Years of Crisis Chapter 15
Great Britain Postwar Problems Severe Economic Problems No jobs for soldiers Relied on trade dropped why? 40% fleet destroyed US/Japan Increased tariffs Old technology Couldn t pay the US back Ireland 1916 Easter Rebellion 1921 Divided
Postwar Problems France Rebuilding program Increased debt=inflation & loss of confidence 1926 Poincare government Reduced expenses, increased taxes, stabilized $ Built Maginot Line
Postwar Problems Germany Reparations Increased debts by borrowing/printing $ Increased inflation Halt payments 1923 France invades Ruhr Valley Passive resistance Withdrew 1925 1924 Dawes Plan Reduced scale US loans
Collective Security League of Nations Acting together to preserve peace USA/USSR/Germany (1926) 1925 Locarno Pact France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy Guarantee existing frontiers Refrain from aggression against each other 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact Renounce war as policy No machinery to enforce
Great Depression Triggered world crisis Americans cut back trade/manufacturing decreased = desperation Great Britain Terrible suffering Conservatives Increased tariffs Lowered housing interest rates the dole Economy was actually better by 1937
Great Depression France Agriculture first withstood shocks 1932 slump Political instability=coalition Eastern Europe No strong democratic tradition Increasing economic problems = dictators A/H/P Czech ethnic groups wanted autonomy Sudetenland Germans
Italy Political and Economic Problems Strikes Seizing land Popularity of Socialists Mussolini Order in a chaotic time Nationalist Glory Days
Rise to Power 1919 Fascist Party Unity & authority Ancient Rome Political movement Glorification of the state Condemned democracy Despised socialism/communism Private property/enterprise regulated by gov Aggressive nationalism
Rise to Power Black Shirts Oct 1922 March on Rome Surrender of government Prime Minister Emergency powers Make laws, controlled elections Control censorship Corporative system Government sponsored corporations No labor unions Controlled wages & prices
Impact of Great Depression Severe impact Aggressive foreign policy Distract Fiume Albania Africa Ethiopia Asked League for help NO feared pushing Germany
Germany Weimar Republic Political unrest Economic problems Adolph Hitler Anti-Semitic Munich National Socialist German Worker s Party 1923 Uprising Arrested Mein Kampf Political ideas Blamed Jews Attacked USSR
Germany 1924 broadened party ideals Great Depression helped Nazis unemployment 1932 largest single party 1933 Chancellor (coalition gov) Fire destroys Reichstag Emergency orders Abolished speech/assembly Elections in March Dictator powers Within 1 year, all other parties gone Fascist State
Germany 1934 Hindenburg dies & combined Pres/Chancellor Fuhrer Third Reich Stormtroopers (brown-shirts) paramilitary arm of the Nazi party Gestapo Göring SS (black shirts) Himmler Body guards Control of camps State more important than individual Goebbels propoganda Hitler Youth
Jewish Problem 1933 expelled from gov. jobs/teaching, etc. 1935 Nuremburg Laws Banned marriage Took away citizenship 1938 assassination harsher laws Krystal Nacht
Programs Hard work, sacrifice, service Economic recovery Ignored Versailles Treaty Rearmed military Raised taxed, strict controls on prices/wages Banned unions Living space Inferior peoples Expand eastward League ignored
Japan 1930 s military leaders restored tradition of honoring the empire Prosperous economy after WWI Markets from British As Middle class grew so did democracy Diet Political party chose PM 1925 universal suffrage Reverence for Emperor dying
Great Depression Hit hard because dependent on foreign trade Increased tariffs = loss of markets = increased unemployment Government couldn t solve problems Turn to military 1931 attacked Manchuria China protests to League but did nothing
1932 dictatorship Didn t abolish Diet Civilians kept jobs Group made policy Totalitarian state Arrested critics Censorship Dismissed liberals Rise to Power Glorified War and the Empire
Expanding the Empire Needed an Empire: Raw materials Lacked resources Markets Living space Heavy population 1907 Korea 1931 Manchuria Manchuko Puppet state
The Road Continues 1933 W/drew from League Opposed W. Imperialism Really E. Imperialists 1936 Military agreement
1937 Japanese Invasion of China
Spanish Civil War 1931 King abdicated Republican government Catholic Church/Army reduced 1936 Coalition Government Moved against army Confiscated estates July 1936 Franco = Civil War Restore power of church Destroy socialism/communism Nationalists vs. Republicans/Loyalists
Spanish Civil War to WWII League of Nations Stop arms from getting to either side Mussolini/Hitler October 1936 Rome-Berlin Axis 1939 Nationalist win Fascist Dictatorship Failure to stop Axis intervention encouraged H/M Hitler s Moves 1936 Rhineland 1938 Anschluss Union of Germany & Austria maintain order
Appeasement Making concessions to preserve peace WHY? WWI Pacifism Rhineland US isolationism 1935/6 Neutrality Acts Couldn t sell arms to any country involved in a war nor could ships carry arms
The Problem of the Sudetenland
Road to War Sudetenland 1938 German demand self-gov. Czech refuse Germany step in GB/F give self-gov Hitler new demands 1938 Munich Conference Troops occupy Sudetenland but leave Czech alone 1939 occupied all of Czech **False assumption that Hitler could be trusted!
The Munich Agreement, 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Now we have peace in our time! Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.