Years of Crisis: The Interwar Period 1920s-1930s

Journal #15The Russian Revolution is an

example of a violent, political revolution. However, is this the only type of revolution? What are some other kinds of “revolutions”?

The Interwar Years A time of contradictions…

◦Tensions between old and new ◦Mood of optimism and anxiety

◦How do we get from WWI to WWII?

Today’s Essential Questions How did new scientific ideas

challenge old beliefs?Why did philosophers begin to

question old thinking?What were the new styles in art,

music, and literature?

Group Presentation Questions Based on your documents, what

inferences can you make about the attitude and ideas of this time period? If the document is from the 1920s or 1930s, how might World War I have influenced its message?

How do your documents demonstrate “revolutionary” ideas or changes?

Important Terms to Know: Existentialism Surrealism Suffrage

Journal #16

List one revolutionary change in art, science, literature, or society from yesterday’s class.

How might these radical and revolutionary changes be threatening to those who want to go back to the way the world used to be? Predict what you think might happen in some European countries in the 1930s in response to these changes.

Germany in the 1920sWeimar Republic blamed Hyperinflation Dawes Plan helps

◦US sends money to Germany, decides on a more reasonable plan for reparations

Bad economy makes people want strong leaders◦Threatens democratic governments

Great Depression Begins in the United States Long term problems:

Most Americans could not afford goods Farmers in debt

1929: Stock Market CrashDepression spreads around the

world

Stock Market Terms to know: stocks, shares, on

margin, dividends, stockholders, brokers

Journal #17 What would life be like if you

lived in a country where you did not have the freedom to choose what you buy, where you work, what you eat, or what you say. What would you miss the most?

Competing ideologies of the 20th century Ideology:

◦A system of ideas and ideals, esp. one that forms the basis of economic or political policy

Ideologies are isms ◦What are –isms, anyways?

Some you may know: atheism, capitalism, humanism, optimism, racism, idealism, imperialism

Isms Definition: The name of a system

of theory or practice (religious, philosophical, political, social, etc).

Important Vocab.:◦Communism◦Totalitarianism ◦Fascism ◦Democracy

Totalitarianism Includes both Fascism (Nazi

Germany, Italy) and Communism (USSR)

Government takes control over every aspect of public and private life ◦Charismatic leader (demagogue for

the masses) ◦Police terror◦Indoctrination and propaganda

Fascism Fascis, ancient Rome: Began in Italy

◦October 1922: March on Rome, Mussolini takes power

◦Il Duce: “The Leader”

Nazism National Socialist German

Worker’s Party Leader of the Nazi Party: Hitler

(der Fuhrer) Great Depression grows party 1933: Hindenburg names Hitler

chancellor◦Reichstag fire leads to Hitler taking

more and more power Anti-semitism

As you watch each video…List:

◦Verbal messages (what are they saying?)

◦Actions (what are people doing?) ◦Symbols/images you notice

Fascism “Fascism may be defined as a form of

political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a massed-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external explansion.”  (Paxton, op. cit., p. 218)

Journal #18List one aspect of either fascism

or totalitarianism, without looking at notes!

Review! For each picture, write down

what characteristic of fascism and/or totalitarianism it represents.

Mussolini, Italy

Nazi Propaganda: “Long Live Germany!”

Hitler Youth: “Youth serves the Leader”

White Rose Resistance, all executed

Specific Characteristics of Nazism Anti-semitism VolkLebensraum Aryan Other racial attitudes

◦Poles, gypsies ◦Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals,

mentally disabled

“Aryan Family”

Anti-semitism: “The eternal Jew”

Why anti-semitism? Connected with:

◦Communism ◦Money lending/banking ◦Christian anti-Jewish history ◦“New” ideas

Sexual freedom Einstein Modern art

Timeline 1933: Sterilization Laws 1935: Nuremberg Laws

◦German Jews no longer citizens, cannot marry “Aryans”

1937: Jewish businesses taken1938: Kristallnacht, “Night of

Broken Glass”1939: Deportation to

concentration camps begins; euthanasia of “unfit”

Other Dictatorships Peron in Argentina Franco in SpainEastern European dictatorships

Journal #19Communism and fascism are

both totalitarian forms of government. What is one similarity and one difference?

Remember:◦Communism (USSR, Stalin) ◦Fascism (Mussolini’s Italy, Nazi

Germany)

Comparing Fascism and Communism

Journal # 20Give your opinion…

◦Do you think fascism could happen here in the United States?

Review