The West between the Wars

The West between the Wars
World Studies Alice F. Short Hilliard Davidson High School

Chapter 15: The West between the Wars
Lesson 1 – Instability After World War I Lesson 2 – The Rise of Dictatorial Regimes Lesson 3 – Hitler and Nazi Germany

Chapter 15 Overview: The West between the Wars
peace and prosperity were short-lived after World War I as the global depression weakened Western democracies WWI influenced the arts and sciences (increased uncertainty, darker perspective) By 1939, many European countries had adopted dictatorial regimes that aimed to control every aspect of their citizens’ lives for state goals Hitler’s totalitarian state was widely accepted, but German Jews and minorities were persecuted Hitler promoted Nazism in many ways

Instability After World War I Chapter 15, Lesson 1
Uneasy Peace, Uncertain Security League of Nations U.S. didn’t join Ineffective Treaty of Versailles punished / humiliated Germany war reparation (to France and Great Britain) financial crisis  France occupied Ruhr Valley in Germany Inflation in Germany Treaty of Locarno guaranteed Germany’s new western borders with France and Belgium Kellogg-Briand Pact 65 nations pledged to “renounce [war] as an instrument of national policy” (no consequences planned)

The Treaty of Versailles

Instability After WWI Chapter 15, Lesson 1
Great Depression depression – a person of low economic activity and rising unemployment Causes of Depression: FARMERS WENT INTO DEBT, RISKY INVESTMENTS FAILED, BANKS RAN OUT OF MONEY banks = largely responsible Stock Market Crash: market speculations with loaned money international financial crisis loans became difficult to get  major problem MAKING MARKET SPECULATIONS WITH LOANED MONEY

Responses to the Depression 1932 – worst year of depression 25% of Britain unemployed 30% of Germans unemployed democracy under attack women gained the right to vote in some places

Germany Weimar Republic (unpopular) runaway inflation ( ) fixed income  lost everything paved the way for fear and the rise of extremist parties DISCUSSION: Why? A well-known photo shows children playing with worthless Germany money. At inflation's peak, 1 dollar traded at 4.2 trillion Deutsche Marks.

France difficulties after WWI MIGINOT LINE HURT ECONOMY, FARMLAND WAS IN RUINS, YOUNG MEN LOST LIVES HURTING POPULATION – 19 month period with 6 different cabinets (political chaos) Popular Front Government 1936 – coalition of leftist parties communists, socialists and radicals French New Deal collective bargaining minimum wage 40-hour work week

Great Britain – limited prosperity Labour Party failed to solve economic problems Conservatives pulled out of worst of depression balance budgets protective tariffs John Maynard Keynes unemployment came from a decline in demand, not from overproduction increase demand by creating jobs deficit spending – when a government pays out more money than it takes in through taxation and other revenues, thus going into debt

The United States Industrial production fell 50% ( ) 1932 – FDR won presidential election (crushed it!) New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA), 1935 employed 3 million built bridges, roads, post offices and air ports Welfare Social Security Act, 1935 old age pensions unemployment insurance unemployment still grew WWII and weapons industries  fixed unemployment WWII ended Great Depression

Arts fascination with absurd and unconscious “The world does not make sense, so why should art?” Dadaism – artists obsessed with the idea that life has no purpose surrealism – an artistic movement that seeks to depict the world of the unconscious Salvador Dali – The Persistence of Memory Sciences 1920s-30s – “heroic age of physics” Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle – (1927) – the idea that the behavior of subatomic particles is uncertain, suggesting that all of the physical laws governing the universe are based in uncertainty

The Rise of Dictatorial Regimes Chapter 15, Lesson 2
The Rise of Dictators 1939 – only France and GB remain democracies totalitarian state – a government that aims to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural lives of its citizens minds and hearts PROPAGANDA and mass communication single leader, single party individual will subjective to collective will, as determined by the leader masses  actively involved in achieving state goals

Fascism in Italy Benito Mussolini, Il Duce Fascio di Combattimento (League of Combat) fascism – a political philosophy that glorifies the state above the individual by emphasizing the need for a strong central government led by a dictatorial rule nationalistic appeals Fascists used a private army called the BLACK Shirts. middle class – fear of communism, socialism, disorder police – unrestricted authority to arrest and jail anyone for either political or nonpolitical crimes secret police (OVRA) – watched indiv. political activities control over media (newspapers, radio and film) “Mussolini is always right.” 2/3 in fascist youth groups  fit, disciplined and war-loving traditional social values  family = pillar of state Catholicism survived (Vatican City, national religion, support fascists) Rome-Berlin Axis: Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany Il Duce = the leader Mussolini – started career as a socialist Fascio di Combattimento is where the word fascism originates Mussolini – never obtained fascism to the level of Hitler or Stalin

From Russia to the USSR Lenin war communism command economy - GOVERNMENT MAKES ALL ECONOMIC DECISIONS drought – 5 million starved – 80% decrease in industrial production “Down with Lenin and horse flesh. Bring back the Czar and pork.” Leon Trotsky Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) small-level capitalism heavy industry, banking, mines = government controlled saved Soviet Union from complete economic disaster

From Russia to the USSR (cont.) The Soviet Union 1922 – Lenin and Communists  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) production at 75% of prewar levels 1924 – Lenin dies  power struggle 7 member Politburo – the Communist Party’s main policy-making body Leon Trotsky – expand industrialization (at expense of peasants) and expand communist abroad opposition: socialism, continue NEP

From Russia to the USSR (cont.) Joseph Stalin and His Five-Year Plans intense personal rivalry between Stalin and Trotsky  Stalin wins 1927 – Trotsky flees to Mexico, 1940 assassinated 1928 – ended NEP, launch First Five-Year Plan economic goal: agricultural  industrial production of military and capital goods – goods devoted to the production of other goods such as heavy machines 4x heavy machinery production; 2x oil production

From Russia to the USSR (cont.) Costs of Stalin’s Programs real wages decline by 43% ( ) housing investments declined terrible living conditions for workers collectivization – a system in which private farms are eliminated and peasants work land owned by the government (private farms eliminated) resistance: hoarding crops and killing livestock led to widespread famine ( , 10 million died) forced labor camps in Siberia Great Purge – 8 million arrested and sent to labor camps Executions - ELIMINATE DISLOYAL PARTY MEMBERS parent = small collective – teach hard work, duty, discipline

Authoritarian States in the West Eastern Europe not totalitarian used police powers preserve existing social order historically: rural, agrarian, no democratic tradition, Czechoslovakia – maintained democracy large middle class liberal tradition strong industrial base authoritarian replaced my parliamentary systems that were initially set up after WWI

Authoritarian States in the West Spain General Francisco Franco, revolted 1936 Spanish Civil War Hitler and Mussolini aided Franco – arms, money, soldiers – dictatorship established by Franco favored traditional groups did not control all aspects of peoples’ lives harsh – special police forces, exiles, imprisonment authoritarian replaced my parliamentary systems that were initially set up after WWI Spanish Civil War = opportunity for Hitler to test new weapons

Hitler and Nazi Germany Chapter 15, Lesson 3
Hitler and Nazism Nazi (National Socialist German Workers’ Party, NSDAP) 2 years – 55,000 members 15,000 in party militia (SA/Storm Troops/Brownshirts) Beer Hall Putsch (1932) Hitler  sentenced to prison  wrote Mein Kampf German nationalism, strong anti-Semitism, anticommunism LINKD by a Social Darwinism theory of struggle Lebenstraum “living space” through expansion

Hitler and Nazism Rise of Nazism Nazis  obtain power legally 3 years  800,000 member, largest rep. in Reichstag terrible conditions helped Nazi rise to power appealed to nationalism and militarism The Nazis Take Control 1933 – Pres. Hindenberg allowed Hitler became Chancellor and to create a new government Enabling Act (1933) – 2/3 vote gave Hitler the ability to ignore the constitution for 4 years (essentially voted-in dictatorship) removed all Jews from government built concentration camps – a camp where prisoners, or members of minority groups are confined, typically under harsh conditions banned all other political parties 1934 – Hindenberg dies  presidency abolished  Hitler is the Fuhrer! Fuhrer = leader

The Nazi State, Aryan – a term used to identify people speaking Indo-European languages; Nazis misused the term, treating it as a racial designation and identifying the Aryans with the ancient Greeks and Romans and twentieth-century Germans and Scandinavians mass demonstrations and spectacles Nuremberg party rallies every September Fuhrer = leader

Nuremberg Party Rallies

The Nazi State, The State and Terror schutzstaffeln “Guard Squadrons” (SS) Heinrich Himmler – control of secret police and regular police terror: instruments of repression and murder  secret police, criminal police, concentration camps… execution squads and death camps ideology: further the “Aryan master race” Economics public works and grants  put people back to work rearmament  largely fixed unemployment Fuhrer = leader

The SS schutzstaffeln “Guard Squadrons”

The Nazi State, Women and Nazism bearers of Aryan children (honor) encouraged to leave “difficult” or “serious” professions encouraged to pursue social work and nursing Fuhrer = leader

The Nazi State, Anti-Semitic Policies Nuremburg Laws, 1935 Jew = anyone with one Jewish grandparent stripped Jews of citizenship banned marriage between Jews and German citizens later  forced to wear Stars of David Kristallnacht – “night of shattered glass” synagogues and Jewish-owned business destroyed 30,000 Jewish males arrested  sent to concentration camps Jews  barred from public transportation, public buildings (includes schools and hospitals) Fuhrer = leader

Kristallnacht

The Nazi State, Culture and Leisure Joseph Goebbels, German propaganda minister Kraft durch Freude “Strength through Joy” radio, movies, concerts, operas, films, guided tours, sporting events Marconi’s invention of radios encouraged (inexpensive, buy on payment plan) movies (40% of adults  seeing 1 movie per week) feature films and documentaries supporting Nazi message 1936 Berlin Olympics Fuhrer = leader

Dictator Breakdown: Fascists vs. Communists
Fascist Dictators: Benito Mussolini Francisco Franco Hitler Communist Dictators: Lenin Stalin IMPORTANT TO KEEP THESE GROUPS SEPARATE

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