Between the World Wars

Aftermath of WWI

• Russia– Bolsheviks– Soviet Union– Trotsky– Stalin

• farm communes• Killed 10 million people

– Communism

"There are, in my view, two factors that, above all others, have shaped human history in this century. One is the development of the natural sciences and technology, certainly the greatest success story of our time– to this great and mounting attention has been paid for all quarters. The other, without doubt, consists of the great ideological storms that have altered the lives of virtually all mankind: the Russian revolution and its aftermath – totalitarian tyrannies of both right and left and the explosion of nationalism, racism and, in places, of religious bigotry, which interestingly enough, not one among the most perceptive social thinkers of the nineteenth century had ever predicted."

– Isaiah Berlin (quoted in Einstein, History, and Other Passions, Gerald Holten)

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

– C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock

The Struggle for Change in Latin America

• Mexican Revolution– Porfirio Diaz – brought economic growth, but

peasants suffered. Removed from power in 1911.

– Pancho Villa & Emiliano Zapata – Leaders of Northern & Southern Mexico who fought for power after Madero was murdered.

– Venustiano Carranza – elected President in 1917.

The Struggle for Change in Latin America

• Constitution of 1917– It permitted the breakup of large estates.– Placed restrictions on foreigners owning land.– Nationalization: government takeover of natural resources.– Church land was made property of the nation.– Minimum wage set, protected workers’ right to strike.– Male suffrage only, but females received some protection.

• Same pay for same work.• Married women could draw up contracts, take part in legal

suits, and have equal authority with men in spending family funds.

• Roosevelt Corollary : A political policy of the United States by President Theodore Roosevelt that states only the United States could intervene in the affairs of South America.

• Good Neighbor Policy: Franklin Roosevelt’s plan to ensure allies to the South by removing stationed troops and the Platt Amendment.

Nationalist Movements in Africa and the Middle East

Kenya South Africa Nigeria

Leadership:

Jomo Kenyatta

Leadership:African National Congress

(ANC)W.E.B. DuBois

Pan-African Congress

Leadership:

Ibo women

Protests Against:Loss of LandForced LaborHeavy Taxes

Identification Cards

Protests Against:Loss of Political & Social

PowerJob restrictions

Identification Cards“Reserve” Living

Protests Against:Loss of land

Losing control of marketplace

Lack of Voice

Results:Kikuyu leaders jailed

Protests continued

Results:Apartheid - blacks

required to use separate trains, beaches,

restaurants, schools, and no interracial marriage.

Results: Women’s War – full revolt

Biography: Kemal Ataturk

• Nationalist leader of Turkey who is responsible for modernizing and westernizing his country after World War I. This enabled Turkey to resist imperialist attempts at takeover by various European powers.

• Westernization: To adopt western ideas and culture.

• Modernization:To change something to make it conform to modern standards

(1881-1938)

Zionism

• Definition: Jewish nationalist movement to establish a homeland in Palestine. This movement began in the late 1800s, as anti-Semitic feelings intensified in Europe. The main leader of this movement was a journalist by the name of Theodor Herzl. Herzl's dream of a homeland for Jewish peoples was realized in 1948 with the creation of Israel.

• Impact: Balfour Declaration issued by Britain in 1917 promised a national home for the Jews.

• Importance: Following WWI the Allies had promised the Arabs land including Palestine. This set the stage for conflict between the Arab and Jewish people.

Indian Self-Rule

• Tragedy at Amristar: April 3rd of 1919. British soldiers killed close to 400 unarmed Indian men, women, and children, and wounded 1,100 more. People had gathered in the center of town to protest British occupation of their country, and to demand equality. This was a turning point in British domination of India. Independence movements became very popular and eventually forced India's independence.

Biography: Mohandas Gandhi

• Nationalist leader in India, who called for a non violent revolution to gain his country’s freedom from the British Empire.

• The Salt March (1930) Passive resistance campaign where Indians protested the British tax on salt by marching to the sea to make their own salt.

• Results of WWII for India: Britain postponed independence and brought India into the war without consulting them. (1869-1948)

• Pakistan, translates as “the land of the ritually pure.” • A separate Muslim state devised by Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah who like Gandhi learned Law in England.

Non-violence

“I do not believe in short-violent-cuts to success….However much I may sympathize with and admire worthy motives, I am an uncompromising opponent of violent methods even to serve the noblest of causes….Experience convinces me that permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence.”

– Gandhi

Non-violence

“Nonviolence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute. The spirit lies dormant in the brute and he knew no law but that of physical might. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law – to the strength of the spirit…”

– Gandhi

Civil Disobedience

“Civil disobedience is the inherent right of a citizen. He dare not give it up without ceasing to be a man. Civil disobedience is never followed by anarchy. Criminal disobedience can lead to it. Every state puts down criminal disobedience by force. It perishes, if it does not. But to put down civil disobedience is to attempt to imprison conscience… Disobedience to be civil must be sincere, respectful, restrained, never defiant, must be based upon some well-understood principle, must not be capricious and, above all, must have no ill will or hatred behind it.”

– Gandhi

Gandhi's march to the salt deposit at Dharsana (May 1930)

"Suddenly at a word of command, scores of native policemen rushed upon the advancing marchers and rained blows on their heads with their steel-shod latha. Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to fend off the blows. They went down like ten pins. From where I stood I heard the sickening whack of the clubs on unprotected skulls. The waiting crowd of marchers groaned and sucked in their breath in sympathetic pain at every blow... They marched steadily, with heads up, without the encouragement of music or cheering or any possibility that they might escape serious injury or death. The police rushed out and methodically and mechanically beat down the second column. There was no fight, no struggle; the marchers simply walked forward till struck down. The police commenced to savagely kick the seated men in the abdomen and testicles and then dragged them by their arms and feet and threw them into the ditches... Hour after hour stretcher-bearers carried back a stream of inert bleeding bodies... By 11 A.M. the heat had reached 116 degrees and the assault subsided."

– United Press, as quoted in Gardner, Howard, Creating Minds, Basic Books, 1993, p.345.

Law“Nonviolence implies voluntary submission to the penalty for noncooperation with evil. I am here, therefore, to invite and submit cheerfully to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime, and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen. The only course open to you, the judge and the assessors, is either to resign your posts and thus dissociate yourselves from evil, if you feel that the law you are called upon to administer is an evil, and that in reality I am innocent, or to inflict on me the severest penalty, if you believe that the system and the law you are assisting to administer are good for the people of this country, and that my activity is, therefore, injurious to the common weal.”

– Gandhi

Integrity

“One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.”

– Gandhi

Problems in China

• Foreign Imperialism: The early 1900s showed increased influence by foreign merchants, missionaries and soldiers over Chinese ports.

• 21 Demands:– Cause: Too weak to resist Japan, Yuan gave

into Japan’s demands.– Effect: This move by Japan triggered a

nationalistic surge in China, which led to rebellion.

Problems in China

• May 4th Movement– A patriotic outburst of new urban intellectuals & university

students against foreign imperialists and warlords.

• Biographies– Jiang Jieshi: (1887-1975) After the death of Sun Yixian, he

became the leader of the Guomindang, or Nationalist Party in China. Fought to keep China from becoming communist, and to resist the Japanese during World War II. He lost control of China in 1949, and fled to Taiwan where he setup a rival government. Also known as Chang Kai Shek.

– Mao Zedong: (1893-1976) Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists. Established China as the People’s Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.

The Long March

• 6000 mile march that Mao Zedong and his Communist Party underwent to avoid being captured and killed by China’s Nationalist Party.

• Effects– Soldiers gained discipline.– Communists gained popularity with peasants.– Gained a base in Northern China to fight the

Guomindang.

Empire of the Rising Sun

• Causes– The government reduced military spending.– In the spirit of world peace, Japan agreed to limit size

of navy.– Economy grew slowly during the 1920s and the Great

Depression crippled the economy.– Ultranationalists emerged, angry at poor economy

and lack of overseas expansion.– Manchurian Incident (1931) – Japanese army officers

took over Manchuria without government approval.– As a result Japan withdrew from the League of

Nations and the public sided with the military.

Rise of Militarism in Japan• Effects

– Early 1930s ultranationalists were winning popular support

– Politicians and business leaders who opposed expansion were assassinated.

– Military leaders briefly occupied Tokyo in 1936.– Traditional values were revived.– Most Democratic freedoms ended.– Education focused on absolute obedience to the

emperor and service to the state.– While fighting against China, WWII broke out, Japan

sided with Germany and Italy.

Western Democracies Between the Wars League of Nations Locarno Treaties Kellogg-Briand Pact

When? 1919-1920 1925 1928

Where? Versailles, France

Geneva, Switzerland

Locarno, Switzerland

Paris, France

Who? Almost every independent

nation.

Germany, France, Belgium,

Czechoslovakia & Poland

Almost every independent

nation.

What? Encouraged cooperation and a

stop to aggression.

Settled Germany’s disputed borders

Treaty that renounced war as

a means of solving disputes.

Why Failed?

American refusal to join.

Ambitious dictators rearmed, pursuing aggressive foreign

policy.

Could not enforce the ban.

Recovery & Depression

• Global Imbalance– Increases

• Industrial workers wages• Price of Manufactured Goods• Supply of factory goods

– Decreases• Farmer’s earnings• Manufactured goods purchased• Demand

• The Crash– The crash of the NY Stock Exchange that triggered

the Great Depression.

The Depression & Its Effects

• Great Depression (1929-1939): – The dramatic decline in the world’s economy due to

the United State’s stock market crash of 1929, the overproduction of goods from World War I, and decline in the need for raw materials from non industrialized nations.

– Results in millions of people losing their jobs as banks and businesses closed around the world. Many people were reduced to homelessness, and had to rely on government sponsored soup kitchens to eat. World trade also declined as many countries imposed protective tariffs in an attempt to restore their economies.

European Countries Struggling Following WWI

• Great Britain– Experienced a general strike in 1926 due to unemployment and low wages.– Questions over Irish Independence.– Loss of Canada, Australia, New Zealand & South Africa to self-government.– Policy of lenience toward Germany angered France.

• France– WWI fighting devastated Northern France.– France suffered enormous casualties.– Not as affected by Great Depression due to reparations and territories received from

Germany.• The Maginot Line: A line of heavy munitions, which France constructed on its

border with Germany. It was of little use when Germany invaded in 1940.• Germany

– Faced the Treaty of Versailles, which stated that Germany had to pay reparations for causing the war, cut their army, and they also lost land, including Alsace-Lorraine to France.

– It had a huge impact on their economy as well as their morale, which is why the German people were so keen to believe Hitler and the Nazis when they said they would better Germany and make it like it was before the Treaty.

The Rise of New Governments

• Fascism is:– What Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in

Germany used to gain power and control over their countries.

– Totalitarian rule that is imperialist & anti-communist.– Limited capitalism – Censorship – Use of terror & violence – Strong military – State control of economy – Extreme nationalism

Biography: Mussolini

• (1883-1945) Italian leader. He founded the Italian Fascist Party, and sided with Hitler and Germany in World War II. In 1945 he was overthrown and assassinated by the Italian Resistance.

Fascism V. Communism

• Rule by dictator • Limited capitalism

• Ruled by the Communist Party • Command economy

Totalitarian Rule1. A Single Party Dictatorship

2. State control of the economy

3. Use of police spies and terror to enforce the will of the state

4. Strict censorship and government monopoly of the media

5. Use of schools and the media to indoctrinate and mobilize citizens

6. Unquestioning obedience to a single leader

Nazi Rise to Power

• World War I– The Treaty of Versailles was extremely unfair to Germany,

forcing them to accept all of the blame for the war. It is a major cause of World War II.

• Weak Government– Once the Weimar Republic accepted the Treaty of Versailles

their time was limited.• Economic Problems

– Hyperinflation: As a result of paying reparations for war guilt, the rate of inflation hit 3.25 × 106 percent per month (prices double every 49 hours).

• Leadership– Anxiously looking for a leader to change the fortunes of the

country, Germany turned to Adolf Hitler.

Biography: Adolf Hitler

• (1889-1945) Austrian-born leader of Germany. He co-founded the Nazi Party in Germany, and gained control of the country as chancellor in 1933. Hitler started World War II with the invasion of Poland. He was responsible for the Holocaust.

• Mein Kampf – Hitler’s book, which explains the Nazi’s political ideology and goals.

• The Third Reich - refers to Germany from the start of Adolf Hitler's government in 1933 until the beginning of denazification in 1945.

The Decline of German Culture and Religion

• Why?– As Hitler took control of Germany he silenced supposed enemies of the state by

persecuting Catholics and Jews. Gypsies, homosexuals, African-European, and mentally ill people were also murdered. Germany became a state of police spies and neighbors often turned on each other to stay on Hitler’s good side.

• Nazi Treatment of Jews– Hitler began his program by first limiting the rights of Jews through the

Nuremberg Laws. Jews were restricted to a separate part of town, called a Ghetto, could no longer run businesses, nor could they marry outside of their race.

• Concentration Camps – As World War II progressed, Hitler began forcing Jews into concentration camps,

where they were either immediately murdered, usually by poison gas, or used as slave labor until they died. Their bodies were disposed of through cremation in the concentration camp ovens. The Nazis also used Jews in horrific pseudo medical experiments.

– As a result the United Nations passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 stating that all people had certain basic rights including life, liberty, equality, justice and self determination.

Two Nights of Terror• Kristalnacht (The Night of Broken Glass)

– In 1938 on November 9th & 10th, Nazi SA Stormtroopers were encouraged to begin street violence against Jewish shops, synagogues, and institutions. In all, 200 synagogues were burned, homes were destroyed with axes and sledgehammers, people were thrown from windows into the street, kicked to death, beaten with fists and truncheons, stabbed, and shot.

• Authoritarian Rule in Eastern Europe– Dictators in Spain, Italy, Germany and

militarists in Japan threatened world peace leading to World War II.

World War IICauses

1. Versailles Treaty• Admit war guilt • Germany paid reparations• Lost territory• Scaled back their military• Weapons prohibited• League of Nations formed

2. Militarism

• Countries like Japan, Germany & Italy used Nationalism and military aggression to take over territory.

3. Nationalism & Racism

• Belief in the superiority of your country or people, which led to a desire by militarist countries to conquer weaker territory.

4. Imperialism

a. Japan – took Manchuria.

b. Italy – conquered Ethiopia.

c. Germany – took Austria, Czechoslovakia & Poland.

5. Failure of Collective Security

• Attempts to create a lasting peace failed due to the League of Nations’ weakness.

6. Appeasement

• Instead of taking action against Hitler, Western democracies gave into his demands to keep the peace.

Aggressive Steps Toward WWII• 1931 – Japan seizes Manchuria.• 1935 – Italy invaded Ethiopia and conquered them a year

later.• 1936 – Germany sends troops to the “demilitarized” zone in

the Rhineland.• 1937 – Japan overruns much of Eastern China.• 1938 – Anschluss, or union of Austria & Germany.• 1938 – Munich Conference, Germany agrees to stop their

aggression in exchange for the Sudetenland.• 1939 – Francisco Franco wins the Spanish Civil War with

support from Germany and Italy. Franco himself set-up a fascist state and the War acted as a “dress rehearsal” for WWII.

• 1939 – Germany attacked Poland, an act of aggression that started World War II.

Road to War

• Hitler’s Challenge– Hitler challenged the will of western

democracies and found them to be weak.

• Appeasement– These western democracies gave in to Hitler’s

demands to keep the peace.

• Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis– An agreement by Italy, Germany, and Japan

to fight Soviet Communism.

Road to War cont…

• German Expansion: – Reasons

• Hitler wanted to bring all German-speaking people into the Third Reich.• He needed Lebensraum or “living space” for his superior “Aryan Race.”

– Goals• Conquer or remove millions of the inferior Slavs.• Annexed Austria and conquered Czechoslovakia.

• “Peace in Our Time”– Meaning & Who said it?

• Neville Chamberlain claimed that the Munich Conference had halted Hitler.

• Winston Churchill would later say: “They had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor; they will have war.”

• Navi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact– Agreement between Hitler and Stalin to peaceful relations, such as:

• Not to fight if the other went to war.• To divide up Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe.

The Global Conflict: Axis Advances

• Invasion of Poland– One week after the Nazi-Soviet pact, France and Britain

declared war on Germany when it invaded Poland.• Attack of France

– When fight ceased in the winter of 1939 people called WWII the “Phony War.”

– As German forces poured into France with their blitzkrieg (lightning war), retreating forces were trapped creating the miracle at Dunkirk.

– France would surrender in June 1940.• The Battle of Britain

– A stunning air offensive in which Germany bombed Britain on and off from September 1940 – June 1941.

– Instead of destroying Britain the British were more determined to fight back. The British were saved when Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet Union.

U.S. Involvement

• Lend Lease Act– Agreement of the U.S. to remain neutral, but

still supply arms to countries fighting for freedom.

• Pearl Harbor– After the U.S. stopped the sale of natural

resources to Japan and talks broke down General Hideki Tojo ordered an attack on Pearl Harbor on 12/7/1941.

Occupied Lands

• German Occupation– The Nazis believed that conquered land was

an economic resource to be plundered and looted.

• Treatment of Jews– In addition to taking economic resources

Hitler wanted to kill all people he judged to be “racially inferior,” particularly Jews.

Turning Points in the War

• U.S. Entry – following Pearl Harbor.• Battle of El Alamein (1942) – Allied victory over

German general Rommel in Egypt.• Invasion of Italy (1943) – Allied victory that forced

Mussolini from power and Hitler to fight a third front.

• Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43) – Russia pushed the Nazis back and Germany lost over 300,000 troops.

• Invasion of Normandy (1944) – June 6th, D-Day when the Allied forces attacked France to push back Germany.

Toward Victory• Island-Hopping Campaign

– The goal of American forces was to recapture some Japanese-held islands while bypassing others. Captured islands served as stepping stones for movement toward Japan.

• Battle of the Bulge– A month-long battle that was Hitler’s last success, albeit in

defeat as it delayed the Allied advance.• Yalta Conference

– Sensing the end was near Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met on the Crimean peninsula. Each leader had an agenda as Roosevelt asked for Soviet support in the U.S. Pacific War against Japan; Churchill pressed for free elections and democratic governments in Eastern Europe (specifically Poland); and Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of political influence in Eastern Europe, as essential to the USSR's national security.

Difficult Decision: The Atomic Bomb

• Reasons For:– Invasion would cost a million of more casualties.– Japanese proved that they would fight to the death

rather than surrender.– Impress the Soviets with American power.

• Reasons Against– Incredibly powerful– Led to the deaths of 100,000+ civilians.

• Results– After dropping bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki,

Emperor Hirohito intervened on August 10, 1945 and surrendered.

Impact of World War II• Human Losses

– As many as 75 million people lost their lives as a result of World War II.• Economic Losses

– Total War had gutted cities, factories, harbors, bridges, railroads, farms, homes and lives.

• Holocaust – War Crimes trials– At Auschwitz alone Rudolf Hoess supervised the killing of 2 ½ million

Jews.– Over 142 Germans and Austrians were found guilty of “crimes against

humanity,” and a handful of top Nazis received death sentences.• Occupied Nations

– Allied troops occupied Germany and Japan to strengthen Democracy to ensure tolerance and peace.

• United Nations– Security organization that was created in April 1945. In addition to

peacekeeping the UN has taken on problems such as: diseases, education, struggling economies.