Post-War Europe, the 1920’s. - Revolution brought down the German Empire Oct 1918- The Kiel Mutiny - German sailors refused to engage British warships.

Post-War Europe, the 1920’s

-Revolution brought down the German Empire

• Oct 1918- The Kiel Mutiny - German sailors refused to engage British warships and raised the red flag of revolution

• As revolt spread to the army, German troops refused to fire on their comrades

• -Kaiser William II fled to Holland, the following day, Nov 11, 1918, a German Republic was proclaimed.

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The peace treaties:• Treaty of Versailles signed June 28, 1919 in

The Hall of Mirrors• Treaty of St. Germain, Sept. 1919. Austrian

Empire broken into five new countries• Treaty with the Ottoman Empire, 1919 divided

the empire into a dozen countries• 1920’s saw a number of other int’l treaties aimed

at preventing another war: 1925 The Locarno Pact and 1928, The Kellogg-Brian Pact among others.

France

• Suffered the greatest but rebounded the fastest (20,000 factories and 6,000 public buildings / one-tenth of farmland)

• Accomplished miracles in reconstruction• Industrial and Agricultural production increased,

along with tourism• The political right was very strong- extreme

patriotism throughout the land

Great Britain

• National debt had quintupled• Trade with colonial lands declined- German subs

has destroyed 9 million tons of ships and cargo• Industrial plants were old and antiquated• High unemployment• Strong Conservative Party kept Britain stable

The United States

• Strong isolationist movement: “The business of America is business”

• Prosperity on the surface - The Roaring Twenties

• The Red Scare• 1929 The Stock Market Crash

Weak foundation for the Weimar Republic

• Germans identified the govt with defeat in the war & the humiliation at Versailles

• Conservatives viewed the govt as contrary to the tradition of leadership.

• Little experience with democratic habits and attitudes revealed the weakness of the multi-party system

• Literary tradition (Volkish thinkers) scorned reason and liberalism, and glorified order, disciple and authority

The Weimar Republic- threats from the Left …

• The Soviets of the Kiel Mutiny, • The Spartacist revolt• The creation of the Soviet Republic of Bavaria• The declaration of the Rhineland Republic,• Revolts in Hamburg, Thuringia and Saxony • The Ruhr Valley resistance …were all Bolshevik

inspired…• Fear of a communist insurrection among the

middle and upper classes drove many of them to support militant, right-wing militias (The Freikorps).

Threats from the Right…

• The Freikorps refused to disband…• March 1920, The Kapp Putsch- 5,000 Freikorps

marines marched on Berlin…declared a new government. Ended with General strike by workers

• The Buchbrucker Putsch, The Ludendorff Putsch and the Beer Hall Putsch…

Gustav Streseman• Measures taken by

him brought the inflationary spiral under control by 1924

• Negotiated the Dawes Plan- reduced reparations, repay based on economic progress and profits

• Economic progress continued until 1929!