Interwar Period 1919-1939

Bakke

Great Depression in Europe

• 1) Financial crisis war & Versailles settlement

• 2) Crisis in the production and distribution of goods in the world market

• 3) No country provided strong economic leadership or sense of cooperation

Financial Tailspin

• Germany claimed to be in default of reparations – January 1923 France occupies the Ruhr mining &

manufacturing district – Weimar orders passive resisitance – Easing of reparations on Ger

• Oct 1929- Wall St. Stock market crash – little capital investment left for EUR – Keditanstalt bank crashes in Central Europe

Agricultural/Commodities Crisis • World Wheat Prices fell to record lows • farmers make less buy less consumer

and industrial goods • Worsened by worldwide financial depression• Result:– Stagnation and depression for Eur industry – Unemployment spread from ag sector to those

producing consumer goods – Less govt. spending worsens problem of

investment

Weimar Germany

• Made up of Socialist Democrats, moderate SPD, & German Liberals

• Most known for accepting the humiliating terms of Versailles Treaty of 1919

• Weimar Constitution– Highly enlightened– Complicated representive Reichstag system

Haunted by Versailles

• 1921 Presented w/ final bill for WWI 132 Billion

• 1923 French Occupation of the Ruhr • Inflation= printing money to pay debts; Runs

wild in Weimar Germany • Devastated by unemployment and worldwide

economic depression

Hitler’s Early Career • WWI Veteran • Austrian born; Settles in Munich GER;

Influenced by Mayor Karl Leuger • NDAP formed in 1920 (few members) – Formulate 25 Point Program of Nazi Party • Repudiation of Versailles• Union w/ Austria• Exclusion of Jews• Economic & Ag Reforms that benefit farmers/sm

businesses

SA Storm Troopers Formed c1925

• “Brown Shirts” • Paramilitary organization that provided its

members w/ food, uniforms, wages • Role: Chief Nazi instrument of terror and

intimidation– Who ? – Why?

• SA – Numbers over 1 million strong by 1933

Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923• Failed Revolution to

overthrow the Weimar Republic

• Arrested, tried, and sentenced to 5yrs– writes Mein Kampf

• 1) Moment when he saw himself as leader of mvt

• 2) He and Nazi’s must come to power legally

Stresseman Stability & Spirit of Locarno

• Only moderately successful period in Weimar (1924-29) Chancellor/For Min

• Stabilized inflation, lower unemployment

• Renegotiated reparations payments– Forced French out of Ruhr

• Attempted to ‘revise’ Versailles diplomatically

• Oct 1925 Locarno Agreements – New hope for lasting peace in EUR

And then … The Depression

• Govt Deadlocked to solve crisis• Bruning appt. as Chancellor– Evokes Article 48 of Constitution

• 1932--6 Million Germans unemployed – Appeal of Radical Extremist Parties• Communists and Nazis

Presidential Election of 1932

• Tallman (KPD) Hitler (NSDAP) Hindenburg (I)• 10% 36.8% 50.3%

Chancellor Carrousel

• Bruning Franz Von Papen Kurt Von Schleicher Hitler (Jan 30 1933)

Hitler’s Consolidation of Power

• 1) Capture of full legal authority• 2) crushing of alternative polt. Groups• 3) Purging of rivals w/in Nazi Party

Reichstag Fire Feb 27 1933• Dutch Communist

(mentally ill) sets fire to Reichstag

• Effect: Communists outlawed/arrested & Article 48 invoked

• March 1933: Enabling Act Passed- Rule by Decree

"'This is a God-given signal! If this fire, as I believe, turns out to be the handiwork of Communists, then there is nothing that shall stop us now crushing out this murder pest with an iron fist.'

Timeline • May 1933- Leftist trade Unions seized• July 1933- Nazi Party only legal Party in

GER • June 1934- Purge of Ernst Roehm and the

SA– Knight of the Long Knives

• Aug 1934 President Hindenburg Dies• Sept 1935 Nuremburg Laws Passed

The Nazi State • The Police State of

the SS (Schutszstaffel) Black Shirts – Primary vehicle for

surveillance (Gestapo)

– Led by Himmler – Most elite Nazi

paramilitary organization

Society and Gender in the Third Reich

• Women– Saw women as educators of the young and protectors of German cultural

values – Women were encouraged to bear many children – Task: To preserve racial purity – Cult of Domesticity and Motherhood embraced

• Socially- – Hitler Youth formed– Social programs- ‘Strength through Joy’ – Volkswagen program – Cultural identity- Book burnings/Censorship, Propaganda, Volksgemeinshaft,

German culture celebrated i.e. Wagner etc.

Hitler’s Goals

• 1) intended to bring the entire German Volk together into a single nation (Grossdeutsh)

• 2) Lebensraum in the East • 3) Destruction of Versailles– Withdrew from League of Nations – Renounced disarmament of Treaty• Army and Air Force of 500K raised via conscription

– March 1936 Remilitarization of the Rhineland

Remilitarization of the Reinland

Formation of the Axis Powers • Italy Invades

Ethiopia 1935• The Spanish Civil

War 1936– Franco becomes

fascist leader of SPA

• 1936- Anti-Comitern Pact brings Japan into Axis

Policy of Appeasement • Tenants: – 1) Germany had real grievances– 2) Hitler’s Goals were limited– 3) Best policy was to negotiate and make

concessions b/f a crisis could lead to war

• Austria March 1938 – Anschluss w/ Austria

• Czechoslovakia – Sudetenland

• Munich Conference

Failure of Munich • “I have no more territorial demands to make

in Europe”. – Adolf Hitler • “It is a peace with honor. I believe it is peace

for our time.” --Neville Chamberlain • 15 March 1939 – Hitler breaks promise,

occupies Prague and all of Czechoslovakia• Next up…

• Polish Corridor (Spring 1939)

Nazi – Soviet Pact of Non Agression• AUG 1939-

Divided Poland & Gave Rus the Baltic states

• Sept 1939- Ger invaded Poland- WWII Begins

German Conquest of Europe • April 1940- Invasion of Denmark & Norway• May 1940- BeNeLux Invaded– Dunkirk

• Maginot Line Exposed on the left flank (Bel)• May 1940 France invaded – Surrenders in

under 6 weeks • Vichy Govt. Set up under Petain – DeGaulle

Flees to England “Free French” est.

Maginot Line

Vichy France

Battle of Britain Aug 1940• German

Luftwaffe vs British RAF

• London bombed every night

Operation Barbarossa June 1941• Seige of

Leningrad• Battle of

Stalingrad• Why? • Hitler wanted

Lebensraum in the East

America Enters the War

• Dec 7 1941 Pearl Harbor • Pacific Theater opens– Battle of Midway turning

point

• Allied landings in Sicily/Italy-- Nov 1942

• Downfall of Mussolini –AUG 1943