Download END OF UNIT Review Interwar Years

League of
Germany
Nations/Mandate system Great
Interwar Period
Causes/Impact of
Depression
World War I was so horrific that no one wanted another war like
it to occur. Many international organizations and agreements
were established to avoid further conflicts. The most notable of
these was the League of Nations. It was set up in the Treaty of
Versailles and was an international cooperative organization
established to prevent future wars. After WWI, most nations
joined, but not the United States, even though President
Woodrow Wilson had first proposed the League. Ultimately, the
League failed because it did not have the power to enforce its
decisions.
One decision it made was to create a mandate system. The
mandate system was created to administer the colonies of the
defeated powers of WWI on a temporary basis. This included
the former territories of Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
Great Britain and France were in charge of the mandated
powers in the Middle East.
After WWI, the 1920’s were a period of uneven prosperity. This
was followed by the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The
Depression weakened western democracies and made it
difficult for them to challenge the threat of the totalitarian
regimes of Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia.
Causes of worldwide depression:
 German reparations established by the Treaty of Versailles
 Expansion of production capacities and dominance of the
U.S. in the global economy
 High protective tariffs(taxes)-established to protect each
country’s production
 Excessive expansion of credit--Credit was often given with no
collateral
 Stock Market Crash(1929)- The price of stocks on the New
York Stock Exchange was inflated. Once people began to
sell, companies, banks, and governments lost billions of
dollars.
Impact of Depression:
 High unemployment in industrial countries
 Bank failures and collapse of credit
 Collapse of prices in world trade
 Rise of totalitarian regimes-Nazi party in Germany. Nazis
blamed the collapse of Germany’s economy on the Jews.
Germany and Italy
USSR (Russia) and Japan
The Treaty of Versailles worsened the economic and
political conditions in Europe and led to the rise of totalitarian
governments in Italy and Germany.
USSR- A communist dictatorship was established by Vladimir
Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin was the leader of the
USSR during the 1930’s. He set up a totalitarian communist
state through his policies. These included five year plans,
collectivization of farms, state industrialization, and secret
police. In the late 1930’s, Stalin decided to rid the USSR of all
its enemies, real or imagined. This was called the Great Purge.
Millions of Russians were imprisoned and killed.
Italy- After WWI, Benito Mussolini established a fascist
dictatorship. He wanted to restore Italy to the grandeur of the
Roman Empire. He had colonies in North Africa. He wanted to
increase his empire, so he attacked Ethiopia, a member of the
League of Nations. Ethiopia appealed for help and the League
did nothing.
Germany-After WWI, a weak democratic government was
established. Germany suffered from inflation and depression
throughout the 20’s and 30’s. These conditions weakened the
democratic government. The Nazi party began to gain power.
It believed in anti-semitism (hatred of Jews) and extreme
nationalism. The Nazi party followed the wishes of its leader
Adolf Hitler. Following Hitler’s seizing of power in 1933,
Germany began to ignore the dictates of the Treaty of Versailles
and began to increase its military. They used this power to
begin to occupy neighboring territories and countries. These
included the Rhineland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
Japan- Japan emerged as a world power after WWI. They
began to increase their empire with aggressive policies in Asia.
Hirohito was the emperor of Japan, but he had little real power.
Japan was a militaristic and industrialized nation. A barrier to
their industrialization was their lack of raw materials. They
solved this by invading Korea, Manchuria, and China in the
1930’s. The leader of this militarism was Hideki Tojo.