1. After the Great War

2. Legacy of World War I
Thirty-two nations participated in the war, mobilizing 65 million men.
Ten million men were killed; 20 million were wounded.
After the war, winners and losers alike faced inflation, high unemployment, and the Great Depression.
Germany abandoned their democratic Weimar Republic for Hitler’s Nazi dictatorship in 1933.

3. Legacy of World War I
The United States, disillusioned with the war, withdrew into diplomatic isolation.
Britain and France expanded their colonial empires in Africa and the Middle East. France got Syria; Britain got Iraq; Palestine became a British mandate.
The Vietnamese who had helped the French and Indians who had helped the British were “slapped down by their colonial masters.”

7. Define socialism and give example.
The modern socialist movement largely originated in the late-19th century working class movement. In this period, the term "socialism" was first used in connection with European social critics who criticized capitalism and private property.
Socialism came to be known as a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth were subject to control by the community.

8. What are some indications of the “postwar pessimism” of the 1920’s
What are some indications of the “postwar pessimism” of the 1920’s? Why did liberal values such as progress and democracy fall under attack at this time?
American writer Gertrude Stein coined the phrase, “lost generation,” to describe a group of American intellectuals who wrote in poetry and fiction about the disillusionment of both Americans and Europeans.
Retired German school teacher Oswald Spengler wrote The Decline of the West ( ) proposing that European society had entered the final stage of its existence and that all nations were doomed.
Theologian Karl Barth wrote Epistle to the Romans, attacking the idea that progress is the realization of God’s purpose. Other theologians followed with similar ideas.

9. What are some indications of the “postwar pessimism” of the 1920’s
What are some indications of the “postwar pessimism” of the 1920’s? Why did liberal values such as progress and democracy fall under attack at this time?
There were many attacks on progress; after all, scientists and technology were deemed responsible for the making of poisonous gas and explosives that killed millions and destroyed agriculture and cities.
Science was blamed for the technological horrors of World War I.
Most western societies granted suffrage to all men and women.
Many intellectuals became disillusioned with democracy because they saw it as lacking positive values. Some worried about the “rule of inferiors.”

10. What caused the crash of 1929 and the depression that followed?
Postwar agriculture was depressed in Europe, United States, Canada, Argentina, and Australia.
The crash of 1929 was a result of a U.S. economic boom that prompted many to invest beyond their means. On Black Thursday, October 24, 1929, stock prices dropped and investors lost their life savings. Lenders called in loans which forced investors to keep selling.
Overproduction and reduced consumer demand resulted in widespread business failure and unemployment.
By 1932 U.S. industrial production and national income dropped by half .

11. What caused the crash of 1929 and the depression that followed?
There was a drastic decrease in business activity, wages, and employment.
As a result, businesses could not sell all their inventories. Consequently, they cut back in production and laid off workers.
With so many people unemployed, demand for goods plummeted, causing business failures and soaring unemployment.
The national income dropped by half and 44 percent of U.S. banks went out of business.
Because the world depended on the export of U.S. capital and the U.S. import markets, this created a global effect.

12. What were some of the economic problems facing the world powers in the 1920’s?
When U.S. investors called in loans, banks in Austria and Germany became vulnerable because they had been major recipients of U.S. loans.
The Germany economy experienced a huge economic slide that by 1932 resulted in 35 percent unemployment and a 50 percent decrease in industrial production.
Foreign trade fell sharply between 1929 and 1932 causing further losses in manufacturing and employment.

13. What were some of the economic problems facing the world powers in the 1920’s?
Because most Latin American states exported agricultural products or raw materials, they were especially vulnerable to the effects of the depression. The prices of sugar from the Caribbean, coffee from Brazil, and beef from Argentina fell.
European companies that controlled the export of African products suffered, but many areas of colonial Africa remained unaffected because their products were not tied to the international economy.

14. What are some examples of “economic nationalism”
What are some examples of “economic nationalism”? How effective were these measures?
“Economic nationalism” replaced international cooperation.
Governments turned to their own resources.
High tariffs and import quotas were used to promote economic self-sufficiency within nations.
Between 1929 and 1932, world productions declined by 38 percent and trade dropped by more than 66 percent.

15. What was the impact of the depression on social attitudes
What was the impact of the depression on social attitudes? On women and families?
Thinkers like French physician Charles Richet believed that removing women from the workforce would solve the problem of male unemployment and increase the nation’s low birthrate. Consequently, in many nations policies were enacted to reduce female unemployment.
Great Depression caused enormous personal suffering
Millions struggled for food, clothing, and shelter
Marriage and birthrates declined, suicide increased
Intensified social divisions and class hatreds
John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath criticized U.S. policy of "planned scarcity,“ whereby surplus crops were destroyed to raise prices while citizens starved.

16. From John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
“The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quicklime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; an in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath.”

17. What did John Maynard Keynes recommend as a solution to the economic crisis?
John M. Keynes challenged classical economic theory, the belief that capitalism was self-correcting and operated best if left alone.
Keynes argued the depression was a problem of inadequate demand, not supply; therefore, governments should play an active role in stimulating economy and consumer demand

18. How did the New Deal of President Roosevelt exemplify this solution?
The New Deal of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt anticipated Keynes's ideas.
After 1932, Roosevelt put in place a protected banking system, massive public works projects, and farm subsidies
Also, legislation established minimum wage, social security, workers' unions

19. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks secure their power in Russia?
The industrial workers living in towns were discontent with working conditions.
90% of the people living in Russia were peasants who were starving and who lacked the means to improve their lives.
Many middle-class Liberals and Social Revolutionaries (who supported the peasants) opposed the rule of the Tsar, but most revolutionaries were the Social Democrats or Communists.
The Communists believed in the ideas of Karl Marx. Marx claimed that history is all about the struggles between the classes. He claimed that the capitalist system was unfair because the factory owners (bourgeois) made profits from the toils of the workers (proletariat). Marx predicted that the proletariat would violently overthrow the bosses and take control of the country on behalf of the people.

20. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks secure their power in Russia?
The Russian Communists were divided into the Bolsheviks led by Lenin and the Mensheviks led by Trotsky. Lenin believed that the small party of Bolsheviks should seize power and control Russia on behalf of the people.
Russia fared so badly in the First World War there was a spontaneous uprising against the Tsar in February This was sparked off by food riots, poor working conditions and the failure to win the war.
Lenin, in exile in Switzerland, raced to Petrograd so that he could attempt to seize control of the revolution.
In March 1917, without the support of the army, the Tsar was forced to abdicate and a Provisional Government was set up. Lenin believed that this new government was weak and would not impose communism on the Russian people.

21. Vladimir Lenin

22. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks secure their power in Russia?
In October 1917, Lenin led an armed uprising against the Provisional Government. His aim was to take control of Russia and turn it in to a communist country.
Lenin renamed the Bolshevik Party as the Communist Party in order to win wider support.
In December 1917 Lenin set up a secret police force known as the Cheka. Cheka agents spied on the Russian people in factories and villages.
Anyone suspected of being anti-Communist could be arrested, tortured and executed without a trial.
When opponents tried to assassinate Lenin in 1918, he launched the Red Terror campaign against his enemies. It is said that 50,000 people were arrested and executed in this period.

23. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks secure their power in Russia?
The Whites were opponents of the ‘Reds’ (AKA Lenin and the Communists).
The Whites were a mixture of aristocrats, royalists, churchmen, army officers and many others.
Although in a very dangerous position, the Communists were able to win the Civil War. This was because the Whites were divided, while the Reds controlled the key cities, industrial centers and communication links.

24. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks secure their power in Russia?
He crushed workers’ strikes, peasant rebellions and a sailor’s revolt.
Faced with mounting economic problems, he implemented the New Economic Policy (NEP) which temporarily restored private enterprise in Russia.
Large industries, banks, and transportation and communications facilities remained under state control.
Government returned small-scale industries to private ownership.
The government allowed peasants to sell their surpluses at free market prices.
Technical schools were established.
Lenin died from a series of strokes in 1924.

25. How did Stalin secure his power within the party and within the Soviet Union?
Joseph Stalin, who served as general secretary, promoted the ideal of socialism in one country.
A Russian nationalist, Stalin triumphed over his rivals to become an unchallenged dictator of the Soviet Union
Stalin replaced Lenin’s NEP with his First Five Year Plan, which was designed to transform the Soviet Union from an agricultural country to a leading industrial power.
It emphasized heavy industry, steel and machinery, instead of consumer goods.
Lenin established collective farm units whereby all the profits were shared by farmers.

26. How did Stalin secure his power within the party and within the Soviet Union?
Though collectivization of agriculture failed, after four years, Stalin claimed success.
Though there was a scarcity of consumer goods, there was full employment, low cost utilities, cheap housing, and food.
While the U.S. stock market and capitalist nations struggled, the Soviet Union’s planned economy created more jobs than workers could fill.

27. How did Stalin secure his power within the party and within the Soviet Union?
Because of the failure of collectivization of agriculture, there was opposition. Stalin removed high ranking officers from posts, and persons suspected of opposition were executed or placed in labor camps.
In 1939, eight million Soviets were in labor camps and three million were dead. (“Cleansing”)
The establishment of the first dictatorship of the proletariat challenged liberal institutions everywhere.

28. What are the defining characteristics of fascism
What are the defining characteristics of fascism? Why did it appeal to the people of Italy and Germany?
Fascism emphasized an extreme form of nationalism, often expressed as racism; veneration of the state; devotion to charismatic leaders and militarism; uniforms and parades.
There was widespread disillusionment, ineffective government, widespread economic and social discontent, and a growing fear of socialism.
There was widespread disappointment over Italy and Germany’s territorial consequences after the Great War.

29. Describe Hitler’s Rise to Power.