Transcript THE GREAT DEPRESSION

BETWEEN THE WARS:
Europe and America
in the 1920s and the
Great Depression
Europe in the aftermath of the War
• Germany, Austria, and Turkey were defeated powers,
their empires destroyed and their governments being
reorganized
• France and Britain had ‘won’ the War, but at great
financial and human cost
• Russia was in the midst of a civil war
• The USA had rejected the Treaty of Versailles (and the
League of Nations) and was withdrawing again from
European affairs
The League of Nations
Dominated by France
and Britain, the League
had little power to
influence events if these
two did not agree on
what to do – they
seldom did agree.
Britain’s Empire at Risk
A foolish decision to fire on Indian civilians at Amritsar
in 1919 leads to the growing movement for Indian
independence.
Ireland in Revolt
1919 – British government divides Ireland into
northern and southern sections, sends troops to
protect the largely Protestant section in Ulster –
decades of terrorist war ensues.
“Should the order ("Hands Up") not be
immediately obeyed, shoot and shoot with effect.
If the persons approaching (a patrol) carry their
hands in their pockets, or are in any way
suspicious-looking, shoot them down.” -- British
commander to troops in 1919
Fascism in Italy
In the early 1920s, Italy came
under the control of Benito
Mussolini, a former socialist who
created a doctatorship based on
the idea that “unity” would create
a new Roman empire. Anyone
who did not want to be part pf
Mussolini’s unity was either
imprisoned or killed.
Ethnic Cleansing in 1919
Turkish forces drove
Greeks out of Smyrna,
killing thousands and
leaving entire villages
deserted.
In response Turks in parts
of Greece were killed or
forced to leave in a mass
migration
Southeast Europe
Yugoslavia was born in the
Versailles Treaty, as a reward
to Serbia. Romania also
gained new territory. But
again ethnic minorities, like
Croats in Yugoslavia and
Germans in Romania, were
subjected to numerous
humiliations. All the
enlarged SE nations regarded
their Moslem populations as
“heathens.”
Poland
Poland, recreated from lands taken from Germany and Czarist
Russia, was on paper a republic, but was ruled by Marshall
Pilsudski, who launched wars east and west, and encouraged
mistreatment of German and Ukrainian ethnics.
Russia under Stalin
In the late 1920s and early
1930s Stalin used Russian
agricultural crops to
expand Soviet industry.
Millions died in famines
while the food was seized
and sold to other countries.
Stalin used the money to
build new factories.
The German “Republic”
The German government
was stable only as long as
war hero, General von
Hindenburg, was the
president. Only he can
induce the German army
to support the republic.
Wild inflation in Germany
The war damage and the
billions owed in reparations
ruins the German economy –
people use 20 billion Mark
notes (like the one at right) to
buy a loaf of bread and some
milk.
Radical Parties in Germany
Inflation and anger at the
Versailles Treaty led many
Germans to join either the
Communist Party or one of
the militant ring-wing
groups, like the National
Socialist German Workers
Party – the Nazis.
Nazi Attempt to Seize Power
In 1923-24 Hitler tried
to take control of the
government in
Munich. Arrested, he
and his followers were
tried for treason,
convicted – and
sentenced to only two
years in prison.
Nazi Ideology
• The Nazi’s were violently Anti-Semitic, blaming the Jews
for Germany’s defeat in the Great War
• The Nazis believed in a racial hierarchy that placed
“Aryans” (Germanic peoples) as the top and Jews & Slavs
at the bottom
• Nazi economics were socialist on the surface, with
subsidies for industry and farms, and security payments
to families – but the creation of industry and labor ‘cartels’
backed by the national law allows Hitler full control of
production and wages.
• “Gleichshaltung” (coordination) is carried out in education,
media, and culture (and, when required, with blackjacks)
Nazi foreign policy
• The Nazis believed that Germany has a “destiny” to rule
over all of Europe, even if this meant the deaths of
millions
• The Nazis believed that violence was good in that it
“allowed” the superior to thrive while the “inferior were
destroyed in the competition for land, resources, etc.
• The Nazis believed that with a strong ruler (leader—
Fuhrer) their ‘Aryan’ nation would expand eastward
(gaining ‘lebensraum’ – living space) at the expense of
‘inferior Slavic peoples’ (‘untermenschen’), many of whom
would be ‘reduced’ in population
• Gross Deutschland would dominate all of Europe – the
British empire would either accept lesser status or be
eliminated
Aryanism
Nazi doctrine decreed
that blond, blue-eyed,
Central European
“Aryans” were the
superior race, which
should dominate all
others.
Anti-Jewish Laws
Once Adolf Hitler
gained power in
Germany, the Nazis
passed laws that
restricted Jewish life –
the park bench has a
sign: “Aryans only”
Repressing “non-German ideas”
Nazis frequently
burned the books of
Jewish writers, of
communists and of
non-Germans whose
ideas were considered
“weak, liberal, and
pacifist”
Destroying Jewish businesses
Nazi troopers used
intimidation to
prevent other
Germans from
shopping in Jewishowned businesses –
the sign says “do not
buy from Jews”
Camps for the “Reich’s enemies”
Hitler ordered camps
constructed for the
“protective custody” of
Jews, communists,
socialists, intellectuals,
and any critics of the
Nazi state – the Third
Reich. Dachau was the
first of many such
camps.
Rearmament
Both Italy and Germany
began to enlarge their
armies (in defiance of
treaties that limited
military growth). Germany
began to experiment with
fast-moving columns of
tanks, supported by large
numbers of bombers.
Disarmament
The U.S. used its
financial power to
persuade Britain,
Japan and others to
reduce the size of
their navies – the
1922 Naval
Limitations
agreement will
remain in force for
over 10 years.
‘Blitzkrieg’ – real or myth?
Much-used after 1940, this term
appeared in only two German
military essays in the 1930s – in
reference to Germany’s failure to win
a “quick war” against France in
1914. No German army manual
from 1939-45 used the term. In
Britain, France, Germany and the US
army theorists experimented with
how tanks could be used to quickly
advance after assaults o trenches.
Heinz Guderian (right) an expert on
tanks, contributed ideas for building
faster, tracked vehicles for infantry to
accompany tank advances.
No one ‘invented’ blitzkrieg – it
evolved from experience.
The United States
• Election of Warren Harding in 1920 opens an era of U.S.
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withdrawal from most European affairs.
Americans are angry that most European nations are not
repaying their war debts.
The US foreign policy was focused on limited efforts at
“containment” – by disarmament and a treaty (KelloggBriand) that renounced “aggressive warfare.”
U.S. politics is dominated by prohibition and the rising
power of Wall Street.
Farmers are having a very hard time.
Naval limitations
Scraping the USS South
Carolina in 1923 to meet
treaty limits – Japan, Italy
and (later) Germany built
ships that violated the
treaty limits for heavy
cruisers and destroyers. In
1935 Italy openly
renounced the treaty while
Japan ignored it
completely.
The US employed financial pressure to gain a 5-power naval
limitation treaty that followed a 5-5-3-1.75 ratio of ship tonnage
The Dawes Plan
No War?
In the late 1920s, U.S. Secretary
of State Frank Kellogg joined the
French foreign minister in
persuading world leaders to sign
a pact promising to “settle all
differences without resorting to
war.” Every major nation signed
it – and then ignored it.
Prosperity on shaky ground
• Despite the rising stock market, American (and world)
prosperity rested on very little more than public
confidence
• World trade declined as many nations imposed high tariffs
(taxes on foreign goods)
• The gold supply was not stabilizing prices
• Unemployment was slowly growing, as few people could
afford modern luxury goods
THE CRASH
Bank Failures – 9000 banks failed in U.S.,
holding $7 billion (there was no deposit
insurance)
One in four unemployed by 1933
Unemployment
BREAD LINE – NYC, 1930
Depression’s impact on labor force
Depression Leads to Demands to end
Prohibition
Herbert Hoover – National Recovery
Administration.
The NRA promised
recovery “in the
long run.”
“People don’t eat
in the long run,
they eat every
day.” – J. M.
Keynes.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The only limit to
our realization of
tomorrow will be
our doubts of
today.”
FDR, April 1945.
American Communism and the
Depression
The U.S.
Communist
Party’s
presidential
candidate
received
103,000 votes
in the 1932
election.
In Europe
The world depression was met in varying ways:
• In France, government subsidies combined with the
continuance of smaller ‘craft-manufacturing’ resulted
in lower unemployment
• In Britain, the pound sterling was devalued and
unemployment was high – workers out of jobs received
limited ‘dole’ payments for no more than 15 weeks.
• Germany and Italy relied on deficit spending and
massive re-armament to create jobs -- and prepare for
war.
• Russia’s ‘5-year plans’ and fully controlled economy
made it appear that unemployment did not exist – it was
untrue
British rearmament
Only in 1936 did
Britain begin to rearm
(with increased
employment. In war
they relied on their
navy, alliance with
France and ‘fast’
bombers that could
wreak havoc on
Germany.
Russia
Stalin used the 1920s-30s to purge the Communist Party of
any rivals, seize crops in the countryside to sell abroad for
industrial capital, and rid himself of army officers who
might challenge his authority. Paranoia ruled the Soviets.
Germany uplifted
Hitler used the crisis years to break the Versailles Treaty,
rearm Germany and in 1936 march troops into the
‘demilitarized’ Rhineland. Britain and France remain idle.
German pride overseas
The
GermanAmerican
Bund,
1936-40
Refugees
German racial policies forced Jews, socialists, and
many others to flee, first to neighboring countries, and
then overseas. European refugees, above, wait outside
the American consulate in Marseilles, France, 1940, in
hopes of obtaining an immigration visa.
Refugee processing
The process for obtaining an
American visa was
complicated – requiring an
American sponsor who
would take care of you if you
could not find a job.
EXILES
Bruno Walter -conductor
EXILES
Bertolt Brecht
-- playwright
EXILES
Lotte Lenya
-- actress
Lotte Lenya in America, 1962
EXILES
Albert
Einstein-physicist
EXILES
Josef Von
Sternberg -director
Rising Tensions
• The depression made international cooperation less likely
• The depression had been accompanied by an increase in
violence in many countries
• Some states were threatening to resort to war to get what
they wanted – Italy, Germany and Japan were seen as
especially aggressive
• The US passed “neutrality laws” to prevent the
provocations that led it into war in 1917
• Britain and France are uncertain how to proceed – should
they confront Germany without help from the Soviets, or
risk “a deal with the devil” – Stalin?
Italy wants a Mediterranean empire
Mussolini’s seizure
of Ethiopia in 193536 left the British
bases in Egypt facing
Italian forces in the
west (Libya) and the
south. Italy’s
defiance of the
League of Nations
for this aggression
essentially killed the
League’s image.
Civil war in Spain
Germany and Italy send
“volunteers” to help
fascist forces overthrow
the communistsupported government in
Spain. Italian aircraft
(left) test bombing
techniques on Madrid’s
civilians, 1937.
Anschluss
Hitler annexes Austria, in March 1938, following
a campaign of propaganda and intimidation.
From the wilderness
“An appeaser is one who
feeds a crocodile, hoping
it will eat him last.”
Winston Churchill, long
out of government circles
but still in the House of
Commons, warns the
British of the dangers of
trying to “appease” Adolf
Hitler.
Sudetenland
At Munich in October
1938, Hitler threatened
war, and Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain
agreed to let Germany
occupy the “German”
region of Czechoslovakia.
When Hitler seized the
rest of it in 1939, the
Versailles Treaty was a
dead letter.
Protecting Poland
To save his government,
Chamberlain issued a pledge
to defend Poland, Romania,
and Greece from “an
invader.” Hitler believed he
was bluffing, and Poland’s
government decided to defy
Germany’s demand for
control of the city Danzig.
Hitler orders German troops
to prepare for war.
September 1, 1939
After faking a border
‘incident’ with dead
prisoners wearing
Polish army
uniforms, the
German army
invaded Poland.
Would Britain back
down nothing again?
War
“For the second time in the
lives of most of us, we are
at war. . , . [but] for the
sake of all we ourselves
hold dear, and of the world
order and peace, it is
unthinkable that we should
refuse to meet the
challenge.”
George VI, King of
England