Politics in the Interwar Years Flashcards
What was the Weimar Repulic?
The German Weimer Republic was the government imposed on Germany after its defeat in WWI, when the Entente Powers forced Kaiser Wilhelm II to abdicate the throne. The Weimer Republic, its government, made Adolf Hitler its ruler. Hitler did not assume power through a revolution nor through a coup d’ etat but rather by an election. The Weimer Republic’s defeat did not come with the election of Hitler in 1933 but rather when it was created in 1919. The Weimer Republic was doomed to fail. The Republic was first led by a moderate Socialist, Friedrich Ebert, who also served as its first president. Ebert relied on old Imperial army officers to put in hold the Republic. Yet the army officers weren’t able to completely put down the revolt, so Ebert authorized the creation of “Free Corps” which were voluntary extreme right-wing paramilitary organizations. By 1920 the threat to the Republic did not come from the left of the political spectrum, but rather from the far right of it. In post-war Germany, Germany suffered from a terrible case of Inflation, this inflation shattered the German bourgeoisie. With the rise of Gustav Stresemann from the conservative German People’s Party, a new agreement on reparations was reached. In 1925, Germany signed the Lucarno agreement with France, by which Germany agreed to the current borders with France. In 1926 Stresemann was successful in making Germany a member of the League of Nations. Germany was on the road to recovery. Yet opposition from one, Adolf Hitler, who while in prison wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), would doom post-war Germany, and post-war Europe in general.
What was the Great Britain like ?
The British government had a great deal of difficulty in adjusting to post-war politics. David Lloyd George, the talentedd Liberal prime minister, was permitted to retain his office by the Conservative majority. At first he continued to run the government as he had during the war, using only his closest advisors to discuss and execute policy decisions. He often worked behind closed doors. Though he had returned from the Paris Peace Conference to general approval, things gradually began to look less rosy. Demobilization caused much difficulty in England. Overseen by the Ministry of Reconstruction, the British government called back from Europe those men deemed most necessary at home; these men were often those who had been most recently sent over the channel. Long-term military personnel grew angry, and, after a number of demonstrations, the policy of ‘first in, first out’ was set to appease the military.
What was the Great Depression?
The war had been incredibly devastating to the worldwide economy. In Great Britain, economic stagnation was the norm. The contraction of available credit brought on by the collapse of the American stock market caused the veneer of prosperity to rapidly fade. In May 1931, Vienna’s most powerful bank, Credit-Anstalt collapsed. Banks throughout Germany and Eastern Europe started to fall as well. Then the situation worsened when the British government took the nation off the gold standard. This led to a contraction of money, this fact made worst because people thought that the way to deal with a depression is to further tighten the supply of money, thus governments cut back on expenses. The economist John Maynard Keynes was one of the most vocal opponents of that popular belief. He said that it was necessary to “prime the pump” meaning an increase in government expenditures. Depression worsened when governments began to raise tariffs. By 1932 the economies of Europe were only performing at half the level as they were in 1929. The depression hit hardest the U.S. and Germany, where almost 1 out of every 3 workers became unemployed. In the U.S. new leadership took place when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President because of his “New Deal.” In Germany the result of the depression was the rise of Fascism.
What was the Spanish Civil War ?
On April 14, 1931 the Spanish monarchy was declared overthrown and a provisional government took power. In the ensuing years, the government became increasingly divided between the socialists of the extreme left and the monarchists of the extreme right. In the elections of February 1936 the left won a clear majority. The right reacted with fervor. Generals Goded, Mola, and Francisco Franco disagreed with the leftist efforts at army reform, and viewed with distaste the violence and anarchy which reigned in the streets of Spain. They decided to overthrow the government.
