The Interwar Period

The Interwar Period The Futile Search for a New Stability

French Policy of Coercion (1919-1924) • One of France’s goals in Versailles was security, mainly through the League and an alliance with Great Britain • However, both proved illusionary and France was forced to look to the new countries in the East as a bulwark against any German resurgence - The Little Entente • Therefore, France’s search for security in the period 1919-1924 was based upon a strict enforcement of Versailles • This tough policy began with the repayment of reparations • April 1921 the Allied Reparations Committee settled on a sum of 132 billion marks • The German government initially accepted, but by 1922 they could no longer pay

Economic Crisis and Conciliation • As a result, France occupied the Ruhr to collect the reparations directly • German passive resistance • To finance resistance, the Germans printed more money which intensified the inflation already present in Germany • By 1923, with the occupation failing and pressure from the US & Great Britain, the French agreed to a new conference to reassess the reparation problem • By 1924 when the conference finished its work, France and Germany were willing to take a more conciliatory approach

Hopeful Years (1924-1929)Economic Stability • The conference resulted in the Dawes Plan • Reparations were reduced and stabilized Germany’s payments on the basis of its ability to pay • Moreover, a $200 million loan was granted for German recovery, which then opened the gate for further investment in Europe • That investment would lead to a new era of economic prosperity between 1924 & 1929

Hopeful Years (1924-1929) • Germany in the League of Nations • With this new prosperity came new efforts at diplomacy and this was fostered by Gustav Stresemann and Aristide Briand when they concluded the Treaty of Locarno in 1925 • The spirit of Locarno was reinforced with Germany’s entry into the League in March of 1926 • Signing of the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) • Plan for World Disarmament • Despite all of these moves toward peace, the spirit of Locarno could not induce the nations of Europe to disarm • Numerous disarmament conferences would be held throughout the 1920’s, with some success • But the real result was the failure for universal disarmament; when a conference was finally held in 1932, it was a dead issue

The Great Depression • With the wars end in 1918, the nations of Europe hoped to return to the liberal economic ideal that had marked most of the 19th century; however, the necessities of total war had changed that forever • Moreover, the pre-war notion of free trade was replaced by protectionism and trade barriers • The post-war prosperity previously mentioned was fragile and was eventually destroyed by the Great Depression

Economic Downturn & Stock Market Crash • There were two factors that played roles in bringing on the Great Depression • Economic downturn throughout Europe • Overproduction lowered the prices of many basic commodities • Additionally, there was a slump in the coal industry due to the increase in oil and hydroelectricity • The Stock Market Crash of 1929 • Much of Europe’s prosperity had been based upon American loans to Germany • By 1928, funds were being removed to be invested in the Wall Street, but the trend increased dramatically with the Crash in 1929 as investors pulled even more money out of Europe, severely weakening banks in Germany and central Europe

Governmental Inaction • Although Europe had experienced “depressions” before, the depth of the economic downturn after 1929 was truly “Great” • 1 in 4 British workers were unemployed as well as 6 million Germans, 40% of the German workforce • There were also social repercussions as women were able to find low paying jobs, while men were mostly unemployed created considerable resentment • The European governments, still wedded to classical liberal economic policies, could not deal with the crisis • The traditional remedy for depression, a deflationary policy of balanced budgets through cutting cost, proved disastrous, making the economic crisis worse and creating even greater mass discontent

Cost of Governmental Inaction • As a result, some states resorted to greater government involvement (e.g., the US), while in others there was a renewed interest in Marxist doctrine with Communism taking on new popularity, especially among the workers and intellectuals • Lastly, there was also a increased interest in simplistic, dictatorial solutions, giving rise to Fascism and later Nazism • Democracy seemed to be on the defensive

Democracy in Europe • Although Woodrow Wilson stated that WWI was fought to make the world safe for democracy, by the 1930’s only two major European states had functioning political democracies • However, they would soon face challenges both internal & external

Great Britain:Post-War Readjustment • After the war, Britain faced a period of painful readjustment and serious economic difficulties • Failure of the Liberals and the Rise of Labour • By 1923, British politics experienced a major transformation as Labour surged ahead of the Liberals as the second largest party in Britain • With the elections in November 1923, a Liberal-Labour coalition enabled Ramsey MacDonald to become the first Labour PM; however, his government lasted only 10 months

Great Britain:Post-War Readjustment • The Conservatives, led by Stanley Baldwin, formed a government which guided Britain through an era of renewed economic prosperity from 1925-1929 • However, it was merely superficial as unemployment remained high while exports never equaled the lost overseas investments

Great Britain:National Government Coalition • As 1929 and the Great Depression unfolded, a new Labour government came into power • The Labour Party was unable solve the nation’s economic problems and they fell in 1931 • Labour was replaced by as National Government (Conservative, Liberal & Labour) that brought Britain out of the worse stages of the Depression • They accomplished this by using the traditional policies of balanced budgets & protective tariffs; in 1936, unemployment dropped to 1.6 million from a high of 3 million in 1932

FranceNational Bloc & Cartel of the Left • With Germany’s defeat, France was now the strongest power in Europe • The National Bloc • Led by Raymond Poincare • Sought to use German reparations to rebuild France • However, when forced to raise taxes to pay for the incursion, the National Bloc was voted out of office and replaced by the Cartel of the Left

FranceNational Bloc & Cartel of the Left • The Cartel of the Left • Coalition of the Radicals and the Socialists • Although they shared similar beliefs, their differences prevented the solving of France’s financial problems between 1924-26 • This led to a return of Poincare, whose government between 1926-29 generally stabilized France and allowed for a period of prosperity

FranceLeon Blum’s Popular Front • By 1932, France began to feel the full brunt of the Great Depression and its political consequences • Between 1932 & 1933, six different cabinets were formed as France faced political chaos • From this instability arose several fascist parties, resulting in the February riots of 1934 • This fear drove the leftist parties together and led in 1936 to the formation of the Popular Front, led by Leon Blum • However, the Popular Front failed to solve the problems of the Depression • As a result, by 1938 France was experiencing a crisis of confidence in its political system; this rotting would lead France unprepared to deal with a rising Nazi Germany

Retreat from Democracy:Fascist Italy • As a new state, only emerging in 1870, Italy faced several problems that were only magnified by the First World War • Cost of World War I in lives and money • Belief that the Italians were denied their just rewards due them as victors • Moreover, the war created immense domestic confusion which the government proved unable to handle

Retreat from Democracy:Fascist Italy • Out of this post-war confusion arose Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party • Mussolini’s background • In 1919, Mussolini laid the foundations for a new political movement, Fascism, named after his party the Fascio di Combattimento (League of Combat) • Initially not politically successful, it was able to grow due to the ineffectiveness of the Parliament • Mussolini was then able to take the frustrations of the Italian people to his advantage, most times by using violence

Retreat from Democracy:Fascist Italy • March on Rome • The culmination of the policy was the March on Rome in October 1929 • As the Italian political situation worsened, Mussolini took a chance and bluffed the government into giving him power and he was appointed PM on 29 October 1922 • Fascist State • From the beginning, Mussolini envisioned Italy as a totalitarian state, therefore there were… • Limits on Liberties • Creation of a Single-minded Society • However, Mussolini and the Fascists were not exactly successful

Soviet Union Lenin’s New Economic Policy • By 1921, the Communists had established themselves in Russia under the leadership of Lenin; recognizing the need to rebuild Russia after the Civil War, Lenin compromised with a temporary use of market capitalism • The New Economic Policy, although only a temporary retreat from communism, actually benefited the new Soviet Union and brought her back from the brink of complete economic disaster

Soviet UnionStalin’s Era • However, Lenin was to suffer a series of strokes between 1922 & 1924, finally dying in January 1924, and was finally succeeded by Joseph Stalin, who consolidated his power becoming the ruler of the USSR by 1929 when he inaugurated a economic, social, and political revolution even greater than that of 1917 • State Industrialization and the Five Year Plans • Agricultural Collectivization & the attack on the Kulaks • Purges

Dictatorship in the Iberian PeninsulaSpanish Civil War and Franco • In 1931, the Spanish Monarchy is dissolved and a republic is formed, which became politically unstable as the left and then the right and finally a Popular Front government take control • However, the Popular Front government is unacceptable to the army, which under the leadership of General Francisco Franco begins an armed revolt • The ensuing Spanish Civil War lasts from 1936 to 1939 and saw the intervention of Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union while the democracies sat idly by • Moreover, Spain becomes the testing ground for the war on the horizon

Cultural and Intellectual Trends • In the pre-war period, the artistic and intellectual innovations, which had shocked most of Europe, had really been the preserve of a small group of advent-garde • In the 1920’s & 1930’s these styles became more widespread – what had happened? • WWI and its four years of devastating war had left Europeans with a profound sense of despair and disillusionment and this feed into the intellectual and artistic styles of the interwar period

Nightmares and New Visions • Dadaism and Surrealism in Art • The uncertainty that had pervaded pre-war art continued during the 1920’s & 30’s as the artists matured their styles; moreover, the prewar fascination with the absurd and the unconscious contents of the mind became more appropriate after the events of the war • This led to the Dada movements and Surrealism, with Dadaism attempting to enshrine the purposelessness of life while Surrealism sought a reality beyond the material, sensible world and found it in the world of the unconscious through the portrayal of fantasies, dreams or nightmares • Functionalism in Architecture: Walter Gropius & The Bauhaus

Search for the Unconscious • James Joyce & Virginia Woolf: “Stream of Consciousness” • Hermann Hesse: Affected by Jungian psychology & Eastern religions and focused on the spiritual loneliness of modern human beings in a mechanized urban society; famous works included Steppenwolf and Demian • Jungian Psychology: Student of Freud, but believed his theories were too narrow and reflected Freud’s own biases; focused on dreams, continuing the emphasis upon the unconscious

Conclusion • The devastation of the Great War destroyed the liberal optimism of the pre-war period; however, there was hope that it could be restored and that the progress of Western Civilization could be restored • These hopes proved to be unfounded with the coming of the Great Depression and the lack of confidence in liberal democracy as totalitarian governments, such as Italy and Russia, gained acceptance • But it was to be actions of another totalitarian government, Nazi Germany, which would strain the European system to the breaking point and, after a 20 year interlude of peace, again “let slip the dogs of war”

The Interwar Period