1920

1
1920s Democratic Politics

• Chapter 28-2

2
The Red Scare

• In 1919 fear of Bolshevism swept through Europe
• Civil war in Russia raged on as Bolsheviks
  continued to defeat White Russians
• Communist revolutionaries took Berlin briefly in
  1919

3
The Weimar Republic

• November 9, 1919 SPD took over the German
  Government
• Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and fled to Holland
• Fear of communism such that a republic was
  declared by the SPD without consent of other
  parties by Philip Scheidemann

4
Threats to the Weimar Republic

• From the left
• The Weimar Republic had to rely upon conservative
  military groups to save it from communist attacks
• Hurt the prestige of the republic
• The Weimar government was a virtual prisoner of
  the German army

5
Freikorps

• Right-wing paramilitary group sthat formed after
  WWI became the vanguard of anti-communist
  repression
• Spartacists a group of communists led by Rosa
  Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht took control of
  Berlin for 1 week in Jan. 1919
• Crushed by Freikorps, leaders killed

6
Germany

• January 1919 elections to the Reichstag saw a
  center-left coalition taking control of the
  government
• The Capital was moved to Weimar to distance
  itself from the Prussian imperial traditions of
  Berlin

7
Impart of Treaty of Versailles on Germany

• All political parties believed the treaty to be a
  harsh, dictated peace which needed immediate
  revision
• Article 231 held Germany totally responsible for
  the war
• Enormous reparations to Br. And Fr.
• Military serverely weakened
• Lost Alsace-Lorraine to France

8
The Treatys impact on Germany

• Lost territory to Poland
• Lost Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia
• Occupied by France on the east along the Rhine
• Lost Saar coal and iron mines to France
• France wanted Germany punished and future
  security for itself
• Brits having some second thoughts

9
The Treaty

• Many Brits believed that a healthy German economy
  was essential to a healthy European
  economyKeynesThe Economic Consequences of the
  Peace

10
The Diktat

• Most conservatives in Germany saw the signing of
  the treaty as The Diktat (stab in the back)
• The Weimar Republic was doomed from the start
  when it signed the treaty in Jan. of 1919

11
The New Germany

• New Constitution August 1919
• Female suffrage
• President 7-year term
• Bicameral Legislature
• Reichstag lower house elected by universal
  suffrage supplied the cabinet and Chancellor
• Reichsrat Upper chamber representing the
  federal states

12
Threats from the Right

• 1920 Kapp Putsch Conservative politicians,
  businessmen, disgruntled military officers took
  control of Berlin in March of 1920 and declared a
  new government
• Conservative parties gave their support
• At the same time, Bavaria taken by right-wing
  conservatives

13
Threats from the Right

• Chancellor Ebert appealed to the workers to
  defend the republic
• A General strike stopped economic activity
• Putsch collapsed
• BUT conservative groups made steady gains in the
  legislature
• The SPD declined significantly

14
The Ruhr Crisis 1923

• Germanys economy very weak
• Was unable to keep up with reparation payments
• 1923 France (led by Raymond Poincare) occupied
  the industrial Ruhr region of Germany
• German government ordered passive resistance
• Germany resorted to wild inflation to make
  reparation payments

15
The German Economy

• Inflation German Mark went from 9 marks per
  U.S. dollar in 1919 to 4.2 trillion marks per
  U.S. dollar in 1923 (no typo)
• a social revolution in Germany
• Savings wiped out
• Middle class blamed Western governments, Jews,
  big business, workers, communists

16
1923 Beer Hall Putsch

• Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party failed to take
  control of Bavaria.
• Hitler sentenced to 1 year in jail
• Light sentence indicated a conservative judge who
  sympathized with anti-republican views
• Hitler wrote Mein Kampf while in jail

17
The Dawes Plan 1924

• League of Nations Plan The U.S. would loan
  Germany so it could make reparation payments to
  Br. And Fr. who used the same to pay off debts
  to U.S.
• Young Plan Scaled down war debts 30-80 based
  on ability to pay
• Germanys economy recovered
• But all for nothing after the Depression hit

18
Germany and international Relations

• Locarno Pact 1925 Germany and other European
  nations agreed to settle disputes peacefully
• 1926 Germany allowed to join the League of
  Nations
• 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact 62 nations outlawed war
  except in self-defense (but no enforcement)

19
France and post-war economic problems

• Economic chaos and political unrest due to death,
  devastation, and debt of WWI
• Through the 1920s a multi-party system governed
  but dominated by the right (conservatives)
• Supported the status quo backed by the Church,
  army and business
• Slashed spending and raised taxes

20
Great Britain

• Representation of the Peoples Act 1928 women
  over 21 given the right to vote
• BUT top 1 owned 2/3 of the national wealth
• 1920s biggest problem unemployment 12
• 1926 General Strike supported miners who feared
  a dramatic drop in their wagesfailed
• Government outlawed sympathetic strikes in 1927

21
Growth of Social Welfare in G.B.

• After WWI government provided unemployment
  benefits, and supplemented payments with
  subsidized housing (200,000 units), medical aid
  and increased ole-age pensions
• Labour Party took power for 9 months in 1924
• Led by Ramsey McDonald
• Replaced the Liberal party as main opponent to
  conservatives

22
Great Britain

• Conservatives painted Labour as pro-communist
  when it gave official recognition to the USSR
• Conservatives in power 1924-29
• Led by Stanley Baldwin
• Expanded old-age pensions and other social welfare

23
The Irish Question

• 1916 Easter Rebellion
• Later Sinn Fein faction (extremist) gained
  prominence in Ireland
• Prompted a civil war between the IRA and the
  Black and Tan (Englands occupational forces in
  Ireland)
• October 1921 Irish Free State created
• Ulster withdrew

24
Great Britain

• In 1922 ended its protectorate in Egypt except
  for Suez Canal
• Granted Equality of British Dominions in Canada
  and Australia

25
The Great Depression

• Causes
• Long-term problems with the U.S. economy weak
  international economy, overproduction, unstable
  banking, weak industries, ½ of all Americans
  living below poverty line
• European agricultural overproduction
• 1931 Britain and other European countries went
  off of the gold standard

26
The Depression

• U.S. stock market crash triggered depression in
  U.S. and it spread world-wide
• U.S. Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 caused
  international trade dislocation
• NY bankers began to recall loans made to Germany
  and other European countries

27
Impact of the Depression on Europe

• Shattered fragile optimism of the 1920s
• Production decline in every country except Russia
  (command economy there)
• Mass unemployment Germany worse off 43, Brits
  18, U.S. 25

28
Attempted Remedies to the Depression

• U.S. The New Deal
• Keynesian approach prop up economy through
  public works programs and subsidies
• Scandinavia most successfulused socialism

29
England

• Abandoned gold standard
• Reorganized industry
• Increased tariffs
• Cut government spending,
• Balanced budget (in spite of suffering)
• Some recovery after 1932
• Permanent recovery due to WWII production

30
France

• Impact later than more industrialized countries
• Depression increased class tensions and gave
  birth to a radical right
• Popular Front coalition of republicans,
  socialists, communists and radicals against the
  threat of fascism
• Popular Front led by Leon Blum

31
France continued

• The French New Deal inspired by the U.S.
• Encouraged union activity
• Launched far-reaching reforms paid vacations,
  40-hour weeks
• Failed due to high inflation and fascist
  agitation and frightened conservatives

32
France

• The Popular Front was destroyed in 1936 due to
  different factions dividing on Spanish Civil War
• France remained politically divided as Germany
  continued rearmament in the late 1930s