Review for EUH3206
From the First World War
to the beginning of WWII,
1914-1940.
First World War, 1914-1918
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What was war about?
Who belonged to the Central Power bloc and why?
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Allies?
What kind of war was it? (Stalemate/trench warfare,
Total War, etc.)
What were the major turning points of the war (battles,
alliances, etc.): Battle of Marne, Verdun, Unrestricted
Submarine Warfare, etc.
Who won the war and why? Role of industry,
mobilization of masses, propaganda, etc.
Aftermath of war, 1919
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Significance of Paris Peace Conference, 19191920 (winners and losers, League of Nations,
treaties, etc.)
New Europe? What did it look like? What had
changed? (Borders, new countries, new political
systems, continuation of “old” politics…)
What impact did the peace (Versailles, Trianon,
etc.) and post-war (Locarno, etc.) treaties have
on the political and diplomatic relations of
European countries?
Russian Revolutions, 1917
Russia during WWI and in the postwar era:
 Political/Social Background:
 Types of political parties on the left:
Marxists (Bolsheviks and Mensheviks,
SRs, Anarchists)
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Russian Revolutions, 1917
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Russian Revolution of March, 1917 – Provisional
Government est., Soviets share power with new
PG.
October, 1917 – Storming of the Winter Palace,
beginning of Bolshevik-led revolution
Revolution and Civil War, 1918-1921
Opposing sides: Reds (Bolsheviks, Mensheviks,
SRs, Anarchists) vs. Whites (monarchists,
military, liberals, traditionalists)
Reasons for Bolshevik victory?
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Party organization – “What is to be done?”
Cheka – created 1917
Propaganda (Agit-prop) -- Posters, lectures, etc.
Revolutionary Utopia: Winning over the people:
ending the war, promising a new world…
Leadership (Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev,
Kamenev, Bukharin).
Red Army -- Trotsky
Anti-liberal and anti-communists
political/economic movements.
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Italy in the post-war era: rise of fascism (causes and consequences,
1919-1934); Who were the fascists? Major features of fascist
doctrine.
Germany in the post-war era: Weimar interlude. Achievements of
Weimar Republic and political, economic, social circumstances
which gave rise to extremist movements.
Rise of Hitler and Nazi movement (ideological tenets of Nazism and
popular appeal of movement.) Steps Hitler took to consolidate his
power to 1935.
Political consequences of Great Depression, 1929-1938?
Facing the Dictators: Western democratic
responses to Fascism/Communism
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Was Appeasement a deliberate
surrender to Hitler’s and Mussolini’s
efforts to revise radically the post-war
status quo in Europe? (Key terms to
define: “appeasement”, and rival
foreign policies, “collective security”. )
“Renegade countries?”
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Even less so than the democratic powers of
France and Great Britain, none of the
“totalitarian” regimes in the inter-war years
(Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union)
appeared willing to obey the conventions of
international diplomacy as defined by
bodies like the League of Nations. Why?
Count-down to War
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 Summary of the major diplomatic events
between 1936 and 1939 which contributed to
Hitler’s decision to go to war over the Polish
question.
 Anschluss of 1938
 Czech crisis of 1938
 Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
 End of Appeasement: Anglo-Polish Agreement
of March, 1939.
Second World War: First Stage
• Impact of Nazi-Soviet (Ribbentrop-Molotov) pact
of 1939 (division of Eastern Europe, etc.)
• Outbreak of war: what were Hitler’s war aims in
1939?
• Fate of Poland?
• Allied response to invasion of Poland. Phoney
War?
• Russo-Finnish war/Scandinavian interlude, 19391940.
SWW: Stage 2
• Western Offensive, May 1940. Fall of
France and its impact.
• Battle for Britain: A turning point?
• U.S. involvement in war: “Destroyers for
bases” and Lend-Lease Act of 1941.