Political Experiments of the 1920s

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Political Experiments of the 1920s
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Demands for Revision

• After Versailles
• Negotiating over reparations with Germany
• Border disputes over new boundary lines
• Allies felt Treaty was not being enforced
  effectively
• Series of calls to revise the whole series of
  Versailles treaties

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Postwar Economic Problems

• Europe loses status as financial and credit
  center
• Europe in debt to each other and the US
• The Bolsheviks had cancelled Russian war debts to
  France
• Germany could not pay war debts
• US did not demand reparations from Germany, but
  did demand the repayment of debts from other
  Allies
• Europes infrastructure, (bridges, roads,
  factories, hospitals), had been damaged or
  destroyed by the war.
• US became less dependent of European production
  and was a major competitor.
• Slow postwar economic growth and an overall
  decline of economic activity lowered
  international demand for European goods.

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New Roles for Government and Labor

• Prominence of labor during the war gave unions a
  greater role in national government.
• Government could not ignore labor
• Wages fell after the War, but workers generally
  were paid better than pre-war conditions
• Collective bargaining agreements would remain
• Middle classes became more conservative and more
  concerned about Communism

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The Soviet Experiment Begins

• The creation of the Soviet Union was the most
  important transforming event in post-WWI Europe.
• Existed from 1917 until 1991
• The Communists were neither a mass party or
  nationalists (less than 1 early on)

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War Communism

• The Bolsheviks rapidly developed authoritarian
  policies in response to internal and foreign
  military opposition
• Controlled by Leon Trotsky and the Red Army
• formed the Cheka, a new secret police
• political and economic administration became
  highly centralized.
• Economic policy of war communism,
• Took control of all the major industries that
  included financial and transportation.
• Seized grain for the Red Army and city workers
• War Communism aided the victory of the Red Army
  over their rivals
• Created domestic opposition
• Strikes occurred in 1920 and 1921
• Baltic fleet mutinied

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New Economic Policy

• Lenins strategic attempt to regain control
• Private property tolerated- peasants could grow
  food for profit
• NEP made the economy more stable
• No consumer goods
• Caused disagreements in the Politburo (governing
  body of the communist government)

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Stalin vs. Trotsky

• Lenin dies in 1924
• two factions emerged in struggles for leadership
  of the party
• Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin were on opposite
  sides
• Trotsky
• The left wing
• Urging agricultural collectivism, rapid
  industrialization, and new revolutions in other
  nations.

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• Stalin
• A right-wing faction
• Nikolai Bukharin as its representative and Stalin
  manipulating the group that called for
  continuation of Lenins NEP and slow
  industrialization.
• Stalin began to gain power
• Mid-1920s, he supported Bukharin and denounced
  Trotsky for his vision of international
  revolution, endorsing the doctrine of socialism
  in one country.
• Stalin defeated Trotsky and controlled the Soviet
  state.

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Third International

• In 1919, the Soviet Communists founded the Third
  International of the European Socialist movement,
  known as the Comintern.
• In 1920, the Comintern imposed the Twenty-one
  Conditions on any Socialist party that wanted to
  join it.
• Effort to destroy democratic socialism
• Split every major European Socialist party
• Divided the political left, and created a vacuum
  of power, (no political voice) for right-wing
  politicians
• led to the rise of Fascists and Nazis.

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Women and Family in the Soviet Union.

• Traditional family connected with middle class
  capitalism
• Alexandra Kollontai tried to replace the
  traditional family with a system based on love
  and comradeship
• Few agreed, but her ideas became one of the views
  of the Soviet Union by the outside world.

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The Fascist Experiment in Italy

• Fascist, a term used to describe right-wing
  dictators that took power between World War I and
  World War II.
• These governments claimed to halt Bolshevism
• anti-democratic, anti-Marxist, antiparliamentary,
  and most often anti-Semitic.
• Fascist movements were super-nationalistic.

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The Rise of Mussolini

• Italian Fascists founded in 1919 (Fasci di
  Combattimento)
• Largely Italian WWI veterans who were angry about
  the treatment of Italy at Versailles
• Feared the spread of socialism and the effects of
  the poor economy on Italy.
• Founded by Benito Mussolini
• Newspaper editor
• Supported Italys entry into WWI
• Extreme Nationalist

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Postwar Italian Political Turmoil

• During the war- the Italian parliament was
  useless
• Italy mistreated as a great power after the War.
• Gabriele DAnnumzio, anti-government agitator,
  seized Fiume
• Gave Fascists an example of how to take over
• Between 1919-1921- political turmoil
• Strikes common
• Peasants seize farmlands
• Socialists gain a larger foothold in Parliament
• Catholic Popular Party also gained power
• Caused a stalemate in parliament

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Early Fascist organizations

• Fascists created local terrorist groups
• intimidated socialist groups,
• pleasing many conservatives, (especially
  business interests).
• Local police officials ignore the crimes of
  fascist squads
• By 1922, fascist groups were intimidating local
  officials through arson, beatings and murder.
  Controlled local government of northern Italy.

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March on Rome

• In October, 1922, Fascists marched on Rome,
• the Black Shirt March
• the king of Italy asked Mussolini to form a new
  government.
• Mussolinis becoming Prime Minister.

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The Fascists in Power

• Mussolini created a legal revolution that left
  Italy a one-party state.
• Fascists use terror, the promise of security,
  effective propaganda,
• dominated Italys political structure on every
  level.
• agreement with the Catholic Church to keep the
  fascist regime in power.
• The Lateran Accord of February 1929
• Catholic Church and Italy declare official peace
• Pope declared temporal ruler of Vatican City
• Catholicism made official religion of Italy

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Motherhood in Fascist Italy

• Fascist policy encouraged Italian women to have
  more children and to remain at home
• Passed policies to help large families
• Outlawed abortion and contraception
• Mothers were expected to send their children to
  Fascist schools
• Women discouraged from working outside of the
  home
• Laws passed limiting number of women who could
  work.

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Joyless Victors
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France

• After WWI- a new conservative government is
  elected
• Clemenceau loses bid for president
• Versailles seen as too lenient
• Clemenceau did not establish a separate Rhineland
  state
• New government wanted to security against Germany
  and Russian Communism
• Few domestic reforms
• Many changes in ministers

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New Alliances

• In 1920 1921, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and
  Yugoslavia formed the Little Entente,
• alliance designed to prevent the revision of the
  Paris Peace Treaty of World War I.
• France makes an alliance with the Little Entente
  and Poland
• 1922- the Germans and Russians signed the Rapallo
  treaty
• Established economic and diplomatic relations
• No secret political or military clauses
• Germans did train Russian army and practiced
  using their tanks and planes.

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Quest for Reparations

• French PM Raymond Poincare
• Sent troops into the Ruhr in 1923 in gain German
  reparations
• Germans order passive resistance- General strike
  in Industrial center of Germany
• France sent French civilians to run the mines and
  factories.
• Ruhr invasion actually hurt France
• Caused increased distrust by Britain
• Increased French inflation
• Poincare replaced from 1924-1926 with a
  pro-Socialist government
• Recognized the Soviets
• Conciliatory policy toward Germany
• Aristide Briand- pro- League of Nations,

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Great Britain
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Economic Confusion

• 1918- British electorate expanded to all men
  above 21 and women above 30
• Disagreements between PM Herbert Asquith and
  David Lloyd George split the Liberal Party
• George maintained a coalition between Labour and
  the Liberal Parties
• British economy remained depressed in the 1920s
• High unemployment
• Government expanded insurance to unemployed
  workers, widows and orphans
• Did not create new jobs

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The First Labour Government

• In 1922, the first Labour government in Britain
  was headed by Ramsay MacDonald.
• The Labour party was socialistic in its beliefs
  but democratic and non-revolutionary,
• its rise in English politics caused the decline
  of the English Liberal party.
• Macdonald had been against WWI
• Macdonalds plan for reform
• Social reform
• Established the Labour party as a viable party

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The General Strike of 1926

• Stanley Baldwin returned as Conservative PM
• Government returned to the gold standard
• Hoped to stabilize the monetary system
• Set rate too high, raised price of British goods
• In attempt to lower prices- cut wages
• Coal industry most directly effected
• 1926 went on strike
• Sympathetic workers from other industries joined
  them
• Workers lost argument, high unemployment made
  unions weak
• Government attempted to help workers with new
  housing and reforming poor laws.

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Empire

• WWI gave British colonies the increased idea of
  independence and self determination
• India
• Self determination movement started by Mohandas
  Gandhi,
• Started discussion with British government
• Gained right to impose tariffs to protect its own
  industry.

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Ireland

• 1914- Irish Home Rule bill had passed Parliament
• Postponed until after the War
• Easter Monday 1916- Nationalist Uprising in
  Dublin
• British government stopped rebellion by executing
  the rebel leaders
• Rebels became national martyrs, Irish politics
  shifted to the Sein Fein party
• 1918- Sein Gein created an Irish Parliament
• January 21 1919- declared independence
• Guerrilla war broke out between the IRA and the
  British
• 1921- Ireland becomes Irish Free State, part of
  the Commonwealth.
• Civil war broke out between moderates and diehards

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Trials of Successor States in Eastern Europe

• Successor states of Austria-Hungary supposed to
  embody self-determination and buffer spread of
  Bolshevism
• In trouble from the start
• In Germany, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and
  other states, challenge lay in making new, stable
  parliamentary governments how long would
  conserves cooperate with liberals?

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Economic and Ethnic Pressures

• No successor states had strong economies
• political independence slowed trade between them
• Dependant on foreign loans rural people in
  industrialized world
• Ethnic groups sought power unchecked by politics
  
• minorities in each state wanted independence
• interwar economic/nationalistic problems would
  rise again in 1990s
• breakup of Habsburg Empire similar to breakup of
  Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia

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Poland Democracy to Military Rule

• Poland was restored in 1919,
• nationalism couldnt stop disagreements from
  different classes/regions/economic interests
• Different regions formerly ruled by Austria,
  Germany, and Russia fought each other in the new
  Polish Parliament
• executive power was weak
• Marshal Josef Pilsudski carried out a military
  coup
• ruled personally until his death
• govt passed to group of his military followers

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Czechoslovakia A Viable Democratic Experiment

• Czechoslovakia escaped authoritarian govt
• started with strong industrial base
• solid middle class with liberal traditions
  Czechs/Slovaks worked together in WWI withAllies,
• learned to trust each other
• After the war, new govt broke up estates into
  peasant holdings, Thomas Masaryk led w/integrity,
  had chance of becoming nation-state

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• Tensions still existed between Czechs and
  Slovaks(poorer, rural)
• Other national groups were discontented Poles,
  Magyars, Germans in Sudentenland
• Germans looked to Hitler in 1938,
• great powers divided up Czechoslovakia as
  appeasement
• Hitler occupied entire country/manipulated Slovak
  puppet state

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Hungary Turmoil and Authoritarianism

• Hungary(defeated power in WWI) separated from
  Austria at high political/economic price
• Bela Kun made short-lived communist Hungarian
  Soviet Republic in 1919 with support from
  socialists
• Allies authorized Romanian invasion to remove
  communist danger
• established Admiral Miklos Horthy as regent
• When Kuns govt fell, 1000s of Hungarians
  killed/imprisoned
• Resentment lingered over lost territory in Paris
  settlement
• effective ruler of Hungary during 1920s was Count
  Stephen Bethlen with aristocratic govt
• Replaced by General Julius Goemboes who rigged
  elections
• used anti-Semitic policies
• after his death, anti-Semitism still lingered

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Austria Political Turmoil and Nazi Conquest

• Situation bad in Austria
• many Austrians lived in Vienna
• Economic life almost impossible,
• Paris settlement forbade union with Germany
• in 1920s, Social Democrats and Christian
  Socialists struggled for power
• both used small armies to impress/terrorize

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• In 1933, Christian Socialist Engelbert Dollfuss
  became chancellor,
• 1934 outlawed all political parties except
  Christian Socialists/agrarians/paramilitary
  groups(used groups against Social Democrats)
• Dollfuss was shot in unsuccessful nazi coup
• Kurt von Schuschnigg presided until Hitlers
  annexation in 1938

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Southeastern Europe Royal Dictatorships

• SE Europe, Paris settlement less relevant, but
  parliamentary govt still failed
• Yugoslavia founded by Corfu Agreement of 1917,
  known as Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes

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• Serbs controlled govt because they had their own
  country prior to WWI but clashed with Croats
• Croats considered educated/Roman Catholic
• Serbs considered Orthodox/less educated, each had
  their own areas/enclaves
• Slovenes/ Muslims/other national groups played
  Serbs/Croats against each other
• clash of nationalities led to royal dictatorship
  in 1929 under King Alexander I, a Serb
• outlawed political parties,
• assassinated 1934/succeeded by son

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Other Royal Dictatorships

• Romania by King Carol II,
• Bulgaria by King Boris III
• considered themselves right by repressing more
  violent/extreme groups
• Greece,
• parliamentary monarchy failed
• General John Metaxas instituted dictatorship that
  ended parliamentary life in Greece

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The Weimar Republic

• German government formed after the defeat of the
  Hohenzollerns.
• Accepted the Versailles treaty
• Associated with national disgrace, and the
  economic burdens of the treaty.
• Forced to follow the military and economic
  conditions of the treaty
• Nationalists used the treaty to blame the
  republic for the surrender and the results
  themselves
• All political groups wanted to revise the treaty

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Constitutional Flaws

• Weimar Republic
• Guaranteed civil liberties and direct elections
• Universal suffrage of the Reichstag (Parliament)
  and the President.
• Provided for proportional representation for all
  elections, easy for small parties to gain seats.
• Provisions allowed the President to rule by
  decree in an emergency- allowed temporary
  dictatorship

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Lack of Support

• Weimar Republic had no social structure for its
  support
• Large groups advocated constitutional monarchy
• Army distrustful of government and resentful of
  military provisions of Versailles
• March 1920- Kapp Putsch (Armed Insurrection)
• Attempted coup against the government
• General strike followed
• As reparations increased, assassination attempts
  increased as well

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Invasion of the Ruhr and Inflation

• Value of German mark fell
• 64 to 1 vs in 1914
• 800,000,000 in 1 vs in 1923
• Caused people to lose their life savings
• Insurance policies were wiped out
• Bartering became popular
• Caused increasing desire for order and security

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Hitlers Early career

• Ok Minion. . . Your turn. . . Add Herr
  Schicklegruber to your notes.

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Some help

• Hitler was a part of the Christian Social party
  in Vienna and embraced its radical German
  nationalism and anti-Semitic beliefs.
• Moved to Munich
• became involved with a small, nationalistic,
  anti-Semitic party known as the National
  Socialist German Workers party, also known as
  the Nazis.
• Hitler, head of the Nazis, tried to topple the
  Weimar regime.
• 1923 coup in Munich, the beer hall Putsch, was
  easily put down,
• Hitler gained in popularity from the incident and
  became a national figure.
• While in prison he wrote Mein Kampf, which
  outlined his political and social reform plans
  for Germany

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Stressmann Years

• Gustav Stressmann- Chancellor (Aug 1923-Nov 1929)
• Reconstructed the republic
• Introduced new currency
• Supported the crushing of Hitlers putsch
• 1924- Dawes Plan
• Lowered reparations depending on German economy
• 1925- Paul von Hindenburg elected President
• More conservative
• Economy improved, foreign investing in industries
• Accepted some of the western Versailles
  settlements, but wanted to reclaim some Eastern
  territories

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Locarno

• 1925- Locarno Agreements
• Established official German/French border
• Britain and Italy agreed to intervene if either
  side broke agreement
• German signed treaties of arbitration with Poland
  and the Czechs
• France supported Germany in League of Nations
• Caused spirit of optimism
• 1928- Kellogg- Briand Pact- renouncing war as an
  instrument of national policy
• Locarno left many major international issues
  unresolved.