Exam Revision Part Two

The Depression

World War Two – Causes, Australians at War, the Home front

Australia - Post World War Two – the Menzies Years, the ‘Red Menace’

Define -

Causes –

Impact -

Define – one of the features of capitalist economy is that the level of economic activity changes. Economists call this a trade cycle. There are period of growth and decline in demand and production.

When there is strong demand for products, high profit levels and low employment the economy grows.

However periods of continual growth cannot be sustained continually. Eventually demand and profits decline and unemployment rises. This is known as a recession.

A Depression is severe downturn in economic activity that lasts several years.

The Great Depression began on what is known as Black Tuesday October 29th 1929.

The 1920s had been a period of strong demand and production, and heavy speculation on the stock market.

When investors lost confidence in the stock market, a wave of selling wiped billions of dollars of the US stock market.

Why did the Depression impact on Australia so strongly?

There were basic weaknesses in the Australian economy that developed in the 1920s.

Much of Australia's prosperity during the 1920s rested on the Australian governments ability to borrow overseas, especially from Great Britain.

1n 1928 alone the Australian government borrowed 52 million pounds.

By 1929, Australia, after Germany had the second highest debt in the world.

Much of this money was spent on public works, developing transport and ports and building the new national capital of Canberra.

To meet this debt Australia depended on its exports of primary products, especially wool and wheat.

After 1929 – International demand for Australian

products declines. Prices for these products also fell.

Australia still had to honour its debt obligations overseas.

Think of examples from your primary documents assignment.

Which groups in society were most/least affected?

Impact on males

Initially Governments reduced public spending, wages and social welfare programs were cut.

This however increased rather than stopped the downward cycle.

British economist John Maynard Keynes came up with a radical solution to the problem.

That instead of restricting government spending, Keynes suggested that governments increase their spending in order to stimulate demand.

Keynes’ ideas of increasing government spending were first implemented in the US under President Roosevelt.

The Australian government also adopted these policies and financed many public works schemes in order to increase employment.

Unemployed men, including WWI veterans worked on Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and the Great Ocean Road in the 1930s as part of a government scheme to reduce unemployment.

Growth of political extremism on both left and right sides of politics – Communism and Fascism.

Australia – The New Guard and the Australian Communist Party. This also occurs on an international level – growth of Fascism in Germany, Spain and Italy.

Captain Francis de Groot, a member of the New Guard, opens Sydney Harbour Bridge, before the NSW Premier, Jack Lang. A new ribbon had to be found for Lang to cut afterwards. 19 March 1932.

Causes of World War II and Hitler’s rise to power

Political upheaval in Weimar Germany – street fights between Communists and right wing groups

Economic – chaos – Germany was the nation that was the most adversely affected by the Depression.

Repatriations impoverish Germany.

In an attempt to pay the repatriations the Germany government increases the money supply which causes massive hyperinflation

Disgruntlement over the Versailles Treaty.

A longing for order and strong leadership.

The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, Paris, where the peace treaty to end WWI was signed.

In January 1933 Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Hitler was the leader of the Nationals Socialist German Workers’ Party – better known as the Nazi Party.

Hitler believed that –

The German people were superior racially and that Germany needed to be cleansed of groups deemed to threaten the purity of the racial stock i.e. Jews, Gypsies, the mentally ill, Slavs etc.

It was Germany's destiny to end the restrictions of the hated Versailles Treaty.

That Germany needed new territory if it were to become a great power.

One month into Hitler's chancellorship, the German Reichstag (Parliament) was set on fire in an act of arson.

After the Reichstag fire, Hitler was able to pass the Enabling Act 1933 which is seen as pivotal to his establishment of the dictatorship. The Enabling Act decreed that the Communist Party was illegal as was all opposition to the Nazi Party.

Hitler believed that the conquest and gain of territory was crucial for Germany to become a great power and realize its destiny.

In order to go this, against the stipulations of the Versailles Treaty, Hitler began to build up Germany’s armed forces – its warships, tanks, ammunitions, and fighter aircraft to prepare for war.

Even Germany’s renowned autobahns - the first modern highways – were built to facilitate modern warfare.

Hitler opens an autobahn, 1937

In order to gain territory Hitler originally negotiated with other European powers. A war weary Europe initially adopted a policy of appeasement in regards to German expansionism.

Europe’s leaders were so keen to avoid another war they allowed Germany to take control of –

Austria – united with Germany under the Anschluss

Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland – an area of Czechoslovakia which was predominantly inhabited by ethnic Germans.

The rest of Czechoslovakia under the Munich Agreement

It was Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1st 1939, that lead Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany as it was finally obvious to Europe’s leader that Germany’s aggression needed to be checked.

North Africa, the Pacific and the Home front

Australia’s sense of loyalty to Great Britain was so strong, that there was never any sense that Australia was not going to follow Britain into the war.

On September 3rd 1939, Prime Minister Robert Menzies read out in a speech his famous words,

‘Fellow Australians, it is my melancholy duty to inform you that, in consequence of the persistence of Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared was, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war’.

NORTH AFRICA POLITICAL MAP

DETAIL OF MAJOR AREAS OF FIGHTING FOR 2ND AIF

It was in the deserts of North Africa that Australian troops were first involved in World War II.

Italy had come into the war in support of Germany and attempted to follow Germany’s example in the conquest of territory.

Italy wanted to conquer the British colony of Egypt.

The Australian and the British however held back the advances of Italy troops into Egypt, and by September 1940 130,000 Italian troops were forced to surrender.

To aid their ally, in March 1941, Hitler was forced to send German troops under the Command of General Rommel to Libya.

The Germans wanted to advance across to Egypt but to do this they needed to capture the important port of Tobruk.

This was in control of the Australians. The AIF held Tobruk off from a German advance for 242 days in 1941.

During this time the AIF had built dug outs to protect them against German attacks. German propaganda called the AIF ‘the rats of Tobruk’. It became a name the soldiers wore with pride.

Like Germany and Italy, Japan also had imperialist aspirations and wanted to conquer foreign territory to build an empire.

In 1931 Japan invaded China. By 1933 Japan controlled most of northern China. In 1937 Japan invaded the rest of China. Japan soon controlled Shanghai, Nanjing and most of Chian’s coast and inland areas.

As an occupying force Japan was brutal in its treatment of the Chinese people.

Japan soon also controlled most of South East Asia – including Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines.

Chinese victims of the Japanese invasion of Nanjing. Known in history as the ‘rape of Nanjing’ as Japanese troops murdered 300,000 Chinese civilians in a six week period from December 13th, 1937.

The USA, alarmed at Japan’s aggression, imposed economic sanctions on Japan.

By 1941 Japan was down to a few month’s oil supplies. If it had to accede to the USA’s demands and withdraw it would suffer an enormous loss of face.

Japan decided to capture the oil rich area of Indonesia.

In order to do this it needed to cripple the USA’s naval fleet in the Pacific which was based at Pearl Harbour.

On December 7th, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the USA’s naval fleet in the Pacific which was based in Pearl Harbour.

As a result the USA entered the war.

Although the attack was not as successful as the Japanese had wished (most of the USA’s ships were out of the port on naval exercises, Japan was still able to sweep down northwards and conquer more territory.Pearl Harbour, December 7th 1941

The British naval base at Singapore was considered ‘impregnable’, and indeed it would have been impossible to capture Singapore by sea.

However the Japanese came to Singapore overland through Malaysia, many of them on bicycles.

Japanese troops move into Singapore , February 15th, 1942

The fall of Singapore had a major impact upon Australia – both during the war and over its future foreign policy.

From Singapore, Japan was able to advance further south and for the first time, threaten Australia.

Singapore

The AIF were stationed in North Africa and Greece at the time.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also wanted the AIF to assist in fighting in Europe.

This lead to a conflict between Churchill and Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin, who wanted to recall the AIF back to defend Australia. Curtin wrote of daily cable fights with Churchill on the issue.

John Curtin at work on a Sunday morning in The Lodge

Ultimately John Curtin decided to recall the AIF back to Australia to defend the homeland.

The AIF were sent to Papua New Guinea. This was because the Japanese had landed at Buna and were advancing along the Kokoda Track, hoping to gain control of the capital, Port Moresby. From Port Moresby, the Japanese would be able to invade Australia.

Japanese land at Buna. They march overland to Kokoda. The AIF land in Port Moresby, meeting the Japanese and forcing them to withdraw,

The men of the AIF fought in some of the most difficult and rugged terrain on earth.

Conditions were difficult – The men were continually wet from the

tropical humidity, their sweat and the rains. In the nights they were damp and freezing in high altitudes.

The troop battled tropical diseases and insects as well. Malaria spread by insects was a constant threat to the troops.

The track was steep, muddy and slippery. The men also had to carry heavy supplied and pull artillery through the forest.

25-Pound guns of B Troop, 14th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, being pulled through dense jungle in the vicinity of Uberi on the Kokoda Track.

Some 22,000 Australians became prisoners of war (POWs) captured by the Japanese.

Most of these were captured after the fall of Singapore in February 1942.

At the end of the war, 34% of Australian POWs were dead. IN contrast only 3% of Australians taken prisoner by the Germans died.

The reasons for the high death rate were –

The lack of food given to POWsThe tropical climate and disease,

accompanied with a lack of medical care

The Japanese practice of forcing POWs to work as slave labour.

Australian POWs of the Japanese, shortly after liberation. Australian POWs lay tracks on the infamous Thailand Burma Railroad.

How did the government its increase control over daily life in the Second World War?

Australian Land Army girls do their bit to assist the war effort. They are harvesting large crops of vegetables which are being canned for the troops.

Members of the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force cleaning and overhauling a plane of the RAAF.

Women worked in many non traditional occupations during the WWII due to the shortage of men available to do these jobs. Some of these jobs included –

Factory work, especially in the ammunitions industries (aircraft, artillery, guns) and textile industries

Women’s Land Army – many women joined the WLA to help Australia’s farmers keep producing food

Train, tram and truck drivers Construction and road workers

The Cold War and the ‘Red Menace’

The Cold War began at the Yalta Conference, at the end of WWII in which the ‘Big Three’ – Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin , carved up Europe into separate spheres of influence.

Communist Russia now indirectly controlled over half of Europe.

Intense fear of communism became widespread in the 1950s as people feared that the influence of the Soviets would spread and eventually take over the world.

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta in 1945

Fear of the spread of communism was compounded by the ‘Domino Theory’. The ‘Domino Theory’ maintained that communism would spread throughout the world like a set of dominos. This image from the 1960s predicts that communism in China, Korea and Vietnam would impact on all of South East Asia.

Red areas in the map denote Soviet zone of influence

Prime Minister Ben Chifley in office after the death of John Curtin (ALP) 1945-1949

John Curtin died in office in 1945 Ben Chifley

On the 15th September 1949, Robert Menzies began his term of what would be the longest serving Australian Prime Minister.

Menzies was Prime Minister until 1966.

Menzies won office by appealing to what he deemed as Australia’s ‘forgotten people’ – the middle classes and aspirational working class.

Menzies claimed the Labor Party was out of touch and tired after 8 years of office.

Even though Prime Minister Ben Chifley was personally popular, Menzies was able to use the growing fear of communism that began after 1945 successfully against Chifley and the ALP to win government for the Liberal Party.

Claims were made that the ALP, as a party of the left, was soft on Communism and could not protect Australia from its threat.

Menzies campaigned aggressively that the Liberals would solve the problem of the communist threat.

Menzies also claimed that the ALP was stuck in the past – that its plan to nationalise the banks – was old school socialist economics – and that Labor would not be able to manage a modern economy and ensure prosperity for all Australians.

The text on Chifley’s car reads – ‘Socialism 1921 Model Marx II’. There is also a notes reading ‘Left Hand Drive’ and ‘Grab the Banks’

Due to widespread anti communist feeling Menzies introduced a bill to ban the Communist Party in Australia in 1950.

It was passed by parliament on October 1950.

However the Communist Party and ten trade unions, mounted a challenge against the law in the High Court.

Those who were against the referendum stated that it was undemocratic to ban a political party, and that all individuals should have the freedom to express their political opinions.

These people believed that whilst they personally may not agree with communism they did not have the right to stop others from doing so if they wished.

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights also declares in Article 20 that –

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Those who supported the ban on the Communist Party voted yes because they were fearful of the way in which communist regimes had acted in Eastern Europe in which religion was outlawed, governments were dominated by Russia and freedom of choice in professions and consumer goods became extremely limited.