Inter War Years19191939

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• Inter War Years1919-1939
• Influenza epidemic
• 20 million dead worldwide
• US 550,000
• Britain 228,000
• ½ of those died under 35
• Disillusionment, dissatisfaction, undercurrents
  of tension throughout 20s and 30s. lost
  generation.
• World War I as the war to end all wars.

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• Germany defeat in war, governmental collapse at
  end of war
• Weimar Republic new start 1919-1933
• New government
• New constitution
• New capital of Weimar
• More liberal and democratic
• Monarchy abolished
• Social Democratic Party in charge Frederick
  Ebert, President

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• Unfortunately Weimar Republic was to govern
  during some of the worst years in modern economic
  history.
• Germany never really recovered from World War I
• Unstable economy
• Unable to pay reparations led to tension with
  France and an unsuccessful invasion of the Ruhr
  region of Germany by France

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• Cycle of reparation payments a show of payments
• Germans experienced hyper-inflation in 1923-24 as
  prices spiraled out of control and currency lost
  99 value.
• Government forced to keep printing money to pay
  workers
• 4,200,000,000,000 marks 1
• Savings of German citizens wiped out paying rent
  or buying groceries

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• Successful reducing of reparations payments in
  1920s
• Joined League of Nations
• Signed several disarmament treaties
• Appearance of a stable democracy
• Yet Germany continued to have political and
  economic troubles throughout the 1920s.

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• Totalitarianism
• type of governmental control over nearly all
  aspects of daily life
• mass communication
• transportation
• industry
• religion
• Keep in control through use of
• secret police terror
• censorship propaganda

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• One man control
• Benito Mussolini Italy 1922fascist style
  government of
• Extreme nationalism
• Use of violence to suppress opposition
• Close relationship between government and
  business to control unions and the working class
• Joseph Stalin Soviet Union 1924communist
  government of
• In theory private ownership is abolished and
  industry and subsistence belong to the community
• In reality governmental dictatorship

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• Great Depression 1929-1940
• 1929 global economic crisis begins with crash of
  New York Stock Exchange in which
• over 50 billion in stock value lost in few short
  months
• businesses bankrupt
• unemployment rates up to 50
• bank failures
• World trade dropped 62
• Existing problems after World War I

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• Fear
• Loss of control
• Disbelief in democratic governments
• Need for stability and control
• Allowed for totalitarians style governments to do
  well in Italy, Soviet Union, Germany, Spain

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• Adolf Hitler Germany 1933 National Socialism or
  (NAZI) party.
• 1889-1945
• Born Austriaparents died while he was in his
  teens
• Rejected by Academy of Arts in Vienna
• Early racist beliefs in Aryan culture or a
  master race superior to all Europeans

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• 1914 World War Ienlisted in German army and
  fought on Western Front in France.
• Rank of corporal in German army
• Won Iron Cross twice for bravery in battle
• Supposedly cried at the armistice and vowed
  revenge against those November criminals who
  signed peace agreement.
• Moved to Munich, Germany after war and joined
  police force to monitor extremist political groups

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• Hitler quit the police and joined one extremist
  group the German Workers Party which he renamed
  the National Socialist German Workers party or
  NAZI party
• Took on symbolism of red flag and swastika
• Began as a very small extremist group with just a
  few members
• Participated in the Munich Beer Hall
  putschfailed attempt at the take over of city
  government by the Nazis.
• Hitler jailed.

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• 1924 in jail wrote Mein Kampf or My Struggle
• Autobiography
• blueprint or guide to Hitlers intentions of
  European and world domination
• Book of hate and racist viewsanti-Semitism
• Racial aryan superiority
• Really just 600rambling, poorly written pages of
  disconnected thoughts
• --only in retrospection is book given
  significance

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• Hitler realized upon release from jail that he
  could not take the German government over by
  force. Had to use the democratic process of
  winning votes and elections for his Nazi party.
• The Nazis had to become the dominant political
  party in Germanythe majority party in the
  Reichstag (German legislature) so that Hitler
  could be named Chancellor of Germany.
• Through combination of Hitlers persuasive powers
  and the brutal tactics of his Nazi thugs he won
  control.

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• Hitlers voice and persuasive power
• Spoke in terms German population understood
• Hate of Treaty of Versailles
• Need for revenge in World War I
• Jobs, security in time of Great Depression
• Instability of democratic government called for
  more control and security
• Played on fears, hates, concerns

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• Any opposition were dealt with by the S.A.
  (Sturmabteilung) Hitlers para-military group of
  brown shirts a kind of personal army who beat
  up, shut up or killed those who disagreed.
• January 1933 Hitler named Chancellor of
  Germanymany in the government believed it was
  better to bring Hitler into the German government
  than to keep him on the sidelines as an
  aggressive agitator.

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• 1934President von Hindenburg died and Hitler was
  supposed to call new elections. He instead used
  powers under enabling act to name himself
  president of Germany.
• 1934Reichstag fire allowed Hitler to create
  special emergency powers which he never gave up.

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• 180,000 Jews fled Germany
• 1935 Nuremberg Laws
• non Jew and Jew marriages forbidden
• Wear Star of David
• Loss of citizenship
• No government jobs
• ¼ Jewish blood
• Separate living areas set up ghettos
• Use of Jews, Communists, Socialists, or other
  groups as reasons for Germanys failures.
• Get rid of them and Germany will rise from the
  ashes and become the fear of the world.

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• German or Hitler youthyoung men age 7 and up
  integrated into school curriculum the
  indoctrination into Nazi philosophy
• German Maidens for young girls.
• Nazi indoctrination part of daily life.
• 1936 Olympic Summer games in Berlin
• Hitler convinced Germans will all gold medals
• Jesse Owens (African-American) won 4

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• German economy did improve
• Unemployment rate better than any other country
• Autobahn highway system
• Military re-armament programs
• Extensive public works projects
• Why was this allowed to happen?
• Great Depression hurt economies
• Guilty about Treaty of Versailles

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• Appeasement policy the settling international
  quarrels by negotiation and compromise in order
  to avoid war.
• No one in Britain or France wanted another World
  War Ithe generation that survived that conflict
  knew what real war was like and worked to avoid
  it all costs.
• Problemwhat price peace? How much can Hitler
  get away with before appeasement does not work.

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• 1935Hitler begins to ignore Treaty of Versailles
• Re-armament program for German military
• New conscription program for army
• 1936remilitarization of the Rhineland
• German troops reoccupy zone between France and
  Germany.
• Neither Britain nor France respond with force
• 1936Spanish Civil War-
• Hitler supports Fascist leader Franco and tests
  weapons he will later use in WWII

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• 1936Germany and Italy proclaim Rome-Berlin Axis
  alliance.
• 1938 Hitler invaded Austria
• Anschluss Germany and Austriathe dream of
  Greater Germany.
• Britain and France took no military action
• Fall of 1938
• Czechoslovakia
• Part of Czechoslovakia is called the
  Sudetenlandhas German speaking people.
• Hitler wants to take over the Sudetenland and add
  it to that Greater Germany
• Lebensraumliving roomGermany deserves as much
  space/territory in Europe as it wants.
• Czech government said noyou cannot have the
  Sudetenland

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• Munich Conference
• 1938 created by the British Prime Minister
  Neville Chamberlain (the founder of the
  appeasement policy)
• Work out a compromise over the Sudetenland
• Germany--Hitler
• Italy--Mussolini
• FranceFrench president
• BritishChamberlain
• Czech government not allowed to have a
  representative
• CompromiseHitler got the Sudetenland on the
  promise that he not take any more territory in
  Europe or elsewhere.
• Chamberlain goes back to Britain and states he
  has achieved peace for our time.

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• Spring 1939Hitler took the rest of
  Czechoslovakiathe non-German speaking part of
  the country.
• Raided the banks gold reserves
• Rail lines
• Factories
• Appeasement was over after the invasion of
  Czechoslovakiaeven Chamberlain admitted they
  must now do something about Hitler.
• Should Hitler make any move eastward or westward
  in Europewar will begin.
• Polandrich in raw materials, gold reserves,
  population that could be used as slave labor in
  factories, ethnic group Hitler looked upon with
  contempt.

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• Summer 1939
• August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• Agreement between Hitler and Stalin to have
  neutrality between their nationsnon-aggressionne
  ither will declare war upon the other.
• Hitler needs this to avoid a two front wara
  situation Germany had in WWI and had failed to
  win.
• France/Germany/Poland/Soviet Union
• Stalin signed off on the Pact
• Soviet Union per the agreement would receive
  land in PolandStalin, in other words, would get
  something out of the agreement.

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• September 1, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland.
• September 3, 1939 British government and the
  French government declared war on Germany.
• World War II 1939-1945
• Phony Warwar was declared but nothing happened
  from Sept 1939 until spring 1940
• Spring 1940 Hitler ordered the German army to
  begin the assault on Western Europebeginning in
  Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden) in order to raid the
  banks of reserves and get to raw materials.
• The German army then moved on to
• Belgium and France

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• French invasion began in May 1940 and was over by
  June 1940 --
• The French government surrendered the country to
  the Germans and German army occupied most of
  France for the entire war.
• A small fragment of opposition set up a temporary
  Free French government in London, England to
  aid the British against the Germans.
• The English Air Force and Army troops that had
  been in France to fight had to be evacuated back
  to England. All 300,000 troops were taken by
  boats, ships back to England from Dunkirk,
  France.

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• The British government and the island of Great
  Britain stood alone against Hitlers Nazi Army.
• The United States remained neutral as of 1940.
• The new Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston
  Churchill refused ever to give into Germany or
  fail in the survival of the British people
  against Hitler. He was just the kind of leader
  needed in World War II.
• Hitler began the assault on Britain in the fall
  of 1940 to prepare for an all out invasion.

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