Download WORLD HISTORY Years Between the Wars Notes

WORLD HISTORY
Greer
THE YEARS BETWEEN THE WARS
APPLICABLE GEORGIA STANDARD(S):
SSWH17 The student will be able to identify the major political and economic factors that
shaped world societies between World War I and World War II.
a. Examine the influence of Albert Einstein on science, Sigmund Freud on social thinking and
Pablo Picasso on art.
b. Determine the causes and results of the Russian Revolution from the rise of the Bolsheviks
under Lenin to Stalin’s first Five Year Plan.
c. Describe the rise of fascism in Europe and Asia by comparing the policies of Benito
Mussolini in Italy, Adolf Hitler in Germany, and Hirohito in Japan.
d. Analyze the rise of nationalism as seen in the ideas of Sun Yat Sen, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,
and Mohandas Gandhi.
e. Describe the nature of totalitarianism and the police state that existed in Russia, Germany,
and Italy and how they differ from authoritarian governments.
f. Explain the aggression and conflict leading to World War II in Europe and Asia; include the
Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the Spanish Civil War, the Rape of Nanjing in China, and the
German annexation of the Sudetenland.
The Post-World War I Period Was One of Loss and Uncertainty, But also of Invention
and Creativity
 Changes occurred in science, art, and social thinking
Sigmund Freud
 Austrian physician who established a theory of the mind – psychoanalysis
o Believed painful memories could be repressed/buried in subconscious mind, but
could resurface/manifest themselves in many ways
o Studied World War I veterans affected by “shell-shock”
 No apparent physical causes of things like blindness/paralysis
 British physicians treated these patients, according to Freud’s ideas
 Freud’s thinking influenced popular culture, art, and literature (free association of
ideas/workings of the subconscious mind)
The World of Art
 Cubism – form of art that reduced the human figure to geometric shapes
 Pablo Picasso – Spanish painter and sculptor famous as a cubist
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o “Guernica” – most popular painting; dealt with death destruction of a village
during the Spanish Civil War
Albert Einstein
 German-born scientist; Jew and World War I-era pacifist
 Special and general theories of relativity
o No such thing as absolute time, space, and motion
o E = mc2 (energy equals mass X the square of the speed of light)
 Einstein fled Germany when Hitler/Nazis took over; emigrated to U.S.
o Work instrumental to U.S. development of the atomic bomb
RUSSIA
World War I Brought Changes to Russia
 Romanov Dynasty overthrown as a result of Russian ((Bolshevik) Revolution
o Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed by Bolsheviks;
 People of Russia had suffered harsh working conditions/frequent food shortages
 Millions of Russian soldiers killed/captured in World War I
Bolsheviks Were Led by Vladimir Lenin
 Political/economic philosophy based on writings of Karl Marx
 Advocated “scientific socialism;” claimed to be able to accurately predict economic
developments
 Local councils across the country, called “Soviets,” became the new government of
Russia
 Lenin’s slogan was “Peace, Land and Bread”
 November 1917 – armed workers took control of government offices, beginning the
Russian Revolution
Lenin Ordered All Farmland Given to the Peasants
 Workers were given control of factories
 Lenin agreed to peace treaty with Germany and pulled Russia from World War I; Treaty
of Brest-Litovsk
 Civil war ensued
o Allies back forces fighting against Lenin’s Bolsheviks (Red Army)
o Forces loyal to tsar were called Mensheviks (White Army)
o Lenin’s Red Army eventually won
o Civil war/famine killed 15 million Russians
1921 – Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP)
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 Allowed limited private ownership of property; relaxing his demand for total state control
of the economy
 Renamed the country
o Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
o Also called “Soviet Union”
 Government would be run (in the name of the people) by leaders of the Communist Party
o This concept was called “dictatorship of the proletariat”
 By late 1920s, some farms and factories had recovered to pre-World War I levels, as
Soviet economy recovered
Joseph Stalin
 1924 – Took control of Communist Party after Lenin’s death
 Wished to increased power of Soviet Union
o To do that, he built a totalitarian state
 Government took complete control over all aspects of life in the Soviet
Union
 Involves authoritarian government; usually a dictator
 Stalin’s government used police terror, propaganda, and persecution; no
human rights in Stalin’s system
Features of Totalitarianism
 Dictatorship
 One-party rule
 Few individual rights
 Government controls most aspects of life
Stalin Accomplished His Goal by Doing Several Things
 Created a powerful secret police
 Turned against his enemies (real and imagined) within the Communist Party
 Thousands arrested and sent into exile or killed
 Used propaganda to keep control
o Official literature praised the government and its success
o Those who held opposing views were punished
Stalin Built a Command Economy
 Government made all economic decisions
 Created a series of Five Year Plans to make Soviet economy fully industrial; all
resources devoted to reaching industrial quotas
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o As a result, many Soviet people lacked adequate food, clothing, or housing for
many years
 Stalin also increased farm production
o Millions of peasants died in the process
o Soviet government took control of all farms
 Farm workers put together on large, state-owned farms called collective
farms
 Some peasants resisted; millions were killed and millions more exiled to
labor camps in Siberia
CHINA
During the World War I-Era, Unrest Also Plagued China
 Many Chinese resented foreign, imperialist control over their economy
 Some wanted to modernize China, so it could regain its power
Sun Yat-sen
 Led a group called Kuomintang (Nationalist Party)
 1912 – Led a revolt that overthrew the Qing Dynasty; was made president of the new
republic
 Sun’s Three Main Principles
o Nationalism
o Democracy
o Livelihood
 Sun wanted all Chinese people to have political and economic rights and an end to
European domination of China
 China’s leaders sided with the Allies during World War I, but were disappointed when it
was over
o Treaty of Versailles did not end freedom from European domination was not
forthcoming; it merely changed “masters”
o Parts of China that had been controlled by Germany were merely handed over to
Japan
o Chinese were angry and protested vigorously
1927 – Civil War Between Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists and Mao Zedong’s Communists
 Both sought control of the government
 1931 – Japan invaded the part of China called Manchuria
 Chiang and Mao agreed to join forces to fight the Japanese
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INDIA
Nationalism Also Spread to India
 Many Indians of the upper classes were educated in British schools
 They learned Western ideals of nationalism and democracy
 Also grew angry at British domination of Indian life
o Two nationalist groups formed: Indian National Congress and Muslim League
More Than One Million Indian Soldiers Served in the British Army in World War I
 Britain promised to make changes to the government of India after the war
 Returning Indian soldiers were again treated as second-class citizens
Mohandas Gandhi Became the Leader of India’s Protest Movement
 Organized widespread campaign of noncooperation and passive resistance to unjust laws
enacted by British overlords in India
o This is called a policy of civil disobedience
o Indians stopped buying British goods, attending British schools, paying British
taxes or voting in British-run elections
o Urged followers to take these actions without resorting to violence and become
self-reliant
 Salt March was a major protest event
Jawaharlal Nehru
 Led Indian National Congress
 Along with Muslim League, continued to fight for a free India
 1935 – British agreed to give India limited self-government
o Complete independence not granted until 1947 (after World War II)
 Partition of India resulted in a largely Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan
TURKEY
Other Changes Took Place in Southwest Asia
 Mustafa Kemal – military commander who became leader of the new Republic of
Turkey after the break-up of the old Ottoman Empire (post World War I)
 Introduced a number of changes to Turkish society:
o Created a democratic nation
o Abolished the old feudal system of the Ottomans
o Sought to modernize Turkey
o Women received full political rights and no longer had to wear the veil
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o Modernized transportation and agriculture
o Loosened Islam’s hold on Turkish law
1934 – Turkish National Assembly Present Kemal With the Title “Attaturk”
 Means “Father of the Turks”
THE RISE OF FASCISM
1929 – New York Stock Market Crash
 U.S. and Europe suffered from the ensuing “Great Depression”
o High unemployment and inflation (value of money decreases)
 German economy was already strained by the Treaty of Versailles; it became much
worse during the Great Depression
 Benito Mussolini (Italy) and Adolf Hitler (Germany) found these economic
circumstances fertile ground for their ideas, as they rose to power
o Both promised jobs, price controls, and military growth
o Both of their fascist governments were elected to power
Fascism
 Placed the state as supreme and denied citizens basic human rights
 Propaganda was used to spread nationalist ideas, loyalty to the party, and loyalty to the
leader
 Fascism was opposed to the communist system in the Soviet Union
o Unlike fascism, communism eliminated private property and business (yet still
held the government as supreme
Fascism Arose in Italy After World War I
 Wealthy Italians feared political unrest would lead to Soviet-style communism
 Benito Mussolini rose to power on promises of reviving the economy and resurrecting
the Italian armed forces
 1922 – King of Italy was forced to led Mussolini lead the government
Mussolini Saw Italy as a Revival of the Old Roman Empire
 1935 – Italian forces invade the African country Ethiopia
o Italian troops won an easy victory
o Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations
 League did nothing to help
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party Came to Power in Germany
 1923 – Hitler tried to take over the German government, but failed and was sent to prison
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o While in prison, he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), which outlined his ideas
for governing Germany
o He believed Germans were superior to all other people
o Claimed the Treaty of Versailles had been grossly unfair to Germany
o Wanted lebensraum (“living space”) in Eastern Europe and Russia for Germany
 1933 – Nazi Party won control of German government
o Hitler technically elected, but began acting like a dictator immediately
o Those who opposed him were arrested
o Economic programs gave jobs to millions of unemployed Germans
 Took away workers’ rights to organize into unions or strike
Nazi Government Took Control of All Aspects of German Life
 Nazis burned books that went against Nazi ideas
 Children were forced to join pro-Nazi groups
 Hitler launched attacks against Germany’s Jews and took away their rights
Hitler’s Actions Are Considered to be the Major Cause of World War II
 Began to defy the Treaty of Versailles from the time of his election as German
Chancellor in 1933
o Began to rebuild Germany’s military forces
 1936 – Hitler sent German ground- and air forces to aid Spanish fascists in the Spanish
Civil War
o Mussolini sent aid from Italy, as well
o Francisco Franco’s fascist forces won and Franco became the fascist dictator of
Spain
 1936 – Hitler sent German forces to reoccupy the Rhineland and united Germany with
Austria (the land of his birth)
 1938 – German troops took over the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia
o Claimed Sudeten Germans should be a part of “Greater Germany”
o Munich Conference (1938) – Britain and France agreed to let Hitler keep the
Sudetenland on the condition that he took no more territory. This “giving-in” to
Hitler was called the policy of appeasement
o German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact further alienated Britain and France
o 1 September 1939 – Germany invades Poland, beginning World War II
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Sudetenland and partition of Czechoslovakia
Japan Also Became an Aggressor Nation
 Emperor Hirohito was technically the ruler of Japan
 Control of the government was gradually taken over by the military, by generals such as
Hideki Tojo
 Japanese leaders planned to capture China as part of their Pacific empire
Japan Began to Expand Its Influence Like the European Powers
 It drove China out of Korea and gained Taiwan and other islands as new colonies
 1931 – Japanese forces took over Manchuria (rich in iron and coal, valuable to Japanese
economy)
 Other countries protested to League of Nations, which did nothing
 1937 – Japanese forces kill tens of thousands of Chinese citizens in Nanjing (Rape of
Nanjing)
 Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists united to fight the Japanese in China
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
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TOTALITARIAN STATES
Germany and the Soviet Union Were Totalitarian States
 Government controlled all aspects of life
Totalitarian States Often Have Command Economies
 All economic decisions are made by the government
 All resources and means of production are owned by the government
 Differs from traditional and market economies
 In traditional economies, economic decisions are based on the customs and traditions of
the society
 In market (capitalist) economies, economic decisions are made by consumers, through
the processes of supply and demand
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