EUROPEAN POLITICAL

DEVELOPMENTS 1918-1935

GREAT BRITAIN

• 1. Edward VII (1901-1910)

• 2. George V (1910-1936)

• 3. Edward VIII (1936) - abdicated

• 4. George VI (1936-1952)

• 5. Elizabeth II (1952 – )

GREAT BRITAIN

• A. ELECTIONS 1918: First Parliamentary elections since 1910. Called the Coupon or Khaki elections. Major issue was the nature of the peace settlement.

• 1. Representation of the Peoples

Act: granted women over age 30 the right to vote.

• 2. Victory: David Lloyd George and his Conservative Coalition won a landslide victory

GREAT BRITAIN• B. POSTWAR ECONOMY: Initial

boom brought to a halt by government retrenchment, tax increases, and overproduction. A severe recession occurred by the end of 1921.

• 1. Unemployment averaged 12% annually until the Depression.

• 2. Unemployment Insurance Acts (1920,1921) and subsidized Housing to alleviate the distress of workers.

GREAT BRITAIN• C. THE IRISH QUESTION• 1. Easter Rebellion (1916):

Sinn Fein gained prominence in Ireland as a result.

• 2. 1918 Elections: 75% of the members elected to the British Parliament from Ireland declared Irish independence in Dublin.

Éamon de Valera

GREAT BRITAIN

• 3. Civil War: Between the Irish Republican Army and the Black and Tan (England's special Irish occupation forces)

• 4. Home Rule: Lloyd George's government provided for a division of Ireland with two legislatures. Only the northern six (out of 32) counties accepted this arrangement. October, 1921 London created the Irish Free State, from which Ulster withdrew, as a part of the British commonwealth.

GREAT BRITAIN• D. GOVERNMENT SHAKE-UP

1922-1924: All of these problems caused disaffection among Lloyd George's supporters and a new Conservative government was formed under Andrew Bonar-Law, who was forced to resign in 1923 due to poor health. He was replaced by Stanley Baldwin, who resigned in 1923 and was followed by Labour Party leader Ramsay MacDonald. His government fell after only nine months, primarily because he tried to establish formal ties with Russia.

GREAT BRITAIN

• E. THE RETURN OF STANLEY BALDWIN: Baldwin, Conservative Party,

• returned to the prime minister-ship in 1924. The economy revived in 1925 as prices and wages increased.

• 1. Widows. Orphans. and Old Age Pensions Act (1925)

• 2. General Strike: May, 1926 in support of miners. Baldwin refused to concede to the miners' demands, and broke the strike

GREAT BRITAIN

• 3. Trade Unions Act: Sponsored by Baldwin in 1927. It outlawed such labor action as occurred during the General Strike.

• 4. USSR: Baldwin broke formal ties with the USSR in 1927 as a result of Soviet espionage activities.

• 5. 1928: Legislation passed giving women the same voting rights as men.

GREAT BRITAIN

• F. ELECTIONS OF 1929: The Labour Party gained a majority and Ramsay MacDonald returned as prime minister.

• 1. Depression: Unemployment reached 25% by 1932.

• 2. August 24. 1931: Confidence in the government fell and so did the Labour Party.

GREAT BRITAIN• G. "NATIONAL GOVERNMENT"

1931-1935 • 1. August 25, 1931: King George V

convinced MacDonald to return to office as head of a National Coalition Cabinet. The Labour Party refused to accept this and ejected MacDonald from the party. MacDonald's coalition swept the 1931 elections.

• 2. Economic Policies: Gold standard abandoned. High tariffs imposed. Focus on the domestic market (autos and electric appliances). Low interest rates led to housing boom. As a result the economy began to recover after 1932.

GREAT BRITAIN

• 3. Commonwealth: In 1931 the government implemented the Statute of Westminster which created the British Commonwealth of Nations, granted its members political equality, and freedom to reject any act passed by Parliament that related to a Dominion state.

• 4. Election of 1935: MacDonald resigned in June, 1935 due to ill health. Stanley Baldwin succeeded him when the Conservatives won a majority.

FRANCE

• 1. Third Republic (1870-1945)

• 2. Fourth Republic (1945-1958)

• 3. Fifth Republic (1958- )

FRANCE

• A. THE BLOC NATIONAL, 1919-1924: The moderate conservatives won a two-thirds majority in the Chamber of Deputies in the 1919 elections. The coalition government under Premier Alexandre Millerand was called the Bloc National. Aristide Briand replaced Millerand in 1921 but his failure to act firmly in the matter of German reparations caused his removal. He was replaced by Raymond Poincare

FRANCE• 1. Economic policies:

Large sums were spent on rebuilding after WWI, as France counted on German reparations to fund the construction. A financial crisis resulted when the reparations were not paid. Public debt continued to increase and the value of the franc steadily declined.

FRANCE

• 2. Occupation of the Ruhr: In December, 1922 Poincare declared Germany in default and in January occupied the Ruhr along with Belgium. The Germans in the Ruhr followed a policy of passive resistance so the Ruhr mines and factories were unproductive and France and Belgium gained little financial advantage while the cost of occupying the Ruhr necessitated raising taxes 20%.

FRANCE

• D. THE CARTEL DES GAUCHES: 1924-1926 financial troubles caused the fall of the Bloc National at the 1924 elections. Majority control of the Chamber of Deputies rested in a Radical/socialist coalition. The Cartel des Gauches chose Radical leader Edouard Herriot as Premier; Millerand continued as president; Aristide Briand became Foreign Minister. Continuing financial problems spelled the removal of Herriot in 1925. He was replaced by Paul Painleve.

FRANCE

• E. THE UNION NATIONALE, 1926-1928: The franc continued to decline, In 1926 a new government was formed and Poincare was given special authority over economic policy. In the next two years he raised taxes and achieved more investments in government bonds. The franc rose by 1928 and Poincare was considered a financial ''miracle worker''

• F. ANDRE TARDIEU, 1929-1932: Poincare resigned on July 27, 1929 due to ill health. Andre Tardieu dominated French politics for the next three years in Moderate cabinets.

FRANCE

• 1. Tardieu tried unsuccessfully to initiate political reforms by creating a stable two party system.

• 2. National Workingmen's Insurance Law (1930): Provided various forms of financial aid for illness, retirement, and death.

• 3. Depression: Did not hit France until 1931; worst effects lasted for four years.

FRANCE• G. RETURN OF THE CARTEL DES GAUCHES. 1932-

1934: The moderates were defeated in the elections of May 1, 1932, victims of the economic downturn. The new Leftist government was stalemated as the Radicals and Socialists offered different solutions. The Socialists wanted nationalization of major factories, expanded social reforms and public works programs for the unemployed. The radicals wanted a reduction in government spending. The instability resulted in six Cabinets between June, 1932 and February, 1934. A number of radical groups emerged during this time.

FRANCE• H. Elections 1936:

Communists: Socialists, and Radicals formed an alliance called the Popular Front (in reaction to the growth of fascism) and they were the clear victors in the May elections.

• 1. Leon Blum: Leader of the Socialist Party: which became the strongest party in Fance

FRANCE• 2. Inspired by FDR'S New

Deal, the Popular Front under Blum encouraged the union movement and began a program of social reform. Inflation marred the success of these programs.

• 3. Blum was forced to resign in June, 1937 and the Popular Front collapsed.

GERMANY• A. WEIMAR REPUBLIC

1918-1929: November 9, 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm I resigns and the German Republic is established.

• 1. Provisional Government: Chancellor Fredrich Ebert presided over the new government until elections could be held for a nationally elected legislature which would draw up a constitution.

GERMANY

• 2. February 11, 1919: The National Constituent Assembly met for the first time in Weimar. Ebert was selected President Philipp Scheidemann formed the first Cabinet and became its first chancellor.

GERMANY

• 3. Problems• a. Credibility: Undermined by

acceptance of ''the dictated peace", by the violent but unsuccessful Communist Spartikist Rebellion' (Jan. 5-11, 1919), by the brief Communist takeover of Bavaria in April, 1919, and by the rightist Kapp Putsch (March 13-17, 1920) in Berlin.

• b. Economy: War debts, reparation payments, spiraling inflation (8.4 marks per dollar 1919; 7000 marks per dollar by Dec., 1922)

GERMANY

• c. Ruhr Occupation: A policy of passive resistance was advised and the government printed worthless marks which dropped from 40,000/dollar in Jan., 1923 to 4.2 trillion to the dollar by the end of 1923. The occupation ended in September and did prompt sympathy for Germany's economic difficulties.

• d. Political Difficulties: Instability resulted in a ''revolving door'' for chancellors and over 350 political murders.

GERMANY

• 4. Gustav Stresemann: Dominant figure in German politics 1923 to his death in 1929; most of that time he served as Foreign Minister. He tried to restore financial stability and issued a new mark, the Rentenmark which was equal to 1 billion old marks and was backed by the mortgage value of Germany's farm and industrial land.

GERMANY

• 5. Paul von Hindenburg: This WWI war hero was elected to the presidency in 1925. He vowed to uphold the constitution, which disappointed conservatives.

GERMANY• B. THE

DEPRESSION IN GERMANY: Exacerbated an already dismal economic situation. By January 1932 unemployment was 43%.

GERMANY

• C. THE RISE OF HITLER

ITALY

• A. POLITICS: Beset by problems, the Italian people looked for a change and in the elections of 1919 the Socialists made considerable gains. Giovanni Giolitti: Premier (6/1920 - 6/1921); he concentrated on international conflicts and neglected domestic concerns. The socialists promoted a series of strikes whose violence divided the country.

ITALY

• B. RISE OF MUSSOLINI

SPAIN

• 1. Alfonso XIII (1886-1931)

• 2. Spanish Republic (1931-1936)

SPAIN• 3. Civil War

(1936-1939)

• 4. Dictatorship - Francisco Franco (1939-1975)

SPAIN

• 5. Restoration of the Monarchy - Juan Carlos I (1975-

SCANDINAVIA

• A. GROWTH OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY: passed social reform legislation in the 1920's.

• B. Development of A Unique Type of Socialism: Grew out of a strong tradition of cooperative community action.

SCANDINAVIA

• C. THE DEPRESSION: Sweden pioneered in the use of large-scale deficits to finance public works. Norway and Denmark followed suit.

• 1. Increases in social welfare benefits (old age pensions unemployment insurance, subsidized housing, and maternity allowances.)

• 2. Growth of the bureaucracy; large increase in taxes.

USSR• INTRODUCTION; Soyuz Sovetskikh

Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik (C.C.C.P.); capital city of Moscow ; National Motto: Proletarii Vsekh Stran, Soyedinyaites! - Workers of all countries unite!

USSR

• A. DIVISIONS• 1. Fifteen Republics: Russia, Latvia, Estonia,

Lithuanian, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenian, Moldovia, Azerbaijan, Tadzhikzstan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan

• 2. Russia - west of the Ural Mountains; actually one of the 15 republics; largest of the 15 republics

• 3. Siberia - east of the Ural Mountains

USSR• B. THE LAND• 1. USSR was the

largest country in the world. (more than 8,500,000 sq.mi.) It had the longest coastline in the world; northern waters frozen much of the year; most rivers flow north so unusable for shipping; Ob is the longest

USSR

• 2. USSR covered 12 time zones.• 3. More than 1/2 of the USSR was a plain. The

tundra is the farthest north near Arctic Circle; permafrost; farming impossible; sparse population makes living from fishing, hunting, herding reindeer. The taiga (thick forested) is south of the tundra; timber. The steppes are south of the taiga and are grasslands with good soil for farming

USSR

• LENIN ( 1870-1924 ) REGIME• A. BEGINNINGS• 1. OCTOBER REVOLUTION;

November 7, 1917 (October 24 in the Russian calendar) Bolsheviks take St. Petersburg under the slogan of Peace, Bread. and Land. The members of the provisional government were arrested. The new government was organized under Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin and his side-kick Leon Trotsky who led the army.

USSR• 2. RUSSIA WITHDRAWS FROM WWI: Russia

signed a truce with Germany. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in March, 1918. The government ordered all farmland to be divided among the peasants. Elections were held for a national assembly. When the Social Revolutionary Party won a majority the Bolsheviks closed the Assembly 3. In 1918 the capital was moved to Moscow. The Cheka(secret police) was organized. The Red Army was organized

USSR

• B. TROUBLE• 1. The Chelyabinsk Incident (May 14, 1918):

Czech POW's being shipped through Vladivostok to the Western Front brawled with Hungarian POW's at Chelyabinsk in the Urals, resulting in a Czech rebellion against Soviet authorities and the seizure of the Urals area and eastern Siberia by late summer. This incident complicated the already-existing civil war in Russia.

USSR

• 2. Civil War (1918-1920): Communists (Reds) vs Anti-communists (Whites). The White Resistance formed out of the opposition to Lenin's seizure of Petrograd. Admiral Alexander Kolchak was eventually recognized as the overall leader of the resistance. The Whites were backed by western nations including the U.S. These landed forces in Russia at major shipping points to protect supplies sent to the provisional government.

USSR

•After initial victories, the White Resistance began to collapse. On January 4,1920, Kolchak abdicated in favor of Anton Denikin who was turned over by his Czech protectors to the Soviets and executed on February 7. Ultimately, there was a Communist victory.

USSR• 3. Polish-Soviet War (l920):

Attempting to take advantage of the USSR during the Civil War, Pilsudski tried to retake territory lost to Russia during the Polish Partitions of the late 18th. century. Invading the Ukraine on April 25, the Poles took Kiev two weeks later. A Soviet counteroffensive was stopped by the Poles outside of Warsaw. An armistice was signed October 12, 1920 and the Treaty of Riga was signed March 12, 1921. Poland's border was placed east of the Curzon Line.

USSR• 4. The Kronstadt Revolt

(March 1, 1921): Uprising of sailors at the Kronstadt naval station. They demanded free elections, freedom of speech, and the abolition of the Cheka. The revolt was crushed by Trotsky under Lenin's order by March 18.

USSR• C. POLICIES• 1. New Economic policy was

announced by Lenin in 1921. It provided for limited capitalism (peasants were permitted to sell their surpluses in free markets while paying a fixed acreage tax) and encouraged foreign investment. By 1928 the USSR had recovered so that farm and industrial production equaled that prior to World War I.

USSR

• 2. Political Organization: Lenin created self-governing republics bound together as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. The Bolsheviks began to call themselves the Communist Party. This name derived from the term ''communism'' used by Karl Marx to describe an economic system based on centralized planning by the state.

USSR

• 3. Comintern (Third International, Communist International): Founded 1919 to coordinate the revolutionary activities of communist parties abroad.

USSR• D. DEATH OF LENIN: On May 25,

1922, Lenin suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. He also suffered from complications of an assassination attempt dating to 1918. After a series of strokes, Lenin died on Jan. 21, 1924, at the age of 53, the most revered personage--apart from Marx himself--in the world of communism. The former capital city of Saint Petersburg (then Petrograd) was renamed Leningrad in his honor. Lenin's mausoleum in Red Square, with his body embalmed and on display in a glass coffin, became the most renowned shrine in the Communist world

USSR

• POWER STRUGGLE: Occurred in the year before Lenin's death.

• A. LEON TROTSKY (1879-1940, Lev Davidovich Bronstein) was the founder of the Red army . He was capable and popular but some began to fear he would become a dictator. He was committed to world revolution. ''Permanent Revolution''

USSR

• B. JOSEPH STALIN (1879-1953, Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili): Secretary of the Communist Party. Stalin means “man of steel” . He promoted ''Socialism in One Country'' that aimed to build up Russia's socialist base regardless of the status of world revolution. Lenin came to fear Stalin but it was too late. When Lenin died Stalin succeeded him and Trotsky was exiled in 1929 (murdered in Mexico 1940)

USSR• STALIN REGIME: Establishment of

totalitarianism.• A. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

promoted by Stalin beginning in 1928 with the Five Year Plan. It established a command economy as Communist officials were put in charge of factories, mines and railroads. It set specific production goals, established sources for raw materials, and decreed markets. Consumer goods were sacrificed for investment in mines, heavy industry, railroads, and energy resources.

USSR

• Every aspect of the worker's life was controlled by the government. Between 1930 and 1932 trade unions lost most of their power. Foreign engineers were brought in to plan and construct factories. A second Five Year Plan was launched in 1933. It was spectacularly successful as the USSR became a major industrial power. Urbanization accompanied industrialization.

USSR• B. AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

abolished privately owned farms and replaced them with collectives which would be equipped with modern machinery. The peasants resisted. 5 to 10 million died. Many more were shipped to Siberia. Many farmers destroyed crops and livestock to protest. The government confiscated what remained, taking land from about 10 million peasants. Famine came to rural areas in 1932-33. By 1938, 93% of peasants live on collective farms.

USSR• C. PURGES: Stalin got rid of his

enemies, both individually and en masse. His wife committed suicide (?) after an evening in which she had complained about the misery of the people. In late 1934 his #2 man Sergei Kirov was ''mysteriously'' murdered. Stalin used this incident to launch a reign of terror. Millions were arrested, exiled, or executed. In August, 1936, sixteen old Bolsheviks admitted to plots against Stalin in public trials. The purge spread downward through the ranks. Religion was repressed (churches became ''museums of atheism"). People were forbidden to travel outside the country.

Sergei Kirov

USSR• D. LIFE IN THE STALIN

REGIME: People ate black bread and wore shabby clothing. Constant shortages but heavily taxed vodka was available. Severe housing shortage resulted in overcrowding.

• Socialist faithful idealistically saw themselves as builders of a socialist state. Social : old age pensions, free medical services, free education day-care centers; unemployment did not exist; possibility of personal advancement through specialized skills and technical education.