HI 112 Raffael Scheck Colby College A Survey of Modern Europe 6
Jan 15, 2016
HI 112Raffael ScheckColby College
A Survey of Modern Europe
6
Europe Between the Wars
The Paris Peace Conferences
Comparison 1815 to 1919 Goals of the victors:
– Democracy– National self-determination– Security for France (cordon
sanitaire)– Weakening Germany
(Treaty of Versailles, 1919)– League of Nations as a
peaceful mediating institution
Why did the Peace Order Not Work? Germany unreconciled Nationality problems in
Eastern Central Europe Withdrawal of U.S. Unsettled situation in
the Soviet Union
Germany and the Treaty of Versailles
Phases of the Postwar Period
1918-23 Instability. Threat of communistrevolution in East Central Europeand Germany. Russian civil war(1918-21). Small-scale wars.
1924-29 Relative stability. American loans toGermany (Dawes Plan). Beginningreconciliation. Stabilization ofGerman democracy (WeimarRepublic).
1929-33 Economic and political havoc. GreatDepression. Crisis of democracy.Hitler comes to power.
Revolutions and Unrest: Hungary under Béla Kun (1918-19)
A Personal Connection for Reconciliation: Briand and Stresemann
Treaty of Locarno, 1925
Great Depression and Mass Unemployment, 1929-33
The Rise of Totalitarianism
What is Totalitarianism?
Party - strong influence on state State - reaches into every area of life Army - high prestige Ideology - shapes state and society Propaganda - used unscrupulously Police Repression - largely outside of the
law Leadership Cult - adulation of charismatic
leader through state-controlled media Internal and external target groups of
aggression
Fascism’s Three Sources (according
to Scheck)
Crisis of Christian and humanitarian values and of liberal-democratic states based on these values
Deep-seated fear of communism and socialism
World War I experience: brutalization of politics; veneration of military order; stress on struggle; extreme nationalism
Italian Fascism
Mussolini Fascist Party, black shirt
paramilitary organization March on Rome, October
1922 Gradual consolidation of
power by 1926 Corporatism Lateran Accord, 1929
The Triumph of Hitler and National Socialism Anti-Semitic rabble-
rousing, 1919-1923 Beer Hall Putsch 1923 Organizing a mass
party, 1925-28 Sudden mass success
because of the Great Depression, 1930-33
The Rise of the KPD and NSDAP(in percent of the electorate)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1920 1924(I)
1924(II)
1928 1930 1932(I)
1932(II)
KPDNSDAP
Stalinism
Massive industrialization at gigantic human cost (five-year plans), 1929-1941
Extremely repressive police state The Great Purges, 1935-39 The Gulag Foreign policy: out of isolation into an
alliance first with the West (1935) and then Nazi Germany (1939)
The Road to World War II
Hitler’s Successes
Makes Germany strong and respected again Rearms Germany Wins an alliance with Italy (1936) Revises the Versailles peace order by
annexing Austria and the Sudetenland He achieves all of this WITHOUT war
Mussolini’s Foreign Policy
Initially: opposition to Nazi designs on Austria (1934) and efforts to contain Nazi Germany (Stresa Front, 1935)
Attack on Abyssinia (1935-36) Alliance with Germany (1936) and Japan
(1939) Involvement in Spanish Civil War (1936-
39)
German Foreign Policy 1933-38: Main Events
October 1933 Withdrawal from the League of Nations
March 1935 Reintroduction of the draft; air force buildup announced
April 1935 Stresa Conference (It, GB, Fr); Franco-Soviet Treaty
June 1935 Anglo-German naval agreement
March 1936 Remilitarization of the Rhineland
Summer 1936 Alliance Germany-Italy-Japan
March 1938 Anschluss: annexation of Austria
September 1938 Munich Conference: annexation of the Sudetenland
March 1939 Annexation of Czechoslovakia
What Made Hitler’s Foreign Policy Successes Possible?
General misunderstanding of Hitler’s ultimate aims (Lebensraum, racial policy)
Doubts about Versailles Disillusionment with postwar order “No more war” sentiment Global diversions for Britain (Japan, Italy,
U.S. competition)
Concentration Camp Flossenbürg
Axis Berlin-Rome
Italian Atrocities in Ethiopia
Spanish Civil War
Anschluß
Maginot Line
Munich Conference
Unemployment in Germany 1932-39
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
Unemployed (inthousands):Yearly averages
German Military Spending 1932-39
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
MilitaryExpenditure (inmillion marks)
World War II
Cause
Hitler wants war– Obsession with his own mortality– Exploitation of temporary advantage in terms
of rearmament
The Outbreak
Hitler-Stalin Pact (August 1939) dooms Poland and misleads Hitler to believe that France and Britain will not go to war
France and Britain do declare war but do not attack (Phony War)
Soviet Union takes its “share” of Poland
The Defeat of the Allies in the West, 1940
Reasons: German tactics and slowness of Franco-British response
Consequence: Germany in control of most of Continental Europe and able to attack the Soviet Union
Britain Stays in the War
Decision to keep fighting
Inconclusive air battle over Britain, 1940-41
The Attack on the Soviet Union
Hitler’s priority War of annihilation Tied to the Holocaust Too risky gamble
The Long Road to Axis Defeat
Soviet resilience U.S. entry into the war
after Pearl Harbor Axis defeats in Russia,
North Africa, the Atlantic
D-Day and final defeat of Germany
Consequences
Europe looses its predominant position
Utter destruction in many areas
50-65 million killed Soviet Union
dominates Eastern Europe
The Holocaust
Ideological Background and Context The Nazi vision of
races Racial hygiene
Stages of Radicalization
Segregation (1933-38)– Nürnberg laws 1935
Expulsion (1938-41)– Crystal Night 1938– Madagascar Plan 1940-41
Mass murder (1941-45)– Ghettos, gas vans, mass executions, death
camps, death marches
I: Segregation
The Nürnberg Laws, 1935
“Jews Unwanted”
II: Expulsion
Crystal Night, Nov. 1938
III: Mass Murder
The Wannsee Conference, 1942
Euthanasia
Ghettoization of Jews in Poland
The Ramp at Auschwitz (1942-45)
Open Discussion
Who was responsible? How many people knew?