Download Failures of the WWI Peace Settlement

Failures of the WWI Peace Settlement
Instead of securing a just &
secure peace, the Treaty
of Versailles caused anger
& resentment
Germans thought they were
unfairly blamed for
starting the war
Their military was taken
apart, their overseas
colonies taken away, &
pieces of Germany given
to other countries
Furthermore, their economy
was crippled because they
had to pay reparations to
Britain & France
New Democracies Flounder
German communists demonstrate on the
streets of Berlin, 1923
US Pres. Woodrow Wilson
had envisioned a world
“safe for democracy”
with his 14 Points
Germany’s Weimar
Republic-a democracywas overwhelmed by
problems after the war
Other countries tried
democracy, but without
a democratic tradition,
people turned back to
authoritarian leaders to
solve their problems
Lenin & Stalin Transform the USSR
The Russian Revolution of
1917 got rid of the Czar,
& Communists, led by
Lenin, tried to remake
the country
Russia officially changed its
name to the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR) in 1922
1924-When Lenin died,
Joseph Stalin took
control of the USSR &
focused on creating a
model communist state
Stalin’s Goals: Farm & Industrial Growth
Stalin abolished all privatelyowned farms & replaced
them with collective farms
Collectives were owned by the
government, & worked by
hundreds of families
Stalin aimed to turn a
backward nation into a
great industrial power thru
his “5-Year Plans”
All economic activity was
placed under government
control-& by 1937, the
Soviet Union was the
world’s 2nd-largest industrial
power
Stalin Uses Terror to Rule
The human costs to this societal change was enormous
Stalin eliminated anyone who threatened his power, including his most faithful
supporters
Historians estimate Stalin was responsible for as many as 13-million deaths of his own
people
Millions more died when his heavy-handed attempts to end private farms ended in
famine
By 1939, Stalin was in complete control-individuals had no rights in his totalitarian
regime
The Rise of Fascism in Italy
While Stalin was setting up
his regime in the USSR,
Benito Mussolini was
trying to take advantage
of postwar discontent in
Italy
The country was racked by
unemployment &
inflation that caused
bitter labor strikes led by
communists
A powerful speaker,
Mussolini appealed to
Italian national pride,
playing on fears of
economic collapse &
communism
The Founding of Fascism
1921-Mussolini
established the
Fascist Party-their
symbol was the
fasces-a bundle of
rods tied around an
ax handle
The fasces had been a
symbol of unity &
authority in ancient
Rome
Fascism stresses
nationalism-national
unity & pride-and
puts the interests of
the state above
those of the
individual
Mussolini---Il Duce (The Duke)
Oct. 1922-Mussolini had gathered a private army in black uniforms, called “The Black
Shirts”
His men marched on Rome as if they were going to seize power-important
government officials, the army, & police sided with Mussolini
The Italian king appointed Il Duce (El-doo-chay) head of government-& he began to
control every aspect of people’s lives, while crushing all opposition
Italians lost their freedoms, but tourists marveled that he had “even made the trains
run on time”
The Nazis Take Over Germany
1919-At the end of WWI,
Adolph Hitler drifted
around Germany, was
hired by army officers to
spy on a suspicious
groups of revolutionaries
Instead of reporting on the
few members of the
National Socialist
German Workers Party,
he joined up, becoming
its 7th member
Adolph Hitler would use the
NSDAP, or Nazi, Party, to
carve a path to power
similar to that of
Mussolini
Nazis and Der Fuehrer
Despite its name, the NSDAP
had no ties to socialism or
communism-instead, they
were violently opposed to
those ideologies
Hitler-a powerful speaker,
quickly became the party
leader (fuehrer), promising
to lead Germany out of
chaos
Nazism became Germany’s
version of fascism-extreme
nationalism aimed at uniting
all German-speaking people
into one empire
Nazism’s Beliefs
In his book Mein Kampf (My
Struggle), Hitler wanted to
enforce racial purification
at home
Blond-haired, blue-eyed
Germans, or Aryans, were
the master race destined to
rule-all others (Jews, Slavs,
non-whites) were inferior
For Germany to thrive, it was
entitled to more
lebensraum (living space)
Hitler preached Germany
could do this by force
Depression Hits Germany
The Nazis gained only a
small following in the
1920s, but the Great
Depression gave Hitler a
launching pad
Germany owed money to
Britain, France, & the
US, & the Depression hit
the country hard
1932-6-million Germans
were out of work-many
joined Hitler’s private
army, the Brown Shirts
(or Storm Troopers)
Desperate Germans turned
to Hitler as their last
hope to avoid starvation
or communism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Mg6Gf
h9Co
The Thousand-Year Reich
Mid-1932-While Hoover &
Roosevelt campaigned
for US president, the
Nazis became the
strongest party in
Germany
Jan. 1933-Just before
Roosevelt was
inaugurated, Hitler
bullied his way into being
named chancellor (prime
minister)
Once in power, he quickly
dismantled the Weimar
Republic to set up the
Third Reich, or 3rd
German Empire-to last
1000 years
Militarists Gain Control in Japan
Halfway around the world,
nationalist military leaders
took control of the imperial
government of Japan
They, too, wanted more living
space than their crowded
islands allowed
Sept. 1931-Japanese militarists
launched a surprise attack
on the Chinese province of
Manchuria
Within several months, Japan
controlled an entire mineralrich province twice the size
of Texas
The League of Nations Complains
The League of Nations had
been set up to stop
aggression by strong
nations against the weak
League representatives were
sent to Manchuria to
investigate the situation
Their report condemned
Japan for starting a war
When the report was
presented during a League
meeting, the Japanese
delegation walked out &
never came back
Militarists in Japan laughed at
the League’s weakness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAjfMIx
mkIc
(4:00 in)
Aggression in Europe and Africa
Mussolini & Hitler saw that
the League of Nations
would do nothing to stop
Japan
1933-Shortly after taking
power, Hitler took
Germany out of the League
1935-Hitler began to rebuild
the German Army, in
violation of the Treaty of
Versailles
1936-German troops invaded
the Rhineland between
France & Germany that
had been demilitarized by
the Treaty
The League of Nations did
nothing
Mussolini’s New Roman Empire
1935-Il Duce set his
sights on Ethiopia,
one of Africa’s few
remaining
independent nations
Thousands of Italian
soldiers were poised
to cross from Italian
Somaliland into
Ethiopia
The League of Nations
reacted with brave
talk about resisting
unprovoked
aggression
Halie Selassie’s Plea Goes Unanswered
When Italy did invade, all the
League did was impose
economic sanctions-a slap
on the wrist
Modern Italian tanks &
machine guns quickly
conquered tribesmen
armed with spears & old
rifles
May, 1936-Ethiopia had fallen
to the Italians
Ethiopia’s emperor, Halie
Selassie, flew directly to
Geneva to urge the League
of Nations to act, but the
League did nothing
Civil War Breaks Out in Spain
1936-A group of Spanish
army officers led by Gen.
Francisco Franco
rebelled against the
Spanish republic
Civil War broke out that
aroused passions around
the world
Hitler & Mussolini sent
arms & men to help
Franco & the Nationalists
Other nations-the USSR &
the US-sent volunteers
to stop fascist aggression
It Wasn't Enough to Stop the Nationalists
Some 3000 Americans formed the Abraham Lincoln Battalion & traveled to Spain to
fight against Franco
Among the volunteers were many African-Americans bitter over Mussolini’s invasion
of Ethiopia the year before
Western democracies, however, remained neutral, & the Nationalists won, while
500,000 people died
The Spanish Civil War forged a close relationship between Germany & Italy
The two fascist powers signed a formal alliance called the Rome-Berlin Axis
Americans Cling to Isolationism
Early 1930s-Books were
published arguing the US had
been dragged into WWI by
greedy bankers & arms
dealers
Congress appointed a
committee led by North
Dakota Senator Gerald Nye
to investigate
The committee reported banks
& manufacturers had made
huge profits during the war
The public became angry over
these “merchants of death”making Americans more
determined than ever to
avoid war
Keep America Neutral
America’s growing
isolationism impacted
Pres. Roosevelt’s
foreign policy
Roosevelt tried to befriend
everyone-including the
despised Soviet Unionthe 2 countries
established diplomatic
relations in 1933
Roosevelt continued the
“Good Neighbor” policy
of non-intervention in
Latin America
Increasing World Trade
1934-While the US was in the
midst of a depression caused
by paralyzed international
trade, Roosevelt tried to
unfreeze tariffs
The Reciprocal Trade Agreement
Act lowered trade barriers
such a tariffs as much as 50%
To keep the US out of future wars,
Congress passed a series of
Neutrality Acts
The first two outlawed selling
arms or loaning money to
nations at war
3rd act banned involvement in
civil wars in nations like Spain
Neutrality Breaks Down
Despite Congressional laws, Roosevelt, or FDR for short, found it hard to
remain neutral
1937-When Japan launched a new attack on China, FDR found a way around
the Neutrality Acts
Since Japan had not formally declared war on China, he argued there was no
need to enforce the Neutrality Acts
The US continued sending arms & supplies to China
We Should “Quarantine” Outlaw Nations
Fall, 1937-Roosevelt delivered
a speech in Chicago calling
on all peace-loving nations
to take action
They should “quarantine” or
isolate aggressor nations in
order to stop the spread of
war
Isolationist newspapers in the
US exploded in protest,
accusing the president of
leading the nation to war
FDR backed off, and for the US,
conflicts remained “over
there”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPosOzce
r0E
(4:53)
Stalin--Create a model
Communist state,
make USSR into a
great industrial
power
Hitler--Unite the German
“master race” into
an empire
destined to rule
the world
Dictator’s Ambitions
Mussolini--Make Italy a great
world power-a
return to the days
of the old Roman
Empire
Japan--Create an empire
by annexing parts
of China
Stalin---
Hitler---
Dictator’s Ambitions
Mussolini---
Japan---