Political Experiments of the 1920s

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

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

• Europe’s 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.

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

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)

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

New Economic Policy

• Lenin’s 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)

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.

• Stalin• A right-wing faction

• Nikolai Bukharin as its representative and Stalin manipulating the group that called for continuation of Lenin’s 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Italy’s entry into WWI• Extreme Nationalist

Postwar Italian Political Turmoil

• During the war- the Italian parliament was useless• Italy mistreated as a great power after the War.

– Gabriele D’Annumzio, 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

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.

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.

• Mussolini’s becoming Prime Minister.

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 Italy’s 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

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.

Joyless Victors

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

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.

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,

Great Britain

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

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• Macdonald’s plan for reform

• Social reform• Established the Labour party as a viable party

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.

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.

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

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?

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

Poland: Democracy to Military Rule

• Poland was restored in 1919,– nationalism couldn’t 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

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

• 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

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 Kun’s 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

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

• 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 Hitler’s

annexation in 1938

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

• 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

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

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

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

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

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

Hitler’s Early career

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

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

Stressmann Years

• Gustav Stressmann- Chancellor (Aug 1923-Nov 1929)– Reconstructed the republic– Introduced new currency– Supported the crushing of Hitler’s 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

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.