Download MICKNOTES- (19) The Interwar Years (1919-1938)

The Interwar Years (1919-1938)
Timeline
June 28, 1919: The treaty of Versailles is SignedThe Treaty of Versailles ends World War
One and imposes heavy reparations payments on Germany.
November 1920: The First Meeting of the League of NationsThe Assembly of the League of
Nations meets for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland. The US is notably absent, the Senate
having voted against joining the League in November 1919.
November 1921: The Washington Conference is HeldThe United States convenes the
Washington Conference, attended by Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, China,
Japan, and Portugal. The Conference results in a naval armaments treaty that sets a ratio for
tonnage of capital ships (over 10,000 tons, with guns bigger than eight inches) for Great Britain,
the US, Japan, France, and Italy. The ratio agreed upon, in that order, is 5:5:3:1.67:1.67.
October 30, 1922: Benito Mussolini is Made Italian PremierKing Victor Emmanuel declares
Mussolini premier in an attempt to head off violent conflict between the Fascists and the
Communists.
November 9, 1923: The Beer Hall Putsch Adolf Hitler and General Ludendorf, a World War
One hero, lead a small contingent of followers in a harmless, comical attempt at rebellion, for
which Hitler is imprisoned for two years.
January 21, 1924: Vladimir Lenin DiesLenin's death leaves some question as to who will be
his successor. Joseph Stalin eventually beats out Leon Trotsky to take control of the Soviet
government.
May 11, 1924: The Cartel des Gauches wins the French ElectionThe Cartel displaces the
ruling Bloc National, in a marked victory for the left, but proves unable to govern effectively.
August 27, 1924: The German Chamber of Deputies Accepts the Dawes PlanThe Dawes
Plan restructures the schedule of German reparations payments so as to reduce the amount of
annual payments, and grants Germany a large loan.
December 1, 1925: The Locarno Pacts are SignedThe Locarno Pacts are signed in efforts to
stabilize relations with Germany and its neighbors. The pacts usher in a period of peace and
prosperity.
1926: Joseph Pilsudski Becomes Virtual Dictator in PolandPilsudski maintains this position
until his death in May 1935
March 1926: The Samuel Commission in England Releases Its Report on Coal MiningThe
Samuel Commission, under the Conservative government, releases a report which advises
wage cuts for miners. The Triple Alliance responds by striking, which is emulated by many other
industries in England to protest he Conservative government's policies.
April 14, 1931: The Spanish Monarchy is Overthrown and The Republic Is BornA
provisional government is established to take Spain from monarchy to republicanism.
1932: General Gyula Gombos Comes to Power in HungaryGombos becomes prime minister,
an office he uses like a dictatorship, setting the tone for Hungarian government during the
remaining inter-war years.
February - July 1932: The final League of Nations Disarmament Conference is HeldThe
last major League of Nations-sponsored disarmament conference meets from February to July
1932 at Geneva, with 60 nations in attendance, including the United States. However, this
conference, like it's predecessors, fails to secure any agreement, and organized disarmament
remains an unaccomplished goal.
1933 - 1934: 1,140,000 Communist Party Members are Expelled by StalinStalin's Central
Purge Commission, created in 1933, publicly investigates and tries many party members for
treason as Stalin seeks to rid the party of oppositon.
January 30, 1933: Hitler is Appointed Chancellor of GermanyIn an attempt to reel in the
chaos of the German government, President Paul von Hindenburg declares Hitler chancellor,
the first major step in Hitler's ascent to dictatorship.
March 23, 1933: The German Reichstag Passes the Enabling ActThe Enabling Act gives
Hitler the power to issue decrees with the status of law.
June 3, 1936: Leon Blum's Popular Front Government Comes to Power in FranceThe
Popular Front, a leftist party, institutes social legislation and allows wide public participation in
the government, but ultimately fails to curtail the depreciating economy.
July 17, 1936: The Spanish Nationalists Begin the Spanish Civil WarGenerals Goded,
Mola, and Francisco Franco lead troops in rebellion against the republic, sparking the Spanish
Civil War.
April 25, 1937: Spanish Nationalists Bomb GuernicaThe small northern town of Guernica is
bombed, and civilians are gunned down as they flee the scene. In this brutal massacre 1500 die
and 800 are wounded, but the military targets in the town remain intact.
September 18, 1938: The Munich Pact is SignedBritain and France appease Hitler by signing
the Munich Pact, which grants Hitler control of the Czech Sudetenland.
March 30, 1939: The Spanish Civil War EndsMadrid falls to Francisco Franco's forces,
effectively ending the Spanish Civil War. Franco's oppressive dictatorship begins.
September 3, 1939: Britain and France Declare War on GermanyIn response to Hitler's
continued aggression in Eastern Europe, Britain and France go to war with Germany in an
attempt to stop Hitler's bid for global hegemony.
General Summary
With the end of World War I, the old international system was torn down, Europe was
reorganized, and a new world was born. The European nations that had fought in the Great War
emerged economically and socially crippled. Economic depression prevailed in Europe for much
of the inter-war period, and debtor nations found it impossible to pay their debts without
borrowing even more money, at higher rates, thus worsening the economy to an even greater
degree. Germany especially was destroyed economically by World War I and its aftermath: the
reparations to Britain and France forced on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles were
impossibly high.
The League of Nations represented an effort to break the pattern of traditional power politics,
and bring international relations into an open and cooperative forum in the name of peace and
stability. However, the League never grew strong enough to make a significant impact on
politics, and the goals of deterrence of war and disarmament were left unaccomplished.
The political atmosphere of the inter-war years was sharply divided between those who thought
the extreme left could solve Europe's problems, and those who desired leadership from the
extreme right. There were very few moderates, and this situation kept the governments of
Britain, France, and Eastern Europe in constant turmoil, swinging wildly between one extreme
and the next. Extreme viewpoints won out in the form of totalitarian states in Europe during the
inter-war years, and communism took hold in the Soviet Union, while fascism controlled
Germany, Italy and Spain.
The extremist nature of these disparate ideologies turned European politics into an arena for
sharp conflict, erupting in Spain during the late 1930s in the form of the Spanish Civil War, after
which Francisco Franco became dictator. In Germany, Adolf Hitler's fascist Nazi Party came to
power during the 1930s and prepared once again to make war on Europe. With Britain and
France tied up in their own affairs, the path to World War II lay clear.
Context
The inter-war years refer to the pivotal 20 years that fell between the end of the First World War
and the Second World War. The effects of World War One were profound for Europe. Ten
million were killed and twice that number wounded in what has been dubbed the first modern
war. All of the wars of the hundred years leading up to World War One had claimed a total of
only four and one-half million lives. During the Great War, the French averaged a death each
minute. The destruction of a generation in Europe left many of those lucky enough to survive
psychologically scarred, and many would find it hard to lead normal lives.
In addition to the toll taken on European life, both the victorious Allies and the defeated Central
Powers were saddled with enormous national debts, which contributed to the financial insecurity
that was to plague all of Europe during the inter-war period. The land of Europe was physically
devastated, and the three great European empires--Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the
Ottoman--were toppled by the war and lay in ruins. Soldiers of both sides returned home to this
devastation and found only rampant unemployment and despair. The widespread destruction
led to internal political conflict and social instability in almost every nation in Europe during the
inter-war period.
The diplomatic results of the First World War greatly determined the nature of European affairs
during the inter-war years. The Paris Peace Conference dismantled large blocs of territory in
Eastern Europe and drew the boundaries for new, independent states. These new states were
in many cases not economically viable, due to the destruction of the war, and past reliance on
the economies of the empires. Additionally, these countries were unused to democracy and
independence, and many were divided internally by factions and antagonistic ethnic groups.
Moreover, the rise of radical political groups meant a wider spectrum of political ideologies
clamoring for acceptance. The ideologies of both fascism and communism attracted more
followers during the inter-war years than ever before. All of this made the task of good
government difficult, if not impossible, throughout Eastern Europe. Instability and poorly
operating, often-dictatorial governments were typical of these states, making them easy targets
for a rearmed Germany during the late 1930s.
Germany, for its part, was crippled not only by the war, but also by the settlement of the war, in
which it was scapegoated as the conflict's aggressor. The Treaty of Versailles provided for the
military and economic dismemberment of the German states, along with the requirement of
impossible reparations payments to Britain, France, and the other allied nations. France, having
suffered the greatest destruction at the hands of the Germans during World War One, was
adamant about keeping Germany weak, and demanded reparations without exception in the
years following the Great War. Due in great part to these efforts, Germany suffered through
starvation, mass unemployment, and rampant inflation, all made unbearable by the Great
Depression. Naturally, Germans reacted bitterly toward their foreign oppressors and dreamed of
a return to the glory of the German Empire. It was this dream which permitted the ascension of
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to power in Germany, promising a future of glory and European
domination. Under the Nazis, Germany rearmed and began a program of European conquest,
which at first was permitted by the former Allies, in hopes of avoiding a second war. However, it
soon became clear that Germany's intentions were dangerous to European security, and just
twenty years after the "War to End all Wars," Europe fell again into devastating conflict.
Important Terms, People, and Events
Terms
Black Shirts - The black shirts were Benito Mussolini's band of thugs, who used force to
intimidate all opposition to the Italian Fascist Party.
Bloc National - The Bloc National was a coalition of rightist groups in France that came
together in fear of socialist opposition to run the French government during the early years of
the inter-war period. The Bloc National maintained conservatism in France to a high degree,
and demanded that Germany pay its reparations in full.
Cartel des Gauches - After the French government's embarrassing failure to collect German
reparations even after invading the Ruhr, the Bloc National was replaced by the Cartel des
Gauches, a moderate socialistic coalition elected on May 11, 1924. However, the Cartel proved
inept at governing, and was dissolved in 1926.
Central Purge Commission - During the 1930s, Joseph Stalin consolidated power in the
Soviet Union by eliminating his opponents. In 1933, he created the Central Purge Commission,
which publicly investigated and tried members of the Communist Party for treason. In 1933 and
1934, 1,140,000 members were expelled from the party. Between 1933 and 1938, thousands
were arrested and expelled, or shot.
Collectivization - Stalin's agricultural program, collectivization, forced farmers to pool their
lands into government-run farms. When the upper peasant class, the kulaks, protested this
program, some three million of them were killed during a reign of terror in 1929 to 1930.
Dawes Plan - Proposed by the American, Charles Dawes, the Dawes Plan lowered the annual
amount of reparations to be paid by Germany to France and Britain, and loaned Germany a
sizable amount of money so that it could pay on time.
Gestapo - Adolf Hitler's secret police, the Gestapo terrorized the German citizens, spying on
them and often arresting and executing suspects without a warrant or trial.
International Brigades - These groups of leftist volunteers were made up mostly of workers,
who volunteered to aid the Republicans in the Spanish Civil war. They did so out of boredom,
disillusionment, or a desire for adventure as often as from genuine political idealism.
Kellogg-Briand Pact - Developed in 1928 by United States Secretary of State Frank Kellogg
and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand to jointly denounce war, the Kellogg-Briand Pact
stated that the singing parties condemned recourse to war, and denounced it as an aspect of
policy. The pact was eventually ratified, often hesitantly, by 65 nations.
League of Nations - The League of Nations was established as the body of international
cooperation after World War One, with the deterrence of war and disarmament as its primary
goals. However, largely due to the refusal of the United States to join, the League never grew
strong enough to pass any broad measures.
Livitinov Protocol - The Livitinov Protocol was adopted by the Soviet Union and four other
states, in response to the Kellogg-Briand Pact. It contained similar language, denouncing war as
an aspect of foreign policy.
Locarno Pacts - The Locarno Pacts were a series of treaties signed to assure the stability of
Germany's borders and discourage Germany from lashing out at its neighbors. They
represented a largely French effort to keep Germany crippled and disarmed, and led to an
improvement of relations between Germany and its neighbors.
Mein Kampf - The book Hitler wrote while imprisoned from 1923 to 1925, Mein Kampf (My
Struggle) sets forth Hitler's future policies, and expounds upon the inferiority of the Jewish
people to the Aryans. The book was widely read once Hitler came to power.
Nazi - The Nazi Party, short for the National Socialist German Workers Party, controlled
Germany completely, under Hitler, from 1933 until the end of World War Two. The Nazi's strove
to return Germany to its past glory, rectify the problem of unemployment, and expel GermanJews from society.
Triple Alliance - Made up of the miners, railway workers, and other transport workers in
England, the Triple Alliance was the most organized and powerful labor coalition; it constantly
battled the Conservative government for higher wages, better conditions, and shorter hours.
Westphalian System - Under this system the elites of government often met in secret to
determine the fate of Europe and the world. However, World War I shattered the old system
along with the empires that had maintained it.
People
Leon Blum - Leon Blum, a Jew, and a reviled enemy of French rightists, led the Popular Front
government that ruled France from 1936 to 1937. The Popular Front government was not
successful in maintaining stability, but is notable for its adherence to republican principles and
the wide popular participation in the government it encouraged.
Neville Chamberlain - Neville Chamberlain served as British prime minister from 1937 to 1940.
Considered a failure in foreign affairs, he pursued the failed policy of appeasement in regard to
Adolf Hitler's aggression, signing the Munich Pact.
Francisco Franco - Francisco Franco led the Nationalists of Spain in revolt against the
Republicans. Upon his victory in 1939, Franco became an oppressive dictator, a position he
maintained until 1975.
David Lloyd George - David Lloyd George was a talented politician and British moderate who
served as prime minister during and after World War I. His exit from government in 1922
signaled the end of centrism and the beginning of extremis politics in Britain.
Gyula Gombos - In 1932, General Gyula Gombos came to power as prime Minister of
Hungary, an office he used as a dictatorship. He was not a strong enough ruler to initiate a truly
fascist state, but he was quite powerful, and quite conservative, as well as being openly antiSemitic. Gombos set the tone for a string of conservative prime ministers who practiced open
anti-Semitism, and eventually cooperated with Germany in its efforts at European domination.
Paul von Hindenburg - Hindenburg had the misfortune of serving as the President of Germany
from 1925 to 1934. He was unable to hold off the rise of the Nazi Party, and in 1933 appointed
Hitler chancellor, an action followed by a string of concessions to Hitler until Hindenburg's death
in 1934.
Adolf Hitler - Adolf Hitler was the leader of the fascist Nazi Party that rose up to lead Germany
into the Second World War. Hitler undertook measures to improve Germany's floundering
economy and promised Germans a return to past glory.
Benito Mussolini - Mussolini became Italy's premier on October 30, 1922. He consolidated
power by using force and intimidation to eliminate his opponents and create a totalitarian state.
Mussolini was sympathetic to Hitler's desires for global hegemony, and would join Germany as
an ally during World War Two.
Joseph Pilsudski - Pilsudski took advantage of Poland's weak democracy to become virtual
dictator in 1926, a position he maintained until 1935. Though his method of government was
questionable, Pilsudski provided a measure of stability and strength to Polish politics, which
floundered after his death.
Raymond Poincare - Poincare was the stable political leader of France's conservatives. He
served as prime minister from 1922 to 1924, and from 1926 to 1929, providing stability to the
otherwise chaotic French government.
Joseph Stalin - Stalin became the leader of the Soviet government upon Vladimir Lenin's
death. He established a totalitarian state in the Soviet Union, consolidating power and purging
the party of his enemies during the 1930s, while forcing a command economy on the Soviet
people.
Leon Trotsky - Trotsky was Stalin's chief competition for leadership of the Communist Party,
presenting his theory of 'permanent world revolution' against Stalin's 'socialism in one country.'
When Stalin came to power, Trotsky was expelled from the party and fled the Soviet Union. He
eventually fled to Mexico, where a Stalinist agent killed him in 1940.
Events
Beer Hall Putsch - On November 9, 1923, Hitler and World War I hero General Ludendorf
attempted a small, and somewhat comic revolution known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler had
jumped onto a beer hall table and proclaimed the current Weimar government overthrown. He
and Ludendorf led their supporters into the street, and were promptly arrested. While this putsch
was unsuccessful, it was important in predicting what was to come.
Guernica - During the Spanish Civil War, on April 25, 1937, the small northern town of Guernica
was bombed by the Nationalists, and civilians were gunned down as they fled the scene. In this
brutal massacre 1500 died and 800 were wounded, but the military targets in the town remained
intact. While the casualty figures pale in comparison to later numbers, Guernica was crucial in
crushing the spirit of the Republicans and convincing many that to resist the Nationalists was to
open the doors to bloodbath.
Washington Conference - In November 1921, the United States convened the Washington
Conference, attended by Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Japan, and
Portugal. The Conference resulted in a naval armaments treaty that set a ratio for tonnage of
capital ships (over 10,000 tons, with guns bigger than eight inches) for Great Britain, the US,
Japan, France, and Italy. The ratio agreed upon, in that order, was 5:5:3:1.67:1.67. The
Washington Conference and the subsequent London Naval Conference of 1930 produced the
only successful armaments agreements of the inter-war years.