Chapter 23

1. Chapter 23

2. An Uncertain Peace: Search for Security • Weaknesses of the League of Nations • U.S. did not join • Only weapon against aggression was economic sanctions • U.S. & G.B didn’t form defensive alliances with France • The French Policy of Coercion (1919 – 1924) • Desire for strict enforcement the Treaty of Versailles • France forms alliance with Little Entente (Czech, Yugoslavia, Romania) • Allied Reparations Commission, April 1921 $33 billion • Paid in annual installments of 2.5 billion gold marks • Germany unable to pay in 1922 • French occupation of the Ruhr Valley • Chief industrial & mining center • German government begins printing money to pay debt • German mark fall to 4.2 trillion to $1, end of November 1923

3. The Little EntenteFrance allies with Czech, Yugoslavia, & Romania

4. The Great Depression • Problems in domestic economies • Loan debt, strength of unions, & trade tariffs • International financial crisis • Crash of the American stock market, October 1929 • American investors pulled $ out of European markets to cope with losses in American Stock market • Downturn in domestic economies • Overproduction causes a drop in agricultural prices (wheat) • Cheaper energy sources (oil & electricity) lead to a slump in coal industry • Unemployment • Germany 40%, Britain & U.S. 25% • Banks failed, industrialists scaled back production

5. The Democratic States • Great Britain • Labour Party failed to solve problems • Coalition (Liberals & Conservatives) claimed credit for prosperity • Got them out of the worst stages of the depression • John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) • Keynes says the government should create jobs (public works) • Deficit spending would create jobs and thereby increase demand for goods

6. France • Conservative National Bloc government led by Raymond Poincare • Took a hard stance against Germany (reparations & Ruhr occupation) • Could not solve financial problems (Poincare stabilized the economy from 1926-1929) • Great Depression brought political chaos • Popular Front (coalition of Socialists & Radicals) was formed in 1936 out of fear of extremists • French “New Deal” – Established 40 hour work week, collective bargaining, two week vacations, & minimum wage • Policies helped a little but failed to solve the problems of the Depression

7. The United States • Herbert Hoover, (1929-1933) • Franklin D. Roosevelt, (1933-1945) • New Deal • Provided social reforms that helped avert a possible social revolution • Public works projects • Brought partial economic recovery • World War II ends the depression • Full employment to do wartime industries

8. European States and the World: Colonial Empires • Despite WWI, Europeans kept their colonial empires • France & G.B. even added to theirs by dividing Germany’s colonial possession • Political and social foundations and the self-confidence of European imperialism was undermined during the 1920s and 1930s. • Rising tide of unrest in Asia and Africa against imperialism • Increasing worker activism, rural protest, rising national fervor

9. The Middle East • Division of Ottoman Empire • New regimes in Turkey & Iran • European influence remained strong in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan & Palestine • Turkey • Colonel Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk – “Father Turk”) (1923) • Made a conscious effort to adopt a Westernized secular culture after WWI • India • Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948) • Used civil disobedience against British imperialism to win self rule for India • Africa • Protest movements • Demands for independence from colonial rule came from Africans who were educated in Europe and the United States

10. Retreat from Democracy: The Authoritarian and Totalitarian States • Totalitarianism • By 1939 only France and Great Britain are only major democratic states in Europe • Totalitarianism regimes in Germany, Italy, & the Soviet Union Hoped to control every aspect of their citizens’ lives • The modern totalitarian state • Active commitment of citizens • Mass propaganda techniques • High speed communication – radio, film • Led by single leader and single party

11. Fascist Italy • Impact of World War I • Italians angry over failure to receive territory after World War I • Received Trieste, wanted Fiume & Dalmatia (went to Yugoslavia) • Fascist movement aided by nationalistic resentment toward Italy’s treatment following WWI • Birth of Fascism • Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) • Growth of the socialist party – largest party spoke of a revolution • Squadristi, armed bands of Fascists who used violence to intimidate enemies • attacked socialist offices & newspapers • Fascist movement gains support from industrialists (squadristi were breaking up strikes, protecting capitalism) • March on Rome, 1922 • King Victor Emmanuel made Mussolini Prime Minister • The next day, Mussolini’s blackshirts marched on Rome to give the illusion of a military take over • Italy becomes the first fascist state in Europe

12. Mussolini and the Italian Fascist State • Fascist Government • All parties outlawed, 1926 – Fascist dictatorship established • Government censorship enforced by OVRA – secret police • Mussolini’s view of a Fascist state • Unity, values, state above all else • “Mussolini is always right!” – propaganda slogan • Young Fascists • Program to indoctrinate young people to fascist ideals • Family is the pillar of the state • Reinforced stereotypes about women • Women should stay home and make babies • Mussolini’s Fascist Italy never achieves the degree of totalitarianism like Germany or Soviet Union • Lateran Accords, February 1929 • Established Vatican City • Provided Funding • Established Catholicism as the state religion

13. Hitler and Nazi Germany • Weimar Germany • No outstanding leaders • Paul von Hindenberg elected president, 1925 • Great Depression • The Emergence of Adolf Hitler • Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) • Vienna • Influenced by politics & ideology (anti-semitism & German nationalism) • Moved to Munich & fought for Germany in WWI • The Rise of the Nazis • German Workers’ Party • Took control of party • Renamed it the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), 1921 (Nazis) • Sturmabteilung (SA), Storm Troops

14. Hitler and Nazi Germany (cont) • The Nazi Seizure of Power • Munich Beer Hall Putsch, November 1923 • Attempted takeover of Germany, modeled after Mussolini’s fascist takeover of Italy • Hitler imprisoned • Wrote Mein Kampf, (My Struggle) • Autobiography outlining Hitler’s ideology of Aryan supremacy & anti-Semitism • Lebensraum (living space) (linked to Social Darwinism) • Reorganization of the party • New strategies • Focused on taking power through constitutional means

15. Nazi party largest in the Reichstag after 1932 election • Successful in making the Nazi party appeal to all segments of German society • Support from right-wing elites • Becomes chancellor, January 30, 1933 • Reichstag fire, February 27, 1933 • Successes in 1933 election • Enabling Act, March 23, 1933 • Amendment to the Weimar Constitution • Provided legal basis for Hitler’s acts • Gleichschaltung, coordination of all institutions under Nazi control • Night of the Long Knives • Hitler has Ernst Rohm and other SA leaders killed • President Paul von Hindenburg dies, August 2, 1934

16. The Nazi State (1933-1939) • Parliamentary republic dismantled • Mass demonstrations and spectacles to create collective fellowship • Nuremberg was the largest annual demonstration • Constant rivalry in politics gives Hitler power • Economics and the drop in unemployment • Controlled the working class through mandatory membership in Nazi-sponsored German Labor Front • Helped the economy by government spending rearming Germany • Heinrich Himmler and the SS • Controlled the secret police and later the death camps • Carried out the racial and terrorist policies of the Nazis • Used the SS for terror & ideology

17. Churches, schools, and universities brought under Nazi control • Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) and Bund deutscher Mädel (League of German Maidens) • Influence of Nazi ideas on working women • Expected to be housewives and child bearers • Aryan Racial State • Nuremberg laws, September 1935 • Separated Jews from Germans politically, socially & legally • Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938 • Organized riots against Jewish businesses and synagogues • Restrictions on Jews

18. The Soviet Union • New Economic Policy • Modified form of the capitalist system (NEP) • Peasants and small show keepers could sell products • Saved economy from collapse • Union of Socialist Republics established, 1922 • Revived economy • Lenin suffers strokes, (1922-1924) • Division • Leon Trotsky • Military leader • Goes into hiding after Stalin takes over • Joseph Stalin • General Party Secretary – appointed regional Communist positions, which aided his emergence as the leader of the Communist party

19. The Stalinist Era, (1929-1939) • First Five Year Plan, 1928 • Emphasis on industry • Real wages declined • Use of propaganda • Rapid collectivization of agriculture • Famine of 1932-1933; 10 million peasants died • Political Control • Stalin’s dictatorship established, 1929 • Political purge, 1936-1938; • Millions of ordinary citizens arrested and sent to force labor camps in Siberia. • 8 million arrested, millions never returned

20. Authoritarianism in Eastern Europe • Conservative Authoritarian Governments • Dominant form of government in Eastern Europe in 1920s and 1930s • Eastern Europe • Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia adopted parliamentary systems • Czechoslovakia is the only eastern European nation to maintain political democracy in the 1930s • Romania and Bulgaria gained new parliamentary constitutions • Greece became a republic • Hungary parliamentary in form; controlled by landed aristocrats • Problems • Little or no tradition of liberalism and parliamentary form • Rural and agrarian society • Ethnic conflicts

21. Dictatorship in the Iberian Peninsula • General Miguel Primo de Rivera and the End of Parliamentary Government (1923) • The Spanish Civil War • The Popular Front – anti-fascist group • General Francisco Franco (1892 – 1975) • Fascist military leader • Foreign intervention • Popular Front gets supplies from Soviets • Franco gets supplies and military help from Germany & Italy • Franco emerges victorious (March 28, 1939) • Establishes a conservative, authoritarian, and anti-democratic regime backed by the Spanish Catholic Church • The Franco Regime • Traditional, conservative, dictatorship • Portugal • Antonio Salazar (1889 – 1970) • Finance Minister and leader of military group that overthrows the government