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Get Started! • Go to the blog and follow directions http://mseversworld.blogspot.com Directions • Please turn in the chart you completed for homework. • Then take out a piece of paper and something to write with. Quiz • 1. Write down one success of the League of Nations in the 1920s • 2. Write down one failure in the 1920s • 3. Write down one international agreement of the 1920s and say whether or not the League was involved. International Agreements of the 1920s • 1921- Washington Conference: USA, Britain, France, Japan agree to limit navies • 1922 - Rapallo Treaty: USSR & Germany re-establish diplomatic relations • 1924 - The Dawes Plan: To avert economic crisis in Germany, the USA lent $ to Germany to help it pay reparations • 1925 - Locarno Treaties: Germany accepts Western borders as set by Treaty of Versailles • 1928 - Kellogg-Briand Pact: Nations condemn war. 65 nations agreed not to use force to settle disputes. This is also known as the Pact of Paris. • 1929 - Young Plan: reduced Germany reparations payments Optimism in Mid 1920s • After difficult days in early 20s, economies now improving • Dawe’s Plan helped sort out German $. • Also British & French • Recovery of trading relationships reduced tension • Locarno “honeymoon” = felt problems leftover from WWI were solved and new hope for world peace • German goodwill to France • Germany on way to joining League • Kellogg-Briand Pact = high-point of international relations in the 1920s • greeted as a “turning point” in history; any observer would have argued that the world was a safer place But underneath, there were Problems... • “Behind the facade of public fellowship the real spirit ... was one of bitter confrontation between a fearful France and a bitter Germany.” - Marks • “[The Agreements] represented no more than the hopes of decent men.” Watson • Germany accepted borders to the West, but Czechoslovakia and Poland worried about what this meant for the East. • Very little progress of disarmament What’s next Before we move on from the 1920s, let’s take a deeper look at Germany’s development after WWI. We want to understand how the League’s action (or inaction) led to the rise of Hitler and the start of WWII. German Depth STudy The Weimar Republic Objectives • Investigate the problems facing the Weimar government in the 1920s • Discover how those problems helped Hitler and the Nazis to take power in 1933 Background Germany in 1914 Germans had been a proud people Country led by Kaiser Wilhelm II (a dictator) who was celebrated for his achievements Army was the finest in the world Prospering businesses well educated and well fed workforce The impact of the First World War on Germany was devastating. The Treaty of Versailles made the country’s problems even worse. The Weimar government struggled from crisis to crisis. Out of this conflict Adolf Hitler and the Nazis emerged as the most powerful group in Germany. After the First World War • Proud German army defeated • Germany people surviving on little food (mixed with sawdust!) • Flu epidemic was killing thousands of people already weakened by rations • 5 years later the situation was the same if not worse The birth of the Weimar republic • Allies offered Germany peace under strict conditions: “Become more democratic • Freidrich Ebert = new leader • Signed an armistice with the Allies • Ebert announced that the new Republic was giving them freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and better working conditions • A new constitution was drawn up The Weimar Constitution • Attempted to set up the most democratic system in the world where no individual could gain too much power A new government • Success depended on the German people accepting an almost instant change from the traditional, autocratic system of government • Reaction = not good • Ebert face opposition from both right and left wing. • But, Germany held its very first free election took place in 1919 and Ebert became President of the Weimar Republic What was he facing? What was he Facing? • • Germany was virtually bankrupt • War left 600,000 widows and 2 million children without fathers (by 1925 state was spending 1/3 of its budget in war pensions • National income was about 1/3 of what it had been in 1913 • Industrial production was about 2/3 what it had been in 1913 Germany had a revolution and became an unstable democratic republic • • Many ex-soldiers and civilians despised the new democratic leaders The war had deepened divisions in society • There were huge gaps between the rich and poor living standards • Many German workers were bitter about restrictions place on their earning during the war while the factory owners made a fortune • DUring the war women were called to work. Many people saw this as damaging to traditional family values and society. Individual Investigation • Grab a big book and open it to page 140. Use pages 140-147 to take notes with this packet. Threat from the Left • Spartacists - Communists who felt that Germany was ready to follow Russia’s example of Communist Revolution. Exit Slip • Explain why people might agree with HItler that a dictatorship would solve Germany’s problems.