Transcript The Interwar Years - Mr. Crossen's History Site

Stearns, Chapter 29
 The 20s and 30s were socially, politically, and
economically descended from World War I
 While the U.S. has a “Roaring 20s,” Western Europe will
struggle to recover from the costs of war.
 The war was “good” for the U.S. and Japan.
 Both involved in limited action.
 Both economies not only remain intact but prosper.
 Limited “lost” generation.
 European troubles encourage U.S. political isolation
 Revolutions in Mexico, Russia and China
 Over 10,000,000 dead, even more wounded.
 Debt; inflation; hyperinflation
 French and Russian agriculture down the tubes
 African and Asian colonies resist colonialism
 The U.S.S.R: that’s a game changer
 By mid-1920s, Europe has relatively stablized
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Weimar government not a threat
The Kellogg-Briand Pact means peace forever!
Inflation brought under control; revives economies for consumerism
Scientific and cultural advances
Greater social and political gender equality, the first wave of feminist
“liberation”
 U.S. industrial centers and agriculture not damaged by war.
 They’re booming, actually.
 “The business of America is business”—Calvin Coolidge
 Justifies relatively laissez-faire policies
 Also justifies political non-interventionism
 Automobiles, aircraft, etc.
 Benito Mussolini brings fascism to Italy almost immediately after
the war (1919)
 Fascism is neither capitalist nor socialist.
 Allows private enterprise, but not necessarily “free” enterprise.
 Close ties between corporations and the state.
 Extremely nationalistic.
 Tendency toward jingoism.
 Always led by a tough guy.
 Emerges in Italy for several reasons.
 Italian people angry over the Treaty of Versailles
 Labor unrest, socialists whip up class divisions—fascism is a good foil.
 Debt and sluggish economy make people want a “superman.”
 Fascism will also infect Spain.
 Kinda-sorta, pretty much, in most ways, but different too.
 Nazis dislike capitalism and socialism (Hitler claims that
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both are Jewish systems meant to exploit and drain Germany
of its stability and vitality)
Nazis allow private enterprise but there are close ties between
corporate Germany and der Reich.
Nazis were extremely nationalistic
Nazis were jingoistic
Nazis led by a strong man/tough guy
BUT the Nazis were obsessed with race. That’s the main
difference.
 The Mexican people have had enough
 Political repression
 Diaz an iron-fisted dictator.
 Opponents abused and jailed (Francisco madero)
 Elections either rigged or non-existent
 No civil rights the government was bound to respect.
 Economic cronyism
 Hacienda system controlled by small elite.
 Mining & proto-industry run either by foreigners or Diaz’s boyz.
 Workers want rights; peasants want land.
 We don’t need no education?
 Pancho Villa leads farmers, miners, and vaqueros in the north
 Emiliano Zapata leads Mexican “Indians” in the south: “Tierra y
Libertdad”
 A new Constitution in 1917 made modest gains
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Limit foreign ownership of natural resources
New workers’ rights
Restrictions on the church
Education opportunities
Land reforms come later.
 Mexican nationalism tied to “Indianizing”/renouncing los
gringos.
 Still political cronyism and a one-party system (PRI).
 Cristero resistance to secularism
 Tsar executed; Bolsheviks win Russian Civil War.
 Dr. Zhivago
 Trotsky’s “Red Army”
 West fears spread of Bolshevism
 Lenin ushers in Communism with land redistribution and
state control of industry.
 Immediate result was catastrophic. New Economic Policy
meant to resolve problems.
 Small business owners and peasant landowners allowed some
freedom.
 Attempt to harness individual initiative to a command economy.
 Capital moved to Moscow
 Dominated by Russians
 So-called S.S.R.s were controlled by the Communist Party.
 Political monopoly: no competition in “elections”
 Created new education system to promote literacy and
communist propaganda
 Changes remarkably with Stalin’s rise
 Lenin institutes the New Economic Policy-a blend of
Communism and capitalism.
 Food production increases, the Bolsheviks strengthen their
hold.
 The death of Lenin leads to a power struggle, eventually won
by Joseph Stalin-a proponent of a strong, nationalistic
version of Communism. Rivals were executed.
 Nothing less than totalitarianism.
 Politburo
 Violent police state, tolerates no dissent
 Purges
 Collectivization of agriculture
 Results in famine (MILLIONS die)
 Opponents either “disappear” or are arrested and sent to
Siberia.
 Five Year Plans: Forced Industrialization
 No Great Depression in USSR.
 C’mon, Dobbie, everyone was poor to begin with!
 Stalin worship
 The fall of the Qing in 1912 left a power struggle in
China.
 Liberal democracy promoted by some (May Fourth
Movement) Both nationalists and communists dislike
Western influences.
 Mao Zedong forms the Communist Party of China
 Modifies Marxism to fit China. (Peasant question)
 Sun Yat-sen forms the Guomindang (Nationalist)
Party of China, replaced by Chiang Kai-shek.
 Enjoyed Western support as an antidote to Mao.
 Communists and Nationalists briefly ally to face the
Japanese threat.
 Causes
 WWI debts and post-war spending (government and
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private)
Agriculture struggles: Prices low; overproduction?
Many argue insufficient regulation of markets
Inability to repay loans
Protectionism (tariffs)
Reckless speculation (buying on margin)—
consequence of loose monetary policies.
 October 1929
 Banks fail, people lose savings.
 European banks collapse
 Bank failures mean no new loans, no new investments, so
industries collapse
 Unemployment increases; value of labor decreases, so wages
down.
 Markets won’t really recover until AFTER WWII (let me deal
with this pernicious myth)
 Western European governments cut spending and increase
tariffs.
 They had to cut spending
 Tariffs HURT!
 Many European parliamentary systems overturned by
dissatisfaction. (Enter Nazis in Germany; socialists, even
communists in France)
 The U.S. federal government directly intervenes: The New
Deal
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Direct aid to the American people (welfare, social security, etc).
Government involved in economic planning.
Banks and stock market get new regulations.
Government spending, size, and scope grows dramatically.
 Confidence in Weimar Republic lost
 Corruption, ineptitude, suffering of the people
 People turn to the Nazis
 National Socialist German Workers Party takes power, 1933
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Similar to fascism
Racist, anti-communist, anti-capitalist, nationalistic
Rejects Versailles
Stabbed-in-the-back theory
 Hitler will seize power, enter the totalitarian state.
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Extreme propaganda
No dissent (Unless you want to meet the Gestapo)
Promises redemption/revenge, a thousand-year third Reich
Labensraum
The “Final Solution”
 Hungary and Romania
 The Spanish Civil War, Francisco Franco
 Economic dependency on the West and an already
impoverished population means the Depression hits hard
 Move to nationalize key industries (no more foreign
ownership—e.g. Mexico’s petroleum industry)
 New nationalistic and populist governments:
 Varas in Brazil (emerges from a civil war; promises liberal
reforms, follows fascist model instead)
 Peron in Argentina (military coup, socialism)
 PRI in Mexico
 Do we need to cover this again?
 During the 1930’s, an authoritarian, militaristic
government arose in Japan-bent on creating an empire.
 By 1938, they controlled Manchuria, Korea, Taiwan and a
large part of northeast China.
 Great Depression---nationalistic reaction---global ties
weakened---tariffs increased---nations dependent on the
West turned to militaristic authoritarianism-- Not good. (Thanks, Dobbie. I wasn’t sure, but now I am)
 Who formed the New Deal?
 Who were the Nazis’ secret police?
 What were five-year-plans, and who made them?
 Who led Red China?
 Who led the Red Army in the Russian Civil War?
 What caused the Great Depression?
 Name three men involved in the Mexican Revolution.
 What’s the difference between a Nazi and a fascist?
 Who led the Guomindang?