Post-Settlement Political and
Economic Factors
• Experimental regimes abounded
w The Soviets created an authoritarian state.
w In German and Austro-Hungarian territory
parliamentary democracies sprung up.
Demands for Revision of the
Paris Settlement
• Objections from Nationalist sentiments.
• The victors felt that the terms of the
settlement were not adequately enforced.
Postwar Economic Woes
• The war had damaged the economies of Europe’s
old states.
w The loss of so many people was also a loss of producers and
consumers.
w Every country had war debts, and no way to repay it.
w Losers also had to pay reparations.
w Industrial infrastructure had been destroyed
• The new states had nothing to begin with.
w New borders separated factories from the resources they
used.
w Railway systems were now split between multiple nations.
• The US ceased to be dependent on European
production
New Relationship between
Government and Labor
• Unionism had gained new prominence
during the war.
w Wages were up from pre-war levels.
w Collective bargaining and union recognition
were now permanent features of the labor
market.
The Beginning of the Soviet
Project
• The Bolsheviks had consolidated power.
w Party membership did not exceeded 1% of the
population
w Some opposition still remained.
w They viewed their revolution as internationally
significant
War Communism
• Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) organized the Red
Army to suppress both internal and foreign
opposition.
w White Russian opposition could not get properly organized.
• The nation was run by Lenin from the top,
undemocratically.
w The government ran the banks, the transport system and
heavy industry.
w All opposition was repressed.
• War Communism generated opposition.
w Peasants resisted the requisition of grain
w Strikes in 1920 and 1921
w Baltic fleet mutiny in March 1921.
The New Economic Plan (NEP)
• Outlined by Lenin in March 1921
w Private industry would be tolerated except for
in:
•
•
•
•
Banking
Heavy Industry
Transportation
International Commerce
w Peasant farming for profit was legalized.
w The countryside stabilized.
The Stalin/Trotsky Rivalry
• After Lenin’s stroke in 1922 and his subsequent
death in 1924, a power vacuum was left.
• Two factions emerged
w Trotsky Faction
w Joseph Stalin (1879-1953), general secretary of the
party, Faction.
• Lenin had criticized both before his death, but
especially Stalin.
Trotsky’s Position
• Urged rapid industrialization financed by
expropriation of farm production.
• Collectivization of agriculture
• The Soviet Union should encourage
worldwide Socialist revolution
Stalin’s Rise
• His position of general secretary allowed him to
amass bureaucratic and administrative power.
• Manipulated intraparty rivalries
w Backed Nikolai Bukharin (1888-1938) in his battle with
Trotsky over rapid industrialization
w Also opposed Trotsky’s position on worldwide
revolution
• He was thus able to eventually have Trotsky
humiliated and exiled by 1929.
The Third International
• Also called the Comintern, the Third International
of the European Socialist Movement was designed
by Lenin to promote the Bolshevik style of
Socialism in Europe.
w 1920-21 conditions were imposed on any socialist party
that wanted to join.
w Every major European party was split on whether to
accept these policies.
w These splits helped lead to the rise of facism.
Facism in Italy
• Facist Governments were anti-Democratic,
Anti-Marxist, anti-Parlimentary and
frequently anti-Semitic.
w Rejected Liberalism.
w Dictatorial
• Founded in Italy Benito Mussolini (18831945)
The Rise of Mussolini
• Italian Fasci Di Combattimento, “Bands of
Combat,” founded in 1919 in Milan.
w Mostly Italian war veterans who rejected Versailles.
• Lead by Mussolini
w A former socialist
w Broke with socialists in 1914, in order to support
joining the war on the side of the Allies.
w Nationalism replaced socialism in his personal
pantheon.
• Took advantage of postwar chaos.
Early Fascist Organization
• Mussolini initially supported factory occupation and land
seizures.
• He later came to realize that Italians were more interested
in order than abstract ideas of justice.
w Formed local squads of terrorists to go after socialists and other
perceived malcontents
w Law enforcement ignored them.
• In 1921 Mussolini and 34 Fascists were elected to the
government.
• The Black Shirt March
w In October 1922, the Fascists marched on Rome.
w The Cabinet resigned in protest.
• On November 23, 1922 the king and Parliament granted
Mussolini dictatorial power for one year.
The Fascists in Power
• Once in power, Mussolini moved cautiously
w Changed election laws in 1924, so that the party which
received the largest popular vote would have two thirds
of the seats in parliament.
w In the 1924 election, the Fascists won complete control
of Parliament
w By 1926 Mussolini was able to rule by decree
• Violence and terror continued
w Late 1924 Giacomo Matteotti, a socialist leader, was
murdered
• The Lateran Accord of 1929 made peace with the
Vatecan
France in the Postwar Years
• The French parliament was extremely conservative,
opposing social reforms
• They initially accepted a role as the leading European
power
w Wanted to keep Germany weak by enforcing the treaty.
w Made treaties with Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and
Poland intended to contain German, but the alliance was weak.
• Attempts to enforce reparations
w In 1923 France occupied the Ruhr, as punishment for Germany’s
defaulting on reparations.
w The Germans paid, but Britain was alienated.
• Prosperity continued longer than anywhere else in Europe,
until 1931.
Great Britain After the War
•
Economic Confusion
w The new government in 1919 was a Liberal-Conservative coalition.
w The economy was depressed throughout the 1920s.
w After 1922 government welfare was the normal means of income for thousands of
British families
•
First Labour Government
w In 1923 Labour took over. Though Socialistic in outlook, they were nonrevolutionary.
w This was the beginning of the end for the Liberal party.
•
The General Strike of 1926
w In 1924 Labour fell, and the Conservatives took power again.
w In order to make their industry internationally competitive, British management
attempted to cut wages.
w In 1926 coal miners went on strike, followed by sympathetic workers in other
industries.
w In the end, they capitulated, but there was continued unrest.
•
The Empire Crumbled
w In the 1920s India gained independence.
w In 1921, most of Ireland gained independence.
Eastern Europe
• The fall of the Eastern Empire created a
number of new states
w The question became, could those who had
previously been powerless rule competently?
• Economic and Ethnic Pressures
w All of the new states except Czechoslovakia
depended on foreign loans
w All of the new states except Czechoslovakia
fell under authoritarian ethnic rule.
Poland
• Restored after 130 years of being ruled by
its neighbors, nationalism was not sufficient
to overcome regional differences.
• In 1926 Marshal Josef Pilsudski (18671935) carried out a coup.
Czechoslovakia
• Czechoslovakia was fortunate enough to
have a gifted leader in Thomas Masaryk.
w The country worked well until the 30s, when
German nationalists looked to Hitler, and he
Annexed the Sudetenland while the world
watched.
Hungary
• After the war there was a short lived
Communist Republic
• Following the fall of the Communists, an
aristocratic government ruled
Austria
• Throughout the 20s there was dissention in
Parliament between the Social Democrats
and the Christian Socialists
• By the 30s the Christian Socialists had
control, until the Nazis annexed Austria in
1938.
Weimar Germany
• The Constitution, while refreshingly Liberal, was also
fundamentally flawed, as it allowed small parties to gain
seats easily.
w The president was permitted to rule by decree in an emergency,
permitting presidential dictatorship
• The republic also lacked broad popular support.
w It was viewed as the government that had saddled Germany with
the humiliation of the Versailles treaty.
w In the early 20s there were a number of violent uprisings, but they
failed
w There was massive inflation, due to the reparations imposed by the
allies.
w The invasion of the Ruhr caused the German people to resent the
Weimar government even more.
Weimar Germany(cont.)
•
Hitler and the Early Years of Nazism
w Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) made his first major appearance on the political scene in
1923. Along with an number of his followers he attempted a putsch. Though it
failed, and Hitler was imprisoned, it made him a hero to many Germans.
w Nazism was characterized by extreme nationalism, anti-Communism and antiSemitism.
•
The Stresemann Years
w In order to repair inflation Chancellor Gustav Stresemann introduced a new German
currency.
w He also agreed to a new system of reparation payments in 1924, which helped to
lower inflation.
w In 1925, right after the French left the Ruhr, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg
became president.
•
Locarno
w The 1925 Locarno Agreements helped to integrate Germany back into the European
system.
w However, its conciliatory outlook continued to alienate the German nationalist
public
Conclusion
• At the close of the 1920s, Europe seemed to
be finally breaking out of its postwar
doldrums.
• However, the coming depression would
bring its own set of challenges.