Chapter 26: "The Futile Search For Stability: Europe Between the Wars, 1919-1939"

Who were the Squadristi and what did they do? How did the alliance formed between the Fascists and the Liberals work in Italy?

- 1920 - 1921, Mussolini formed bands of armed Fascists called squadristi and attacked Socialist offices and newspapers. Strikes by trade unionists, Socialist workers and peasant leagues were broken up by force. - Mussolini entered into a political alliance with the Liberals under Giovanni Giolitti, the prime minister. Giolitti and the Liberals believed that the Fascists could be used to crush socialism temporarily and then be dropped. - mutual deceit: By allying with the government coalition, Mussolini gained respectability and a free hand for his violent squadristi. The Fascists won thirty-five parliamentary seats, or 7 percent of the total, in the election of May 1921. - By 1921, the Fascist squads numbered 200,000 and had become a regular feature of Italian life. World War I veterans and students were especially attracted to the squadristi and relished the opportunity to use unrestrained violence. large doses of castor oil to unwilling victims

Spielvogel argues the extent to which various European states can actually be considered truly totalitarian. What were some of the points raised in this argument? What do some revisionist historians think of the term? What is the reasoning behind this?

- A number of historians eventually applied the term to both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Especially during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s, Western leaders were inclined to refer to both the Soviet Union and the Eastern European states that had been brought under Soviet control as "totalitarian." - By the 1970s and 1980s, however, revisionist historians were questioning the usefulness of the term totalitarian and regarded it as crude and imprecise. - some regimes, such as Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union, sought total control, but these states exhibited significant differences and none of them was successful in establishing total control of its society. - these three states did transcend traditional political labels and led to some rethinking of these labels. - Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany grew out of extreme rightist preoccupations with nationalism and, in the case of Germany, with racism. - Communism in the Soviet Union emerged out of Marxist socialism, a radical leftist program. - extreme right-wing and left-wing regimes no longer appeared to be at opposite ends of the political spectrum but came to be viewed as similar to each other in at least some respects.

What was Authoritarianism like in Eastern Europe?

- A number of other states in Europe had conservative authoritarian governments that adopted some of the trappings of states like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, especially their wide police powers. For these states, the greatest concern was the defense of the existing social order. the authoritarian state limited the participation of the masses and was content with passive obedience - The new states of Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia adopted parliamentary systems, and the preexisting kingdoms of Romania and Bulgaria gained new parliamentary constitutions in 1920. Greece became a republic in 1924. Hungary's government was parliamentary in form but was controlled by its landed aristocrats. - A military coup d'état established an authoritarian regime in Bulgaria in 1923. Poland established an authoritarian regime in 1926 when Marshal Joseph Pilsudski created a military dictatorship. In Yugoslavia, King Alexander I abolished the constitution and imposed a royal dictatorship in 1929. - Although Admiral Miklós Horthy had ruled Hungary as "regent" since 1919, the appointment of Julius Gömbös as prime minister in 1932 brought Hungary even closer to Italy and Germany. - Romania witnessed the development of a strong fascist movement led by Corneliu Codreanu. Known as the Legion of the Archangel Michael, it possessed its own paramilitary squad called the Iron Guard. - As Codreanu's fascist movement grew and became Romania's third largest political party, King Carol II responded in 1938 by ending parliamentary rule, crushing the leadership of the legion, and imposing authoritarian rule. - In Greece, General Ioannis Metaxas imposed a dictatorship in 1936.

What was the Weimar Republic and why was it particularly destroyed to fail? Put differently, what were the foremost problems facing this new government in Germany? Your response should investigate social, historical, and economic realms.

- After Germany's WWI defeat, a German democratic state known as the Weimar Republic was established. Formed by Social Democrats, the Catholic Center Party, and German Democrats, the fragmented republic had no outstanding political leader and proved to be unstable. - In 1925, Paul von Hindenburg, the World War I military hero, was elected president. Hindenburg was a traditional military man, monarchist in sentiment, who at heart was not in favor of the republic. The young republic suffered politically from attempted uprisings and attacks from both the left and the right. - The government never really controlled the army, which operated as a state within a state. - Other institutions maintained their independence as well. Hostile judges, teachers, and bureaucrats remained in office and used their positions to undermine democracy from within. At the same time, landed aristocrats and leaders of powerful business cartels refused to accept the overthrow of the imperial regime and remained hostile to the republic. - The runaway inflation of 1922 and 1923 had serious social repercussions. Widows, orphans, the retired, army officers, teachers, civil servants, and others who lived on fixed incomes all watched their monthly stipends become worthless. Their economic losses increasingly pushed the middle class to the rightist parties that were hostile to the republic. -Unemployment increased to nearly 4.4 million by December 1930. The Depression paved the way for social discontent, fear, and extremist parties.

What made European economics in the decade from 1919-1929 uncommonly fragile? What kind of shifts occurred during and after the war, compared to how things were before the war began?

- After World War I, most European states hoped to return to the liberal ideal of a market economy based on private enterprise and largely free of state intervention. But the war had vastly strengthened business cartels and labor unions, making some government regulation of these powerful organizations appear necessary. - the economic integration of Europe before 1914 that had been based on free trade was soon undermined by a wave of protectionism and trade barriers, and reparations and war debts further damaged the postwar international economy. - The dream of returning to a self-regulating market economy was mere illusion.

How well did France cope with its most immediate needs of rebuilding the war-torn regions of Northeastern France in the post-war era? What made France's government particularly chaotic in the Great Depression, post 1932?

- After the defeat of Germany, France had become the strongest power on the European continent. Its greatest need was to rebuild the devastated areas of northern and eastern France. But no French government seemed capable of solving France's financial problems between 1921 and 1926. France did experience a period of relative prosperity between 1926 and 1929. - France began to feel the full effects of the Great Depression in 1932, and that economic instability soon had political repercussions. During a nineteen-month period in 1932 and 1933, six different cabinets were formed as France faced political chaos. During the same time, French right-wing groups, espousing policies similar to those of the Fascists in Italy and the Nazis in Germany, marched through the streets in numerous demonstrations. Riots in February 1934, fomented by a number of right-wing leagues, frightened many into believing that the extremists intended to seize power. These fears began to drive the French leftist parties together despite their differences and led in 1936 to the formation of the Popular Front.

While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. What does this mean and what kinds of arguments were laid out in this piece?

- An autobiographical account of his movement and its underlying ideology. - Extreme German nationalism, virulent anti-Semitism, and vicious anticommunism are linked together by a social Darwinian theory of struggle that stresses the right of superior nations to Lebensraum (living space) through expansion and the right of superior individuals to secure authoritarian leadership over the masses.

Why were the conditions in post-WWI Italy so dire in both social and economic costs? What was the myth surrounding being "cheated" out of the Treaty of Versailles?

- An estimated 700,000 Italian soldiers died, and the treasury reckoned the cost of the war at 148 billion lire, twice the sum of all government expenditures between 1861 and 1913. - Italy did gain some territory, (Trieste, and a new northern border that included the formerly Austrian South Tyrol area). - Italy's demands for Fiume and Dalmatia on the Adriatic coast were rejected, which gave rise to the myth that Italy had been cheated of its just rewards by the other victors. - Demobilization of the troops created high unemployment and huge groups of dissatisfied veterans. The government proved unable to deal effectively with these problems.

Who is Benito Mussolini? How did his early days differ from his movement in the interwar years?

- Benito Mussolini was a rebellious child who received a diploma as an elementary school teacher. After unsuccessful as a teacher, Mussolini became a socialist and gradually became well known in Italian socialist circles. - In 1912, he obtained the important position of editor of Avanti (Forward), the official socialist daily newspaper. After editorially switching his position from ardent neutrality, the socialist position, to intervention in World War I, he was expelled from the Socialist Party. - In 1919, Mussolini laid the foundations for a new political movement that came to be called fascism after the name of his group, the Fascio di Combattimento (League of Combat).

How did popular American culture during the Roaring Twenties infiltrate into certain regions in Europe? Give some examples.

- Berlin became the entertainment center of Europe with its theaters, cabarets, cinemas, and jazz clubs. People danced the Charleston, the Bunny Hug. - Josephine Baker, an American singer and dancer, became well known in Europe, appearing at European clubs featuring American "Negro" jazz music. a wonderful symbol of the popular "flapper," the unconventional and lively young woman of the 1920s. - Jazz, originated with African American musicians in the US, became so popular that the 1920s were also known as the Jazz Age. - jazz spread throughout the Western world as King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, Jelly Roll Morton

While independence for the various ethnic groups of Africa remained a distant dream, what kinds of movements did WWI tend to provoke in various regions in Africa?

- Black Africans who fought in World War I in the armies of the British and the French hoped for independence after the war. The peace settlement after World War I turned out be a great disappointment. It stripped Germany of its African colonies and awarded them to the British and the French to administer as mandates for the League of Nations. - After World War I, Africans became more active politically. Africans who had fought in the war had learned new ideas in the West about freedom and nationalism. Even in Africa itself, missionary schools had often taught their African pupils about liberty and equality. As more Africans became aware of the enormous gulf between Western ideals and practices, they decided to seek reform. - In Nigeria and South Africa, workers organized trade unions that tried to gain benefits for workers. - In British Nigeria, a growing middle class supported increasing protest movements. In 1929, a group of women protested the high taxes that were levied on the goods they were selling in the markets. During the riot that ensued, women called for all white men to leave their country. The British crushed the riot, killing fifty women in the process. - Although colonial powers responded to these protest movements with force, they also began to make some reforms in the hope of satisfying the indigenous peoples. The reforms, however, were too few and too late, and by the 1930s, an increasing number of African leaders were calling for independence, not reform.

Where did Adolf Hitler come from? Describe some of his background and early formative years prior to becoming a better known political figure.

- Born in 1889, was the son of an Austrian customs official. failure in secondary school and made his way to Vienna to become an artist. Though rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, Hitler stayed in Vienna to live the lifestyle of an artist. - At the core of Hitler's ideas was racism, especially anti-Semitism. also was an extreme German nationalist who learned from the mass politics of Vienna how political parties could effectively use propaganda and terror. He came to a firm belief in the need for struggle, - In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich, still without purpose and with no real future in sight. World War I saved him. As a dispatch runner on the Western Front, Hitler distinguished himself by his brave acts. At the end of the war, finding again that his life had no purpose or meaning, he returned to Munich and decided to enter politics

How successful were some of Mussolini's attempts to create a police state or excerise control over all propaganda outlets?

- By 1926, Mussolini had established his Fascist dictatorship. - Press laws gave the government the right to suspend any publications that fostered disrespect for the Catholic Church, the monarchy, or the state. - The prime minister was made "head of government" with the power to legislate by decree. - A police law empowered the police to arrest and confine anybody for crimes without due process of law. The government was given the power to dissolve political and cultural associations. - In 1926, all anti-Fascist parties were outlawed. A secret police, OVRA, was also established. By the end of 1926, Mussolini ruled Italy as Il Duce, the leader. - Mussolini conceived of the Fascist state as totalitarian - Mussolini did try to create a police state, but police activities in Italy were never as repressive, efficient, or savage as those of Nazi Germany. - the Italian Fascists' attempt to exercise control over all forms of mass media so that they could use propaganda as an instrument to integrate the masses into the state, failed to achieve its major goals.

What happened to Woodrow Wilson's claim that WWI had been fought to establish liberal democracies across the globe? Why did it appear to actually have, ultimately, almost the exact opposite effect?

- By 1939, only two major states (Great Britain and France) and several minor ones (the Low Countries, the Scandinavian states, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia) remained democratic. - the war created conditions that led the new mass electorate to distrust democracy and move toward a more radicalized politics.

How were Western relations with Russia in the years after Lenin's death?

- By the beginning of 1924, Soviet hopes for Communist revolutions in Western states had largely dissipated. In turn, these states had realized by then that the Bolshevik regime could not be ousted. - By 1924, Germany, Britain, France, and Italy, as well as several smaller European countries, had established full diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia. Nevertheless, Western powers remained highly suspicious of Soviet intentions.

What made the United States' experience of the Great Depression particularly worse? What measures did FDR take in the 1930s to restore some stability and recover?

- By the end of 1932, industrial production was down almost 50 percent. By 1933, there were 15 million unemployed. - Democrat Roosevelt, who won the election by a landslide in 1932, and his advisers pursued a policy of active government intervention in the economy that came to be known as the New Deal. (created a variety of agencies designed to bring relief, recovery, and reform.) - To support the nation's banks, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was established; it insured the safety of bank deposits up to $5,000. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration provided funds to help states and local communities meet the needs of the destitute and the homeless. The Civilian Conservation Corps employed more than 2 million people on reforestation projects and federal road and conservation projects. - As his policies came under increasing criticism by people who advocated more radical change, Roosevelt the Second New Deal. - stepped-up program of public works (Works Progress Administration (WPA) This government organization employed between 2 and 3 million people who worked at building bridges, roads, post offices, and airports.) - In 1935, the Social Security Act created a system of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 encouraged the rapid growth of labor unions. - After partial recovery between 1933 and 1937, the economy experienced another downturn during the winter of 1937-1938. In May 1937, American unemployment still stood at 7 million; by the following year, it had increased to 11 million.

Describe the numerous ways civilian life came under the control of the Nazis.

- Catholic and Protestant churches, primary and secondary schools, and universities, were also brought under the control of the Nazi state. Nazi professional organizations and leagues were formed for civil servants, teachers, women, farmers, doctors, and lawyers. - the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) and its female counterpart, the Bund Deutscher Mädel (German Girls Association). dedication expected of youth in the Nazi state - on April 1, 1933, the new Nazi government initiated a two-day boycott of Jewish businesses. A series of laws soon followed that excluded "non-Aryans" (defined as anyone "descended from non-Aryans, especially Jewish parents or grandparents") from the legal profession, civil service, judgeships, the medical profession, teaching positions, cultural and entertainment enterprises, and the press.

Under the communists, women had obtained relative equality under the law (abortion and divorce rights). How was this affected under Stalin?

- Disturbed by a rapidly declining birthrate, Stalin also reversed much of the permissive social legislation of the early 1920s. Advocating complete equality of rights for women, the Communists had made divorce and abortion easy to obtain while also encouraging women to work outside the home and liberate themselves sexually. - Tthe family was praised as a miniature collective in which parents were responsible for inculcating values of duty, discipline, and hard work. - Abortion was outlawed, and divorced fathers who did not support their children faced heavy fines. A - new divorce law of June 1936 imposed fines for repeated divorces, and homosexuality was declared a criminal activity. - praised motherhood and urged women to have large families as a patriotic duty. But by this time, many Soviet women worked in factories and spent many additional hours waiting in line to purchase increasingly scarce consumer goods. - Despite the change in policy, no dramatic increase in the birthrate occurred.

Why is unemployment such a major indicator and troubling factor during any economic depression?

- During 1932, the worst year of the depression, one British worker in four was unemployed, and 6 million Germans—40 percent of the German labor force—were out of work. - Between 1929 and 1932, industrial production plummeted almost 50 percent in the United States and nearly as much in Germany. - The unemployed and homeless filled the streets of cities throughout the advanced industrial countries

What made Great Britain's post war experience particularly economically painful? What kinds of governmental shifts were seen to compensate for some of these hardships? Who was Ramsay MacDonald?

- During the war, Britain had lost many of the markets for its industrial products (to the United States and Japan). The postwar decline of staple industries (coal, steel, and textiles) led to a rise in unemployment, (2 million mark in 1921). The wartime coalition government led by Liberal David Lloyd George proved unable to change this situation. - By 1923, the Labour Party surged ahead of the Liberals as the second most powerful party in Britain after the Conservatives. After the elections of November 1923, a Labour-Liberal agreement enabled Ramsay MacDonald to become the first Labour prime minister of Britain. Dependent on Liberal support, MacDonald rejected any extreme social or economic experimentation. His government lasted only ten months, (the Conservative Party charged that his administration was friendly toward communism)

Division, mistrust, fragility, anxiety. Each of these terms describes the interwar years mentality. What effects (notice that it is plural) did this have on European society?

- During the war, governments had been forced to make concessions to trade unions and socialist parties, so the working class had been strengthened. At the same time, the position of many middle-class people had declined, as consumer industries had been curtailed during the war. - war bonds, which had been purchased by the middle classes as their patriotic contribution to the war effort, sank in value and even became worthless in some countries. - as soldiers returned home, women were forced out of jobs they had taken during the war, which they wanted to retain. - the loss of men left women with no marital prospects or as widows with little job opportunities. - fears about a declining population because of the war led many male political leaders to encourage women to return to their traditional roles as wives and mothers. Many European countries outlawed abortions and curtailed the sale of birth control devices while providing increased welfare benefits to entice women to remain at home and bear children.

Why were parliamentary governments in Eastern Europe giving way to authoritarian regimes at the beginning of the 1920s?

- Eastern European states had little tradition of liberalism or parliamentary politics and no substantial middle class to support them. - these states were largely rural and agrarian. Large landowners who feared the growth of agrarian peasant parties with their schemes for land redistribution still controlled much of the land. - Ethnic conflicts also threatened to tear these countries apart. - Fearful of land reform, Communist agrarian upheaval, and ethnic conflict, powerful landowners, the churches, and even some members of the small middle class looked to authoritarian governments to maintain the old system.

In what ways did radio and movie completely change European culture?

- Especially important was Guglielmo Marconi's discovery of "wireless" radio waves. But it was not until June 16, 1920, that a radio broadcast for a mass audience was attempted. - mass production of radios also began. In 1926, when the BBC was made into a public corporation, there were 2.2 million radios in Great Britain. - The first short films were produced by the French Lumiére brothers in 1895; their film The Train Arrives at the Station caused a mixed reaction of fear and delight from its viewers. - Shortly before World War I, full-length features, (Italian film Quo Vadis and the American film Birth of a Nation) were released - cinema was a new form of entertainment for the masses. - By 1939, about 40 percent of adults in the more advanced industrial countries were attending the movies once a week. That figure increased to 60 percent by the end of World War II. - the increased size of audiences and the ability of radio and cinema, unlike the printed word, to provide an immediate shared experience added new dimensions to mass culture. - Favorite film actors became the focus of public adoration and scrutiny. - Marlene Dietrich, whose appearance in the early sound film The Blue Angel catapulted her to fame, popularized new images of women's sexuality.

What elements of the Italian political landscape allowed Mussolini a window of opportunity to capture popular support from his fellow Italians?

- Fascio di Combattimento received little attention in the elections of 1919, but political stalemate in Italy's parliamentary system and strong nationalist sentiment saved Mussolini and the Fascists. - The new parliament elected in November proved incapable of governing Italy. - Three major parties, the Socialists, Liberals, and Popolari (or Christian Democrats), were unable to form an effective coalition. - The Socialists, who had now become the largest party, spoke theoretically of the need for revolution, which alarmed conservatives, who quickly associated them with Bolsheviks or Communists. Thousands of industrial and agricultural strikes in 1919 and 1920 created a climate of class warfare and continual violence. - Mussolini shifted quickly from leftist to rightist politics and began to gain support from middle-class industrialists fearful of working-class agitation and large landowners who objected to the agricultural strikes. - Mussolini also perceived that Italians were angry over Italy's failure to receive more fruits of victory in the form of territorial acquisitions after World War I. He realized then that anticommunism, antistrike activity, and nationalist rhetoric combined with the use of brute force might help him

What is the Schutzstaffel and what made it such an essential component of the Nazi regime? What role did Himmler play in the SS?

- For those who needed coercion, the Nazi state had its instruments of terror and repression. - Especially important was the SS, the Schutzstaffeln, or Protection Squads. Originally created as Hitler's personal bodyguard, the SS, under the direction of Heinrich Himmler, controlled all of the regular and secret police forces. - Himmler and the SS functioned on the basis of two principles: terror and ideology. Terror included the instruments of repression and murder: the secret police, criminal police, concentration camps, and later the execution squads and death camps for the extermination of the Jews. - For Himmler, the SS was a crusading order whose primary goal was to further the Aryan master race. SS members, who constituted a carefully chosen elite, were thoroughly indoctrinated in racial ideology.

What movements led by Gandhi began in India in the post-WWI era? How did civil disobedience play a role in this?

- Gandhi began a movement based on nonviolent resistance whose aim was to force the British to improve the lot of the poor and grant independence to India. - Relations between the British and Indians deteriorated following the 1919 Amritsar Massacre, wherein British troops fired on crowds of protestors and pilgrims who had journeyed to Punjab for religious celebrations. The massacre took place in an enclosed space where British troops prevented the crowd from dispersing by blocking the exits. In response, Gandhi urged his followers to follow a peaceful policy of civil disobedience refusing to obey British regulations. - He adopted the spinning wheel as a symbol of India's resistance to imports of British textiles. Civil disobedience: a policy of peaceful protest against laws or government policies in order to achieve political change. - Although the British resisted Gandhi's movement, in 1935 they granted India internal self-government to be implemented gradually. Legislative councils at the local level were enlarged and given responsibility for education, local affairs, and public health, and Indian participation in government slowly increased. Responsibility for law and order, land revenue, and famine relief remained under the control of the British, however.

Give a synopsis of the following post-war artistic trend via an example of a piece and its relative significance to the movement: German Expressionism

- German Expressionist artists captured the disturbingly destructive effects of World War I. - the war had a devastating impact on a group of German Expressionist artists who focused on the suffering and shattered lives caused by the war. - George Grosz was one of these artists and expressed his anger through his art - Another German artist who gave visual expression to the horrors of WWI was Otto Dix, who had also served in the war and was well versed in its effects. In The War, he gave a graphic presentation of the devastating effects of the Great War.

What was the Kellogg-Briand pact? Were militaries (other than Germany's) agreeing to disarm at this time?

- Germany's entry into the League of Nations in March 1926 soon reinforced the new spirit of conciliation engendered at Locarno. - Two years later, similar optimistic attitudes prevailed in the Kellogg-Briand pact, drafted by the American secretary of state Frank B. Kellogg and the French foreign minister Aristide Briand. Sixty-three nations agreed to the pact, they pledged "to renounce war as an instrument of national policy." Nothing was said, however, about what would be done if anyone violated the treaty. - The spirit of Locarno was based on little real substance. Germany lacked the military power to alter its western borders even if it wanted to. - the issue of disarmament soon proved that the spirit of Locarno could not induce nations to cut back on their weapons. The League of Nations Covenant had suggested the "reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with national safety." Germany, of course, had been disarmed with the expectation that other states would do likewise. Numerous disarmament conferences, however, failed to achieve anything substantial as states proved unwilling to trust their security to anyone but their own military forces.

What is "Gleichschaltung" and why was it an important feature of the Nazi agenda?

- Gleichschaltung: the coordination of all institutions under Nazi control. - They purged the civil service of Jews and democratic elements, established concentration camps for opponents of the new regime, eliminated the autonomy of the federal states, dissolved the trade unions and replaced them with the gigantic Labor Front, and abolished all political parties except the Nazis. - within seven months of being appointed chancellor, Hitler and the Nazis had established a powerful control over Germany.

How did Generalissimo Franco prevail? Franco remained in power until 1975, but how was it different from other dictatorships?

- Gradually, Franco's forces wore down the Popular Front, and after they captured Madrid on March 28, 1939, the Spanish Civil War finally came to an end. - Probably 400,000 people died in the war, only one-fourth of them on the battlefield. Civilians died from air raids, disease, and bloody reprisals by both sides against their enemies and their supporters. Another 200,000 people were executed in the years following Franco's victory. - General Franco soon established a dictatorship that lasted until his death in 1975. It was not a fascist government, although it was unlikely to oppose the Fascists in Italy or the Nazis in Germany. - The fascist movement in Spain, known as the Falange and led by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the former dictator, contributed little to Franco's success and played a minor role in the new regime. - Franco's government, which outlawed political opposition, favored large landowners, business, and the Catholic clergy, and curtailed the media, was yet another example of a traditional, conservative, authoritarian regime.

Explain Hitler's approach to fixing the economy in Germany. How much direct control was or was not extorted over various industries? What put people to work? How were labor unions handled?

- Hitler and the Nazis also established control, but industry was not nationalized, as the left wing of the Nazi Party wanted. - Hitler felt that it was irrelevant who owned the means of production so long as the owners recognized their master. - Although the regime pursued the use of public works projects and "pump-priming" grants to private construction firms to foster employment and end the depression, there is little doubt that rearmament did far more to solve the unemployment problem. - Unemployment, which had stood at 6 million in 1932, dropped to 2.6 million in 1934 and less than 500,000 in 1937. - The German Labor Front under Robert Ley regulated the world of labor. The Labor Front was a state-run union. To control all laborers, it used the workbook. Every salaried worker had to have one in order to hold a job. Only by submitting to the policies of the Nazi-controlled Labor Front could a worker obtain and retain a workbook. The Labor Front also sponsored activities to keep the workers happy

Hitler's party, the NSDAP, was originally obscure. How did it come to attract so many followers? What kinds of various elements did the party possess to make it appealing?

- Hitler joined the German Workers' Party, a right-wing extreme nationalist party in Munich. By the summer of 1921, Hitler had assumed total control of the party, which he renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nazi for short. (the party's name would distinguish the Nazis from the socialist parties while gaining support from both working-class and nationalist circles) - Hitler worked assiduously to develop the party into a mass political movement with flags, badges, uniforms, its own newspaper, and its own police force or militia known as the SA, the Storm Troops. It was used to defend the party in meeting halls and to break up the meetings of other parties. - Hitler's oratorical skills were largely responsible for attracting an increasing number of followers. By 1923, the party had grown from its early hundreds into a membership of 55,000, plus another 15,000 in the SA.

Why didn't it concern Hitler when the number of Reichstag seats held by the nazi party dropped from 230 to 196 in just four months? What kinds of major backing did Hitler have after personifying right-wing authoritarianism?

- Hitler saw clearly that after 1930 the Reichstag was not all that important, since the government ruled by decree with the support of President Hindenburg. - Increasingly, the right-wing elites of Germany (the industrial magnates, landed aristocrats, military establishment, bureaucrats) came to see Hitler as the man who had the mass support to establish a right-wing, authoritarian regime that would save Germany and their privileged positions from a Communist takeover. - Under pressure from these elites, President Hindenburg agreed to allow Hitler to become chancellor and form a new government.

How did Hitler go about reorganizing the NSDAP to achieve his goal of "Fuhrerprinzip" in the years 1925-1929?

- If the Nazis could not overthrow the Weimar Republic by force, they would have to use constitutional means to gain power (formation of a mass political movement that would actively compete for votes with the other political parties) - the party was to follow only the Führerprinzip, the leadership principle, which entailed nothing less than a single-minded party under one leader. - In the late 1920s, Hitler reorganized the Nazi Party on a regional basis and expanded it to all parts of Germany. By 1929, the Nazis had a national party organization. The party also grew from 27,000 members in 1925 to 178,000 by the end of 1929. - Many were under thirty and were fiercely committed to Hitler because he gave them the kind of active politics they sought. Rather than democratic debate, they wanted brawls in beer halls, enthusiastic speeches, and comradeship in the building of a new Germany. Such youthful enthusiasm gave Nazism the aura of a "young man's movement" - Between 1925 and 1927, Hitler and the Nazis had pursued an urban strategy geared toward winning workers from the socialists and Communists. - But failure in the 1928 elections, when the Nazis gained only 2.6 percent of the vote and twelve seats in the Reichstag, convinced Hitler of the need for a change. By 1929, the party began to pursue middle-class and lower-middle-class votes in small towns and rural areas, especially in northern, central, and eastern Germany.

When Lenin ultimately died in 1924, what was the Politburo and why were they divided? Who were the Rights and the Lefts, and what did they believe?

- In 1924, the Politburo, the institution that had become the leading organ of the party, was divided over the future direction of the nation. - The Left, led by Leon Trotsky, wanted to end the NEP and launch the Soviet Union on the path of rapid industrialization, at the expense of the peasantry. They wanted to continue the revolution, the survival of the Russian Revolution ultimately depended on the spread of communism abroad. - the Right rejected the cause of world revolution and wanted instead to concentrate on constructing a socialist state. Too rapid industrialization would worsen the living standards of the Soviet peasantry, favored a continuation of Lenin's NEP.

What was the culture of nazism like in art?

- In Nazi Germany, artists and writers were placed under the control of the state, and only works that supported the Nazi ideals were permitted, (Ernest Jünger's The Storm of Steel, a memoir of a German officer during World War I that stressed military service and sacrifice) - Hitler and the Nazis rejected modern art as "degenerate" or "Jewish" art, and began a systematic program of confiscation and destruction of thousands of paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture by artists such as Cezanne, Picasso, and Van Gogh. - the Nazis believed that they had laid the foundation for a new and genuine German art, which would glorify the strong, the healthy, and the heroic—all supposedly attributes of the Aryan race. - The new German art was actually the old nineteenth-century genre art with its emphasis on realistic scenes of everyday life and was intended to inculcate social values useful to the ruling regimes

What were the Nuremburg laws and what were they intended to achieve in Germany? How did the Nuremburg Laws evolve over time? What was Kristallnacht and how was it related to the laws?

- In September 1935, the Nazis announced "Nuremberg laws" which excluded German Jews from German citizenship and forbade marriages and extramarital relations between Jews and German citizens. separated Jews from the Germans politically, socially, and legally and were the natural extension of Hitler's stress on the preservation of a pure Aryan race. - it was initiated on November 9-10, 1938, the infamous Kristallnacht. The assassination of a third secretary in the German embassy in Paris by a young Polish Jew became the excuse for a Nazi-led destructive rampage against the Jews in which synagogues were burned, seven thousand Jewish businesses were destroyed, and at least one hundred Jews were killed. - 30,000 Jewish males were sent to concentration camps. Jews were barred from all public buildings and prohibited from owning, managing, or working in any retail store. - Finally, under the direction of the SS, Jews were encouraged to "emigrate from Germany."

What was the NEP and what was it designed to achieve?

- Lenin's March 1921, New Economic Policy to revive the economy after the ravages of the civil war and war communism. - was a modified version of the old capitalist system. Peasants were now allowed to sell their produce openly, and stores that employed fewer than twenty employees could operate under private ownership; heavy industry, banking, and mines remained in the hands of the government. - In 1922, Lenin and the Communists formally created a new state called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR and commonly called the Soviet Union. - in that year, a revived market and good harvest had brought the famine to an end; Soviet agriculture climbed to 75 percent of its prewar level. Industry, especially state-owned heavy industry, fared less well and continued to stagnate. Only coal production had reached prewar levels by 1926. - Overall, the NEP had saved the Soviet Union from complete economic disaster even though Lenin and other leading Communists intended it to be only temporary

What were post-war changes in music and performing arts?

- Many traditionalists denounced what they considered degeneracy and decadence in the arts. - At the beginning of the twentieth century, a revolution in music parallel to the revolution in art had begun with the work of Igor Stravinsky. But Stravinsky still wrote music in a definite key. - The Viennese composer Arnold Schönberg began to experiment with a radically new style by creating musical pieces in which tonality is completely abandoned, a system that he called atonal music. Schönberg created a new system of twelve-tone composition which used a scale of twelve notes independent of any tonal key.

Why did Mussolini rely on the Young Fascists so much? What was the goal of these youth organizations?

- Mussolini and the Fascists also attempted to mold Italians into a single-minded community by pursuing a Fascist educational policy and developing Fascist organizations. - Because the secondary schools maintained considerable freedom from Fascist control, the regime relied more and more on the activities of youth organizations, known as the Young Fascists, to indoctrinate. - By 1939, about 6.8 million children, teenagers, and young adults of both sexes, or 66 percent of the population between eight and eighteen, were enrolled in some kind of Fascist youth group. - Activities: Saturday afternoon marching drills, summer camps, competitions. -Beginning in the 1930s, all male groups were given some kind of premilitary exercises to develop discipline and provide training for war.

What roles did the notions of "order" vs "disorder" play a role in the rise of Fascism in Italy?

- Mussolini and the Fascists believed that these terrorist tactics would achieve political victory. They deliberately created conditions of disorder knowing that fascism would flourish in such an environment. - They construed themselves as the party of order and drew the bulk of their support from the middle and upper classes; white-collar workers, professionals and civil servants, landowners, merchants and artisans, and students made up almost 60 percent of the membership of the Fascist Party. - The middle-class fear of socialism, Communist revolution, and disorder made the Fascists attractive.

What was the "March on Rome" and what was the alleged versus actual goal of this movement? How did it turn out?

- Mussolini and the Fascists were to plan a march on Rome in order to seize power. -but in truth the planned march on Rome was a calculated bluff to frighten the government into giving them power. - The bluff worked, and the government capitulated even before the march occurred. On October 29, 1922, King Victor Emmanuel III made Mussolini prime minister of Italy. Twenty-four hours later, the Fascist Blackshirts were allowed to march into Rome in order to create the myth that they had gained power by an armed insurrection after a civil war.

What might be considered some of the major shortcomings (or even full blown failures) of the Fascist movement in Italy? How did it compare to other allegedly totalitarian states?

- Mussolini failed to attain the degree of control achieved in Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Soviet Union. - they never really destroyed the old power structure. Some institutions (armed forces and the monarchy) were never absorbed into the Fascist state and maintained their independence. - Mussolini had boasted that he would help the workers and peasants, but instead he generally allied himself with the interests of the industrialists and large landowners at the expense of the lower classes. - Even more indicative of Mussolini's compromise with the traditional institutions of Italy was his attempt to gain the support of the Catholic Church. - In the Lateran Accords of February 1929, Mussolini's regime recognized the independence of a small enclave of 109 acres within Rome, known as Vatican City, which had remained in the church's possession since the unification of Italy in 1870; in return, the papacy recognized the Italian state. The Lateran Accords also guaranteed the church a large grant of money and recognized Catholicism as the "sole religion of the state." In return, the Catholic Church urged Italians to support the Fascist regime. - In all areas of Italian life under Mussolini and the Fascists, there was a noticeable dichotomy between Fascist ideals and practice. The Italian Fascists promised much but delivered considerably less

How did organized mass culture manifest in fascist Italy and Germany? How was mass leisure different in those areas than other areas of Europe?

- Mussolini's Italy created the Dopolavoro as a vast national recreation agency. It established clubhouses with libraries, radios, and athletic facilities. Some included auditoriums and travel agencies that arranged vacations on the Adriatic at reduced rates. -Dopolavoro groups introduced many Italians to band concerts, movies, choral groups, roller skating, and ballroom dancing. The state imposed new rules and regulations on previously spontaneous activities, thus breaking down old group solidarities and enabling these groups to be guided by the goals of the state. - The Nazi regime instituted a similar program called Kraft durch Freude which coordinated the free time of the working class by offering a variety of leisure time activities, including concerts, operas, films, guided tours, and sporting events. Especially popular were inexpensive vacations, (cruises to Scandinavia or the Mediterranean or, more likely for workers, short trips to various sites in Germany)

How did Hermann Goering and Hitler establish control over the police force and what excuse gave them the authority to freely arrest and imprison their opponents?

- One of Hitler's important cohorts, Hermann Göring, had been made minister of the interior and hence head of the police of the Prussian state, the largest of the federal states in Germany. He used his power to purge the police of non-Nazis and to establish an auxiliary police force composed of SA members. This action legitimized Nazi terror. - On the day after a fire broke out in the Reichstag building (February 27), supposedly set by the Communists, Hitler was also able to convince President Hindenburg to issue a decree that gave the government emergency powers (suspended all basic rights of citizens for the full duration of the emergency, thus enabling the Nazis to arrest and imprison anyone without redress) - the Nazis gained 288 Reichstag seats in the elections of March 5, 1933 but since they still did not possess an absolute majority, on March 23 the Nazis sought the Enabling Act, which would empower the government to dispense with constitutional forms for four years while it issued laws to deal with the country's problems. - Since the act was to be an amendment to the Weimar constitution, the Nazis needed and obtained a two-thirds vote to pass it. Only the Social Democrats had the courage to oppose Hitler. - He no longer needed either the Reichstag or President Hindenburg. In effect, Hitler became a dictator appointed by the parliamentary body itself.

What was the search for unconscious in literature?

- One of the most visible manifestations of the increasing interest in the unconscious was the "stream-of-consciousness" technique in which the writer presented an interior monologue, or a report of the innermost thoughts of each character. - Irish exile James Joyce's Ulysses, published in 1922, told the story of one day in the life of ordinary people in Dublin by following the flow of their inner dialogue. Disconnected ramblings and veiled allusions. - Virginia Woolf belonged to a group of intellectuals and artists, known as the Bloomsbury Circle, who sought to create new artistic and literary forms. In her novels Mrs. Dalloway and Jacob's Room, Woolf used the inner monologues of her main characters to reveal their world of existence. For a woman to be a writer, she would need to have her own income. - The German writer Hermann Hesse's novels reflected the influence of both Carl Jung's psychological theories and Eastern religions and focused among other things on the spiritual loneliness of modern human beings in a mechanized urban society. Demian was a psychoanalytic study of incest, and Steppenwolf mirrored the psychological confusion of modern existence.

What was the last bastion of democracy in Central-Eastern Europe?

- Only Czechoslovakia, with its substantial middle class, liberal tradition, and strong industrial base, maintained its political democracy. - Thomas Masaryk, an able and fair leader who served as president from 1918 to 1935, was able to maintain an uneasy but stable alliance of reformist socialists, agrarians, and Catholics.

How were TV and Film used for political purposes

- Radio offered great opportunities for reaching the masses, the emotional harangues of a demagogue such as Hitler had just as much impact on people when heard on radio as in person. - The Nazis encouraged radio listening by urging manufacturers to produce cheap radios that could be bought on the installment plan. The Nazis also erected loudspeaker pillars in the streets - Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany, created a special film section in his Propaganda Ministry and encouraged the production of both documentaries and popular feature films that carried the Nazi message. Triumph of the Will, for example, was a documentary of the 1934 Nuremberg party rally that forcefully conveyed the power of National Socialism to viewers - Both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany also controlled and exploited the content of newsreels shown in movie theaters.

Why was holding an election so important to the new Prime Minister of Italy, Benito Mussolini? What kind of maneuvers did he begin to make after establishing his dictatorship?

- Since the Fascists constituted but a small minority in parliament, the new prime minister was forced to move slowly. - In the summer of 1923, Mussolini began to prepare for a national election that would consolidate the power of his Fascist government and give him a more secure base from which to govern. - The national elections held on April 6, 1924 resulted in an enormous victory for the Fascists. (won 65 percent of the votes and garnered 374 seats out of a total of 535 in parliament) - Although the elections were conducted in an atmosphere of Fascist fraud, force, and intimidation, the size of the victory indicated the growing popularity of Mussolini and his Fascists.

How did parliamentary government die in Spain? What was the Spanish Civil War all about?

- Spain's parliamentary monarchy was unable to deal with the social tensions generated by the industrial boom and inflation that accompanied World War I. Supported by King Alfonso XIII, General Miguel Primo de Rivera led a successful military coup in September 1923 and created a personal dictatorship that lasted until 1930. - the Great Depression led to the collapse of Primo de Rivera's regime in January 1930 as well as to a lack of support for the monarchy. Alfonso XIII left Spain in 1931, and a new Spanish republic was instituted, governed by a coalition of democrats and reformist socialists. - control of the government passed from leftists to rightists until the Popular Front, an antifascist coalition composed of democrats, socialists, Communists, and other leftist groups, took over in 1936. But the Popular Front was unacceptable to senior army officers. - Led by General Francisco Franco, Spanish military forces revolted against the government and inaugurated a brutal and bloody civil war that lasted three years. - On the left were the Republicans who supported the Popular Front, in urban areas such as Madrid and Barcelona and favored modernization, workers' rights, the expansion of manufacturing, a civilian army, and secularization. On the right were the Nationalists who supported Franco's military coup, the monarchy, the military, an agrarian economy, and the Catholic Church. - In 1936, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union signed a nonintervention agreement declaring that they would not provide economic or military support for either side. - Germany and Italy quickly rejected the agreement and sent troops, weapons, and military advisers to assist Franco. - Hitler used the Spanish Civil War as an opportunity to test the new weapons of his revived air force (The devastating air attack on Guernica on April 26, 1937). - Meanwhile, the British and French adhered to their position of nonintervention, so the Republicans turned to the Soviet Union for aid. The Soviets sent tanks, planes, and pilots. The Republicans also gained assistance from international brigades of volunteers, including the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the United States.

What made Stalin's rule over Russia much more radical than the revolution of 1917? What were the two five-year-plans that he enacted supposed to achieve?

- Stalin made a significant shift in economic policy in 1928 when he launched his first five-year plan. Its real goal was the transformation of the Soviet Union from an agricultural country into an industrial state virtually overnight. Instead of consumer goods, the first five-year plan emphasized maximum production of capital goods and armaments and succeeded in quadrupling the production of heavy machinery and doubling oil production. - Between 1928 and 1937, during the first two five-year plans, steel production increased from 4 to 18 million tons per year, and hard coal output went from 36 to 128 million tons.

How did Stalin solidify his position in the struggle between him and Trotsky?

- Stalin used his post as party general secretary to gain complete control of the Communist Party. - Trotsky was expelled from the party in 1927. Eventually, he made his way to Mexico, where he was murdered in 1940, on Stalin's orders. - By 1929, Stalin had succeeded in eliminating the Old Bolsheviks of the revolutionary era from the Politburo and establishing a powerful dictatorship.

Read the blue section on page 792-793, why did Europe face such economic and social hardships following World War I? How much better off was the United States at this time?

- The European economy did not begin to recover from the war until 1922, and even then The Great Depression at the end of 1929 brought misery to millions of people. - Begging for food on streets, some soup kitchens were unable to keep up with demand, larger numbers of people were homeless and moved from place to place looking for work and shelter. - In the United States, the homeless set up shantytowns they derisively named "Hoovervilles" after the U.S. president, Herbert Hoover. - Social unrest spread, some unemployed staged hunger marches to get attention. In democratic countries, more and more people began to listen to and vote for radical voices calling for extreme measures.

What is hyperinflation? What happened to Germany's economy by the time 1923 rolled around?

- The German government adopted a policy of passive resistance (largely financed by printing more paper money, but this only intensified the inflationary pressures that had already appeared in Germany by the end of the war) - the German mark had become virtually worthless. by the end of November 1923, it was 4.2 trillion marks to the dollar. - Economic disaster fueled political upheavals as Communists staged uprisings in October 1923, and Adolf Hitler's band of Nazis attempted to seize power in Munich in November. - However, the French gains from the occupation were not enough to offset the costs. Meanwhile, pressure from the United States and Great Britain forced the French to agree to a new conference of experts to reassess the reparations problem. - By the time the conference did its work in 1924, both France and Germany were willing to pursue a more conciliatory approach toward each other.

Scandinavian nations often utilized social-democracy to cope with the economic downturn. How well did this work and why?

- The Scandinavian states were particularly successful in coping with the Great Depression. - Socialist parties had grown steadily in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and between the wars, they came to head the governments of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. These Social Democratic governments encouraged the development of rural and industrial cooperative enterprises. (90% of the Danish milk industry was organized on a cooperative basis by 1933). Privately owned and managed, Scandinavian cooperatives seemed to avoid the pitfalls of either Communist or purely capitalist economic systems. - Scandinavian governments increase old-age pensions and unemployment insurance, also provided such novel forms of assistance as subsidized housing, free prenatal care, maternity allowances, and annual paid vacations for workers. - To achieve their social welfare states, the Scandinavian governments required high taxes and large bureaucracies, but these did not prevent both private and cooperative enterprises from prospering. - between 1900 and 1939, Sweden experienced a greater rise in real wages than any other European country.

Who was WEB DuBois? Who was Marcus Garvey? What roles did each of these men play in advocating for African rights?

- The clearest calls came from a new generation of young African leaders who had been educated in Europe and the United States. - Those who went to the United States were especially influenced by the pan-African ideas of W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. - Du Bois, an African American educated at Harvard, was the leader of a movement that tried to make all Africans aware of their own cultural heritage. Garvey, a Jamaican who lived in Harlem in New York, also stressed the need for the unity of all Africans. - Leaders and movements also appeared in individual African nations. In his book Facing Mount Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, who had been educated in Great Britain, argued that British rule was destroying the traditional culture of the peoples of black Africa.

What techniques did Hitler use to gain mass appeal? What were his ideological goals for Germany?

- The development of an Aryan racial state that would dominate Europe and possibly the world for generations to come required a massive movement in which the German people would be actively involved, not passively cowed by force. - They employed mass demonstrations and spectacles to integrate the German nation into a collective fellowship and to mobilize it as an instrument for Hitler's policies. These mass demonstrations, especially the Nuremberg party rallies that were held every September and the Harvest Festivals celebrated at the Bückeberg near Hamelin every fall, combined the symbolism of a religious service with the merriment of a popular amusement. - Nazi Germany was the scene of almost constant personal and institutional conflict, which resulted in administrative chaos. Incessant struggle characterized relationships within the party, within the state, and between party and state. By fostering rivalry within the party and between party and state, Hitler became the ultimate decision maker.

Who was Leon Blum, and what did he do?

- The first Popular Front government was formed in June 1936 and was a coalition of the two French leftist parties, the Socialists and the Radicals. These parties shared a belief in antimilitarism, anticlericalism, and the importance of education. But despite their name, the Radicals were a democratic party of small property owners, whereas the Socialists were nominally committed to Marxist socialism. - The Socialist leader, Leon Bluma, served as prime minister. The Popular Front succeeded in initiating a program for workers that some have called the French New Deal. It established the right of collective bargaining, a forty-hour workweek, two-week paid vacations, and minimum wages. - By 1938, the French were experiencing a serious decline of confidence in their political system that left them unprepared to deal with their aggressive Nazi enemy to the east.

Who is Gustav Stresemann and what role did they play in assisting the German economy? What were the terms of the Treaty of Locarno? Why did it create such a sense of optimism that peace would be maintained in Western Europe?

- The foreign ministers of Germany and France, Gustav Stresemann and Aristide Briand fostered a spirit of international cooperation by concluding the Treaty of Locarno in 1925. - This guaranteed Germany's new western borders with France and Belgium. Although Germany's new eastern borders with Poland were conspicuously absent from the agreement, a clear indication that Germany did not accept those borders as permanent, many viewed the Locarno pact as the beginning of a new era of European peace.

Who was Charles Dawes? What role did they play in assisting the German economy?

- The formation of new governments in both Great Britain and France opened the door to conciliatory approaches to Germany and the reparations problem. At the same time, a new German government led by Gustav Stresemann ended the policy of passive resistance and committed Germany to carry out most of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles while seeking a new settlement of the reparations question. - The German government stabilized the currency and ended the extreme inflation by issuing a new temporary currency, the Rentenmark, equal to 3 trillion old marks. - In August 1924, an international commission produced a new plan for reparations. Named the Dawes Plan after the American banker who chaired the commission, it reduced reparations and stabilized Germany's payments on the basis of its ability to pay. The Dawes Plan also granted an initial $200 million loan for German recovery, which opened the door to heavy American investments in Europe that helped usher in a new era of European prosperity between 1924 and 1929.

How did mass leisure expand in the area of tourism during these era?

- The military use of aircraft during WWI spurred improvements in planes that made civilian air travel. The first regular international airmail service began in 1919, and regular passenger service soon after. - air travel was for the wealthy or the adventurous, but trains, buses, and private cars made excursions more popular and more affordable. Beaches (Brighton, England) has crowds of people from all social classes, a clear reflection of the growth of democratic politics. - In France, the Popular Front government passed legislation that provided paid vacations for all salaried employees or wage earners. Workers were granted a fifteen-day paid vacation in the summer, corresponding to school vacation. - Whereas in Italy and Germany mass leisure activities were used to support state initiatives - Europeans living in the colonies of the European states flocked to colonial spas where they could find reminders of European culture and medicinal treatment. Hydrotherapy (treatment with mineral water) was employed to treat malaria and yellow fever - mass culture and mass leisure had the effect of increasing the homogeneity of national populations. Local popular culture was increasingly replaced by national and even international culture as new forms of mass production and consumption brought similar styles of clothing and fashion to people throughout Europe.

What ideology motivated the Treaty of Versailles? What kind of effect did it have on the various European countries? How did Germany, the United States, and others react to post-war treaties?

- The peace treaties at the end of World War I had tried to fulfill the nineteenth-century dream of nationalism by redrawing boundaries and creating new states. - this peace settlement left many nations unhappy. - Conflicts over disputed border regions poisoned mutual relations in eastern Europe for years Germany: viewed the Peace of Versailles as a dictated peace and vowed to seek its revision. United States: Woodrow Wilson recognized that the peace treaties contained unwise provisions that could cause conflicts and had put many of his hopes for the future in the League of Nations. - Although the league had some success in guaranteeing protection for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in some of the newly formed states, the League was not particularly effective at maintaining peace. - The failure of the United States to join the League and the American determination to be less involved in European affairs undermined effectiveness from the beginning. The League's sole weapon for halting aggression was the imposition of economic sanctions such as trade embargoes that often failed to prevent League members from engaging in military action. Efforts to promote disarmament were also ineffective.

What was the "Heroic Age of Physics"?

- The prewar revolution in physics initiated by Max Planck and Albert Einstein continued in the interwar period. In fact, Ernest Rutherford, one of the physicists responsible for demonstrating that the atom could be split, dubbed the 1920s the "heroic age of physics." - By the early 1940s, physicists had distinguished seven subatomic particles and achieved a sufficient understanding of the atom to lay the foundations for the development of a sophisticated new explosive device, the atomic bomb. - Classical physics had rested on the fundamental belief that all phenomena could be predicted if they could be completely understood; thus, the weather could be accurately predicted if we knew everything about the wind, sun, and water. - In 1927, the German physicist Werner Heisenberg upset this belief when he posited the uncertainty principle. Heisenberg argued that no one could determine the path of an electron because the very act of observing the electron with light affected the electron's location. The uncertainty principle was more than an explanation for the path of an electron, however; it was a new worldview. Heisenberg shattered confidence in predictability and dared to propose that uncertainty was at the root of all physical laws.

How did pre-war avant-garde beliefs manifest itself in sexuality and new attitudes about gender appropriate behaviors?

- The war had served to break down many traditional middle-class attitudes, especially toward sexuality. - Short skirts, short hair, the use of cosmetics, and the new practice of sun tanning gave women a new image. This change in physical appearance, which stressed more exposure of a woman's body, was also accompanied by discussions of sexual matters. - In England in 1918, Marie Stopes published Married Love, which emphasized sexual pleasure in marriage. In 1926, the Dutch physician Theodore van de Velde published Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique. In which he described female and male anatomy, discussed birth control techniques, and glorified sexual pleasure in marriage. - Family planning clinics, such as those of Margaret Sanger in the United States and Marie Stopes in Britain, began to spread new ideas on sexuality and birth control to the working classes.

Why did French hold resentment towards the US after WWI?

- The weakness of the League of Nations/failure of the United States to honor its promise to form a defensive military alliance with France left the French feeling embittered and alone. - Fear of German aggression led them to reject the possibility of disarmament. - Before World War I, France's alliance with Russia served to threaten Germany with a two-front war. But Communist Russia was now hostile. - To compensate, France built a network of alliances in eastern Europe with Poland and the Little Entente (Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia). Although these alliances looked good on paper, they overlooked the fundamental military weaknesses of those nations.

What were the social and political costs of rapid industrialization?

- Though the industrial labor force increased by millions between 1932 and 1940, total investment in housing declined after 1929; millions of workers lived in pitiful conditions. - Real wages in industry also declined by 43 percent, strict laws limited workers' freedom of movement. - Soviet labor policy stressed high levels of achievement, typified by the Stakhanov cult. Alexei Stakhanov was a coal miner who mined 102 tons of coal in one shift, exceeding the norm by 1,300 percent. He was held up as an example to others, even though his feat had been contrived for publicity purposes. - Stalin believed that the capital needed for industrial growth could be gained by creating agricultural surpluses through eliminating private farms and pushing people onto collective farms. The first step was to eliminate the kulaks, or wealthy farmers, who were sent to the Siberian camps beginning in 1930. - 10 million peasant households collectivized; 26 million family farms collectivized into 250,000 units. This was done at tremendous cost since Stalin did not hesitate to starve the peasants to force them to comply with the policy of collectivization, especially in Ukraine, where 2.9 million died. - The only concession Stalin made to the peasants was to allow each household to have one tiny, privately owned garden plot. - To achieve his goals, Stalin strengthened the party bureaucracy under his control. Those who resisted were sent to labor camps in Siberia. - the most prominent Old Bolsheviks were put on trial and condemned to death. During this same time, Stalin undertook a purge of army officers, diplomats, union officials, party members, intellectuals, and numerous ordinary citizens.

How did artists adapt to changing mass culture attitudes in this time?

- To attract a wider audience, artists and musicians began to involve themselves in the new mass culture. - The German Kurt Weill had been a struggling composer of classical music before he turned to jazz rhythms and other popular music for the music for The Threepenny Opera. - Some artists even regarded art as a means to transform society and located their studios in poor neighborhoods. - Theater proved especially attractive as postwar artists sought to make an impact on popular audiences. - The German director Erwin Piscator began his directing career by offering plays to workers on picket lines. Piscator hoped to reach workers by experimental drama with political messages.

What were some positive changes in the everyday lives of Soviet citizens?

- To create leaders for the new Communist society, Stalin began a program to enable workers, peasants, and young Communists to receive higher education, especially in engineering. - growth in part-time schools, where large numbers of adults took courses to become literate so that they could advance to technical school or college. Increasing numbers of people saw education as the key to better jobs and upward mobility in Soviet society.

How did pre-war avant-garde movements and beliefs continue into post-war era?

- To many people, the experiences of the war seemed to confirm the prewar avant-garde belief that human beings were violent and irrational animals who were incapable of creating a sane and rational world. - The Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as the growth of fascist movements based on violence and the degradation of individual rights, only added to the uncertainties generated by the Great War. - The crisis of confidence in Western civilization ran deep and was well captured in the words of the French poet Paul Valéry

What was the power struggle that ensued between Trotsky and Stalin?

- Trotsky had been a key figure in the success of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Red Army. In 1924, he held the post of commissar of war and was the leading spokesman for the Left in the Politburo. - Joseph Stalin had joined the Bolsheviks in 1903 and had come to Lenin's attention after staging a daring bank robbery to obtain funds for the Bolshevik cause. Stalin, who was neither a dynamic speaker nor a forceful writer, was content to hold the dull bureaucratic job of party general secretary while other Politburo members held oratorical party positions. He was a good organizer, and the general secretary appointed the regional, district, city, and town party secretaries. Although Stalin at first refused to support either the Left or the Right, he finally came to favor the goal of "socialism in one country" rather than world revolution.

Why was France so insistent on enforcing the Treaty of Versailles in a strict manner? What was the Ruhr and why did the French troops occupy this religion?

- Unable to secure military support through the League of Nations, France sought security 1919-1924 by relying on a strict enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles. - This tough policy toward Germany began with reparations, the payments that the Germans were supposed to make to compensate for the damage to the Allies. In April 1921, the Allied Reparations Commission settled on a sum of 132 billion marks ($33 billion) for German reparations, payable in annual installments of 2.5 billion (gold) marks. - Confronted with Allied threats to occupy the Ruhr valley, Germany's chief industrial and mining center, the new German republic accepted the reparations settlement and made its first payment in 1921. The following year, facing financial problems, the German government announced that it was unable to pay any more. - Outraged by what it considered Germany's violation of the peace settlement, the French government sent troops to occupy the Ruhr valley. If the Germans would not pay reparations, the French would collect reparations in kind by operating and using the Ruhr mines and factories.

Give a synopsis of the following post-war artistic trend via an example of a piece and its relative significance to the movement: Surrealism

- an artistic movement that arose between World War I and World War II. Surrealists portrayed recognizable objects in unrecognizable relationships in order to reveal the world of the unconscious. sought a reality beyond the material, sensible world and found it in the world of the unconscious through the portrayal of fantasies, dreams, or nightmares. Employing logic to portray the illogical, the Surrealists created disturbing and evocative images. - The Spaniard Salvador Dalí became the high priest of Surrealism and in his mature phase became a master of representational Surrealism. - In The Persistence of Memory, Dalí portrayed recognizable objects divorced from their normal context. By placing these objects in unrecognizable relationships, he created a disturbing world in which the irrational had become tangible, forcing viewers to question the rational.

Who was Stanley Baldwin and John Maynard Keynes? What did they do?

- Under Stanley Baldwin as prime minister, the Conservatives guided Britain during an era of relatively superficial recovery from 1925 to 1929. British exports in the 1920s never compensated for the overseas investments lost during the war, and unemployment remained at 10 percent. - Coal miners suffered especially as (antiquated and inefficient British coal mines were hard-hit by a world glut of coal). Attempts by mine owners to lower coal miners' wages led to a national strike (the General Strike of 1926) by miners and sympathetic trade unions. A compromise settled the strike, but many miners refused to accept the settlement. - In 1929, just as the Great Depression was beginning, a second Labour government came into power, but it failed to solve the nation's economic problems and fell in 1931. A National Government (a coalition of Liberals and Conservatives) claimed credit for bringing Britain out of the worst stages of the depression, primarily by using the traditional policies of balanced budgets and protective tariffs. - By 1936, unemployment had dropped to 1.6 million after reaching a depression high of 3 million in 1932. - British politicians ignored the new ideas of a Cambridge economist, John Maynard Keynes, who published "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" in 1936. He condemned the traditional view that in a free economy, depressions should be left to work themselves out. Keynes argued that unemployment stemmed not from overproduction but from a decline in demand and that demand could be increased by public works, financed, if necessary, by deficit spending to stimulate production.

What was the policy of "War Communism" pursued by Lenin and the Red Army during the Russian Civil War? How successful was it?

- Under this policy of expedience, the government had nationalized transportation and communication facilities as well as banks, mines, factories, and businesses that employed more than ten workers. The government had also assumed the right to requisition food from the peasants, who often resisted fiercely, slaughtering their own animals and destroying their crops, though without much success. - Hunger led to an untold number of deaths in the countryside. Added to this problem was drought, which caused a great famine between 1920 and 1922 that claimed as many as 5 million lives. - Industrial collapse paralleled the agricultural disaster. By 1921, industrial output was at only 20 percent of its 1913 levels.

What factors in the Weimar Republic surrounding political party fragmentation and men like Heinrich Bruning and Paul von Hindenburg had sealed the fate of democracy in Germany before Hitler even became chancellor?

- Unemployment rose dramatically, from 4.35 million in 1931 to 6 million by the winter of 1932. The economic and psychological impact of the Great Depression made the radical solutions offered by extremist parties appear more attractive. - By 1930, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning had been unable to form a working parliamentary majority in the Reichstag and relied on the use of emergency decrees by President Hindenburg to rule. In a real sense, then, parliamentary democracy was already dying in 1930, three years before Hitler destroyed it.

How exactly did the nazis manage (various explanations) to seize power so quickly in Germany?

- Why had this seizure of power been so quick and easy? The Nazis were not only ruthless in their use of force but ready to take control. The depression and the Weimar Republic's failure to resolve it had weakened what little faith the Germans had in their democratic state. But negative factors alone cannot explain the Nazi success. To many Germans, the Nazis offered a national awakening. "Germany awake," one of the many Nazi slogans, had a powerful appeal to a people psychologically crushed by their defeat in World War I. The Nazis presented a strong image of a dynamic new Germany that was above parties and above classes.

From 1930 to 1933, the Nazi party grew in astounding numbers. What kinds of techniques did they use to garner such widespread support?

-developing modern electioneering techniques. Party members pitched their themes to the needs and fears of different social groups. - But even as they were making blatant appeals to class interests, the Nazis were denouncing conflicts of interest and maintaining that they stood above classes and parties. - Hitler, in particular, claimed to stand above all differences and promised to create a new Germany free of class differences and party infighting. - His appeal to national pride, national honor, and traditional militarism struck chords of emotion in his listeners.

Describe what made the interwar years a period of transition for middle eastern nations

- With the fall of the Ottoman and Persian empires, new modernizing regimes emerged in Turkey and Iran. A fiercely independent government was established in Saudi Arabia in 1932. Iraq, too, gained its independence from Britain in the same year. -Elsewhere in the Middle East, European influence remained strong as the British and French maintained their mandates in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. - Although Britain and France had made plans to divide up Ottoman territories in the Middle East, General Mustafa Kemal led Turkish forces in creating a new republic of Turkey in 1923. Kemal wanted to modernize Turkey along Western lines. The trappings of a democratic system were put in place, but the new president did not tolerate opposition. - In addition to introducing a state-run industrial system, Kemal also westernized Turkish culture. The Latin alphabet was now used in writing the Turkish language. Popular education was introduced, and old aristocratic titles were abolished. All Turkish citizens were forced to adopt family names, in the European style; Kemal himself adopted the name Atatürk. - Atatürk made Turkey a secular republic and broke the power of the Islamic religion. New laws gave women equal rights with men in all aspects of marriage and inheritance, and in 1934, women received the right to vote. Education and the professions were now open to citizens of both sexes.

Compare how the lives of women were affected by the Nazi regime to how they were affected under Mussolini? Are there some common features? Distinguishing features?

- Women played a crucial role in the Aryan racial state as bearers of the children who would bring about the triumph of the Aryan race. Men were warriors and political leaders; women were destined to be wives and mothers. - Motherhood was exalted in an annual ceremony on August 12, Hitler's mother's birthday, when Hitler awarded the German Mother's Cross to a select group of German mothers. - The Nazis hoped to drive women out of heavy industry or other jobs that might hinder them from bearing healthy children, as well as certain professions, including university teaching, medicine, and law, which were considered inappropriate for women. - encouraged women to pursue professional occupations that had direct practical application (social work and nursing) -inconsistent: Especially after the rearmament boom and increased conscription of males for military service resulted in a labor shortage, the government encouraged women to work, even in areas previously dominated by males.

What kind of social and political repercussions did the Great Depression unexpectedly cause?

- Women were often able to secure low-paying jobs as servants, house-cleaners, or laundresses while many men remained unemployed. Many unemployed men, resenting this reversal of traditional gender roles, were open to the shrill cries of demagogues with simple solutions to the economic crisis. - High unemployment rates among young males often led them to join gangs that gathered in parks or other public places, arousing fear among local residents. - The classical liberal remedy for depression, a deflationary policy of balanced budgets, which involved cutting costs by lowering wages and raising tariffs to exclude other countries' goods from home markets, only served to worsen the economic crisis and create even greater mass discontent. - Increased government activity in the economy was one reaction, even in countries like the United States that had a strong laissez-faire tradition. Another effect was a renewed interest in Marxist doctrines, since Marx had predicted that capitalism would destroy itself through overproduction. Communism took on new popularity, especially among workers and intellectuals. - increased the attractiveness of simplistic dictatorial solutions, especially from a new movement known as fascism.

What were the two major contributing factors to the Great Depression? How exactly did each of these play a role?

- a downturn in domestic economies and an international financial crisis caused by the collapse of the American stock market in 1929. - in the mid-1920s, prices for agricultural goods were beginning to decline rapidly due to overproduction of basic commodities (wheat). Farmers in Argentina, Australia, Canada, and the United States had expanded food production to meet the demands of the warring European nations. After the war, these farmers did not curtail production, expecting that Europe would not recover from the devastation of its fields and the loss of farmers. By 1927, European production returned to prewar levels, causing a sharp decline in commodity prices. (fell by 30 percent between 1924 and 1929) - Meanwhile, an increase in the use of oil and hydroelectricity led to a slump in the coal industry even before 1929. - Much of Europe's prosperity between 1924 and 1929 had been built on American bank loans to Germany. - Twenty-three billion new marks had been invested in German municipal bonds and German industries since 1924. In 1928 and 1929, American investors began to pull money out of Germany in order to invest in the New York stock market. - The crash of the American stock market in October 1929 led panicky American investors to withdraw even more of their funds from Germany and other European markets which weakened the banks of Germany and other Central European states. - The Credit-Anstalt, Vienna's most prestigious bank, collapsed on May 31, 1931. By that time, trade was slowing down, industrialists were cutting back production, and unemployment was increasing as the ripple effects of international bank failures had a devastating impact on domestic economies.

What is the 'Lost Generation'?

- a generation of wwi veterans accustomed to violence - In the course of the war, extreme violence and brutality became a way of life and a social reality. - some veterans became pacifists, but for many veterans, the violence of the war seemed to justify the use of violence in the new political movements of the 1920s and 1930s. These men were fiercely nationalistic and eager to restore the national interests they felt had been betrayed in the peace treaties

Give a synopsis of the following post-war artistic trend via an example of a piece and its relative significance to the movement: Dadaism

- an artistic movement in the 1920s and 1930s begun by artists who were revolted by the senseless slaughter of World War I and used their "anti-art" to express contempt for the Western tradition. attempted to enshrine the purposelessness of life. - Tristan Tzara, a Romanian-French poet and one of the founders of Dadaism, expressed the Dadaist contempt for the Western tradition in a lecture in 1922 when he stated that the acts of life have no beginning or end - Revolted by the insanity of life, (mass destruction of WWI) the Dadaists tried to give absurdity an expression by creating "anti-art." - Dada became an instrument to comment on women's roles in the new mass culture. Hannah Höch was the only female member of the Berlin Dada Club, which featured the use of photomontage. - In Dada Dance, she made fun of the way women were inclined to follow new fashion styles. In other works, she created positive images of the modern woman and expressed a keen interest in new freedoms for women.

When Europeans felt victimized and fearful, they often turned to more radicalized political policies like communism and fascism. What is fascism? And why did Europeans turn to these kinds of political ideals?

- people felt victimized, first by the war, and now by socioeconomic conditions that seemed beyond their control. - Postwar politics became more and more polarized as people reverted to the wartime practice of dividing into friends and enemies, downplaying compromise and emphasizing conflict. - Moderate centrist parties that supported democracy soon found themselves with fewer allies as people became increasingly radicalized politically, supporting the extremes of left-wing communism or right-wing fascism. fascism: an ideology or movement that exalts the nation above the individual and calls for a centralized government with a dictatorial leader, economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition; in particular, the ideology of Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy.

What were the fascist polices regarding women and family in Italy?

- the Fascists largely reinforced traditional social attitudes in Italy, - portrayed the family as the pillar of the state and women as the basic foundation of the family. "Woman into the home" - Women were to be homemakers and baby producers. Mussolini, viewed population growth as an indicator of national strength. To Mussolini, female emancipation was "un-Fascist." Employment outside the home was distracting women from conception. - eliminating women from the job market reduced male unemployment figures in the depression economy of the 1930s. - In the 1930s, the Fascists created a series of enactments aimed at encouraging larger families. - Families with many offspring were offered supplementary pay, loans, prizes, and subsidies, and mothers of many children received gold medals. A national "Mother and Child" holiday was celebrated on December 24, with prizes for fertility. Also in the 1930s, decrees were passed that set quotas on the employment of women, but they failed to accomplish their goal.

Who remained as the only two viable threats to Hitler's takeover and how did Hitler neutralize them?

- the armed forces and the SA within his own party. - The SA, under the leadership of Ernst Röhm, openly criticized Hitler and spoke of the need for a "second revolution" and the replacement of the regular army by the SA. - Neither the army nor Hitler favored such a possibility. - Hitler solved both problems simultaneously on June 30, 1934, by having Röhm and a number of other SA leaders killed in return for the army's support in allowing Hitler to succeed Hindenburg when the president died. - When Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934, the office of president was abolished, and Hitler became sole ruler of Germany. - Public officials and soldiers were all required to take a personal oath of loyalty to Hitler as the "Führer of the German Reich and people." - The Third Reich had begun.

Give a synopsis of the following post-war artistic trend via an example of a piece and its relative significance to the movement: Functionalism

- the idea that the function of an object should determine its design and materials. meant that buildings, like the products of machines, should be "functional" or useful, fulfilling the purpose for which they were constructed. Art and engineering were to be unified, and all unnecessary ornamentation was to be stripped away. Art had a social function and could help create a new civilization. - Unprecedented urban growth and the absence of restrictive architectural traditions allowed for new building methods - The Chicago School of the 1890s, led by Louis H. Sullivan, used reinforced concrete, steel frames, and electric elevators to build skyscrapers virtually free of external ornamentation. - One of Sullivan's most successful pupils was Frank Lloyd Wright, who became known for innovative designs in domestic architecture. Wright's private houses for wealthy patrons featured geometric structures with long lines, overhanging roofs, and severe planes of brick and stone. The interiors were open spaces with cathedral ceilings and built-in furniture and lighting fixtures. - the Bauhaus School of Art, Architecture, and Design, in Weimar, Germany, by the Berlin architect Walter Gropius. The Bauhaus teaching staff consisted of architects, artists, and designers who worked together to blend the study of fine arts with the applied arts (printing, weaving, and furniture making). - Gropius urged his followers to foster a new union of arts and crafts to create the buildings and objects of the future. Gropius's own buildings were often unornamented steel boxes with walls of windows

How did Europeans deal with the devastating losses following World War I?

- war memorials and ceremonies honoring the dead, battlefields as commemorative sites with memorial parks, monuments, and massive cemeteries, including ossuaries or vaults where the bones of thousands of unidentified soldiers were - Virtually all belligerent countries had National ceremonies for burials of an Unknown Solider - Businesses, schools, universities, set up their own war memorials. - It is impossible to calculate the social impact of the mourning for the lost soldiers.

Who was Carl Jung and what did he do?

-Freudian terms, such as unconscious, repression, id, ego, and Oedipus complex, entered the common vocabulary after wwi. Popularization of Freud's ideas led to the widespread misconception that an uninhibited sex life was necessary for a healthy mental life. - Despite such misconceptions, psychoanalysis did develop into a major profession. - Freud's ideas did not go unchallenged. One of the most prominent challenges came from Carl Jung - A disciple of Freud, Carl Jung came to believe that Freud's theories were too narrow and reflected Freud's own personal biases. Jung's study of dreams led him to believe that whereas for Freud the unconscious was the seat of repressed desires, for Jung it was an opening to deep spiritual needs and ever-greater vistas for humans. - Jung viewed the unconscious as twofold: a "personal unconscious" and, at a deeper level, a "collective unconscious." - The collective unconscious was the repository of memories that all human beings share and consisted of archetypes, mental forms or images that appear in dreams. The archetypes are common to all people and have a special energy that creates myths, religions, and philosophies. To Jung, the archetypes proved that mind was only in part personal or individual because their origin was buried so far in the past that they seemed to have no human source. Their function was to bring the original mind of humans into a new, higher state of consciousness.

How did mass leisure expand in the area of sports during this era?

Professional sporting events for mass audiences became an especially important aspect of mass leisure. Attendance at association football (soccer) games increased dramatically, and the inauguration of the World Cup contest in 1930 added to the nationalistic rivalries that began to surround such mass sporting events. Increased attendance also made the 1920s and 1930s a great era of stadium building. For the 1936 Olympics, the Germans built a stadium in Berlin that seated 140,000 people.

What is a "totalitarian state" and what kinds of politics can it be applied to? What are the features of totalitarianism?

Totalitarian state: a state characterized by government control over all aspects of economic, social, political, cultural, and intellectual life; the subordination of the individual to the state; and insistence that the masses be actively involved in the regime's goals. - The word totalitarian was first used by Benito Mussolini in Italy to describe his new Fascist state: "Fascism is totalitarian," he declared. - Totalitarian regimes extended the functions and power of the central state far beyond what they had been in the past. - The totalitarian state expected the loyalty and commitment of its citizens to the regime's goals and used modern mass propaganda techniques and modern communications to conquer the minds of its subjects. - aimed to control the economic, political, intellectual, cultural and social aspects of life. The purpose of that control was the active involvement of the masses in the achievement of the regime's goal, whether it be war, a socialist state, or a thousand-year Reich. - led by a single leader and a single party and ruthlessly rejected the liberal ideal of limited government power and constitutional guarantees of individual freedoms. - individual freedom was subordinated to the collective will of the masses, organized and determined for them by a leader. Furthermore, modern technology gave these states unprecedented ability to use police controls to enforce their wishes on their subjects.

What was the Beer Hall Putsch and how did it end?

When it appeared that the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse in the fall of 1923, the Nazis and other right-wing leaders in the south German state of Bavaria decided to march on Berlin to overthrow the government. - When his fellow conspirators reneged, Hitler and the Nazis decided to act on their own by staging an armed uprising in Munich on November 8. - The Beer Hall Putsch was quickly crushed. Hitler was arrested, put on trial for treason, and sentenced to prison for five years, a lenient sentence indeed from sympathetic right-wing judges.