Chapter 24: The West Between the Wars, 1919

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Chapter 24 The West Between the Wars, 19191939

• The peace settlements at the end of World War I
  combined with severe economic problems to produce
  widespread discontent across Europe. Democratic
  rule in many states gave way to fascism,
  authoritarianism, and the totalitarianism of
  Stalin and Hitler.

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Section 1 The Futile Search for Stability

• The peace settlement (The Treaty of ?) at the end
  of World War I left many nations unhappy and
  border disputes simmering throughout Europe.
• The League of Nations proved a weak institution.
• Democracy was widespread, and women in many
  European countries gained the right to vote.

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• However, economic problems plagued France, Great
  Britain, and the German Weimar Republic.
• When Germany declared that it could not continue
  to pay reparations (?), France occupied one
  German region as a source of reparations.
• An American plan reduced the burden of
  reparations and led to a period of prosperity and
  American investment in Europe.

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• The prosperity ended with the economic collapse
  of 1929 and the Great Depression.
• European governments tried different approaches
  to ending the depression.

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• Many middle-class Germans began to identify with
  anti-democratic political parties.
• The new American president, Franklin Delano
  Roosevelt, pursued a policy of active government
  intervention in the economy that came to be known
  as the New Deal.

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Section 2 The Rise of Dictatorial Regimes

• By 1939 most European democracies had collapsed.
• Only France and Great Britain remained
  democratic.

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• Benito Mussolini began his political career as a
  Socialist, but he abandoned socialism for
  fascism, which glorified the state and justified
  the suppression of all political dissent.
• In Italy, Mussolini outlawed most political
  opposition, but also compromised with powerful
  groups and never achieved totalitarian control.

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• After the Russian civil war, Lenin restored
  capitalist practices to prevent economic and
  political collapse.
• After Lenin's death, Joseph Stalin emerged as the
  most powerful Communist figure.
• Stalin sidelined the Bolsheviks of the
  revolutionary era and established totalitarian
  rule.

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• His program of rapid industrialization and
  collectivization forced horrendous sacrifices on
  the population.
• His political purges caused millions to be
  arrested, imprisoned, and executed.
• Elsewhere in Eastern Europe and in Francisco
  Franco's Spain, authoritarian regimes were mainly
  concerned with preserving the existing social
  order.

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Section 3 Hitler and Nazi Germany

• Adolf Hitler, a failed student and artist, built
  up a small racist, anti-Semitic political party
  in Germany after World War I.
• Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch failed.
• In prison, he wrote Mein Kampfan account of his
  movement and his views.

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• As democracy broke down, right-wing elites looked
  to Hitler for leadership.
• In 1933 Hitler became chancellor.
• Amid constant chaos and conflict, Hitler used
  terror and repression to gain totalitarian
  control.

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• Meanwhile, a massive rearmament program put
  Germans back to work.
• Mass demonstrations and spectacles rallied
  Germans around Hitler's policies.
• All major institutions were brought under Nazi
  control.

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• Women's primary role was to bear Aryan children.
• Hitler's Nuremberg Laws established official
  persecution of Jews.

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• A more violent anti-Semitic phase began in 1938
  with a destructive rampage against Jews and the
  deportation of thousands to concentration camps.
• Increasingly drastic steps barred Jews from
  attending school, earning a living, or engaging
  in Nazi society.

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Section 4 Cultural and Intellectual Trends

• After World War I, radio and film became sources
  of entertainment as well as propaganda tools.
• Hitler and the Nazis made wide use of both.

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• Work patterns after the war allowed many people
  to enjoy mass leisure activities such as
  professional sporting events, as well as train,
  bus, and car travel.
• The Nazis organized events such as concerts for
  workers.

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• The revolution in physics continued with Werner
  Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
• The uncertainty of the post-war world became a
  prominent theme in art.
• Dadaism and the surrealism of Salvador Dalí
  reflected absurdity in the world.

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• Nazi art was intended to be authentically German.
  
• In fact, it was largely derived from
  nineteenth-century folk art.
• Literary interest in the unconscious produced the
  "stream of consciousness" technique of James
  Joyce's Ulysees.
• The German novelist Hermann Hesse was influenced
  by psychology and Asian religions.