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Chapter Summary
The interwar period, the 1920s and 1930s, was influenced by the political and economic changes
brought by World War I and the crises that ended with World War II. Important social and
cultural developments occurred. The emergence of revolutionary and authoritarian regimes was
another unsettling factor. The rise of Japan and the United States intensified international
competition.
The Roaring Twenties. Many cultural, political, and economic alterations marked the 1920s.
Bouncing Back? Europe faced staggering challenges following World War I. Yet a
mood of optimism appeared by the middle of the decade. The German republic was
moving forward. A burst of artistic creativity emerged, especially including the Cubist
movement. Scientific advances continued. Even though women lost their wartime place
in the labor force, they achieved important gains as voting rights were won in several
nations. Prosperity and falling birth rates also gave women more freedom. Western
European economies were hard hit by the loss of export markets to Japan and the United
States.
Other Industrial Centers. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were rewarded for their
loyalty to Britain during the war. Achieving independence, they became part of the
British Commonwealth of Nations, on par with Britain. The United States developed
quickly in the 1920s. An economic boom continued for most of the decade. American
factory innovations increased production and were copied by other industrial nations.
American culture also was sent abroad, especially jazz and Hollywood films. The U.S.
position in the world was complicated by American ambivalence towards global
involvement. Isolationism became popular, and the “Red Scare” increased a desire to
withdraw from participation in world affairs. Japan continued to strengthen its economy.
Its industrial capacity was greatly increased, made necessary by its continuing
dependence on imports.
New Authoritarianism: The Rise of Fascism. Italian fascists, led by Mussolini,
advocated a strong corporate state with national unity replacing socialism and capitalism.
The origins of fascism lay in the late 1800s, when disillusionment with Enlightenment
models led to a desire for authoritarian, nationalist government. Dissatisfaction with the
outcome of World War I for Italy gave fascists an opportunity to gain power from a weak
political system. Mussolini formed a government in 1922 and soon eliminated opposition.
Elections were suspended in 1926.
The New Nations of East Central Europe. The new nations looked to western Europe
for political inspiration, but they were weakened by grievances stemming from
dissatisfaction with the borders awarded by the World War I peace treaties and by
interstate rivalries. Most soon turned to authoritarian governments. They remained
predominantly agricultural and resisted land reform. Their export-dependent economies
were hard-hit by the Depression.
A Balance Sheet. Representative forms of government were affirmed in Germany,
Canada, Japan, and other countries. Economic and social changes were accompanied by
creativity in many areas. At the same time, democracy was challenged in Italy and central
Europe. The ascendancy of the American and Japanese economic power threatened
western Europe.
Revolution: The First Waves. Revolutions and anticolonial movements posed a direct
challenge to more established powers. Alternatives were advanced to Western political,
economic, and social forms.
Mexico’s Upheaval. Two major events influenced 20th-century Latin American
developments, the Mexican Revolution and World War I. Although most nations
remained neutral, the war disrupted traditional markets and caused a realignment of
national economies. A spurt of manufacturing occurred among nations forced to rely
upon themselves. At the end of the war, all had to face the emergence of the United
States as the region’s dominant foreign power. Mexico had been ruled since 1876 by
Porfirio Díaz. Great economic changes had occurred as foreign concessions helped to
develop railroads and mining, and brought prosperity to the elite. Foreigners controlled
much of the economy. The political system was corrupt, and opposition among workers,
peasants, and Indians was repressed. In 1910, moderate reformer Francisco Madero
proposed to run against the elderly Díaz, but was arrested as the president won a rigged
election. A general rebellion followed, led by Madero, Pancho Villa, and peasant-rights
proponent Emiliano Zapata. Díaz was driven from power, but the various factions could
not agree. Zapata wanted sweeping land reform and revolted. In 1913 Madero was
assassinated. General Victoriano Huerta unsuccessfully tried to restore a Díaz-style
regime until forced from power in 1914. Villa and Zapata continued in control of their
regions while more moderate leaders controlled the national government under General
Alvaro Obregón. The Mexican revolution resembled other outbreaks in agrarian societies
undergoing disruptive modernization. All had received large investments of foreign
capital and became dependent on world financial markets. The world banking crisis of
1907–1908 caused distress and stimulated rebellion. Civil war in Mexico ended by 1920;
Obregón was the first of a series of elected presidents who tried to consolidate the regime
and to rebuild from the serious losses of the civil war. A new constitution of 1917
promised land reform, limitation of foreign ownership, workers’ rights, restriction of the
role of the church, and educational reform. President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940)
distributed over 40 million acres, mostly as communal holdings (ejidos), and extended
primary and rural education.
Culture and Politics in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Nationalism and the concern for
Indian culture stimulated many of the reforms. Education stressed Mexico’s Indian
heritage and denounced Western capitalism. Artists Diego Rivera and José Clemente
Orozco recaptured the past and offered a program for the future. Mural art mixed
romanticism of the Indian heritage with Christian and communist ideas. Popular culture
celebrated the heroes of the revolution. Some Mexicans opposed the changes, especially
the church and clergy. They backed a conservative peasant movement, the Cristeros,
during the 1920s. The United States, busy with World War I, had reacted minimally to
the revolution. The revolutionary leadership institutionalized the new regime by
establishing a one-party political system. The forerunner of the present Party of the
Institutionalized Revolution (PRI) developed from the 1920s into a dominant political
force. It incorporated peasant, labor, military, and middle-class sectors. The need to
reconcile the various interests limited the worst aspects of one-party rule. Presidents were
restricted to one six-year term. By the end of the 20th century, many Mexicans believed
that little remained of the original revolutionary principles, and new political parties
challenged a weakened PRI.
Revolution in Russia: Liberalism to Communism. Revolutionary outbreaks, spurred
by wartime misery in an incompletely reformed society, began in March 1917. A
council of workers took over St. Petersburg and precipitated events leading to the tsar’s
abdication. A liberal provisional government directed by Alexander Kerensky tried to
establish parliamentary reforms while continuing Russian participation in World War I.
Economic conditions worsened, and public morale dropped. Land reforms desired by
peasants were delayed. In November 1917, a second revolution occurred that brought to
power the Bolsheviks, soon to become the Communist Party. Lenin took control and
quickly concluded an unfavorable peace with Germany. When elections gave another
party the majority, Lenin closed the parliament and replaced it with a communistdominated Congress of Soviets. They controlled the government until 1989. The
revolution faced foreign and domestic resistance. The United States, Britain, France, and
Japan participated in a brief and unimportant military intervention. Internal revolution
was a more serious threat; from 1918 to 1921, tsarist supporters, peasants, and ethnic
minorities unsuccessfully contested their rule. Broad economic distress accompanied the
disorders.
Stabilization of Russia’s Communist Regime. The communists formed a powerful
Red Army under Leon Trotsky to combat their opponents. The army drew strength from
its incorporation of talented individuals of humble backgrounds and from inspiring
loyalty in the hope of a brighter future. Economic disarray was reduced by Lenin’s New
Economic Policy of 1921; it combined state direction with the promise of freedom of
action for small businessmen and peasant landowners. By 1923, the revolution had
triumphed, and a federal system, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was created.
Ethnic Russian domination was preserved in the central state apparatus. Despite many
democratic trappings, the Soviet political system soon became a harsh, authoritarian
regime.
Soviet Experimentation: The first years of communist rule were an experimental
period when many groups debated policies and jockeyed for power. Workers and
women achieved new gains. In the early years, education and literacy spread rapidly.
Internal rivalry followed Lenin’s death in 1924. Stalin, a representative of a strongly
nationalist version of communism, won out. Lenin had thought that the Russian
experience would spread throughout the world; a Comintern was founded to guide the
process. Stalin’s regime concentrated on internal Russian development, or “socialism in
one country.” Opponents were killed or exiled. Industrialization was accelerated, and
peasant land ownership was attacked.
Toward Revolution in China. The abdication of the last Qing emperor in 1912 opened
the way for a long political struggle for control of a united China. The alliance that had
overthrown the Manchus shattered, and regional warlords rose to domination. Yuan
Shikai, who hoped to found a new dynasty, headed the most powerful group of warlords.
Wealthy merchants and bankers in coastal cities comprised a second power center, while
students and teachers were an influential, but defenseless, group. Secret societies had
strength in some regions. All the factions became overshadowed by Japan’s imperialist
entry into China.
China’s May Fourth Movement and the Rise of the Marxist Alternative. Sun Yatsen,
the head of a loose anti-Manchu coalition, the Revolutionary Alliance, claimed the
succession to the dynasty, but lacked power to counter warlord opposition. The support
for the Alliance was confined to the urban trading centers of the south and central coast.
The Alliance elected Sun president in 1911 and established a European-style parliament.
Sun conceded his powerlessness by resigning the presidency in favor of Yuan Shikai in
1912. He soon created an autocratic regime and worked to become emperor. Rivalry with
other warlords, republican nationalists, and the Japanese checked his ambitions. During
World War I, Japan seized Germany’s spheres of influence in China and then moved to
build a dominant position. In 1915, they presented Yuan with the Twenty-One Demands;
acceptance would have made China a Japanese protectorate. Yuan ignored the demands,
and a rival warlord deposed him in 1916. When Japan received confirmation at Versailles
of their control of the former German concessions, mass nationalist demonstrations
occurred on May 4, 1919. They were the beginning of an extended period of protest
against Japan. The May Fourth movement initially aimed to make China a liberal
democracy; Confucianism was rejected in favor of Western ideas. The movement did not
take into account the realities of the political situation: China was ruled by warlords, and
gradualist solutions did not offer a remedy for the deprived status of the peasantry. Many
Chinese wanted more radical alternatives, and some turned to the example of the Russian
Revolution and spread Marxist theories. Thinkers such as Li Dazhao reworked Marxism
to make peasants the vanguard of change. All China had been exploited by the West, he
reasoned, and all Chinese had to rise against their exploiters. Li’s thoughts influenced the
young Mao Zedong. In 1921, Marxists founded the Communist Party of China.
The Seizure of Power by China’s Guomindang. During the 1920s, the Guomindang
(Nationalist Party of China) struggled to survive in the south, under the leadership of
Sun Yatsen until his death in 1925. As the party built an army, Sun evolved an ideology
stressing a strong central government and social reforms for peasants and workers.
Guomindang leaders, however, neglected internal social concerns and instead focused
on political and international issues. Support for the party came from urban
businesspeople and merchants of coastal cities. In 1924, the Guomindang and
communists concluded an alliance. They gained support from the Soviet Union. The
Whampoa Military Academy, founded in 1924 and partially staffed by Soviets, helped
Guomindang military efficiency. Its first head was Chiang Kai-shek. The Guomindang
leaderships’ continued concern with party organization kept them from meeting the
serious problems facing China’s economy and people. Sun was ignorant of rural
conditions and did not recognize that many among the peasantry lived in misery.
Mao and the Peasant Option. Mao Zedong formulated an ideology based on peasant
support for revolutionary solutions to China’s problems. Chiang Kai-shek became leader
of the Guomindang after Sun’s death in 1925. By the late 1920s, Chiang had defeated
most warlords and gained recognition as the ruler of China. In 1927 Chiang moved
against his communist allies, beginning a civil war that did not end until 1949. In 1934
Mao led the Long March to Shanxi in the remote northwest, where a new communist
center formed.
The Global Great Depression. The Great Depression that began in 1929 had worldwide impact.
Authoritarian regimes multiplied. The economic and political changes led to World War II.
Globalization declined, and Western dominance appeared to collapse.
Causation. The impact of World War I influenced European economies into the early
1920s. Serious inflation in Germany was only resolved through massive currency
devaluation in 1923. A general recession occurred in 1920 and 1921, although production
levels rose again by 1923. Britain had a very slow recovery because of competition
within its export markets. There were many general structural problems. Western farmers
faced chronic overproduction; prices fell, and continuing flight from the land followed.
Overproduction similarly harmed the dependent areas of the world economy and lessened
their ability to import Western manufactured goods. Governments lacked knowledge of
economics and provided little leadership during the 1920s. Nationalist selfishness
predominated, and protectionism further reduced market opportunities.
The Debacle. The depression began in October 1929 when the New York stock market
crashed. Stock values fell and banks failed. Americans called back their European loans
and caused bank failures. Investment capital disappeared. Industrial production fell,
causing unemployment and lower wages. Both blue-collar and middle-class workers
suffered as the Depression grew worse from 1929 to 1933. The intensity and duration of
the Great Depression was without precedent; full recovery came only with the production
rise forced by World War II. As millions suffered, the optimistic assumptions of the 19th
century shattered. A few economies escaped incorporation in the depression. The Soviet
Union, isolated by its communist-directed economy, went about the business of creating
rapid industrial development without outside capital. In most other nations, the
Depression worsened existing hard times. Western markets were unable to absorb
imports, causing unemployment in economies producing foods and raw materials.
Japan’s dependence on exports caused similar problems. Latin American governments
responded to the crisis by greater involvement in planning and direction; the Japanese
increased their suspicions of the West and thought about gaining secure markets in Asia.
In the West, the Depression led to welfare programs and to radical social and political
experiments. The global quality of the Depression made it impossible for any purely
national policy to restore prosperity and contributed to the second international world
war.
Responses to the Depression in Western Europe. Western governments were unable to
counter economic distress, causing people to seek solutions from radical parties of the
right and left. Some parliamentary states were unable to cope with the crisis. In France,
radical movements grew. An elected Popular Front of liberals, socialists, and communists
came to power in 1936 but was blocked in issues of social reform and foreign policy by
strong conservative opposition. The Front lost office in 1938. A few nations managed a
constructive response. Scandinavian nations under moderate socialist regimes increased
spending and provided social insurance. The British had some success as innovative
businesspeople opened new industrial sectors.
The New Deal. The United States, after following policies similar to the European
response, reacted creatively. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal enacted social insurance
programs, increased government spending to stimulate the economy, and generally
expanded government intervention into American society. The measures did not end
depression nor create a full welfare state, but they did restore American confidence in
their political system.
The Authoritarian Response. Authoritarian regimes spread in Germany, Latin America, and
Japan, and the Soviet system became more totalitarian.
The Rise of Nazism. The impact of the Depression in Germany led to a Fascist regime.
Many veterans reacted to Germany losing the war and the peace settlement by opposing
weak parliamentary regimes. Along with landlords and business groups, they supported
authoritarian leaders promising social reform while attacking trade unions and Socialist
or communist organizations. Other nations had fascist parties during the 1920s, but they
gained power only in Italy. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi (National Socialist) Party in Germany
made fascism a major historical force. Hitler stressed the need for unity and the weakness
of parliamentary government. He attracted individuals longing for a return to the past or
opposing socialism and communism. Hitler also played on popular grievances, such as
supposed Jewish influence in Germany, and called for undoing the provisions of the
Treaty of Versailles. The Nazis won the largest share of the vote in 1932, allowing Hitler
to come to power by arrangements with other leaders in 1933. He quickly began to build
a totalitarian administration. All opponents in and out of government were purged; his
secret police, the Gestapo, arrested thousands of people. The state emphasized military
production to help restore the economy. German anti-Semitism provided a scapegoat for
societal problems, and this hostility turned into the Holocaust after 1940. Hitler’s foreign
policy was based on preparation for war that would restore World War I losses and create
a large land empire in Europe.
Authoritarianism and the New Militarism in Key Regions
The Spread of Fascism and the Spanish Civil War. Other nations, especially in eastern
Europe, copied the German example. Mussolini, in 1935, attacked and defeated Ethiopia
without significant reaction from the international community. In 1936, civil war began
in Spain between parliamentary republic and authoritarian forces. Germany and Italy
supported the Spanish right; Russia and individual Western volunteers aided the left. The
principal democracies remained inert. The republicans were defeated by 1939. War began
in China with a Japanese invasion in 1937. In 1940 Germany, Italy, and Japan concluded
an alliance. When the war began, the European powers desiring to preserve the status quo
were unprepared for conflict. The United States wished to remain neutral.
Economic and Political Changes in Latin America. During and after World War I,
Latin American economies expanded and population growth continued. The middle and
working class challenged traditional oligarchies. New parties formed and attacked
liberalism and laissez-faire capitalism. World War I interrupted European demand for its
products. Local industries formed to produce replacements for unavailable European
products. A few exports had increased European demand. After the war, a slowing
economy and inflation caused increasing political unrest. Population growth, swelled by
heavy immigration, contributed to urban concentration and increased social problems.
The Great Crash and Latin American Responses. The Great Depression emphasized
the weaknesses of Latin America’s dependent economies and political systems. Foreign
investment ceased, and purchase of export products declined. Conservative groups,
supported by the military and the church, rose and adopted corporatism, an ideology
making the state a mediator between different social groups. Elements of fascism also
were popular. Among the reforming regimes, the most successful was Mexico’s Cárdenas
administration. Large-scale land reform created communal farms with a credit system to
support them. Foreign oil companies were nationalized and rural education expanded. A
new regime in Cuba was more typical. A revolution in 1933 aimed at social reform and
breaking United States domination. Moderates won control, and reforms resulted.
The Vargas Regime in Brazil. A contested election of 1929 led to civil war and the
emergence of Getúlio Vargas as president. Vargas promised reforms to help ease the
crisis caused by the collapse of coffee exports. He launched a centralized political
program, prevented coups by communists and fascists, and with military support,
imposed a new constitution in 1937 that created an authoritarian regime based on ideas
from Mussolini’s Italy. Vargas joined the Allies during World War II in return for Allied
aid. Little open opposition was allowed to his corporatist government. When reactions to
his policies increased, Vargas sought support from labor and the communists. Under
criticism from right and left, Vargas committed suicide in 1954.
Argentina: Populism, Perón, and the Military. A military coup by a coalition of
nationalists, fascists, and socialists ended the rule of the middle-class Radical party when
the economy collapsed in 1929. The coup failed, but the succeeding conservative
governments, despite industrial growth, did not bring prosperity. The labor movement
became stronger. In 1943 the military nationalists who wanted to modernize the state,
seized control. Juan D. Perón emerged as leader, gaining support by supporting worker
demands. His wife Eva Duarte—Evita—became his spokesperson among the lower
classes. Perón created a coalition embracing workers, industrialists, and the military,
depending upon his personal charisma and repression to maintain rule. Foreign-owned
industries were nationalized. Perón’s regime, by the 1950s, could not solve Argentina’s
growing economic problems. His coalition fell apart, and a military coup drove him from
office in 1955. The country remained under his shadow for the next 20 years as military
governments attempted to solve economic and political problems. Labor groups
continued to support Perón. He was elected president in 1973, but his death in 1974
returned Argentina to military rule.
The Militarization of Japan. The Depression contributed to the rise of nationalist
groups in Japan. Some opposed Western values; others favored an authoritarian regime
and military expansion. The military, without civilian backing, already had conquered the
Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. Unsuccessful coup attempts by younger officers
in 1932 and 1936 gave the military a stronger influence in government. After 1936, a series
of militarist prime ministers ruled under the influence of General Tojo Hideki. When war
began with China in 1937, the military became even more powerful; Japan occupied parts
of eastern China. By the close of 1938, Japan controlled a regional empire that included
Korea, Manchuria, and Taiwan. Korean culture was suppressed while workers and peasants
were exploited. Japan’s leaders looked for wider conquests.
Industrialization and Recovery. Active government policies quelled the effects of the
Depression. Japan turned fully to industrialization after 1931, and its economy grew
significantly. New industrial policies were introduced to prevent unrest and stabilize the
labor force. Mass patriotism and group loyalty were emphasized in government policies.
By 1937, Japan was a major global economic force.
Stalinism in the Soviet Union. The experimental time of early communist rule faded
after Stalin consolidated power in 1927. Stalin’s authoritarian rule aimed to make the
Soviet Union a fully industrial society under complete state control. The effort was
carried on with minimal Western involvement.
Economic Policies. A massive program of agricultural collectivization began in 1928.
Stalin wanted to replace individual holdings with state-run farms. The policy aimed to
facilitate agricultural mechanization and increase communist control of peasants.
Landless laborers welcomed the policy, but kulaks resisted by destroying livestock and
property. Stalin’s determination to continue the policy produced serious famine, while
millions of kulaks were killed or sent to Siberia. In the long run, collectivization did not
work. Agricultural production remained a major weakness of the Soviet economy.
Stalin’s industrial policies were more successful. State-directed five-year plans
expanded development as the government constructed massive factories specializing in
heavy industry that made Russia independent of the West and prepared for possible war.
Market-demand stimulation was replaced by centralized resource allocation and
production quotas. The process was wasteful, but great growth occurred: Russia became
the third industrial power, behind the United States and Germany, when the West was
mired in the Great Depression.
Toward an Industrial Society. Industrialization in Russia produced results similar to
the Western experience. Workers congregated in crowded and unsatisfactory urban
housing. Factory discipline was strict, but managers introduced incentives to increase
production. An extensive welfare system opened that partly compensated for modest
living standards.
Totalitarian Rule. Stalin created an extreme version of the totalitarian state. Opponents
or suspected opponents were executed or sent to Siberian labor camps. The state and the
party were subject to Stalin’s will. The state controlled information, and the secret police
were everywhere. Until 1917, Russian diplomatic involvement had been very limited,
but Hitler’s emergence raised concern. The Russians tried to cooperate with the West to
check the German threat, but Britain and France were very suspicious of the Soviets and
avoided action. The Russians, to gain time and to allow an attack of Poland and Finland,
concluded an agreement with Hitler in 1939.