Feb. 26, 2016
Warm Up
Interwar Notes/Discussion
Video
Students will be able to describe the impact the
League of Nations and the Depression has on the
world and the rise of dictators.
Every European country is suffering economically.
Only the US and Japan came out of the war in better
financial shape than before.
Why would the US and Japan be better off
economically after the war?
Neither had been a wartime battlefield.
Both expanded their trade during the war.
Europe’s dominance in the world had
declined and the long brutal fighting had
drained the continent’s resources.
1919-1939
League of Nations
Born June 28,1919
Goal: collective security and peaceful settlements
Disarmament, Diplomacy, Cooperation
Outlined in Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points
US NEVER JOINS THE LEAGUE
What are 2 issues with the League identified in these
political cartoons
Mandate System
What is this describing?
Causes of the Great
Depression
1. German Reparations – had borrowed money to fund
WWI and was forced to pay back damages in GOLD
2. US Dominance of the Global Economy- when US
had issues (Stock Market Crash), it affected the rest
of the world
3. High Protective Tariffs by the US and other nations
Causes of Depression
(continued)
4. Excessive expansion of credit
- people were able to buy stocks with as little as
which is the equivalent to gambling with
borrowed money
5. Stock Market Crash of 1929
- Market drops 22% with $30 billion lost
- will not bounce back until 1954
Impact of Worldwide
Depression
HIGH unemployment in all industrialized nations
Bank failure and collapse of credit
Collapse of prices in world trade
Nazi Party’s growing importance in Germany and
blaming Jews for collapse
German Inflation
Benito Mussolini
Ultimate portrayal of Fascism
Fought in WWI with the Entente when Italy
switched sides in 1915
Mussolini tried to save Italy from “Class Warfare”
Formed Black Shirts
Goal was to maintain order in Italy
Interrupted Communist parades with force
Government did not interfere with them…why?
Mussolini (continued)
March on Rome
Coup d’etat
Overthrew King Victor Emmanuel III in a 3 day
march on Rome
Wanted to return the glory of Rome
Invasion of Ethiopia 1935
Wanted Empire
Europe denounced attack
Used mustard gas (BANNED 10 years ago)
Italy and Ethiopia were both members of the League
of Nations
Attack in Ethiopia
ITALY
TROOPS:...500,000
TANKS: ………800
PLANES:……...600
DEATHS: …….500
ETHIOPIA
………800,000
……………...3
……………...0
………275,000
Joseph Stalin “The Man
of Steel” and the USSR
At this point, the USSR was
entrenched in Communism
Stalin wanted to rapidly industrialize and modernize
Five Year Plan
Agricultural quotas (collectivization of farms)
Rapid industrialization – state seized everything
NO PRIVATE OWNERSHIP
Many were overworked and died
How was this different from Lenin’s NEP?
Stalin’s Reign (How did
he stay in power?)
Indoctrination of the people through Propaganda
(Pravda)
Great Purge: Stalin executed his political enemies
and many leaders from the Bolshevik Revolution
(October/ November Revolution)
Adolf Hitler (The
Fuhrer) & Germany
Hitler: The Role of the
Depression
Germany had borrowed all of their money to fund
WWI
Had to pay back reparations in GOLD
Germans printed more money which led to
HYPERINFLATION
Failure of Democracy in the
Weimar Republic 1919-1933
Treaty of Versailles claimed that Germany had to
have a Democratic government
Appointed a beloved WWI hero as President
Communists and Nazis both hated the government
(and each other)
Blamed the Weimar Republic for WWI loss and bad
economy
Nicknamed “November Criminals”
Many attempted to overthrow Weimar- Hitler tried
and failed in 1923
National Socialism (Nazism)
back for centuries
Founded in 1919- roots go
Beliefs
Extreme nationalism
Strong government under Furher (leader)
Anti-minority (especially Jews)- Anti-Semetism
Anti-Democracy (gives voice to minority)
Militarism
Hierarchy of race with “Aryans” at the top
Anti-communist
Hitler gains control of this party in 1921
The Rise of Hitler
Beer Hall Putsh (1923) tried to
overthrow Weimar Republic
Wrote Mein Kampf while in prison
(1925-26)
Reichstag Fire February 1933 –
allowed Hitler to come to power
Enabling Act March 1933
Nuremberg laws 1935 (antiSemetic laws)
Hideki Tojo and Hirohito
Japan
1854: Matthew Perry opens Japan up to the West
1868: Meiji Restoration – Japan gets rid of Tokugawa
Shogunate which leads to rapid industrialization
and modernization
1930s Militarization
Leaders were descendants of the Samurai
Universal military conscription
Led push for invasions
Japan’s Modernization
1931: Japan is in need of natural resources
Japan invades China
League of Nations does nothing
1940: Japan needs more raw materials – Japan invades
Vietnam
American Response: cutoff Japan’s supply of scrap
metal, oil, and froze assets in US
Closed Panama Canal
Japan’s Prime Minister resigns and the top general is
appointed
Hideki Tojo
Japanese General
Leads attacks of Mongolia and Manchuria
Responsible for Pearl Harbor attacks
Emperor Hirohito is powerless
Reflection
How did WWI directly and indirectly cause the
issues seen in the interwar period?
Out of all of the dictators, who do you feel is the
“most evil”? Use some sort of way of determining
this and be prepared to defend your POV.
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