Transcript Chapter 24: The West Between the Wars, 1919–1939

The peace settlements at the
end of World War I combined
with severe economic
problems to produce
widespread discontent
across Europe. Democratic
rule in many states gave way
to fascism, authoritarianism,
and the totalitarianism of
Stalin and Hitler.
CHAPTER 24: THE WEST BETWEEN THE
WARS, 1919–1939
SECTION 1 THE FUTILE SEARCH FOR STABILITY
The peace settlement (The Treaty of ?) at the
end of World War I left many nations unhappy
and border disputes simmering throughout
Europe.
 The League of Nations proved a weak
institution.
 Democracy was widespread, and women in
many European countries gained the right to
vote.

However, economic problems plagued France,
Great Britain, and the German Weimar Republic.
 When Germany declared that it could not continue
to pay reparations (?), France occupied one
German region as a source of reparations.
 An American plan reduced the burden of
reparations and led to a period of prosperity and
American investment in Europe.

The prosperity ended
with the economic
collapse of 1929 and
the Great
Depression.
 European
governments tried
different approaches
to ending the
depression.

Many middle-class Germans
began to identify with antidemocratic political parties.
 The new American president,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
pursued a policy of active
government intervention in
the economy that came to be
known as the New Deal.

SECTION 2 THE RISE OF DICTATORIAL REGIMES
By 1939 most European democracies had
collapsed.
 Only France and Great Britain remained
democratic.

Benito Mussolini began his political career as a
Socialist, but he abandoned socialism for
fascism, which glorified the state and justified
the suppression of all political dissent.
 In Italy, Mussolini outlawed most political
opposition, but also compromised with
powerful groups and never achieved totalitarian
control.

After the Russian civil war, Lenin
restored capitalist practices to
prevent economic and political
collapse.
 After Lenin's death, Joseph Stalin
emerged as the most powerful
Communist figure.
 Stalin sidelined the Bolsheviks of
the revolutionary era and
established totalitarian rule.

His program of rapid industrialization and
collectivization forced horrendous sacrifices on
the population.
 His political purges caused millions to be
arrested, imprisoned, and executed.
 Elsewhere in Eastern Europe and in Francisco
Franco's Spain, authoritarian regimes were
mainly concerned with preserving the existing
social order.

SECTION 3 HITLER AND NAZI GERMANY
Adolf Hitler, a failed student
and artist, built up a small
racist, anti-Semitic political
party in Germany after World
War I.
 Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch
failed.
 In prison, he wrote Mein
Kampf—an account of his
movement and his views.

As democracy broke down, right-wing elites
looked to Hitler for leadership.
 In 1933 Hitler became chancellor.
 Amid constant chaos and conflict, Hitler used
terror and repression to gain totalitarian
control.

Meanwhile, a massive rearmament program
put Germans back to work.
 Mass demonstrations and spectacles rallied
Germans around Hitler's policies.
 All major institutions were brought under Nazi
control.

Women's primary role was to bear Aryan
children.
 Hitler's Nuremberg Laws established official
persecution of Jews.

A more violent anti-Semitic phase began in
1938 with a destructive rampage against Jews
and the deportation of thousands to
concentration camps.
 Increasingly drastic steps barred Jews from
attending school, earning a living, or engaging
in Nazi society.

SECTION 4 CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL
TRENDS

After World War I, radio
and film became
sources of
entertainment as well
as propaganda tools.
 Hitler
and the Nazis
made wide use of both.
Work patterns after the war allowed many
people to enjoy mass leisure activities such as
professional sporting events, as well as train,
bus, and car travel.
 The Nazis organized events such as concerts
for workers.

The revolution in physics continued with Werner
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
 The uncertainty of the post-war world became a
prominent theme in art.
 Dadaism and the surrealism of Salvador Dalí
reflected absurdity in the world.

Nazi art was intended to be authentically
German.
 In fact, it was largely derived from nineteenthcentury folk art.
 Literary interest in the unconscious produced
the "stream of consciousness" technique of
James Joyce's Ulysees.
 The German novelist Hermann Hesse was
influenced by psychology and Asian religions.
