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.”

4. (1) What are some examples of the “postwar pessimism” of the 1920’s?
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.
Painting created reality but did not reflect it.

5. Why did liberal values such as progress and democracy fall under attack at this time?
Scientists and technology were responsible for making the poisonous gas and explosives that destroyed millions of people, agriculture and cities.
Many intellectuals became disillusioned with democracy because they saw it as lacking positive values, i.e. too much focus on the individual.
Some worried about the “rule of inferiors.” Remember Darwin and “scientific racism.”

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

7. What caused the crash of 1929 and the depression that followed
What caused the crash of 1929 and the depression that followed? Discuss three factors.
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.

8. What were some of the economic problems facing the world powers in the 1920’s? Give two.
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.
Japan’s dependence on the U.S. markets collapsed when the U.S. instituted high tariffs on foreign imports.
Foreign trade fell sharply between 1929 and 1932 causing further losses in manufacturing and employment.

9. What were some of the economic problems facing the world powers in the 1920’s? Give two.
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.

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

11. What was the impact of the depression on social attitudes
What was the impact of the depression on social attitudes? On women and families?
Many 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.

12. 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.”

13. 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.

14. How did the New Deal of President Roosevelt exemplify this solution?
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.

15. 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.

16. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks secure their power in Russia?
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.

17. Vladimir Lenin

18. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks secure their power in Russia?
In October 1917, Lenin and his Bolshevik Party 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.

19. 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.
The Communists won the Civil War because the Whites were divided.
The Reds controlled the key cities, industrial centers and communication links.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. Discuss three of Hitler’s beliefs as stated in Mein Kampf.
Cross-breeding between two unequal beings will result in a less superior race.
Nature disapproves of the blending of higher races with lower ones.
All of the great civilizations died out because of the contamination of their blood.
The Aryan race is responsible for all great developments in art, science, and technology.
The Jews provide the greatest contrast to the Aryans (anti-Semitism).

26. Describe three actions of the Nazi party that allowed them to impose their rule.
They eliminated all working class and liberal opposition.
They eliminated all other political parties and made it a crime to create a new party.
They eliminated all constitutional and civil rights.
They made the National Socialist Party (Nazi Party) the only legal party.
They replaced Germany’s federal structure with a highly centralized state and eliminated state and municipal governments.
They eliminated trade unions and collective bargaining which prohibited strikes.
They took control of all police forces. And removed enemies of the regime through incarceration or murder.

27. Two warring factions emerged in China between the wars: the Nationalists and the Communists. What was the motivation for each, what were their beliefs or values, and what advantages did each have? You can create a chart if you would like.

28. The Nationalists Peoples Party
Motivation: Disappointed in the results of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference which allowed more Japanese interference in China.This gave rise to the May Fourth Movement which was spearheaded by students and intellectuals in China’s urban areas.
Beliefs: Rid China of imperialism and re-establish national unity.
Sun Yatsen’s Three Principles of the People: Elimination of special privileges for foreigners; national reunification, economic development and a democratic republican government based on universal suffrage.
Sun Yatsen’s Goal: Bring the country under control of his Nationalist People’s Party or Guomindang.

29. The Chinese Communist Party
Motivation: (1) Disillusionment with the self-interest of the U.S. and European powers and (2) Intrigue with Lenin’s Marxist thought and the Economic Experiments in the Soviet Union.
Beliefs: Mao Zedong’s Chinese form of Marxist-Leninism or Maoism – the belief that peasants rather than urban proletariats were the foundation for a successful revolution. He also believed in women’s equality and divorce and he opposed arranged marriages and foot binding.

30. China’s Civil War
With the help of Soviet advisors, China implemented a political system which unified China’s Communist Party and the Guomindang temporarily.
When Sun Yatsen died in 1925, Jiang Jieshi, a general who trained in Japan and the Soviet Union, did not believe in the idea of a social revolution involving the masses of China.
Jieshi turned against his Communist alllies and set up a central government in Nanjing, declaring the Guomindang the official government.

31. China’s Civil War Jieshi’s new national government had three problems:
Nationalists only controlled part of China, leaving the rest of the country in the hands of warlords.
By the 1930’s communist revolution was still a threat.
The Guomindang faced increasing Japanese aggression.
Jieshi focused his attention on eliminating the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Army.

32. China’s Civil War
The Communist forces fled in October 1934 to avoid annihilation (The Long March).
80,000 troops of the Red Army traveled some 6,215 miles, fighting hunger, disease and the Guomindang forces.
This march inspired many Chinese to join the Communist Party.
Mao Zedong emerged as the leader of the Chinese communist movement and came up with a Chinese form of Marxist-Leninism.

33. A problem with India’s nationalist movement centered around two contrasting ideas. Contrast the views of Mohandas Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Gandhi: He advocated uniting India through manual labor and the revival of rural cottage industries and the boycott of British institutions.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who headed the Muslim League, proposed two states: Pakistan (land of the pure) and India (Hindu).