Transcript Chapter 26 PowerPoint File

Political Experiments of the 1920s
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New governments in Europe seeking to gain support of citizens &
solve economic problems
In the Soviet Union, Bolsheviks build a vast authoritarian govt.
Many nations struggling with Wilson’s democracy > Problems?
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Aggressive nationalism
Political conservatism
Lack of political skill to make it work
Citizens saw it as corrupt and feeble
Harsh reality of economics
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Minority national groups in Eastern Europe felt they
were denied Wilson’s self-determination
◦ Many nationalities sat outside their national borders
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France not happy with the enforcement of the
treaties
Germany obviously not happy with amount of
reparations they had to pay
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Nations could not reestablish economic and
social normalcy that existed before 1914
Casualties from the war > loss of producers &
consumers
European countries once creditors > now they
are debters
 Nations forced to pursue their own economic interests
in order to pay their debt
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European industry & transportation > badly
damaged or destroyed
 New boundaries separated raw materials and factories
 Example division of Austria-Hungary
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European nations struggle in area of
international trade
 US and Japan pick up where Europeans left off
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Unionism had gained new prominence during the
war
◦ Wages were up during war, slightly fell after (still higher than
prewar)
◦ Collective bargaining and union recognition were now permanent
features of the labor market
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The Bolsheviks had consolidated power
◦ Single most transforming element of post-WWI
 Soviet Union
◦ Communist party retains power from 1917-1991
◦ Communism could disrupt the political life of other nations
 Seen as an export
◦ Fear of it’s spread
 Western Europe and US spent the rest of the century making sure this
didn’t happen
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Trotsky (1879-1940) organized the Red Army to
suppress both internal and foreign opposition
 White Russian opposition could not get properly organized
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The nation was run by Lenin from the top,
undemocratically
 The government ran the banks, the transport system, and heavy
industry
 All opposition was repressed
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War Communism generated opposition
 Peasants resisted the requisition of grain for the army
 Strikes in 1920 and 1921 in various factories
 Baltic fleet mutiny in March 1921
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Red Army crushes rebellion > large loss of life
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Outlined by Lenin in March 1921
◦ Private industry would be tolerated except for in:
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Banking
Heavy Industry
Transportation
International Commerce
◦ Peasant farming for profit was legalized
 Food was available to feed people in cities
◦ Countryside stabilized
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Some saw it as a betrayal of Marxist principles by
this partial return to capitalism
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After Lenin’s stroke in 1922 and his
subsequent death in 1924, a power
vacuum was left
Two factions emerged
◦ Trotsky Faction
◦ Stalin Faction
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party general secretary
Lenin had criticized both before his
death, but especially Stalin
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Urged rapid industrialization
financed by expropriation of farm
production.
Collectivization of agriculture
The Soviet Union should
encourage worldwide Socialist
revolution
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His position of general secretary allowed
him to amass bureaucratic and
administrative power
 Not a good writer or speaker but he was
brutal
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Manipulated intraparty rivalries
 Stalin supports NEP > slow industrialization
 Also opposed Trotsky’s position on
worldwide revolution
 Russia’s success did not depend on other
nations
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Thus, he was able to eventually have
Trotsky humiliated and exiled by 1929
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Also called the Comintern, the Third International of
the European Socialist Movement was designed by
Lenin to promote the Bolshevik style of Socialism in
Europe.
◦ Bolsheviks seen as extremists by other socialists in Europe
◦ Sought to destroy democratic socialism
 Communists vs. social democrats
◦ These splits helped lead to the rise of the fascists and the Nazis
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Traditional Family embodied by middle-class
capitalist values
Alexandra Kollontai > her views > radical
◦ Families based on love and comradeship
◦ Not popular in Soviet Union but she became well
known > influences fascists
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Women gain many rights under Bolsheviks
Problems
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Paid less
No high positions in govt.
Few consumer goods
Still expected to do the housework and keep family
together
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Fascism arose?
◦ Fear of Bolshevism spreading
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Characteristics
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Antidemocratic
Anti-Marxist
Frequently Anti-Semitic
Rejected Liberalism
Usually single-party dictatorships
Use terrorism
Nationalistic
Mass political parties
Founded in Italy Benito Mussolini
(1883-1945)
◦ Model for others
◦ Often over shadowed by Hitler
◦ Huge impact on politics in the 1920s
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Italian Fasci Di Combattimento, “Bands of
Combat,” founded in 1919 in Milan
 Mostly Italian war veterans who rejected Versailles
 Cheated out of the fruits of victory
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Lead by Mussolini
 A former socialist
 Broke with socialists in 1914, in order to support
joining the war on the side of the Allies
 Nationalism replaced socialism in his ideology
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Took advantage of postwar chaos
 Parliament ceased to function
 Social turmoil > labor strikes
 Fear of communist revolution
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Any social group that pursued its own goals undermined the goal
of national unity
 Formed local squads of terrorists to go after socialists and other perceived
malcontents
 Law enforcement ignored them
 Controlled local govt.
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In 1921 Mussolini and 34 Fascists were elected to the government
The Black Shirt March (Fascists wore black shirts)
 In October 1922, the Fascists marched on Rome
 King Victor Emmanuel III > did not have army stop them
 Ensured fascist seizure of power
 Mussolini becomes prime minister
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On November 23, 1922 the king and Parliament granted Mussolini
dictatorial power for one year
 People believed in him
 Mussolini will appoint fascists everywhere in govt. positions
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Once in power, Mussolini moved cautiously
◦ Changed election laws in 1924, so that the party which
received the largest popular vote would have two
thirds of the seats in parliament
◦ In the 1924 election, the Fascists won complete control
of Parliament
◦ By 1926 Mussolini was able to rule by decree (force of
law)
 Other political parties dissolved
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Violence and terror continued
Admired why?
◦ Saved Italians from Bolshevism
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The Lateran Accord of 1929 made peace with the
Vatican
◦ Peace with church and state
◦ Pope temporal ruler of independent state of Vatican City
◦ Catholicism official religion of Italy
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France and Britain calm on political surface
◦ In reality, they were troubled democracies
Clemenceau
George
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The French parliament was extremely conservative, opposing
social reforms
They initially accepted a role as the leading European power
◦ Wanted to keep Germany weak by enforcing the treaty
◦ Made treaties with Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Poland intended
to contain German, but the alliance was weak?
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Could not help each other if the event of a resurgent Germany
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Alliances only worsened situation with Russia and Germany > they isolated further
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Russia and Germany actually est. a relationship
Attempts to enforce reparations
◦ In 1923 France occupied the Ruhr, as punishment for Germany’s defaulting on
reparations
◦ The Germans paid, but Britain was alienated > became suspicious
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Prosperity continued longer than anywhere else in Europe,
until 1931
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Economic Confusion
◦ The new government in 1919 was a Liberal-Conservative coalition
◦ The economy was depressed throughout the 1920s
◦ After 1922 government welfare was the normal means of income for thousands of British
families
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First Labour Government
◦ In 1923 Labour Party took over. Though Socialistic in outlook, they were non-revolutionary
◦ This was the beginning of the end for the Liberal party
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The General Strike of 1926
◦ In 1924 Labour Party fell, and the Conservatives took power again
◦ In order to make their industry internationally competitive, British management attempted to
cut wages
◦ In 1926 coal miners went on strike, followed by sympathetic workers in other industries
◦ In the end, they surrendered, but there was continued unrest
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The Empire Crumbled
◦ In the 1920s India gained independence
◦ In 1921, most of Ireland gained independence
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1914 Irish Home Rule bill passed
◦ Suspended WWI
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1918 Sinn Fein Party wins seats
in Parliament
◦ More radical
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1919 Irish independence
declared
◦ IRA vs. British army
 Guerilla warfare
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1921 Irish Free State est.
◦ Northern Ireland part of UK
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Civil War in Ireland
◦ Moderates vs. Diehards
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WWII Ireland stays neutral
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New States > buffer to spread of Bolshevism
◦ The question became, could those who had previously been
powerless rule competently?
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Economic and Ethnic Pressures
◦ All of the new states except Czechoslovakia depended on
foreign loans
◦ Minority groups wanted independence or be part of another
region
◦ All of the new states except Czechoslovakia fell under
authoritarian ethnic rule
 Characterized by or favoring absolute obedience to
authority
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Restored after 130 years of being ruled by its neighbors
Nationalism was not sufficient to overcome political
disagreements
◦ Minorities distrusted the govt.
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Too many political groups in Parliament
In 1926 Marshal Josef Pilsudski (1867-1935) carried out
a coup
◦ Rules Poland until his death
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Czechs and Slovaks worked well together
Czechoslovakia was fortunate enough to have a gifted
leader in Thomas Masaryk
Trouble
◦ Non-Czech national groups caused tensions
 Especially, Germans of Sudetenland
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Country worked well until the 30s, when German
nationalists looked to Hitler, and he annexed the
Sudetenland while the world watched
◦ Policy of appeasement
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Achieved long-desired break from Austria
After the war there was a short lived
Communist Soviet Republic
◦ Bela Kun > leader
◦ Allies used Romanian troops to remove him
◦ Soviet Republic was part of Lenin’s Comintern
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Upset with territory lost in Paris settlement
Following the fall of the Communists, an
aristocratic authoritarian government ruled
◦ Anti-Semitic policies enacted
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Economy weak > mostly agrarian
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¼ of population lived in Vienna
Parliament > battle for power
◦ Leftist Social Democrats vs. Conservative Christian
Socialists
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By the 30s the Christian Socialists had control, until
the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938
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Made up of royal dictatorships
Yugoslavia
◦ Fighting between Serbs vs. Croats & Slovenes
◦ Clash leads to royal dictatorship
 King Alexander I (Serb)
 Assassinated
 Son and his regime take over
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Romania > King Carol II
Bulgaria > King Boris III
Greece
◦ Parliamentary until coup creates dictatorship King George II
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Formed after the defeat of German imperial army
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Named after city the constitution was written
Weimar Republic associated with the disgrace of the Paris Settlement
German Nationalists and military figures not happy with Republic
Desire to revise Treaty of Versailles
Flaws
◦ The president was permitted to rule by decree in an emergency, permitting
presidential dictatorship
 Reichstag (Parliament) had too many minor political parties > caused division
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The republic also lacked broad popular support
◦ Kapp Putsch (Coup) erupted in Berlin 1920 > failed
◦ There was massive inflation, due to the reparations imposed by the allies
◦ The invasion of the Ruhr caused the German people to resent the Weimar
government even more
◦ Violence marked the first 5 years of the Repbulic
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Hitler and the Early Years of Nazism
◦ Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) made his first major appearance on the political scene in 1923
Along with an number of his followers he attempted a putsch. Though it failed, and
Hitler was imprisoned, it made him a hero to many Germans > wrote Mein Kampf in jail
◦ Nazism was characterized by extreme nationalism, anti-Communism, and anti-Semitism
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The Stresemann Years
◦ In order to repair inflation Chancellor Gustav Stresemann introduced a new German
currency
◦ He also agreed to a new system of reparation payments in 1924, which helped to lower
inflation > Dawes Plan > 1929 replaced by the Young Plan
◦ In 1925, right after the French left the Ruhr, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg became
president
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Locarno
◦ The 1925 Locarno Agreements helped to integrate Germany back into the European
system
◦ However, its conciliatory outlook continued to alienate the German nationalist public
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Soviet Union deeply feared the West
Major powers started cooperating
Successor states had not fulfilled democratic hopes
Economy getting better > inflation under control
All illusionary and temporary
◦ Depression settles in
◦ 30’s mark political tragedies