Interwar Flashcards
What was the European economic situation like IMMEDIATELY after the war?
Economic recovery and well-being of Europe were tied to a tangled financial system that involved war debts among the Allies
Reparations paid by Germany and Austria and the flow of U.S. funds to Europe
Governments of Austria and Germany relied on U.S. loans and investment capital to finance reparation payments to France and England
French and British government depended on those reparation payments to pay off loans taken out in the United States during the Great War
By Summer of 1928, U.S. lenders and investors started to withdraw capital from Europe, placing an intolerable strain on the financial system
Versailles Treaty, debts, and what was proposed
How did European economic situations improve in the mid 1920s?
Dawes Plan: cause and effect
USA Stock Market Crash of 1929
Why did the Great Depression become global in scope?
Economic nationalism: trade restrictions, tariffs
Why did fascism become popular? With whom did it become popular?
Losses of WWI => Rise of Fascism
Benito Mussolini / ”Il Duce”
Blackshirts
Armistice and Treaty of Versailles: Weimar officials seen as “November Criminals”
Weimar Republic / Hyperinflation
Adolf Hitler: Nazi Party
Brownshirts (like Mussolini’s Blackshirts)
Enabling Act
World War I and impact on China: Shangdong Province in Versailles Treaty
May Fourth Movement 1919
Sun Yat-Sen and main goals
Kuomindang (KMT) (aka Guomindang, aka Nationalists)
Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) and main goals
Communist Party (CPP)
Why USSR support of KMT and CPP? Why KMT and CPP combined?
Jiang’s Northern Expedition 1927
Civil War between KMT and CPP
The Long March 1934. => Rise of Mao Zedong
Suspension of civil war to fight Japanese threat
Indian National Congress
Formed in 1885.
Primarily made up of Hindus.
Pushed for home rule
Muslim League / Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Formed in 1906.
Early goal to protect the interest of Muslims in India.
Later called for separate Muslim state.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah led the Muslim League.
Mohandas Gandhi
Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas Gandhi became leaders of the Indian National Congress.
Satyagraha – passive resistance
Gandhi advocated for non-violent protest (“Satyagraha”) of the Rowlatt Act. He organized a nationwide strike and public demonstrations.
The British responded by sending in more troops and cracking down harder on protestors.
Gandhi urged rejection of Western civilization (a civilization of brute force, money worship, and prejudice)
Indians boycotted British goods, including British cloth, as Gandhi encouraged Indians to spin their own cloth.
Amritsar Massacre (1919)
Boycott of British goods and Institutions / Homespun Movement
Salt March (1930)
Government of India Act (1934-35)
Causes of nationalism and militarism (aka Japanese facism or Showa Nationalism)
The Showa government increasingly being portrayed as weak by conservatives: could not solve Japan’s domestic problems; could not stand up to West.
The conservative, militaristic Army Party gained power in the late 1920s. The party linked the Code of Bushido + European fascism to form what historians sometimes call “Showa Nationalism.”
The Army Party became strong enough to be able to ignore the emperor and more moderate voices in the Diet.
Kellogg-Briand Pact: cause and effect of Japan deciding to be signatories
Agreement outlawing aggression and war as tools of foreign policy. Sixty-two countries were signatories to the Pact, including the U.S., Britain, Japan, France, Italy, and Germany.
Problems: (1) no means of actual enforcement;
(2) defensive wars were permitted.
Criticism of Taisho and Showa governments in 1920s – foreign and domestic
Prince Yoshihito, the Taisho Emperor, suffered from chronic health problems.
This meant that power shifted more to the prime minister and Diet.
Era of lots of political activism: universal male suffrage, strong labor unions. Often referred to as the “Taisho Democracy.”
Conservatives worked to undermine the reforms and portray the Taisho govt. as weak.
Impact of global depression on Japanese economy
1927: Financial Crisis – dozens of bank failures
1929: Great Depression hits Japan hard because its industrial economy is so reliant on international trade.
People are increasingly frustrated with the government’s lack of effective response.
Mukden Incident => attack on Manchuria => Japan leaves League of Nations
The Japanese Army – against the wishes of emperor – fabricated an excuse to carry out attack on Manchuria and seize the region.
Army’s success hugely popular with the public – seen as the military taking action to help Japan’s economy, while the Showa government was ineffective and corrupt.
Government leaders who try to reign in the army were condemned by the public.
League of Nations condemned the action … so Japan left the League.
Creation of Manchukuo
Mexican Revolution of 1917: Causes and Result
Uprising against Diaz’s oppression and economic inequality.
A second attempt to bring about the reforms advocated by Juarez.
Working and middle classes united and took up arms against the government.
Popular leaders, Emilanio Zapata and Pancho Villa, eventually killed by the government.
Demands of population reflected in Constitution of 1917: Tierra y libertad!
Dollar Diplomacy => Banana Wars
Policy began during Theodore Roosevelt administration. Policy of American government making loans to Latin America countries to make them more receptive to welcoming U.S. business interests in their countries. Basically economic imperialism in Latin America.
Post WWI, as U.S. became a world power, U.S. investment in Latin America grew exponentially.
Banana Republics
Dollar Diplomacy helped create so-called “Banana Republics.” Term coined by American writer O. Henry to a describe politically unstable, export-dependent, mono-economy (like bananas) dependent on the U.S. BRs had a huge poor working class, and a small elite govt/military/biz sectors that got rich off of relationships with USA. Run by dictator friendly to USA.
Good Neighbor Policy
In light of the global depression, it was too expensive for the U.S. to keep up military action. Relied instead on treaties to protect U.S. economic interests and on U.S.-trained Latin America forces to physically protect those interests.
Ex. Nicaragua: U.S. trained Nicaragua National Guard and “supervised” Nicaraguan elections. The head of the National Guard assassinated the president and took the office himself. The U.S. recognized military coup.
The Good Neighbor Policy finally cooled, and the U.S. stopped taking or supporting military action by the late 1930s.
