Political Experiments in the 1920s: Soviet, Fascist, Weimar and Eastern Europe

1. Ch.26 Political Experiments in the 1920s

2. Political and Economic Factors after the Paris Settlement • Numerous post-war economic problems brought on because of the numerous casualties of war and Europe’s loss of financial dominance • The reparations and debt structure of the peace made all European nations uncertain • Market and Trade conditions changed drastically because of the damage to Europe’s infrastructure • United States had become less dependent on European production and was a major competitor • Slow post war economic growth and overall decline in economic lowered demand for European goods • Unions played a greater role in government because of wartime production

3. The Soviet Experiment Begins • The Bolshevik gains in Russia Resulted in the Communist Party in the Soviet Union • Communist leaders sought to spread their ideology around the world • Fear of Communism and resolve to stop it spread became a major force in United States and Europe (Red Scares) • The Bolsheviks rapidly developed authoritarian policies in response to internal and foreign military opposition • Cheka- a new secret police

4. The Soviet Experiment begins continued • Political and economic administration became highly centralized • Economic Policy War Communism- Bolsheviks took control of all major industries and financial and transportation • After Lenin’s death 1924 struggles for leadership emerged • Leon Trotsky (left wing) and Joseph Stalin (right wing) • Trotsky spoke for agricultural collectivization, rapid industrialization, and new revolutions in other states • Nikolai Bukharin (Right-Stalin) manipulated the group called continuation of Lenin’s NEP and slow industrialization

5. The Soviet Experiment Continued • Stalin began to amass power during the 1920s • He supported Bukharin and denounced Trotsky and controlled the state • 1919 the Soviet Communists founded the third International of European Socialist movement known as Comintern • 1920 Comintern imposed 21 Conditions on any Socialist party that wanted to join it • The effort to destroy democratic socialism split every European Socialist party: • divided the political left • created a vacuum of power for right wing politicians • Led to rise of Fascists and Nazis

6. The Fascist Experiment in Italy • Benito Mussolini rose up (in response to the threat of Bolshevism) as a fascist- a term used to describe right wing dictators that arose between wars • Claimed to hold back Bolshevism and were antidemocratic, anti-Marxist, antiparliamentary, anti-Semitic • Fascist movements were nationalistic • October 1922 Black Shirt March- Fascists marched on Rome • Led to Mussolini becoming Prime Minister • The Fascist party came to dominate Italy’s political structure on every level

7. Joyless Victors • 1920 and 1921 Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia formed the Little Entente, an alliance designed to prevent the revision of the Paris Treaty • 1922 the first Labour government in Britain was headed by Ramsay MacDonald • The Labour party was socialistic in platform but democratic and non-revolutionary, • The Labour party’s ascension in English politics resulted in the demise of the Liberal party

8. Trials of the Successor States in Eastern Europe • The “successor states” was the name given to lands emerged after the break up of the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian Empires • Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany, Austria faced major economic difficulties • Except for Czechoslovakia all of them depended on foreign loans to finance their economic rebuilding • The collapse of the old empires allowed ethnic groups to pursue nationalistic goals

9. The Weimar Republic in Germany • The Weimar Republic took shape in aftermath of WWI; • Its constitution was written August of 1919 • Guaranteed civil liberties and provided for direct election, it had flaws that allowed for liberal institutions to be overthrown • Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) arrived on the political scene around the time French occupation of the Ruhr sent inflation soaring, unemployment spread throughout Germany • Hitler afflicted with the Christian Social Party in Vienna and absorbed much of its rabid German Nationalist m and anti-Semitism • He moved to Munich and became involved with a small nationalistic, Anti-Semitic party known as the Nationalistic Socialists Germans Workers Party

10. The Weimar Republic in Germany • Chancellorship of Gustav Stresemann, Germany recovered from some of tis losses. • New reparations payment plan (Dawes Plan) was instituted • Dawes Plan gave Germany flexible form of payment that varied according to the German economy • 1925 the Locarno Agreements accepted Paris as the western Frontier and Britain and Italy agreed to intervene against whichever side violated the frontier or if Germany sent troops into the Rhineland • No agreement existed for Germany on Eastern Frontier • France supported Germany’s membership in the League of Nations • The Locarno Treaty pleased all European powers but did not resolve tensions