economy grew

    • laissez-faire: government didn’t interfere in economy

    • protective tariffs: on imported goods

    • low taxes

    • monopolies: one company controls entire industry

american mentality

  • mass consumption

    • credit: buy now pay later

    • advertising

    • mail-order companies: ppl could order things

    • chain stores: big store brands

  • a right to prosperity

    • “the american dream”

    • right to house, car, new goods

  • expansion and growth will never end…

problems with industrialization

  • farming income plummets

    • declining exports

    • corporate farming: NOT individual farmers but large companies

  • industrial aliments (problems caused by growth of factories)

    • less demand for coal - efficiency

    • mechanization of labor: replace workers

    • strikes: workers protested bad working conditions by stopping work

  • poor whites (inmigrants) and african americans left out of boom

entertainment and leisure

  • 1920 more americans in cities tan farms

  • access to new entertainment

    • radio

    • jazz

    • sports

    • cinema

  • morals

    • changes in sexual attidudes

    • censorship

women in 1920s

  • more freedoms

    • increased employment

    • 1920 women suffrrage

    • cars

    • less housework (tech)

    • access to education

    • increased decision making

      • twice as many divorces

  • limitations

    • less pay than men

    • traditional norms

intolerance

  • immigration quotas: limits on # of ppl that can immigrate

    • 1924 immigration act

      • 165000 allowed / year

      • preference to western europe

      • No asians

      • reflected xenophobia of populance (fear/dislike of foreigners)

  • Red scare = fear of communism

    • strikes seen as “communist takeovers”

    • anarchy and rebellion became more common place

    • led to deportation “purges”: removing certain ppl from country

Arican americans

  • had been freed in 1865, but still lacked many freedoms

    • life expentancy 13 years less than whites

    • higher rates of poverty

    • less education

  • Jim Crow Laws - Segregation (separating ppl by race, religion,etc)

    • “separate but equal”

  • “birth of a nation” film grows Ku Klux Klan (portrayed as heroes

  • great migration

    • north offered better employment opportunities

    • less racism

prohibition and gangsters

  • temperance movement (banning of alcohol)

    • led by women

    • christians

    • industrialists backed movement - bc more reliable workers if not drunk

  • created demand for bootlegging (illegal trade of alcohol)

    • Al Capone and gangsters emerge

    • speakeasies spring up (secret bars)

    • massive corruption - police and politicians paid off

    • masacres lead to end of prohibition (illegal to make sell or drink alcohol)

the great depression in the US

causes

1. speculation - buying and selling with hope of making profit

  • huge boom - more investors

  • speculation - essentially gambling on the future of a stock

  • money borrowed to purchase shares

2. overproduction

  • too many products for limited consumers

  • by 1929 consumers had already purchased products

  • no new wealth being spread to new buyers: workers not able to buy those goods because their wages didnt increase

    • wages were stagnant (not moving)

  • over 3billion spent on magazine advertisements

3. weaknesses in economy

  • construction began to slow

  • on average 500 banks failed each year

  • less demand for farm products

  • sales of goods begin to decline

  • unequal distribution of wealth

4. tariffs

  • high taxes put on foreign products

  • aimed to protect US producers

  • made it harder to sell excess products to foreign markets

5. Weak banking system

  • most banks small institutions

  • too much credit given

  • banks have to sell off assets and call back loans

  • bank runs: when many ppl try to withdray their money from a bank at same time bc of fear that the bank will run out of money

  • leads to deflation

    • workers laid off

    • banks do not provide loans

  • federal reserve (central bank) doesnt help

wall street crash - stock prices fell

  • although the start of the great depression, it is not the sole cause

  • only 3% of US held stocks

  • speculation ultimately reaches high point

  • major sell off happens on “black tuesday” (when stock market crashed)

  • loosing faith and confidence in economy

  • economic concequences of depression
    hoover cuts taxes - encourage spending

    • less money for services

  • loss of faith in banks

    • money kept in cash at home

  • banks cannot give out loans

  • businesses cut production

  • international trade shrank

human cost of depression

  • agriculture the hardest hit

    • less income leads to farms foreclosing

    • many migrate to alifornia

    • malnutrition commonplace

  • cities suffer widespread unenployment

    • Hoovervilles (slums) pop up

    • thousands sleep in parks

    • men travel for work

government response

  • franklin D.Roosevelt elected president in 1933

  • implements Keynesian economics

    • New Deal: policies to help recover from great depression

  • much opposition to heavy government spending

the great depression in europe

causes for european depression

  • US calls for payment on loans from britain and france

    • germany is restricted from recieving loans

  • many nations returned to Gold Standard (money for gold)

    • lack of cash flow requared to raise interest rates

    • governments recieve less tax revenue

    • govs cut spending on public works (roads,etc)

  • economy stagnates, jobs lost, deflation

concequences of european depression

  • end of mutual cooperation

  • nations implement protectionist policies

  • politics destabilize

    • italy and mussolini look to expansion

    • nazis gain more influence

    • england and france focus internally - lessen role in league of nations

soviet 5 year plan

  • USSR, under stalin, aims at industrialization

    • there are two 5 yrear plans

  • aims:

    • heavy industrialization - boom

    • land collectivization

    • outlaw houses of worship

  • economic gains during the great depression

    • further spread communist ideals

    • Holodomor - 8 mil die from starvation

      • ukranians

great dust bowl

  • environmental disaster durin 1930s

  • affect great plains region of the US

causes

  • severe drought

    • rainfall dropped

  • over-farming and soil mismanagement

    • farmers left soil exposed

    • no crop rotation

  • high winds and erosion

    • dust storms “black blizzards” reached East coast

effects

  • massive crop failures

  • economic hardship: many lost their land and went into debt

  • health issues: “dust pneumonia”

  • migration (“okies”): families from Oklahoma, texas and kansas migrated to california for work

  • federal response: government launched New Deal programs to improve farming techniques and prevent future disasters