Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
I. New Governments
Soviet Union – Bolsheviks –
Authoritarian rule
Germany & Austria Hungary –
Democratically elected parliamentary
governments
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
Wilsonian vision of democratic, self-determined
nations flounders
• Harsh realities of economics, aggressive
nationalism, revived political conservatism and
lack of experience in democratic parliamentary
government.
• Also, important sectors of citizens believed
parliamentary gov’t was naturally corrupt or
unequal to great nationalistic enterprise
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
II. Demands for Revision of Versailles
Resentment and discontent among numerous
countries
Germany humiliated – endless haggling over
reparations payments
Various Eastern European states felt injustice
in the case of self-determination
Calls for border adjustments
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
France believed the treaty was being
inadequately enforced
Calls for enforcement of change contributed
to domestic political turmoil
Political figures take advantage of this turmoil
to capture domestic votes
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
III. Postwar Economic Problems
Desire to return to prewar economic
prosperity would prove impossible
Millions of people had been killed = loss of
talent, producers and consumers
Widespread destruction of transport facilities,
mines, and industry
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
European financial dominance and independence disappears with war
European nations deeply in debt to the US and each other
Bolsheviks repudiate tsarist debt – mostly owed to France
US asks for no payment from Germany, but demands payment from allies
Nations compelled to pursue selfish nationalistic economic aims
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
Market and trade conditions change radically
Russia withdraws from European economic
order
New states had weak, uncompetitive
economies
New states and new borders separate factories
from raw materials
Railway systems were controlled by multiple
nations
New customs barriers were raised
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
US no longer reliant on European production
– becomes a major competitor
Postwar economic growth in colonies or
former colonies lowered demand for European
goods
US and Japan began to penetrate markets in
Latin America and Asia
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
IV. New Roles for Government and Labor
Large gov’t bureaucracies planned the course
of production and distribution of goods during
wartime
Governments realized the large productive
and employment power of an economy placed
under state control
This would be carried over to peacetime
operations
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
Through cooperation during the war, labor achieved new prominence and their demands could not be ignored by the gov’t
Collective bargaining and union recognition could not be abandoned
Middle class was suspicious of the new role of labor and socialist political parties
Middle perpetuates the status quo to fend off the further social and economic advances of the working classes
Political and Economic Factors After the
Paris Settlement
The turn to liberal democracy and the
extension of franchise to women & previously
disenfranchised males = gov’t must now
answer to a large electorate
Joyless Victors
I. France: The Search for Security
French elect a doggedly conservative Chamber of Deputies
Many military officers in Chamber
Clemenceau loses bid for presidency
Deputies want to achieve future security against Germany and Russian Communism
Make few concessions to domestic social reform
France governed by 27 different cabinets between 1920 & 1933
Joyless Victors
New Alliances
• 1920 & 1921 – Czechoslovakia, Romania, and
Yugoslavia form the Little Entente
• France forms alliance with entente and Poland
• Little Entente was no match for Russia nor were they
reliable
• Poland and Romania more concerned about Russia
• Feeling isolated and in danger, Russia and Germany
sign an treaty in 1922
• Diplomatic and economic treaty proves useful for both
• Germans helped train Russian army which helped
Germans gain experience with tanks and planes
Joyless Victors
Quest for Reparations
• France declares Germany in default of reparations
• Sends troops to occupy Ruhr mining and manufacturing
region
• Germans go on strike
• France send civilians to run mines and railroads
• Germans pay
• England stayed out of issue, became suspicious of
France and sympathetic toward Germany
• France & Germany suffer increased inflation and
• France’s economy damaged
Joyless Victors
• France 1924 – conservatives out, coalition of leftist
parties in (Edouard Herriot leader)
• Recognition of Soviet Union and more conciliatory
policy toward Germany
• Aristide Briand becomes foreign minister – champion
of the League, did not believe French military power
gave it unlimited power over foreign affairs in Europe
• Inflation intensifies in 1925 – Poincare returns to office
in 1926 – inflation cools an the Franc recovers
• Conservatives remain power for the rest of the 1920’s –
France enjoys general prosperity until 1931
Joyless Victors
II. Great Britain
1918 – Parliament expanded the electorate to all men aged 21 and women aged 30 (age lowered to 21 for women in 1928)
Liberal, David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister
British economy depressed throughout the 1920’s
High unemployment and expanded gov’t entitlement programs
Joyless Victors
The First Labor Government
• 1922 – Lloyd George is replaced by Conservative,
Bonar Law – a Liberal would never be prime minister
again
• Law is replaced by Stanley Baldwin
• 1923 – conservatives lose their majority in the House of
Commons
• Labor Party has the 2nd largest group of members in
House of Commons
• Labor Party was socialistic, but not revolutionary
• Ramsay MacDonald faced with proving that the Labor
Party is respectable and responsible
Joyless Victors
The General Strike
• 1924 – Conservatives regain power – Stanley
Baldwin returns to office
• Gov’t attempts to restore prewar conditions of
trade
• Britain returns to the gold standard
• Gov’t sets conversion rate too high against other
currencies – British goods become too
expensive
• Management tries to lower prices by cutting
wages – coal industry most affected
Joyless Victors
• Coal workers go on strike – other sympathetic
workers commence a general strike lasting 9
days
• Ultimately the miners and other unions would
capitulate – gov’t reconcile with labor
• Standard of living improves somewhat during
this time
Joyless Victors
Empire
• Canada and Australia begin to demonstrate new
independence
• India – Congress Party led by Mohandis Ghandi
was drawing widespread attention
• India can now impose tariffs to protect its own
industry
Joyless Victors
Ireland
• 1914 – Irish Home Rule bill passed Parliament
but not implemented during the war
• Irish nationalists tired of waiting foment a
nationalist uprising on Easter Monday, 1916 –
suppressed in les than one week
• Leaders executed, become martyrs
• Leadership shifts from Irish Party in Parliament
to the extremist Sinn Fein movement
(“Ourselves Alone”)
Joyless Victors
• Sinn Fein Party wins all but four of the Irish seas in Parliament
• Convene their own Irish Parliament in January 1919 and declare Irish independence
• Military wing of Sinn Fein becomes the Irish Republican Army (IRA)
• Guerilla war breaks out between IRA and British army
• Treaty signed in December 1921 – Irish Free State declared – Northern Ireland remains with GB
• Civil war between Irish moderates and diehards
• Moderates support treaty – diehards want complete independence
The Beginning of the
Soviet Experiment
IntroductionBolsheviks seize power through revolution rather than
through political means
Early membership was less than 1%
Marxist-Leninist ideology was far more encompassing than the nationalism of the Fascists and the racism of the nazis
Communists regarded their gov’t as an epoch-making event in the history of the world and the development of humanity
The Beginning of the Soviet Experiment
I. The Third International
Founded in 1919 – better known as the Comintern
Imposed Twenty-one Conditions on any other socialist party wishing to become a member
Wished to make the Russian model of socialism the rule for all socialist parties outside of the Soviet Union
Emerging communist parties modeled themselves after the Soviet party and pursued policies dictated by Moscow
The Beginning of the Soviet Experiment
Emerging social democratic parties attempted to
pursue both social reform and liberal parliamentary
politics
These two groups tended to fight each other
Right-wing political movements rarely had to
confront a united opposition on the left
The Beginning of the Soviet Experiment
II. War Communism
The Red Army under Trotsky’s organization
suppressed internal and foreign military opposition
Secret police was known as Cheka
War Communism = economy policy
Gov’t confiscates and operates banks, transport
facilities, and heavy industry
Seized grain from peasants in countryside to feed
the army and workers in the city
The Beginning of the Soviet Experiment
The revolution triumphed, but rebellion remained
The Navy at Kronstadt mutinied, but Red Army
continued to suppress opposition
The Beginning of the Soviet Experiment
III. The New Economic Policy (NEP)
The NEP included some private economic
enterprise
Peasant were permitted to farm for a profit
They would pay taxes, but were allowed to sell
their surplus grain on the open market
Lenin saw the peasantry as the key to the success
of the revolution
The Beginning of the Soviet Experiment
Free enterprise flourished within light industry and
domestic retail trade
Industrial production reached 1913 levels
Russia was becoming a land of small farms and
privately owned shops and businesses
The Beginning of the
Soviet Experiment
IV. Stalin Versus Trotsky
Politburo – highest governing committee of the
Communist Party
Some people not happy with the return of
capitalism
Lenin has stroke in 1922; dies in 1924
Two faction emerge – Trotsky v. Stalin
Stalin was the general secretary of the party in
1922
The Beginning of the Soviet Experiment
Lenin criticized both men before his death, but
Stalin more so than Trotsky
Stalin’s political ties and daily operating power
gave him the upper hand
Trotsky’s Left Wing Position
• Expropriation of farm production – peasants should pay
for industrialization
• Success in Russia depended on revolutions elsewhere in
the world – need for skills on wealth of other nations
The Beginning of the Soviet Experiment
Stalin’s Position
• Nikolai Bukharin – right-wing faction
• Manipulated by Stalin, they wanted to retain the NEP
and slow industrialization
• Doctrine of socialism in one country – Russia could do
it on her own
Stalin is not an intellectual & his tactics could be
brutal
Stalin eventually pushes Trotsky out of Russia
Stalin nor firmly in control of the Soviet state
Top Related