theory and context lecture

Theory and Context Term 2, Week 3Plus ça change...

Ideology reviewAny recent examples in the news?

Some contributory factors to the rise of the Nazi party in

Germany.•Defeat in World War I

•Versailles Treaty resentment

•Great Depression: High Employment,

•German Military Tradition

•Anti-Semitism—Jews as Scapegoats

Hitler’s Promises to the people of Germany

• Hitler promised Germans:– Stability– Jobs– To be Proud Again– To Reverse the Versailles

Treaty– To End “Weak” Democracy– To “Get Rid of” the Jews– Lebenstraum— “Living

Space for Germans

Significant developments

• President Hindenburg Names Hitler Chancellor in January 30, 1933.

• February 27 Reichstag Fire—Legislature Building Burns Down

• March 5 New Elections: Nazis 288; Nationalists 52; Center 74; Socialists 120; Communists 81; Others 23—Nazis win only 44% of vote

• March 23, 1933—Reichstag passes (with huge majority) the Enabling Act which made Hitler dictator until April 1, 1937

• July 14, 1933—Nazi Party was made only legal party

• November 12, 1933 Nazis win 92% of the vote

• Main Point:– Only at this date does Hitler

behave illegally– July 1934-SS and Army purge the

SA and they begin to secretly arm the army

– 1935 Denounces Versailles Treaty– 1936 Remilitarizes the Rhineland

Significant developments

The Nazi Revolution• June 30 “Night of the long

knives” – Nazis kill 77 people, mostly high ranking SA members—Ernst Roehm, Gregor Strasser

• August 1 Law combining President and Chancellor

• August 2 Death of President von Hindenburg

• August 19 Plebiscite approves Hitler as President with 88% voting yes

David Low, They salute with both hands now (1934)

Racism in Nazi Germany

• Belief German “Aryan” Race Master Race– Jews inferior– Slavs inferior– Gypsies inferior– A corruption of Darwin’s ideas

• 1935 Nuremberg Laws– Identify Jews (with Yellow Star)– Deprive Jews of Citizenship– Allows only so many Jews in specific jobs– Outlaw marriage and sex between Jews

and non-Jews

Kristallnacht ,9th November 1938Night of Broken Glass or Kristallnacht– In response to assassination of

German diplomat in Paris:• Nazis set synagogues on fire• Broke Jewish shop windows• Beat up Jews—91 killed;

thousands injured• Confiscated Jewish property• Jews forbidden to collect

insurance• 20,000+ Jews sent to

concentration camp

• 1931: Fall of the monarchy and establishment of (Second) Republic

• Separation of church and state

Meanwhile in Spain...

Salvador Dali, Soft Construction with Boiled Beans(Premonition of Civil War), 1936

1936

On 18 July, Spanish Civil War begins in Morocco (ends 1939) as General Francisco Franco leads a rebellion against the left-wing Popular Front government.

Spain as ‘Dry Run’• Both sides in the conflict

were supported by outside parties; most significantly the Nationalists had Fascist (Italian) and Nazi support, the Loyalists had support from Russia and the International Brigades.

• Hitler infamously used the conflict as an exercise for his Condor Legion.

Guernica, 1937

Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937

Munich Conference, September 1938

Nazi Soviet Pact, August 1939

Group Activity

• What do you know about World War Two?

ParticipantsDatesKey Battles/EventsOutcomesEtc.

Key Players

AlliesBritainFranceRussiaUnited StatesCommonwealth CountriesChinaAnd others

AxisGermanyItaly JapanAnd others

Outbreak of War in Europe

September 1st 1939Germany invades

Poland.

September 3rd Britain and France declare war on Germany.

Japan and Japanese Controlled Territory 1942

Some Key Stages and Battles of the War

Europe 1941 (as America Joins War)

Turning Points in the War

End Days

Mussolini captured and killed 28 April 1945Hitler commits suicide April 30 1945VE Day 8 May 1945VJ Day August 15 1945

Consequences of the War

Death Tolls, civilian and military combined

• Russia c. 20 million• China c. 10 Million• Germany c. 6.8 million• Poland c. 6.1 million • Japan c. 2 million• Yugoslavia c. 1.7 million• France c. 8oo,ooo • Greece c. 500,000• United States c. 500,000 • Italy c. 400,000• Britain c. 380,000

Holocaust c. 6 million

Discuss the contribution of the second world war to, or influence on your area of study

Tony Vaccaro, White Death — Requiem for a dead soldier. Bihain, Belgium. January 12, 1945.

Robert Capa, Death of a Loyalist Soldier, 1936

John Heartfield, Don’t be Frightened he's a Vegetarian, 1936 (l), The Seeds of Death, 1937 (r)

John Heartfield, Heil Hitler, 1934 (l) The Thousand Year Reich , 1934 (r)

Yevgeny Khaldei, Raising the Soviet Flag over the Reichstag, 30 April 1945

Joe Rosenthal, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945