European Governments in the Interwar Period

1
European Governments in the Interwar Period

• Soviet UnionStalin
• Totalitarianism defined
• ItalyMussolini
• Successor States
• Democracies
• Great Depression

2
Stalins Soviet Union

• Stalin v. Trotsky
• Stalins terrorism
• State controlled planning development
• Collectivization of agriculture
• State-run industry
• Costs

3
Totalitarianism

• Goal total unity, control, obedience
• Mussolini We stand for a new principle in the
  world. We stand for the sheer, categorical,
  definitive antithesis to the world of
  democracyto the world which still abides by the
  fundamental principles laid down in 1789.

4
Totalitarianism asAntithesis of Liberalism

• No competing political parties
• No individual liberty
• Eliminates or regulates private institutions
• Uses modern states bureaucracy and technology to
  impose ideology and enforce commands
• No individual thinking
• No natural rights that state must respect
• Cult of the leader

5
Attraction of Totalitarianism

• Loss of faith in Liberalism
• Faith in humanity, reason, nature, progress
• Government Control during WWI
• Compulsory military service
• Control of economic resources

6
TotalitarianismFascism

• Response to postwar society afflicted with
  spiritual disintegration
• Against liberalism, democracy, rationalism,
  socialism, pacifism
• Control of every aspect of national
  lifereligious, political, press, social, youth,
  sports
• Extreme nationalism
• exalts the will, blood, feeling, instinct,
  emotion
• Uniforms, songs, flags, parades, mass rallies

7
Benito Mussolini(1883-1945)
8
Successor States

• Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania,
  Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania
• Problems
• Fear of Bolshevism
• Undeveloped
• Chauvinist nationalism, irredentism

9
Great Depression

• US Stock market crashes, 1929
• Businesses cut production
• Unemployment soars
• Farmers lose land
• Banks close
• Americans withdraw investments from Europe
• Decline in world trade