Transcript Post WWI- Pre WWII - Selvaggio History

Post WWI- Pre WWII
Ms. Selvaggio
Paris Peace Conference
 Held at the Palace at Versailles beginning January
8, 1919.
 32 countries were represented, but major decisions
were made by a group known as The Big Four
 Germany and Russia were NOT represented
The Big Four
From left to right…
 Great Britain’s David
Lloyd George
 Italy’s Vittorio
Orlando
 France’s Georges
Clemenceau
 U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson
 The big four each wanted very different
things
 GB anf Fr. wanted to punish Germany harshly
 U.S. wanted peace. President Wilson proposed
a plan known as the Fourteen Points.
 Point # 14 called for the creation of an association of
nations to protect “great and small states alike”- an
organization that could peacefully negotiate world
conflicts
Treaty of Versailles was signed on
June 28, 1919
 Major points of the treaty were:
 Creation of the League of Nations
 basically this was Wilson’s 14th point. It is an
international peace org. designed to keep peace
among nations-Russia and Germany were excluded.
Article 231, the “war guilt” clause
 Placed sole responsibility for the war on
Germany’s shoulders
 Ger. had to pay heavy reparations (money)
 They lost pieces of land/colonies
 Had the size of their army limited
The Legacy of WWI
The bitterness left over from the negotiations
of the Treaty of Versailles, coupled with
serious economic trouble in Europe and the
U.S. would help to create the atmosphere to
stage WWII.
Weimar Republic
 The government that took over in Ger. after
WWI- it was weak from the start.
 This government was blamed for the way
Germany was treated after WWI and the
major economic problems that Germany
faced
 Because of the war guilt clause, the amount
of money that Germany had to pay to the
allied nations was placing them in debt.
 Had to borrow tons of money from the U.S.
 Printed more and more paper money (marks).
Because of this over-printing, the mark became
worthless.
 i.e. price of bread in Ger. in 1918: less than one
mark. In 1922: more than 160. In 1923: about 200
billion
German marks lose their value
 A woman uses piles
of German marks to
burn in her furnace
for heat.
Black Tuesday: October 29, 1929
 U.S. stock market
crashes but has a
major impact on the
whole world…
 U.S. investors pull money
out of overseas projects
 Banks who gave loans to
European nations ask for
their money back
 U.S. demand for foreign
goods took a sharp
decline.
1931- Depression Spreads to Europe
 U.S. Banks ask Germany and Austria for
their money (from loans)
 Germany and Austria can’t pay the
reparations of the treaty to France and
Britain.
 France and Britain could not pay war loans
back to America
 By 1932 - unemployment at 25% in U.S.
 30% in Germany
 France & Britain forced their colonies (in
Africa & India) to buy only their products
 World Trade dropped by 62%
The Rise of Fascism in Europe
 Fascism - emphasized loyalty to the state
and obedience to the leader.
 Though many democratic governments
(U.S., GB, Fr.) stayed strong during the
depression, many Europeans lost faith in
this type of gov.
The militant political movement, Fascism,
became popular because Fascist leaders
promised to…
 Punish the people responsible for hard times
 Restore national pride
But mostly they promised to…
 Pull their countries out of economic
depression
Benito Mussolini
 A newspaper
editor/politician that
promised these things
for Italy
 Founded the fascist
party there in 1919
 In October 1922, 30,000 fascists marched
to Rome to demand that the king put
Mussolini in power.
 The King agreed and allowed him to form a
legal government
 As “Il Duce” (the leader) he abolished
democracy and all other political parties
except the fascists.
Adolf Hitler
 At the End of WWI a former German soldier
named Adolf Hitler settled in Munich.
 Joined a group who believed that the Treaty of
Versailles should be overturned and that
communism should be combated.
This group called themselves…
National Socialist German Workers Party
Nazi for short
 Nazism was basically German fascism
 They were popular among the middle and lower
classes
 Nazis promised jobs jobs for all
 Popular among land owners
 They feared communism
The Swastika
 Hindus,
 Buddhists,
 Native American Tribe
-symbol of good-luck or
well-being, but…
 Because of its use by the
Nazi party, it has a
negative meaning in many
western cultures.
 Hitler’s skills as public
speaker and organizer
helped the Nazis gain
power.
 Copying Mussolini, the
Nazis wanted to sieze
power in Munich, 1923
Beer Hall Putsch
 Hitler and the Nazis made their move on
Munich in November of 1923, but things
didn’t go so well
 Hitler was arrested and tried for treason
 Sentenced to 5 years
 Served less than 9 months
 During his time in prison, he wrote a book…
Mein Kampf
 Means “My Struggle”
 Used the book to express
his ideas and goals for
Germany
 It became a blueprint for
the Nazi party
 People, at first, did not
take him, his book or ideas
seriously
Nazi Beliefs
 They hated the communists
 Germans, especially “blond & blue-eyed” were
“aryans” or the “master race”
 Germans, Scandinavians, Britons
 Non-aryans, i.e. Italian, French, Slavs, Gypsies
 only fit to be slaves for the master race
 Reserved most intense hatred for Jews
 The Treaty of Versailles was a slap in the
face to Germany and needed to be
overturned
 Wanted to retake the lands that were once
German.
 Poland
 Germany needed more “lebensraum” (living
space)
 invade and conquer Eastern Europe and Russia.
 Germany had been making a small
comeback , so most Germans ignored Hitler
and his extreme politics. Then the
depression hit…
 America stops loaning money and the German
economy collapses
 Factories and banks close
 30% (about 6 million people) of the German
workforce are unemployed in 1932
Scared, they turn to Hitler for security and
strong leadership.
 Hitler was made Chancellor in March 1933
 1934:
 Hitler made himself “der Fuhrer”- “The
Leader”
 Refers to Germany as the “Third Reich” “Third Empire”
 Nazis implemented public works projects
 Increased business
 Lowered unemployment
 Urged women to return to “Kinder, Kirche,
Kuche” (Children, Church, & the Kitchen)
 Took away some of people’s liberties
 People thought that it was ok as long as their
economy was ok
Essential Question
 Should the needs of society outweigh the
rights of the individual?