The Interwar Years
The Futile Search for Stability
Hitler and Nazi Germany
Uneasy Peace, Uncertain Security
EQ: Why was the period after the war a time of uncertainty and instability?
Weaknesses in the League of Nations
- US never ratified (passed by Congress) the Treaty of Versailles.
- Thus, US could not join League of Nations
- League of Nations could not use military force to stop aggression.
German Cooperation
- Treaty of Locarno- French and Germany agreement on their border
- Germany joins the League of Nations (1926)
German Inflation
- Germany could not afford to pay the reparations for the war. (33 billion)
- French occupied Ruhr Valley (center of German industry)
- German prints money to pay strikers
- 4.2 mark=$1 (1914)
- 4.2 trillion marks= $1 (1923)
- Dawes Plan
- reduced payments
- US loaned $200 million
- Adolf Hitler
- Born in Austria, failed school, rejected from art academy.
- Extreme racist and nationalist
- WWI Veteran
- By 1921 controlled the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party)
- imprisoned for Nazi riot- Beer Hall Putsch
- Mein Kampf "My Struggle"
- written in prison; outlined basic ideas
- nationalism, anti-Semitism, and anticommunism
- Lebensraum "living space"
The Great Depression
- Depression- period of very low economic activity and high unemployment.
- Two main causes:
- downturn of the economies in the late 1920s
- collapse of US stock market in 1929
- Germany was borrowing from US, thus effecting European banks and economies.
- industrial production decreased which increased unemployment (40%)
- Popularity in Communism increased; challenged democracy
- Third Reich- Hitler's empire from 1933-1939
- decreased unemployment with public works projects and rearmament program
- controlled religion and education
- SS- "Guard Squadrons"- Hitler's secret police (racist and violent)
- By 1931, largest party in Reichstag (German parliament)
- Hitler uses legal means, not violent overthrow
- gained support due to German econ. problems
Democracy after the War
- Weimar Republic (1918-1933)- Germany's temporary democracy. (epic fail)
- Great Depression effected most of Europe because of US investments being pulled out.
- Collective Bargaining- right to negotiate with employers--better wages, hours, etc.
- John Maynard Keynes- British economist
- unemployment came from decline in demand not overproduction
- gov't should finance projects to create jobs even if it led to deficit spending
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) elected president 1932
- New Deal- established gov't funded programs to create jobs
- Nuremberg Laws- prevents Jews from being German citizens
- required to wear yellow Stars of David
- Kristallnacht- "night of shattered glass
- burned synagogues and Jewish business
- killed over 100 and sent 30k to concentration camps
- 1933, Nazis pressure president to place Hitler as chancellor & create new gov't.
- Enabling Act- gave gov't the right to ignore constitution
- made Hitler dictator or Fuhrer
- all political parties abolished and opponents sent to concentration camps.
The West Between Wars
- Our goal is to develop an understanding of the events that took place after WWI and how unresolved tensions and depression led to WWII.
- The Futile Search for Stability
- The Rise of Dictatorial Regimes
- Hitler and Nazi Germany
- Culture and the Intellectual Trends
Culture and the Intellectual Trends
The Rise of Dictatorial Regimes
EQ: What were some factors that allowed dictators to take rise?
- Benito Mussolini (Il Duce)- dictator of Italy
- appointed Prime Minister and made laws to form a Fascist gov't.
- Fascism-glorifies state over individual led by single party or individual.
- military oriented
- support due to economic hardships and fear of communist take over.
- Used secret police and propaganda to control people's beliefs.
New Era in the Soviet Union
- Early 1920s Lenin proposes New Economic Policy (NEP) to save Russia from collapse.
- 1922 Communist created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
- Lenin dies in 1924 and a struggle for power emerged in the Politburo- committee that controlled communist policies.
- Leon Trotsky vs Joseph Stalin
- Stalin has power to hire and fire officials which he uses to gain power
- Between 1919-1936 all major European states (except GB and France) turned to some form of dictatorship.
- Totalitarian states- aimed to control all aspects of their citizens’ lives.
- no individual freedoms
- state demanded support of all citizens
- Removed NEP and replaced with Five-Years Plans--econ. goals for 5 year periods.
- First Five-Year Plan emphasized
- industrialization and production of capital goods (heavy machinery).
- Collectivized farming
- gov't controlled farms worked by peasants.
- gov't takes harvest and distributes
- Extremely bad living conditions
- propaganda to boast morale
- Siberian labor camps
Authoritarian States in the West
- unlike totalitarian states they did not try to have complete control over the people
- 1936 Francisco Franco led a rebellion against democracy in Spain that led to a Civil War.
- Hitler and Mussolini provided support
- Franco capture Madrid in 1939, setting up an Authoritarian dictatorship.