THE MARCH TOWARD
WAR…AGAIN
THE TREAT Y OF VERSAILLES:
LASTING PEACE OR SHORT-TERM SOLUTION?
 Who is responsible for enforcing the conditions set
forth in the Treaty of Versailles?
 The United States and Great Britain assume policy of
isolation
 Ineffectual League of Nations
 Formation of the Little Entente: France, Poland,
Czechoslovakia, and Romania
 Rapallo Pact (1922): Germany and the Soviet Union
agree to dissolve outstanding debt and work in
tandem to produce weapons
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE
WEIMAR REPUBLIC
Hyperinflation at its Height
 February 11, 1919: Friedrich
Ebert elected President
 Diktat: “Dictated Peace”
 1919: Rosa Luxembourg and
Karl Liebknecht lead
Spartacist coup to gain
control of Berlin city
government
 Freikorps intervene on behalf
of the Republic only to stage
their own failed coup: the
Kapp Putsch (March 13, 1920)
INVASION OF THE RUHR VALLEY
January 1923: French Prime Minister, Raymond Poincaré,
seeks to revive reparation payments by occupying the Ruhr
Valley…crisis ensues
HYPERINFLATION AND THE WEIMAR
RESPONSE
 September 1923: German
Chancellor, Gustav
Stresemann, takes action
 Orders German workers in
Ruhr Valley to go back to
work
 Mark replaced with the
Reichsmark (Rentenmark)
 Dawes Plan (1923): US backs
German currency and reduces
reparation payments
THE “SPIRIT OF LOCARNO”:
A FALSE SENSE OF SECURIT Y
 Locarno Pact (1925):
 Germany recognizes Western
border
 Agrees to revise Eastern
borders through discussion with
Poland and Czechoslovakia
 Allows Germany to enter the
League of Nations (1926)
 Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928):
Culminates in the signing of a
pact “to renounce war as an
instrument of national policy”
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
 Long-term problems exacerbate
financial crisis:
 Overproduction of consumer and
agricultural goods
 Consumers rely on credit-financing
 US Stock Market Crash ignites
global financial crisis:
 Failure of Creditanstalt, leading
Austrian bank (1931)
 Sharp decline in global trade leads
to increased protective tariffs
 Governments cut budgets, reduce
spending
RESPONSES TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
GREAT BRITAIN
 World War I alters Britain’s
dominant trade position
 Pre-war welfare legislation
eases initial blow
 Tension erupts between workers
and the government resulting in
the General Strike (1926)
 Forces the British government
to address the even bigger
issue of imperialism – formal
autonomy granted to Egypt and
the Irish Free State
THE IMPACT OF THE DEPRESSION ON
EUROPE (1928 - 1934)
RESPONSES TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
ECONOMIC THEORY
 Liberal economic theory
dictates that government cut
the budget and raise taxes
 John Maynard Keynes
challenges theory in his
General Theory of
Employment, Interest, and
Money (1936)
 While not initially influential,
Keynesian economics gain
influence after 1945
RESPONSES TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
TOTALITARIANISM
 Fascism
 One leader, one party
 Glorify war, nationalism
 Control masses through media
 Communism
 One party, the “dictatorship of the proletariat”
 Capitalism means of exploitation
 State-controls means of production
 Glorify working class
 Control masses through media
THE MARCH TO WAR: APPEASEMENT
THE MANCHURIAN CRISIS: 1931
THE MARCH TO WAR: APPEASEMENT
ITALY INVADES ETHIOPIA: 1935
THE MARCH TO WAR: APPEASEMENT
RE-MILITARIZATION OF THE RHINELAND
THE MARCH TO WAR: APPEASEMENT
THE ROME-BERLIN AXIS (1936)
THE MARCH TO WAR: APPEASEMENT
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
THE MARCH TO WAR: APPEASEMENT
THE AUSTRIAN ANSCHLUSS (1937)
PORTUGUESE COMMERCIAL EXPANSION
OVERSEAS IN THE 16 TH CENTURY
RESULTED IN:
A. Military conflicts with Arab explorers over the
religious conversion of indigenous peoples
B. Seizure of Muslim coastal forts to serve as
Portuguese trading posts and military bases
C. The discovery of the Christian ruler of Ethiopia,
Prester John
D. The sacking of Istanbul by Portuguese explorers
E. The destruction of the Dutch East India Company
PORTUGUESE COMMERCIAL EXPANSION
OVERSEAS IN THE 16 TH CENTURY
RESULTED IN:
A. Military conflicts with Arab explorers over the
religious conversion of indigenous peoples
B. Seizure of Muslim coastal forts to serve as
Portuguese trading posts and military bases
C. The discovery of the Christian ruler of Ethiopia,
Prester John
D. The sacking of Istanbul by Portuguese explorers
E. The destruction of the Dutch East India Company
THE MARCH TO WAR: APPEASEMENT
THE MUNICH CONFERENCE (1938)
“Peace with honor…peace for our time”
- Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
TIME TO RETHINK APPEASEMENT?
 Following the Munich
Conference Czechoslovakia
peacefully cedes the
Sudetenland to Hitler
 March 1939: Hitler invades
independent
Czechoslovakia
 Next up…POLAND
 August 1939: Signing of
the Non-Aggression Pact
ensures German-Soviet
neutrality
AND SO IT BEGINS…
 Blitzkrieg: “Lightning war”
 Secures German control
of:
 Denmark
 Norway
 Holland
 Operation Dynamo rescues
troops from beaches of
Dunkirk
 Battle of Britain
(July 1940)
ONE OF THE MAIN AIMS OF THE REFORMS IN
RUSSIA UNDER PETER THE GREAT WAS TO
MAKE SOCIAL STATUS MORE DEPENDENT ON:
A. Aristocratic lineage
B. Service to the state
C. Wealth
D. Ethnic origin
E. Membership in the Orthodox Church
ONE OF THE MAIN AIMS OF THE REFORMS IN
RUSSIA UNDER PETER THE GREAT WAS TO
MAKE SOCIAL STATUS MORE DEPENDENT ON:
A. Aristocratic lineage
B. Service to the state
C. Wealth
D. Ethnic origin
E. Membership in the Orthodox Church
EARLY AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT
OPERATION BARBAROSSA
GOAL: EUROPEAN DOMINATION
IN 17 TH CENTURY POLAND, THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL INFLUENCE WAS
EXERCISED BY THE:
A. Nobility
B. Town councils
C. Polish monarch
D. Russian monarch
E. Hapsburg Empire
IN 17 TH CENTURY POLAND, THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL INFLUENCE WAS
EXERCISED BY THE:
A. Nobility
B. Town councils
C. Polish monarch
D. Russian monarch
E. Hapsburg Empire
HITLER’S “NEW ORDER”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pD4V7v6ZVc
 Hitler’s Hierarchy:
 Aryans
 Nordic peoples
 French
 Slavs and Jews
 Lebensraum
 Nuremberg Laws (1935)
 T-4 Program: precursor to
Hitler’s “Final Solution”
 Einsatzgruppen: German
Special Action Units
 Wannsee Conference
(1942)
WHO IS TO BLAME?
 What inspired the people who actually worked in the
midst of the killing machine?
 Was it extreme anti-Semites who became Hitler’s
“willing executioners?”
 Was it heightened peer pressure?
 Was it desire to accelerate through military ranks?
 Was it the need to prove ones strength in the midst of
such horrific violence?
 Was this responsible for turning average Germans
into reluctant killers?
 To what extent was Nazi propaganda effective in
conditioning soldiers to commit these atrocities?
RELUCTANT ALLIES
 US, Britain, and the
Soviet Union form the
“Grand Alliance” –
united only by desire to
defeat the Axis Powers
 “Europe First”
 Teheran Conference
(1943): Adopt policy of
unconditional surrender
 Industrial prowess and
man-power effectively
shift the tide of war
THE FRENCH FRONDE IS BEST
DESCRIBED AS THE:
A. First government formed after the French
Revolution
B. Civil war fought between Roman Catholics and
Protestants
C. Revolt over increasing centralization of royal power
D. Wars between France and the Holy Roman Empire
E. Style of architecture developed under Louis XIV
THE FRENCH FRONDE IS BEST
DESCRIBED AS THE:
A. First government formed after the French
Revolution
B. Civil war fought between Roman Catholics and
Protestants
C. Revolt over increasing centralization of royal power
D. Wars between France and the Holy Roman Empire
E. Style of architecture developed under Louis XIV
THE ALLIED VICTORY
 May 1942: Battle of
El Alamein
 Spring 1943: Invasion
of Sicily
 Summer 1943: Soviets
put Germany on the
offensive
 June 6, 1944: D-Day
 March 1945: Allies
cross German border
 April 26, 1944: US and
Russian soldiers meet
at the Elbe River
DECEMBER 7, 1941
“A date which will live in
infamy!”
THE PACIFIC THEATER
THE COST OF WAR
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS MOST
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STEADY POPULATION
GROWTH IN 18 TH CENTURY EUROPE?
A. A rising birth rate among all classes
B. The virtual elimination of the bubonic plague
through successful inoculation
C. Greater freedom of choice in selecting marriage
partners
D. A steady decline in bread prices, especially after
1750
E. An overall decline in the death rate
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS MOST
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STEADY POPULATION
GROWTH IN 18 TH CENTURY EUROPE?
A. A rising birth rate among all classes
B. The virtual elimination of the bubonic plague
through successful inoculation
C. Greater freedom of choice in selecting marriage
partners
D. A steady decline in bread prices, especially after
1750
E. An overall decline in the death rate
RESULTS OF WWII
 40 – 50 million dead (mostly civilians)
 Widespread destruction of infrastructure
 30 – 50 million displaced persons (DPs) wander
Europe to find family, friends, a home
 Europe’s colonial influence shattered
 Traditional values face question, critique following
the war
 Breakdown of economic activity
 Conditions precipitate the Cold War
 All analysis aside, WWII stands as the single largest
event in the History of the human race
EUROPEAN LIBERALS IN THE FIRST HALF OF
THE 19 TH CENTURY T YPICALLY SUPPORTED:
A. Women’s suffrage
B. Accident and unemployment insurance
C. The right of workers to unionize and strike
D. A written constitution and wider suffrage
E. The establishment of overseas colonies to improve
conditions at home
EUROPEAN LIBERALS IN THE FIRST HALF OF
THE 19 TH CENTURY T YPICALLY SUPPORTED:
A. Women’s suffrage
B. Accident and unemployment insurance
C. The right of workers to unionize and strike
D. A written constitution and wider suffrage
E. The establishment of overseas colonies to improve
conditions at home