I. Weakness Within the Democracies.

-One of the most serious problems was changing from a wartime to peacetime economy.
A. GB
-was promised “fit for heroes”, the two decades between the 2 WWs showed differently, their
empire declined greatly, their economy suffered greatly, their trade had suffered, their debt was
through the roof, and the coal mining industry was hit hardest, with other energy sources and strong
foreign competition, unemployment also grew to the point that almost 1 in 4 men were unemployed.
-With the worsening economy GB became a welfare state, another indication of the rise of
Socialism was the Labour Party led by Ramsay McDonald who, though only holding office a year
firmly established the labour party.
-It also caused many of the possession to wish for independence or just home rule, and after many
years of fierce fighting in 1921 GB gave ireland independence, egypt also forced GB to
acknowledge their independence, but GB maintained a base to watch the suez canal
-In 1935 they passed the Government of india act giving India more self-government and in the
Statue of Westminster (1931) GB declared canada, australia, NZ, and SA all equal and part of the
british commonwealth of nations
B. France
-suffered more in lives and property lost, though they achieved greater recovery, new factories
made, and the returned lands provided minerals and industrial plants, even with economic problems
they never had to worry much about unemployment because of small businesses and farming.
-However, france was still unstable politically, with the third republic, because of the many parties
who could not ever obtain a majority, and between 20-40 they changed PMs around 40 times, and
as governments repeatedly failed they were undermined by radical groups usually with socialist or
communist ideas, they managed to take over in 1936 and named Leon Blum as their PM, this soon
fell apart and france returned to it’s more conservative government.
-France was still wary of Germany, and decided to protect their border because of their insecurity
of the league’s protection, also, GB and US dd not pledge to support France if things went south so
france formed coalitions with the smaller european nations such as Czechoslovakia, Romania, and
Yugoslavia.
-In 1929 Maginot began building a line of fortifications stretching from Switzerland to Belgium,
below which contained power, ammunition, supplies, hospitals, recreation halls, theaters, and living
quarters, with each fortification joined by an underground subway, these fortifications were france’s
mainline in the east and many French believed the Maginot Line would hold against anything.
C. The US
-WWI thrust the US into a strong role in world affairs, but many US wanted to return to
isolationism, and though Wilson twice tired to join the LoN the senate denied him, in 1920 US
turned away from idealism and elected Harding, a return to normalcy, his successor too, Coolidge,
emphasised domestic security before foreign involvement, in 1929 things were looking so good that
herbert Hoover said that he had no fears for out country.
1. The Great Depression
-everything seemed fine, mass-production of many goods, more leisure time, but under the
surface of the “roaring twenties” was immorality.
-Thrift became less common, and the US became a nation where it was the rush for wealth that
was most important, but in 1929 the economy crashed with the stock market, by 1932-33 there were
13-17million people who were unemployed, and though Hoover couldn’t have caused it they
blamed him and elected Franklin Roosevelt in 1932
2. The New Deal
-After inauguration R immediately promoted his relief program as a “New Deal” Job programs
sought to provide relief, the AAA was designed to meet long-term goals, and R promoted many
changes that he hoped would prevent another depression, and there was a company established to
watch the stocks
 -many people debate whether it helped or not, whether it helped or hurt, and general concensus
says that it hurt and though provided temporary relief it did not end the depression, and he didn’t
really resolve the core economic problems.
Section Quiz:
1. India Ireland, Egypt
2. too many political parties
3. Maginot Line
4. FDR New Deal
5. Federal bureaucrats
II. Rise of Totalitarian Dictatorship
-During Europe’s struggles there were many dictatorships that sprung up because people hoped
they could save their nation.
-Once in power, they established totalitarian states, though there were never 2 exactly alike many
shared these characteristics.
1. Use of propaganda
2. Secret Police
3. Emphasis on State Goals
4. State control of every aspect of life,
5. Government maintained by force,
6. One party system led by a disctator
-All across europe dictators came to power,
A. Communism in Russia
1. Collapse of Czarist Russia
-The reforms of Alex II came to an end when he was assassinated in 1881, where his successor
Alexander III attempted to repress the people, ordering the courts to intensify their efforts and
demanded a strict censorship of the press, he also persecuted various minority groups like Poles and
Finns, trying to force the to become russian, he also supported government massacres pogroms
killing thousands of Jews in Russia
-The harsh policies of Alex III continued under his son Nicholas II where during his reign
discontent burst into revolutionary activity, radicals organized themselves into political parties, the
most radical of which, the Social Democratic party, where they continued with their work and
waited for their time but differences in the party led to a small group known as the Bolsheviks
breaking from the Mensheviks, former of which desired revolution through violence
-Nick was able to maintain the stability and authority of the government for a little, but with the
disaster with the Russo-Japanese War brought discontent to the surface, russian expansion had
interfered with Japan’s expansion which led to direct conflict but the war was short with poor
organization, incompetence and low morale, and at the urging of TR russia signed a treaty with
Japan
-most dramatic event from the discontent was the workers’ march to the czar’s winter palace,
there were 200,000 demanding Nick to imrpove the worker’s lot, convene, a national assembly, and
give everyone the right to vote but before meeting the czar they were shot and that day was known
as Bloody Sunday,
- unrest and disorder increased with peasant uprisings, strikes, and mutinies, and in october a
railway strike caused strikes in all areas of Russia and to direct the strikes efficiently they fored
themselves into a soviet and groups in other cities took after them, and afte a few days the czar’s
government yielded to the strikers and nick issued the october manifesto promising a constitutional
government w/ free speech and a national assembly (Duma) elected by the people
-Over the next several years though the czar worked against the people and local strikes continued
-at first the russians supported the war but early defeats, poor planning, and heavy casualties all
weakened russia’s ability to fighting and to try to save the situation Nick took command of the
troops and left the empress under the influence of Rasputin who was a religious frad who won
favor when it appeared he healed her son, he became an advisor but he weakened the government
and the situation deteriorated greatly and when several nobles murdered rasputin it did not restore
faith in the government,
-on march 8th 1917 people finally had enough, strikes and riots broke out, and the troops sent to
suppress them merely joined them, news of the uprisings spread and so did the uprisings themselves
and they overthrew local authorities, Nick disbanded the Duma but its members ignored him and
established their own government and on the 15th Nick abdicated
-In the months following the fall a provisional government headed by Menshevik Aleksandr
Kerensky attempted to restore order but the Bolsheviks works in opposition and sought the
implementation radical social reforms.
-To worsen things, the germans helped the bolsheviks who were exiled return to dirupt their war
effort
1. Founding of the USSR
-The leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Lenin who became entangled in politics when
attending a Russian University and through his study of Marx he became a dedicated member of the
SDP and later assumed the leadership of the Bolsheviks. Though he followed Marx somewhat he
differed on a few points
1. Marx thought peaceful change from capitalism to communism was possible
2. Marx thought it would be spontaneous uprisings of the proletariat that would revolutionize
3. Marx thought the workers would rule together where Lenin controlled the authority tightly.
-Returning to Russia from exile in 1917 he protested the provisional government the most
susceptible people to the ideas were the Urban Labor Organizations
-In november 1917 lenin seized the government and arrested many leaders, with very little
bloodshed Lenin became the dictator of Russia.
-Lenin had many reasons for success, the russians had not supported the provisional government
wholeheartedly, mostly based around the war with germany
-Once the Bs seized power they faced problems, most serious of which was Germany. Lenin
realized that the Commies could not fight a war while consolidating their power so they signed the
treaty of Brest Litovsk which angered the Allies greatly and for four years suffered through civil
war raging through the country and they had no army but Leon Trotsky gave the commes a red
arrny fighting against the whites, which had the support of the Allies and though the whites won
some victories they were never coordinated enough. Also, many russians feared the restoration of
the Czar.
-In its first years the Commie country underwent many changes, like moving the capital to
Moscow, in fear of german armies after the war Moscow remained the new capital and became the
center of the RSFSR, after the death of lenin the name of the country became the USSR which was
compose of 15 republics but the central government held all the power and forced the others to its
will.
-During the war Lenin implemented economic controls designed to implement pure marxist
economic principles, the government nationalized industry and demanded that peasants turn over all
surplus crop to the state, and forced labor and lack of reward brought sick economy to the point of
collapse, by 1920 iron ore production had dropped 98.4% and overall production was only 13% of
what it had been and as resentment mounted they abandoned the war communism and implemented
the New Economic Policy
-the NEP was nothing new, just a temporary retreat from communism which used various
capitalist ideas and because of this their economy had significantly improved.
2. Strengthening of the USSR
-with Lenin’s death Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky fought over the “throne” the former was
quiet, dependable, yet ruthless, and the latter brilliant and egotistical and stalin won, because he had
already put many men loyal to him in Lenin’s government prior to his death to support his takeover
-Stalin ended the NEP and embarked on programs known as Five-Year Plans, which were
designed to build up industry and collectivize (to bring things under central government control)
turned the country back to communism and the government established production goals for each
industry and though some were able to match the requirements and manufactured products were
lacking
-His plan to collectivize agriculture was met with heavy opposition and the secret police did
whatever to get it to happen, but the peasants burned their livestock and crops, but in the end their
resistance was crushed but the struggle had been so sever that half the homes in the SU were
destroyed and also there was a famine in 1932 and 33
-the 5yp had several other results, as western countries went under economuc depression they
followed stalin’s lead, but they didn’t see the loss of life and liberty
-stalin often used violence and terror and in 1938 was determined to find anyone disloyal to his
regime, to accomplish this he instituted purges where he murdered 800,000 uncluding the ruling
elite all of which increased fear and secured stalin’s power.
-they tried to wipe out any christianity
-Lenin believed communism would soon sweep europe and to further his goal he established
Comintern to found communist parties in other nations
-Stalin changed foreign policy to be less radical and instead focussed more on home and for some
reason despite the fact that they stated they wanted to destroy free governments the west recognized
them diplomatically and gave them trade rights.
Section Quiz:
1. Nick II 1917
2. Lenin
3. NEP capitalist
4. Stalin
B. Fascism in Italy and Germany
-After communism in Russia, fascism came to power in Germany and Italy, though the german
form is often referred to as Nazism where many citizens had grown discouraged with a
representative government but feared communism and Fascism seemed to offer stability and
security
-Fascism and communism differ in a few ways
1. Businesses are privately owned but controlled by the government
2. Fascism is nationalistic
3. Usually openly embraces its military dictatorship
4. Fascism glorifies the state
-Despite the differences there is little difference with the people in both for they greatly restrict the
people and their liberties
1. Mussolini in Italy
-Postwar italy was disappointed and dispirited, for despite sacrifices they had gained little
especially when compared to their allies, strikes, inflation, and debt wrecked the economy and
politically there were many small factions creating a disunity
-In the midst of this the people became disillusioned with their government and wealthy wanted to
maintain their businesses in fear of communism, returning veterans received little recognition upon
returning and strong nationalists wanted italy to become a great power and to acquire more stuff.
The person who the people seemed to lean on was Mussolini
-he was the son of a blacksmith, and a well-known socialist in his 20s, writing for many socialist
newspapers, but he got imprisoned on many occasions for them, he was also shunned by other
socialists because of his support of WWI he helped organize the fascist party which took on the
fasces of roman times to symbolize authority
-Most italians weren’t fascists but were tired of the unrest and trouble of everything else so they
went with Mussolini and in october thousands of his followers marched to Rome to demand for his
appointment as Premiere of Italy, the king agreed to his demands.
-Once in power he turned Italy into a totalitarian state establishing authority by appointing fascists
to government posts and by the end of 1925 he ran a dictatorship while seeming to be a
representative government
 -The party was the real source of power, and their organizations began on the local level and went
all the way up to the Fascist Grand Council which said that in theory 20 people ran the government
but the final authority was with Il Duce (leader) a title Musso bestowed o himself
-He wanted to make Italy self-sufficient, and to achieve the autarky he organized things into 13
syndicates which each represented a different division of the workforce and under the government
he established wages prices, policies, and conditions
-Unlike S and H he had no clearly defined program, he suppressed freedom of speech, freedom of
press, and opposing parties but his own philosophy was vague
-He also made some popular agreements with the RCC known as the Lateran Treaties which
basically said the pope wouldn’t have any land but get a button of money and get a country
2. Hitler in Germany
-at the end of WWI Wilhelm Abdicated because of spontaneous revolutions erupting everywhere,
and the germans organized a republic which gave the people freedom to elect representatives and a
president along with basic freedoms.
-despite its promising start the Weimar Republic had serious weaknesses many germans did not
care nor did they know how, and they had too many parties to ever win a majority all of which
prepped the way for Adolf Hitler
-When young he did not show much promise when hopes of becoming an artist or architect failed
he went to Vienna, and later tried to join the army, and was signed on as a messenger and when shot
in the leg was awarded 2 iron crosses.
-He did not take news of the armistice well and after the war came into contact with the small
organization known as the Nazi Party which was chosen for its wide appeal to nearly all germans, in
1920 they formed the stormtroopers to preserve order at rallies.
-As the Nazis increased in power he found it expedient to reduce the SA’s power and purged it,
and killing many of its leaders. And later created the SS which were initially designed to protect
him but later under Himmler they also became known as the Gestapo as well as established
concentration camps and the SS were the most fanatical and formidable fighters in WW2
-In 1923 he tried to overthrow the government in Munich but it was short-lived and when arrested
and sentenced to 5 years in prison he only did less than one but also wrote the book Mein Kampf
during that time where he blamed the jews for Germany’s problems and demanded the renunciation
of the Versailles treaty, also proclaimed that germans were a master race, and once out of prison and
by giving speeches many people began to believe them. The nazi movement was full of symbolism
and their most famous one was the swastika
-There are many reasons for Hitler’s rise
1. The republic was weak and inefficient
2. They used the anger of the germans
3. Economic problems
4. Anti-communist which reassured the wealthy
5. Hitler was skilled at persuasion
-as economic problems continued many more people turned to nazi germany and were the largest
party, though not the majority, the president of the republic Paul von Hindenburg asked hitler to
join as vice-chancellor but he refused which made it hard to form any government without any
majority at all and a new election had to be held and even though Hitler didn’t win because he
demanded it he became chancellor
-He now realized that the power he craved was within reach and now that he could see it he
wanted to make sure he won so with propaganda, violence and threats they got 44% which with
some persuasion was enough to pass the Enabling Act, suspending the republic and making hitler
the dictator and then he named it the Third Reich
-Blamed the jews, persecuted christians, and then there were some German protestants who
bastardized christianity and then there was a resurgence of paganism
-Hitler advanced a series of 4 years plans seeking to end unemployment and rearm and build
public works that would help later in the war effort. The second, to make germany self-sufficient.
To accomplish these things the government outlawed strikes and also all worker were to submit to
the German Labor Front which had the power to determine wages and settle disputes. In addition
they provided vacations and entertainment at low cost. He also worked tirelessly at indoctrinating
the youth into becoming nazis with Hitler Youth.
Section Quiz
1. Mussolini 1922
2. Lateran treaties
3. Nazi Hitler
4. Aryans, Jews
III Era of Disillusionment
-during the latter half of the 19th cent many artists reacted against the impact of industrialism on
society rejecting convention and embracing new and experimental techniques and with the war they
became disillusioned with man and very pessimistic.
A. Painting
1. Expressionism
-where the artist tries to paint his feelings on a subject rather than the subject itself, the best
representative of this school Henri Matisse color was the real subject
2. Cubism
-was the second major artistic movement in the 20th cent where it revolves around reducing things
onto their key components, Pablo Picasso was the primary pusher of this style
B. Architecture
-went under drastic change, new materials meant new designs, modern architecture reflected the
mechanized and urban society
-Louis Sullivan is credited with developing the skyscraper who thought that form should match
function, Walter Gropius also a functionalist helped popularize that style in Europe, and Frank
Lloyd Wright followed a variation of this approach believing that form meant that a building
should blend with its surroundings
C. Music
-