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Interwar Period 1919-1939
Bakke
Great Depression in Europe
• 1) Financial crisis war & Versailles settlement
• 2) Crisis in the production and distribution of goods in the world market
• 3) No country provided strong economic leadership or sense of cooperation
Financial Tailspin
• Germany claimed to be in default of reparations – January 1923 France occupies the Ruhr mining &
manufacturing district – Weimar orders passive resisitance – Easing of reparations on Ger
• Oct 1929- Wall St. Stock market crash – little capital investment left for EUR – Keditanstalt bank crashes in Central Europe
Agricultural/Commodities Crisis • World Wheat Prices fell to record lows • farmers make less buy less consumer
and industrial goods • Worsened by worldwide financial depression• Result:– Stagnation and depression for Eur industry – Unemployment spread from ag sector to those
producing consumer goods – Less govt. spending worsens problem of
investment
Weimar Germany
• Made up of Socialist Democrats, moderate SPD, & German Liberals
• Most known for accepting the humiliating terms of Versailles Treaty of 1919
• Weimar Constitution– Highly enlightened– Complicated representive Reichstag system
Haunted by Versailles
• 1921 Presented w/ final bill for WWI 132 Billion
• 1923 French Occupation of the Ruhr • Inflation= printing money to pay debts; Runs
wild in Weimar Germany • Devastated by unemployment and worldwide
economic depression
Hitler’s Early Career • WWI Veteran • Austrian born; Settles in Munich GER;
Influenced by Mayor Karl Leuger • NDAP formed in 1920 (few members) – Formulate 25 Point Program of Nazi Party • Repudiation of Versailles• Union w/ Austria• Exclusion of Jews• Economic & Ag Reforms that benefit farmers/sm
businesses
SA Storm Troopers Formed c1925
• “Brown Shirts” • Paramilitary organization that provided its
members w/ food, uniforms, wages • Role: Chief Nazi instrument of terror and
intimidation– Who ? – Why?
• SA – Numbers over 1 million strong by 1933
Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923• Failed Revolution to
overthrow the Weimar Republic
• Arrested, tried, and sentenced to 5yrs– writes Mein Kampf
• 1) Moment when he saw himself as leader of mvt
• 2) He and Nazi’s must come to power legally
Stresseman Stability & Spirit of Locarno
• Only moderately successful period in Weimar (1924-29) Chancellor/For Min
• Stabilized inflation, lower unemployment
• Renegotiated reparations payments– Forced French out of Ruhr
• Attempted to ‘revise’ Versailles diplomatically
• Oct 1925 Locarno Agreements – New hope for lasting peace in EUR
And then … The Depression
• Govt Deadlocked to solve crisis• Bruning appt. as Chancellor– Evokes Article 48 of Constitution
• 1932--6 Million Germans unemployed – Appeal of Radical Extremist Parties• Communists and Nazis
Presidential Election of 1932
• Tallman (KPD) Hitler (NSDAP) Hindenburg (I)• 10% 36.8% 50.3%
Chancellor Carrousel
• Bruning Franz Von Papen Kurt Von Schleicher Hitler (Jan 30 1933)
Hitler’s Consolidation of Power
• 1) Capture of full legal authority• 2) crushing of alternative polt. Groups• 3) Purging of rivals w/in Nazi Party
Reichstag Fire Feb 27 1933• Dutch Communist
(mentally ill) sets fire to Reichstag
• Effect: Communists outlawed/arrested & Article 48 invoked
• March 1933: Enabling Act Passed- Rule by Decree
"'This is a God-given signal! If this fire, as I believe, turns out to be the handiwork of Communists, then there is nothing that shall stop us now crushing out this murder pest with an iron fist.'
Timeline • May 1933- Leftist trade Unions seized• July 1933- Nazi Party only legal Party in
GER • June 1934- Purge of Ernst Roehm and the
SA– Knight of the Long Knives
• Aug 1934 President Hindenburg Dies• Sept 1935 Nuremburg Laws Passed
The Nazi State • The Police State of
the SS (Schutszstaffel) Black Shirts – Primary vehicle for
surveillance (Gestapo)
– Led by Himmler – Most elite Nazi
paramilitary organization
Society and Gender in the Third Reich
• Women– Saw women as educators of the young and protectors of German cultural
values – Women were encouraged to bear many children – Task: To preserve racial purity – Cult of Domesticity and Motherhood embraced
• Socially- – Hitler Youth formed– Social programs- ‘Strength through Joy’ – Volkswagen program – Cultural identity- Book burnings/Censorship, Propaganda, Volksgemeinshaft,
German culture celebrated i.e. Wagner etc.
Hitler’s Goals
• 1) intended to bring the entire German Volk together into a single nation (Grossdeutsh)
• 2) Lebensraum in the East • 3) Destruction of Versailles– Withdrew from League of Nations – Renounced disarmament of Treaty• Army and Air Force of 500K raised via conscription
– March 1936 Remilitarization of the Rhineland
Formation of the Axis Powers • Italy Invades
Ethiopia 1935• The Spanish Civil
War 1936– Franco becomes
fascist leader of SPA
• 1936- Anti-Comitern Pact brings Japan into Axis
Policy of Appeasement • Tenants: – 1) Germany had real grievances– 2) Hitler’s Goals were limited– 3) Best policy was to negotiate and make
concessions b/f a crisis could lead to war
• Austria March 1938 – Anschluss w/ Austria
• Czechoslovakia – Sudetenland
• Munich Conference
Failure of Munich • “I have no more territorial demands to make
in Europe”. – Adolf Hitler • “It is a peace with honor. I believe it is peace
for our time.” --Neville Chamberlain • 15 March 1939 – Hitler breaks promise,
occupies Prague and all of Czechoslovakia• Next up…
• Polish Corridor (Spring 1939)
Nazi – Soviet Pact of Non Agression• AUG 1939-
Divided Poland & Gave Rus the Baltic states
• Sept 1939- Ger invaded Poland- WWII Begins
German Conquest of Europe • April 1940- Invasion of Denmark & Norway• May 1940- BeNeLux Invaded– Dunkirk
• Maginot Line Exposed on the left flank (Bel)• May 1940 France invaded – Surrenders in
under 6 weeks • Vichy Govt. Set up under Petain – DeGaulle
Flees to England “Free French” est.
Battle of Britain Aug 1940• German
Luftwaffe vs British RAF
• London bombed every night
Operation Barbarossa June 1941• Seige of
Leningrad• Battle of
Stalingrad• Why? • Hitler wanted
Lebensraum in the East
America Enters the War
• Dec 7 1941 Pearl Harbor • Pacific Theater opens– Battle of Midway turning
point
• Allied landings in Sicily/Italy-- Nov 1942
• Downfall of Mussolini –AUG 1943