WWII Flashcards
1 Weimar Republic (changes)
(from) Pre-WWI - Imperial Military Autocracy
Changes
(to) Post WWI - Parliamentary Democracy
Why - what caused the change?
Electors: Pre-WWI - Men over 25 vs Post WWI - Men and Women over 20
Government made up of: Pre-WWI - Hereditary Monarch with total control over Chancellors, Elected government and the Army.
2Weimar Republic (changes)
Government made up of: Post WWI - Electors choose President (Executive Branch)- who controls the military and they also choose the Reichstag (legislative branch) who selects the Chancellors. Both Branches can call for new elections (Peaceful overthrow the government)
1 Weimar Republic - Background
Government was elected by proportion - meaning each party earned an equal share of representatives in their Parliament as the popular vote.
Communist got 6% of the vote - they would elect 6% of the Parliament members. Social Democrats had 32% - they would elect 32% of Parliament.
Weimar Republic
Causes of Weimar Republic Failure Economic Problems Political Polarization Disdain for Democracy International Isolation
the Mandate System
Great Britain and France agreed to create the Mandate System - divide large portions of the Ottoman Empire the “mandate system” gave Great Britain and France control over the lands.
Causes of worldwide depression
German reparations
Expansion of production tariffs
expansion of credit
Stock Market Crash of 1929
Impact of worldwide depression
High unemployment
Bank failures and
Collapse of prices
Nazi Party’s growing importance in Germany; Nazi Party’s blame of European Jews for economic collapse
USSR during the Interwar Period — Stalin
Stalin’s goal was to rapidly industrialize the USSR. He went back to the command economy and began the 5-Year Plan (2 prongs)
Agriculture: the peasants farming collectively to provide food.
Industry: turn the Soviet Union into an industrial power with the majority of people working in factories.
5 Year plan
Agriculture: Peasant farmers forced to pool together into collective farms of about 75 households.
Unrealistic quotas were collected and redistributed to the cities. Quotas and drought led to the starvation deaths of 6 million peasants in 1932-33.
The collective farms never achieved success and the USSR continued to have difficulty with food production.
2 Under the 5 year plan
Industry: By 1939, 20 million country people had left the country for the cities to work in industry.
Factories also worked on quota systems
Industry was focused on both commercial production and weapons production.
Industrial 5 year plans achieved success – 1st decade under Stalin produced faster growth than any western country ever showed which accomplished what Stalin had set out to accomplish.
Stalin’s Reign of Terror
Stalin’s “Reign of Terror” led to the “Great Purge” to eliminate any political opposition.
Like Lenin’s Red Terror, Stalin’s secret police (KGB) were used to prevent any rebellion and sent any suspects to the gulags.
KGB encouraged citizens to turn on each other. This strategy continued under future Soviet leaders leading to a culture of suspicion within Russian society.
Gulags
Some “enemies” were sent to gulags – labor camps in Siberia where mines and factories could use inmates for free labor.
By 1938, there were 2 million gulag inmates.
Average life expectancy 2 years.
90% of inmates died (worked to death)
Estimated that 20 million Soviets died during Stalin’s Reign of Terror.
The term Stalinism is still used to describe brutal totalitarian rule.
Italy and Mussolini
Italy surrendered to allied forces on September 8, 1943
Mussolini escaped prison started started a separatist state until he was captured, shot, his dead body kicked and later stoned, then buried in unmarked grave.
He was later dug up by supporters and his party tried to revive it’s fascist ideas.
Body moved around Italy until it was finally apprehended.
Germany during the Interwar Period — Adolf Hitler
Democratic government weakened - a fire in the Reichstag was blamed on the Communist. Nazi party uses it to gain more power.
Anti-Semitism - German dislike of Jewish population grows during the Weimar Republic
Extreme nationalism - Treaty of Versailles unifies the German people
National Socialism (Nazism) - Gives nationalist a voice in Government
7 Spain during the Interwar Period — Francisco Franco
Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic
dictator, assuming the title Caudillo
Fought civil war against 2 groups of Communists - Trotskyists and Stalinists. Soviets sent troops to assist with rebels
His dictatorship’s use of forced labor, concentration camps, and executions led to between 30,000 and 50,000 deaths. Combined with wartime killings, this brings the death toll of the White Terror to between 100,000 and 200,000.
