Transcript The World Between Wars

The World Between Wars
From Versailles to the Brink of War
Preview Questions
• What issues did Europe face after WWI?
• How did the Great Depression affect the
world’s economy?
• What political philosophies were adopted by
Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the USSR,
Britain, France, and the United States in the
1930s?
• What events led to the outbreak of WWII?
The Legacy of World War I
• The Failures of the Treaty of Versailles
– Rise in nationalism
– Economic depression
– Rise of authoritarian governments
“In general, it has seemed that the treaty was either to harsh or too
mild. It was too harsh to reconcile Germany with its former war enemies
and to integrate it into a lasting peaceful postwar order, and it was too
mild to weaken Germany so as to make it impossible for it to ever again
become a great power.
-Professor Raffael Scheck, Colby College
The Legacy of World War I
• The War’s Extreme Cost
– Nearly 30 million causalities
– $338 billion in economic costs
– Destruction of homes, farms, towns
“In France and Belgium, where most of the war was fought, 300,000 houses, 6,000
factories, 1,000 miles of railway, 2,000 breweries and 112 coal mines were destroyed…In
some ways, mankind has never recovered from the horrors of the First World War.”
-John D. Clare, First World War (1994)
The Legacy of World War I
• The “Lost Generation”
– Term used to describe disillusionment, insecurity,
and despair following WWI
“All of you young people who served in the
war. You are a lost generation...”
– Author Gertrude Stein as quoted in epigraph of Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun
Also Rises.
The Great Depression
• Causes
– Uneven distribution of wealth
– Overproduction
– Decreased consumer demand
– Risky stock market investments
• World economy depended on U.S. prosperity
The Great Depression
• Effects
– U.S. aid to Europe
declines
– Decreased world trade
– Soaring unemployment
– Loss of faith in
democratic governments
– Renewed interest in
Communism and
Socialism
GERMANY
• The Weimar Republic
– Germany’s democratic
government formed in
1919
– Blamed for WWI
defeat and the terms
of the Treaty of
Versailles
“The Weimar Republic was not successful
for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most
formidable reason was that the fledgling
republic was a political experiment for a
country that had only known the reign of
Kaisers for much of its recent history…
The times were not conducive to an
emerging republic: economic problems,
threatening national bankruptcy,
unemployment and social unrest all lead
to the failure. With over 30 parties near
the end of the Republic, German citizens
responded positively to Hitler's call to
fervent nationalism, law and order, and a
return to the tradition moral sense of the
Fatherland.”
- Elizabeth Kirkley Best, Ph.D.
GERMANY
“Many observers -- politicians and historians -- have
tended to blame the rise of the Nazis on Versailles,
following the dictum of an eminent democratic German
politician. When asked about the ultimate reasons for
the failure of the democratic Weimar Republic, he
replied: "Versailles and Moscow." By "Moscow" he
meant that subversive communist activity guided by
the Russian Bolshevist government had undermined
democracy in tandem with the Nazis. By mentioning
"Versailles" he claimed that the peace treaty had had
detrimental effects on the viability and domestic
authority of the German democracy.”
– Professor Raffael Scheck, Colby College
GERMANY
• Economic Crisis
– Hyper-inflation of 1923
– Staggering war reparations
– People question the value of
the government
In November 1923, one U.S. dollar was equal to one
trillion German marks. (PBS.org)
In this picture, a woman uses German marks for fuel.
GERMANY
GERMANY
• Efforts at Lasting Peace
– Treaty of Locarno
• France and Germany pledge not to wage war against
each other
• Germany promises to respect French and Belgian
borders
• Germany joins League of Nations
GERMANY
• Efforts at Lasting Peace
– Kellogg-Briand Pact
• Major nations renounce
war as an instrument of
national policy
“I dare predict that the influence of
the Treaty for the Renunciation of War
will be felt in a large proportion of all
future international acts.”
-U.S. President Herbert Hoover
– League of Nations
• No military forces
• U.S. refusal to join
“The League is very well when
sparrows shout, but no good at all
when eagles fall out.”
-Benito Mussolini
GERMANY
• National Socialism
– Extreme Nationalism
– Superiority of Aryan Race
– Expansionism
• Lebensraum: Living Space
• Beer Hall Putsch
– Failed coup led by Hitler
in 1923
– Spends 9 months in jail
and writes Mein Kampf
GERMANY
“ Never forget that the most sacred right on this earth is man's right to have the
earth to till with his own hands, the most sacred sacrifice the blood that a man sheds
for this earth....”
- Hitler in Mein Kampf
“I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by
defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”
-Hitler in Mein Kampf
“The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric
than to any other force.”
- Hitler in Mein Kampf
“What we have to fight for is the freedom and independence of the fatherland, so
that our people may be enabled to fulfill the mission assigned to it by the creator.”
- Hitler in Mein Kampf
GERMANY
• Hitler Becomes Chancellor
– Appointed chancellor in 1933
– Appointed dictator in 1934
– Turns Germany into a
totalitarian state
– Power relied on secret police,
propaganda, censorship, and
indoctrination
– Rise of the Nazis
Adolf Hitler (left) and Herman
Göring (right) at a January 1933
Berlin rally to celebrate Hitler's
appointment as Chancellor.
- Photo: Rabbi Herscel Schachter,
courtesy of USHMM
GERMANY
“Health, child protection,
fighting poverty, aiding
travelers, community, helping
mothers: These are the tasks
of the National Socialist
People's Charity. Become a
member!”
Posters via
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gp
a/posters2.htm
GERMANY
“"Long live Germany!."
"Before: Unemployment, hopelessness,
desolation, strikes, lockouts. Today: Work,
joy, discipline, camaraderie. Give the
Führer your vote!"
ITALY
• Benito Mussolini
– Fascism: Emphasize
nationalism and needs
of the state
– Used Black Shirts to
capture Rome in 1922
– Appointed Prime
Minister in 1922
“The truth is that men are tired of
liberty. “ –Benito Mussolini
“The keystone of the Fascist doctrine is
its conception of the State, of its
essence, its functions, and its aims. For
Fascism the State is absolute,
individuals and groups relative. “
-Benito Mussolini
SPAIN
• Civil War
– Fascists, led by
Francisco Franco,
overthrow the
democratic
government
– Establish dictatorship
– Franco aided by Hitler
and Mussolini
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco
SOVIET UNION
• Joseph Stalin
– Totalitarianism:
Complete control of
people
– Collectivized land
– “5 Year Plans” to
modernize
– Killed 8-13 million people
JAPAN
• Militarists Control Japan
– Focus on creating an
empire through expansion
in the Pacific
– Fulfill need for raw goods,
new markets, and
population expansion
– General Hideki Tojo
appointed Prime Minister
in 1941
Japanese Emperor Hirohito at an
Army inspection in 1938
BRITAIN AND FRANCE
• Strongest democracies in
Western Europe
• Desire to Avoid War
– Horrors of WWI
– Still rebuilding
– Recovering from Great
Depression
• Appeasement: Giving in
to an aggressor’s
demands
Surveying the destruction in
London 1915
UNITED STATES
• Isolationism
– Belief that political ties
to other countries
should be avoided
– Neutrality Acts (1935):
Banned the sale of arms
to nations at war
“Providing for the prohibition of the export
of arms, ammunition, and implements of war
to belligerent countries; the prohibition of
the transportation of arms, ammunition, and
implements of war by vessels of the United
States for the use of belligerent states…”
- The Neutrality Act of 1935
THE ROAD TO WAR
• Manchurian Invasion
– Japan invades
Manchuria in 1931
– “Condemned” by League
of Nations, but no action
taken
– Encouraged Mussolini
and Hitler to begin
expansion
Manchuria was a region rich in iron and coal.
Once occupied, the Japanese built mines and
factories in Manchuria.
THE ROAD TO WAR
• Italy invades Ethiopia in
1935
• Hitler Defies the Treaty of
Versailles (3/35)
– Began rebuilding military
– Invaded Rhineland (3/36)
– Formed Rome-Berlin Axis
(10/36)
– Allied with Japan (11/36)
Ethiopian men standing with Italian
soldiers cs. 1935-1936.
-Image via Corbis
THE ROAD TO WAR
• Massacre at Nanjing (Dec. 1937 – March 1938)
– Japanese troops capture
Chinese city of Nanjing
– 250,000-300,000
people murdered
Chinese prisoners being buried alive by their
Japanese captors outside the city of Nanjing,
during the infamous Rape of Nanjing.
-www.corbis.com
THE ROAD TO WAR
• German Reich Expands
– Anschluss: Annexed
Austria in March 1938
A billboard in Austria reads “Common
Blood Belongs Together in one Reich”
-Image via Corbis
THE ROAD TO WAR
– The Sudetenland
• A region of Czechoslovakia annexed in 1938
THE ROAD TO WAR
• Munich Pact (September 1938)
– Hitler’s demand of Sudetenland appeased by
Britain and France
“I believe it is peace for our time”
– British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain upon returning
from the Munich Conference
“Britain and France had to
choose between war and
dishonor. They chose dishonor.
They will have war”
– Future Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s
reaction to the Munich Pact
THE ROAD TO WAR
• Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (1939)
– Agree not to attack
each other
– Secretly agree to
divide Poland
OUTBREAK OF WAR
• September 1, 1939:
Germany invades
Poland
– Considered start of
WWII
• September 3, 1939:
Britain and France
declare war on
Germany
“Invading German troops approach
Bydgoszcz. Poland. September 18,
1939.”
-http://www.ushmm.org