Professional Documents
Culture Documents
10 Million Deaths Progress? Futility, Disillusionment, Meaninglessness, Nihilism (Nietzsche) War Memorials Lost Generation New national boundaries
Search for Security League of Nations is a failure Isolationist sentiment, ineffective economic sanctions France abandoned by US and Britain Poor relations with USSR Poland and Little Entente (Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia)
1. Describe the scene shown, what is the storyline? 2. Then, assess the individual features in the cartoon. 3. Then, identify the political message intended by the cartoonist.
Describe the condition of the room in which this family is living? How is the child shown? Why? Look at the caption, what is its political message? How reliable is this source?
Woodrow Wilson
Georges Clemenceau
Only fools, liars and criminals could hope for mercy from the enemy. In these nights hatred grew in me, hatred for those responsible for the dead.
By Adolf Hitler, who had served in the army and became a future leader of Germany
French occupation Ruhr Valley (coal deposits) when Germany stopped reparation payments in 1922 Costly to France and Germany
Hyperinflation in Germany 1914 -$1 = 4.2 marks Nov. 1, 1923 -$1 = 130,000,000,000.0 Nov. 30, 1923 -$1 = 4,200,000,000,000.0
Germany Weakened by Versailles peace settlement & conversion of war economy Weimar Government extremist politics Britain 1/3 of shipping lost to US/Japan Resources diverted from growth industries (auto/electronics) $4 B debt to US asked for cancellation refused by Cal Coolidge France same as GB French agriculture (more dependent) devastated $3.5 B debt to US Eastern Europe Political/Social upheaval peasant seizure of lands Soviet Union Internal turmoil seen as dangerous and unstable Refused development loans Spanish flu 1918 20-50 million deaths
I had a little bird, Its name was Enza. I opened the window, And in-flu-enza.
The Hopeful Years 1924-1929 New cooperation GB, France with Germany
End of passive resistance (Rentenmark) Gustav Stresemann
Dawes Plan 1924 reduced reparations $200 million in loans (Lausanne Conference forgiveness 1932) US investments helped Germany/Europe prosper Treaty of Locarno 1925 western border of Germany Germany enters League of Nations 1926 Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 pledge to renounce war Coexistence with USSR Economic Recovery (W. Europe, USSR)
American Capital USSR rapid industrialization Stalins Five-Year Plans
Full employment, free medical care, public education, social services at a price!!!
Great Depression
Post war economics: protectionism, trade barriers, reparations/war debt hampered post war economies End to laissez-faire dream
John Maynard Keynes - - General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936)
Great Britain
RECALL: Readjustment/economic difficulties:
Loss of markets to US and Japan Postwar decline in markets for coal, steel, textiles Unemployment at 2 million by 1921
Political swings
Inability of the David Lloyd George (liberal) led govt to resolve economic woes Labour Party surge Ramsay MacDonald (only 10 months) led a liberal/labour coalition government - driven out by conservative demagoguery ties to communism Conservative party superficial prosperity (1925-1929)
Modest increase in exports BUT High 10% unemployment rate, and decline of old industries (coal) attempts to lower wages led to strikes (General Strike of 1926)
1929 onset of Great Depression 2nd Labor government (1929-1931) 1931 coalition of liberals/conservatives managed to bring down unemployment from 3 million in 1932 to 1.6 million in 1936 John Maynard Keynes General Theory of Employment Interest and Money (1936) Active government during economic downturn to spur demand (stimulus, public works projects, deficit spending if necessary) ---ignored in Britain
Raymond Poincare and the National Bloc Government (most of the 1920s)
Cartel of the Left (1924-1926) coalition of (radicals/socialists) antimilitarist, anticlerical, importance of education
Radicals democratic, small-property owners Socialists nominally committed to Marxist socialists - differences on economic/financial issues
Return of Poincare oversaw economic stabilization and relative prosperity from 1926-1929 Full effects of the depression from 1932 19 months in 1932-1933 6 different cabinets, radical right-wing groups demonstrations Riots in 1934 fomented by a number of right-wing leagues Drove leftist parties together Popular Front 1936 Leon Blum program for workers French New Deal
Collective bargaining, 40-hr workweek, paid vacations, minimum wages unable to solve problems of the depression
Reform measures largely responsible for staving off social revolution Initial recovery 1933-1937 1937-1938 7 million / 11 million unemployed
Authoritarianism in Eastern Europe Conservative authoritarian governments aimed at the defense of the existing social order Limit the participation of the masses more passive obedience rather than active involvement Political democracy failed in Eastern European states such as Bulgaria (1923), Poland (1926), Yugoslavia (1929), Austria, Romania (1938) - fascism, Greece (1936), Hungary (1932)b/c:
No tradition Narrow middle class Ethnic and political upheaval (aristocratic class feared peasant land reform) Need for authoritarian order
Exception of Czechoslovakia substantial liberal tradition, middle class, industrial base Thomas Masaryk president (alliance of reformist socialists, agrarians, Catholics)
Totalitarianism
liberal
conservative
Authoritarianism Totalitarianism
radical
moderate
reactionary
ER
The general will and the justification of totalitarianism No perfectly totalitarian state
Irrendenta Italia
Death of 700,000 soldiers Enormous costs Acquisition of territory (Tyrol) Refusal to grant Italy lands on the Eastern Adriatic coast (myth of Italy being cheated out of just rewards from WWI) Domestic confusion Inflation undermined middle class security Demobilization of troops led to unemployment / dissatisfied veterans Inability of government to deal with problems
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) Benito Mussolini (school teacher, socialist editor-expelled after advocating intervention in WWI)
Mussolini in 1914: "Let a single cry arise from the vast multitudes of the proletariat and let it be repeated in the squares and streets of Italy: down with war! The proletariat provides raw material, cannon fodder with which states make their history. VS. Mussolini in 1915 (after Italys entry into the war): "It is to you, young men of Italy..that I address my call to arms..Today I am forced to utter loudly and clearly in sincere good faith the fearful and fascinating word war!
Growing popularity of Fascists Inability of govt to form working coalition and solve Italys problems Middle-class fears and frustrations (Industrial strikes 1919/1920, climate of class warfare and violence talk of revolution Mussolinis change in policy Mussolini talked out of both sides of his mouth leftist/rightist sentiment Appeal to industrialists and large agricultural land owners fearful of working class agitation anti strike rhetoric Appeal to unemployed workers/commoners nationalist rhetoric, scape-goating Use of brute force 1920/1921 squadristi black shirts attacked socialist offices/newspapers, forced breakup of strikes by trade unionists, socialist workers, peasant leagues Fascist alliance with Liberal Party *Liberal* PM Giovanni Giolittis hope to use Mussolini to defeat socialist movement Mussolinis hope to gain political respectability May 1921: Fascists win 7% of seats in parliament
The Birth of Fascism Build up of the black-shirted sqadristi 200,000 by 1921 Creation of disorder to open door for reactionary fascist order Appeal to middle/upper classes: white collar workers, professionals, civil servants, landowners merchants, artisans, students, veterans October 24, 1922 bluffed threat to march on Rome it worked Capitulation Mussolini PM Black shirts march on Rome
Importance of the spectacle
Mussolini and the Italian Fascist State July 1923 Acerbo Law 25% of vote = 2/3 of seats in parliament April 6, 1924 elections fascists won 65% of vote (fraud, intimidation) By 1926 fascist dictatorship
Right to suspend publications PM legislate by decree/suspend govt Arrest w/out due process Power to dissolve political/social organizations 1926 non-fascist parties outlawed OVRA (secret police) established Police state not as repressive as Nazi Germany Media/Educational control not complete Youth organizations Young Fascists 1939 66% of pop. 8-18 (militarized) Domestic role for women moral foundation of family and child bearers (subsidized w/ awards), restrictions on abortion/contraception Institutions (army, monarchy) independent of fascist control Catholic Church support
Italy Dopolavoro national recreation agency (established clubhouses, libraries, radios, athletic facilities, auditoriums, travel agencies, band concerts, movies, choral groups, roller skating, ballroom dancing) built/run by state
Establishment of Fascist state il Duce Corporative state collusion between industrialists/unions (22 corporations) Unresponsive to depression Public Works - he made the trains run on time
Propaganda poster showing Mussolini and a child. The captions read: "Benito Mussolini loves children a lot. The children of Italy love the Duce a lot. Long live Il Duce ! A salute to Il Duce: Here's to us!"
Poster for ONMI (National Organization for Mother and Child) of Milan: "Put your maternity and your offspring under ONMI's protection."
Economic problems
Reparations & hyperinflation Great Depression & unemployment Fear of communism & hostility towards Republic
Photo of Odeonsplatz in Munich on August 2, 1914 Hitler, at 25 years old is celebrating the outbreak of WWI.
Outbreak of WWI salvation Dispatch runner Iron cross patriotism, willing sacrifice Didnt fit in Mourned Germanys defeat Marxist/Jewish stab in the back
The Rise of the Nazis Hitler joins the German Workers Party in Munich Control of the party by 1921 renamed to National Socialist German Workers Party Nazi Socialist in name only appeal to workers Worked to develop the party into a mass political movement police force Sturmabteilung (SA) Storm Troops
1922: party membership multiplies tenfold; becomes mass political movement Growth in membership 55,000 + 15,000 SA by 1923
Flags, badges, uniforms, newspapers, and police force
Sturmabteilung (SA) a.k.a. Storm Troopers, a.k.a. Brownshirts
Beer Hall Putsch 1923 *height of hyperinflation* arrested, put on trial for treason, convicted, imprisoned
In prison, Hitler comes to realize that in order to secure power he must do it legally and constitutionally with a mass political movement.
Fhrerprinzip party under one leader (self-sacrificing, obedient) Reorganization regional to expand to all parts of Germany national party organization by 1929 Youthfulness of regional, district, branch leadership Urban strategy winning workers from socialists/communists 1928 elections failure only 12 seats 2.6% of the vote Need for courtship of small town/rural middle class vote 1931-1932 unemployment spikes 1930 elections 18% of the vote (107 seats) Reichstag too fragmented by 1930 Chancellor Heinrich Bruning could not form a coalition majority in Reichstag relied on use of emergency decrees by President Hindenburg (Article 48) democracy already dying
The Nazi Seizure of Power Party growth 289,000 in Sept. 1932 to 800,000 by 132 SA to 500,000 Broad mass appeal appeal to nationalist emotion July 1932 Nazis 230 seats largest party status Seats declined to 196 by November. Reichstag unimportant rule by decree Hitler embraced by the right-wing elite: industrialists, landed aristocrats, military establishment, upper level bureaucrats feared a communist take over, thought they could control Hitler
January 30, 1933: right-wing elites of Germany convince Hindenburg to name Hitler new chancellor
Belief they could control Hitler
Elected Chancellor on January 30, 1933 Hermann Gring head of Prussian police purges of non-Nazis SA auxiliary police force Reichstag fire Feb. 27th Hitler blamed communists able to get President Hindenburg to issue an emergency decree suspended basic rights
In the event that public order and security are seriously disturbed or threatened, the Reich President may take the measures necessary for their restoration, intervening, if necessary, with the aid of the armed forces. For this purpose he may temporarily suspend, wholly or in part the basic rights laid down in Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124, and 153. Quite literally, if the German President determined there to be a disturbance to public order or security, he could, at his sole discretion and by decree, employ the use of the army to enforce the elimination of personal freedom (114), private property rights (115, 153), right to free speech (117 & 118), right of peaceful assembly (123) and the right of free association (124).
US Constitution (Article One, Section 9, clause 2): "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."
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Reichstag passes Enabling Act on March 23rd suspended the constitution 4 years Hitler dictator
Gleichschaltung coordination of institutions under Nazi control Civil service purged of Jews/democratic elements Concentration camps established Dachau Federal state autonomy eliminated Trade unions dissolved incorporated into the Labor Front Other political parties abolished All by summer 1933
Nazi takeover facilitated by: Limited faith in democratic institutions depression, inflation, social instability Promise of a new beginning and national awakening Treaty of Versailles, above parties/classes Sources of opposition to Hitler Ernst Rhm openly criticized Hitler called for a 2nd revolution and the replacement of the regular army by the SA *Control of the Army* Hitler had him, SA leaders executed in June 1934 in return for the armys support (had also opposed Hitler) in allowing Hitler to succeed the aged Hindenburg as president Hindenburg dies on August 4th office of president abolished public officials and soldiers required to take a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler as Fuhrer of the German Reich and people
The Nazi State (1933-1939) Creation of the totalitarian state: We must develop organizations in which an individuals entire life can take place. Then every activity and every need of every individual will be regulated by the collectivity represented by the party. There is no longer any arbitrary will, there are no longer any free realms in which the individual belongs to himself.The time of personal happiness is over. People would be active participants in a massive movement Massive demonstrations/spectacles to inspire collective fellowship/propaganda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMLdGaK0g8s Total control? Constant personal/institutional conflict administrative chaos chaos that made Hitler the ultimate decision maker Economically industry not nationalized businesses served and profited greatly in their service to the state Worked within institutions didnt establish new ones
Economics
Collusion with private industry (even in public works projects) Drop in unemployment 6 M in 1932, 2.6 M in 1934, less than 500,000 in 1937 German Labor Front (Robert Ley) - state controlled union workbook necessary to obtain a job benefits mass leisure Ultimately, National Socialism requires military expansion
Indoctrination
Hitler Jugend, Bund Deutscher Mdel blood oath
Gender
Men warriors/political leaders Women kuche, kirche, kinder (motherhood ceremonies, rewards for more children certain professions inappropriate for women heavy industry, university teaching, medicine, law appropriate social work, nursing (later encouraged to join industry during the war)
Anti-Semitism
April 1, 1933 2 day boycott of Jewish businesses Later exclusion of non-Aryans *those with Jewish parents/grandparents* from legal profession, civil service, judgeships, medicine, teaching, cultural/entertainment industry, press Sept. 1935 Nuremburg Laws excluded German Jews from citizen ship, forbade intermarriage and extramarital relations between Jews and Germans separated Jews politically, socially, legally November 9-10, 1938 Kristallnacht assassination of a third secretary in the German embassy in Paris by a Polish Jew became the excuse for a Nazi-led rampage: synagogues burned, 7000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, 100+ Jews killed, 30,000 Jewish men rounded up and sent to concentration camps, Jews barred from public buildings, prohibited from owning, managing, working in retail stores, Jews encouraged to emigrate from Germany
Tactics Radio and Movies 1st radio broadcast 1920 1926 2.2 million radios in GB; end of the 1930s 9 million
By 1939 40% of adults in advanced industrial countries 1 x per week 60% by 1945
Importance of the immediate shared experience mass culture Nazi regime encouraged the production of affordable radios, loudspeakers on pillars communal listening experience Film propaganda Joseph Goebbels Triumph of the Will, Eternal Jew Germany Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy) coordinate free time of working class concerts, operas, films, guided tours, sporting events, vacations, cruises Overall impact increase of homogeneity of populations local pop culture replaced by national pop culture
Dictatorship in the Iberian Peninsula Failure of parliamentary democracy in Portugal/Spain b/c: agrarian, illiterate, aristocratic, powerful catholic clergy Spain
Parliamentary monarchy Social tensions created by industrial boom and inflation w/ WWI General Miguel Primo de Rivera (supported by King Alfonso XIII) leads a successful coup in September 1923 to 1930 1931 new Spanish republic coalition of democrats/reform socialists Political turmoil between left /right factions Popular Front antifascist coalition took power in 1936 Unacceptable to army officers Francisco Franco led revolt against the government in 1936
The Spanish Civil War Franco aided by Italy and Germany (arms, money, men) Popular Front aided by the Soviet Union (trucks, planes, tanks) and volunteer brigades (Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the US) March 1939 Franco captures Madrid Civil war claimed 400,000 lives (200,000 executed after Francos victory)
The Franco Regime Dictatorship not fascist, but would not oppose Italy/Germany Fascists in Spain falange (Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera son of former dictator) limited involvement in govt Favored large landowners, business, Catholic clergy traditional, conservative authoritarian regime
Portugal 1910 overthrew monarchy established a republic Severe inflation after WWI intensified political instability 1926 army officers seized power Early 1930s Antonio Salazar controlled military junta for 40 years