1919-1939

CHAPTER 31: YEARS OF CRISIS

SECTION 1POSTWAR UNCERTAINTY

• Einstein introduced the theory of relativity• Questioned the way we view the

world. Things change based on how you view them

• Freud popularized the idea of unconscious behavior• People often act irrationally (without

reason)

• Both of these ideas weakened the enlightenment ideals of being able to know and understand the world

CHANGES IN SCIENCE

• Disillusioned by the war, people began to doubt the world they thought they understood

• Writers wrote about “dark” topics

• Philosophers, especially Nietzsche, embraced existentialism (life has no universal purpose)• It is up to each person to develop

their own

• Encouraged abandoning Western ideas

CHANGES IN LITERATURE

• Artists began to break away from traditional styles• Emphasized emotion and

imagination

• Ex: Picasso/Cubism

• Surrealism sought to link the real world with imagination

• New styles of music developed (jazz) that used irregular rhythms and combinations of sounds

CHANGING ART

• WWI had allowed women to take on new roles

• Those new roles led to more equal rights like voting

• Women began to “fight” against the societal norms• Clothing/styles

• Driving

• Drinking/smoking

• Birth control

• New careers (especially professional)

WOMEN’S ROLES CHANGE

SECTION 2A WORLDWIDE DEPRESSION

• WWI had disrupted many longstanding rulers. New democracies replaced them

• With little experience with democracy, many nations had dozens of political parties, lacking one clear majority to run the country• These countries has to create a

coalition government, where multiple parties had to join together

• This makes long term changes very difficult to achieve

UNSTABLE DEMOCRACIES

• Post WWI (1919), the Weimar Republic took control of Germany

• Problems from the start• No history of democracy

• Multiple parties

• Took the blame for the Treaty of Versailles

WEIMAR REPUBLIC

• To pay the costs of the war, Germany printed more money• Value of the money dropped,

extreme inflation followed• Ex: Bread in 1923 cost 12.5

million times what it cost in 1918

• 160 to 200 billion marks

INFLATION HITS GERMANY

• Germany recovery was possible as a result of Charles Dawes• $200 million from American banks to

back the German economy and distribute reparations payments over time

• The success of the plan brought more investments and loans and by 1929, Germany was back to pre-WWI levels of production

• The major nations of the world also signed a pledge not to go to war with each other again• Nobody could actually enforce this

DAWES PLAN

• In the 1920s, the US economy was the foundation of the world’s economy

• The US Economy had serious problems:• Huge gap in wealth

• Americans could not buy products

• Overproduction

• Factories and farmers

• The booming market caused people to speculate (borrowing to buy stock)• Oct 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday) the

market plunged and began the…

FINANCIAL COLLAPSE

• The stock market collapse led to record unemployment and huge slumps in production/wages• This period would be known as the

Great Depression

• Our Depression spread to other places• Americans stopped buying foreign

goods and pulled their investments out/demanded repayment of debts

• Protectionist policies led to a 65% drop in world trade

GREAT DEPRESSION

• Britain enacted tariffs, increased taxes, and regulated currency to protect• They lowered interest rates to

encourage investments

• Worked slowly

• France used government reforms to help workers• It worked but also created more

socialist programs

• Socialist countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) used cooperation to rebuild

DEMOCRACIES REBUILD IN DIFFERENT WAYS

• Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) will be elected in 1932 (first post GDep election)

• He will immediately enact reforms known as the New Deal• Public works

• Government assistance to businesses/farms

• Welfare programs

THE NEW DEAL

SECTION 3FASCISM RISES IN EUROPE

• Looking for answers anywhere, people began to turn to the extremists

• Fascists emphasized nationalism and loyalty to their leaders, who used militant policies to enact change

• Very similar to communism• Used dictators

• No rights/freedoms

• State was supreme

• The big difference is that fascism does not seek to make everyone equal

FASCISM

• The Treaty of Versailles created anger in many Italians• Add unemployment and inflation

• Benito Mussolini promised to rebuild a strong Italy• Founded Fascist Party in 1919

• Using a 30,000 man army in 1922, Mussolini forced the king to give him power• He became Il Duce (the leader)

MUSSOLINI IN ITALY

• Enacted the same reforms as the Bolsheviks/Communists in USSR• Abolished democracy

• Banned other political parties

• Used secret police to jail opposition

• Censored radio and publications

• Did some things different• Outlawed strikes

• Allied with the wealthy industrialists and landholders

IL DUCE’S POLICIES

• Hitler served in WWI and became a struggling politician immediately after the war

• In 1919, he joined a right-wing group (National Socialists) that wanted to overturn the Treaty of Versailles• His speaking/organization allowed

him to become the leader

• He tried to lead an overthrow in 1923 but was unsuccessful and imprisoned• While in jail, he wrote Mein Kampf,

where he outlined his plan to rebuild Germany

HITLER AND NAZISM

• Hitler espoused the idea that Germans were a master race meant to dominate others

• Made a vow to recapture land given away in Versailles and to gain lebensraum (living space) by capturing new lands

• When he got out of jail in 1924 (9 months), he revived the Nazi Party but had little support, until...

HITLER’S RISE TO POWER

• The Great Depression ended German recovery

• The Nazi Party had become hugely popular by 1932, leading to Hitler being named Chancellor• Immediately calls for elections

which they won (barely)

• Hitler then turns Germany into a totalitarian state with the same restrictions Il Duce had created in Italy

HITLER BECOMES CHANCELLOR

• Countries with little to no history of democracy gave in to dictators• Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia,

Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania

• The only democracies to survive the 1920s were countries that were democracies to begin with• France, Britain, Scandinavian

countries

• These new dictators were eager to show their strength through military power

COLLAPSE OF DEMOCRACY

SECTION 4AGGRESSORS INVADE NATIONS

• Japan had democracy as long as things were good (1920s), but when things went bad (Great Depression), the military took control away

• Emperor Hirohito remained as emperor but the military made the decisions

• To rebuild their economy, Japan sought to expand

JAPAN’S GOVERNMENT STRUGGLES

• Seeking resources, Japan took control (1931) of the Manchuria region of China in direct violation of the League of Nations• Nothing was done

• In 1937, Japan launched an all out invasion of mainland China, easily capturing Beijing in months• Rape of Nanking: tens, and

possibly hundreds, of thousands of unarmed and innocent Chinese are killed by the Japanese in the capital

JAPAN BUILDS AN EMPIRE

• The League of Nation’s weakness emboldened European Fascists

• Mussolini will expand into Ethiopia, 1 of 3 free African nations

• Britain and the rest of the League allowed it to happen

• Hitler will continue to disobey the League when he begins rebuilding the German Army in 1935

EUROPEAN AGGRESSION

• Hitler used his army in March, 1936 to invade the Rhineland (buffer between Germany and France)

• Britain urged appeasement (giving in to an aggressor in order to keep peace)

• Result:• Hitler becomes more popular

• Germany becomes stronger than neighbors

• France and Britain look weak

• Italy and Japan will join Hitler in 1936 to create the Axis Powers

HITLER EXPANDS

• Spain had fallen into a civil war in 1936 between the liberal Socialists controlling the government and the military, who were Fascists

• Hitler and Mussolini gave troops, tanks, and airplanes to the Fascists while the West remained neutral• The Soviets helped but it was not

enough

• In 1939, Francisco Franco (Spanish Fascist) took control

SPANISH CIVIL WAR

• America embraced isolationism (avoid political ties to other nations) – Neutrality Act banned supporting any nation at war

• Hitler creates the Third Reich (German Empire) with the goal of annexing Austria

• France, Britain, Italy, and Germany meet (Munich Conference) to decide the future of Czechoslovakia

ATTEMPTS TO PRESERVE PEACE

• Germany gets Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) in exchange for promise not to expand further• 6 months later, he expands

• Mussolini then takes Albania

• Hitler turns his sights on Poland, recognizing Britain and France’s desire to avoid war

• Everybody wanted the USSR• 1939 - Hitler and Stalin sign the

nonaggression pact, promising not to attack one another

MUNICH CONFERENCE FAILS

Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano