Interwar period Flashcards
Brest-Litovsk
1918 - Russian withdrawal from the war
They give up Poland, Baltic sates and Ukraine
Paris peace conference
1919 - "The big four": Italy, France, England, the US Concerns: Italy: territory France - security England - reparations US - influence —> The treaty of Versailles
Main losers of WWI
The Russian empire — USSR (1922)
Austria-Hungarian empire — many new countries (Austria, Hungary, Czec…)
Fascism
Political ideology
Paramount State Liberty of the State and its individuals Corporativism: companies are organised and controlled by the State Ultranationalism War, foreign expansion, Imperialism Racism, antisemitism (Nazism)
Russian revolution — stages
1917 - October: federal republic (Moscow)
1922 - USSR (Union of soviet socialist republics)
1924 - Lenin’s death — Stalin
Stalin’s new government
Totalitary communism
Purges
Ownership of the state
Blind and full support for the leader
Treaty of Versailles
1919 - Germany
Reparations
Demilitarisation (100.000 soldiers)
Territory loss (Alsace, Lorraine)
War-guilt clause
—> Weimar republic
Post-war Germany
1919 - Created by the ToV
Reichstag - Proportional representation (necessity of political alliances)
- Article 48: State of emergency — chancellor free law-passing
Anger at the ToV (war-guilt clause)
French invasion of the Ruhr Valley - demand of German production
Major strike
The economy comes to a stop - Hyperinflation
The demise of Weimar - The conservatives call Berlin a decadent city
Black migration influx (US), homosexuals, prostitution…
—> Dawes Plan (1924)
Dawes plan
1924 - US money loan to Germany
Economical improvement and German economy becomes tied to the US
Rebirth of Germany - trade partner
—> 1929 - The Great Depression
The Great Depression
1929 - Stock-market crash in the US
The US calls back for the loaned money to Europe (especially to Germany)
Germany - deep crisis: people burn the currency as it’s not worth buying fuel
—> Hitler’s rise to power
Fascism rises to power
Italy 1922: March on Rome
Mussolini - Prime minister: political power
Japan - Hirohito
Germany (Weimar) - Hitler
Weimar timeline
1919: Creation - ToV
1923: Munich Beer Hall Putsch (failed coup d’état)
1929: Great Depression, great crash, massive unemployment rates
1932: Hitler - chancellor — Nazi plan to seize power
1933: Enabling act (reichstag fire)
1934: Death of Hindemburg - Hitler becomes Führer
Socialist Nationalist German Workers’ Party
1919 - Creation
1921 - Hitler becomes the president of the party
Objectives:
- Abolish the ToV
- Unite Austria and Germany
- Exclude Jews from German citizenship
The party is supported by paramilitary groups
The Munich Beer Hall Putsch
1923 - October
The Nazi party tries to take over the government of Munich
They fail, and Hitler is sent to prison, where he uses his time to write a book:
- “Mein Kampf” (see —> Nazi ideals)
Awareness of the incident was raised, and the Nazi party increased in popularity
- Daily newspaper reports during the trial
In prison, Hitler creates the 25-point programme (see —> 25-point programme) so as to attract the attention of every single social group
Start of propaganda — brown shirts and the swastika, Hitler Youth Groups (endoctrination), SA: 100.000 members…
Nazi ideals
Compilated in “Mein Kampf”
- Nationalism: all people must be loyal to Germany
- Racism: Aryan-race superiority (discrimination against Jews, Slaves, Jipsies…)
- Militarism: reinforcement of the army so as to ensure the lebensraum
+ Imperialism: lebensraun - Loyalty: blind, thoughtless, unconditional obedience to the Fürher
The Nazi 25-point programme. Appeal to:
Developed by Hitler
Farmers, whose income had dropped and ideals were against the transgressions of the new time: black music, sex industry, immigration…
Small-shop owners who lost their battle against large department stores (Jewish)
The workers of the factories already favoured right-wing, and so did the riches.
Methods for the increase of Nazi support
- Propaganda
- Benefits to the citizens
- Endoctrination at school
- Control of the opposition: GESTAPO (secret police), concentration camps
Reasons for the Nazis’ rise to power
- The impact of the Great Depression (1929)
- Hitler’s orational skills
- Propaganda (film and radio records, flyers, signs, presential campaign…)
- Criticism of Weimar government and the ToV - The “stab-in-the-back” theory
- Nazi policies: easily accessible and attractive to all social groups (except Jews)
- Nazi’s policy against communism
Hitler, from chancellor to Führer. Steps to power.
- The reichstag fire (1933)
- Enabling act
- The night of the Long Knives - June 30th 1934
- Death of Hindemburg
Hitler’s rise to power
Weimar
1924 - Hyperinflation: May - 6,6% of the seats; Hitler spreads Nazi ideals
August - Dawes Plan: December 1924 - 1928: 3% - 2.8%
1929 - Great Depression — September 1930: 18.3% (increase in popularity)
1932 - peak of unemployment: July 37%; November, 33%
1933 February: reichstag fire - March: 44% (ban of communist parties)
Hindemburg appoints Hitler chancellor
- Business pressure (communism); reichstag credibility restoration (coalition)
- Trouble in the streets; it is thought that Nazis will help maintain order
—> Hitler, from chancellor to Führer
Reichstag fire
1933
A communist takes the blame for the arson of the reichstag
Hitler uses this opportunity to arrest all communist militants
On eliminating part of the competition, the Nazi party obtained majority
—> Enabling act
Enabling act
1933
Hitler’s method for taking control of Germany
- Bans all Nazi opponents and Jewish people from government jobs and education
- Bans trade unions
- Orders the start of public work
– Nazi plan to seizing power and going to war starts here
The night of the Long Knives
June 30th 1934
There were more than a million members of the SA
Hitler orders (the SS) the assassination of more than 400 SA members and of Ernst Röhm, leader of a conspiration in the SA
Death of Hindemburg
August 19th 1934
Hitler is self-proclaimed Führer
Hitler takes over the presidency and becomes the leader of the army
- Soldiers had to swear to Hitler, not the parliament.
