Intra-War Years

Russian Revolution

Russian Government Before

Revolution

Monarchy: The Czar (Tsar)

The Tsar's powers were unlimited

Russia had no constitution

A strong secret police which terrorized

the people.

Czar Nicholas II (1894)

Last Czar of Russia

Nicholas II was a harsh and weak ruler

The Russian economy was bankrupt

WWI Russia’s entry into WWI became very

unpopular.

Czar Nicholas II and Family

Russia and World War I

Russia declares war on Austria-

Hungary

War becomes unpopular

Rationing leads to starvation

Nicholas II leaves St. Petersburg to war

front opening the door for a revolution

October (Bolshevik) Revolution-

1917

Lead by Vladimir Lenin “Peace, Land, and

Bread”

Won support of people (especially

peasants)

Russia becomes a Communist country

and is renamed the Soviet Union

1918

1918 March The Bolsheviks accept the

peace of Brest-Litovsk, ending WWI with

Germany.

Russia gives up much land to Germany in

the treaty.

Communism

A Form of Socialism

Gov’t (Communist Party) makes decisions

on individual jobs and pay

The Treaty of Versailles

“The Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts,

the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and

damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their

nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed

on them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.”

Treaty of Versailles, Article 231

BRAT

1. Germany had to accept the Blame for starting the war in the

form of a “war guilt” clause.

Germany’s punishment in the Treaty can be

remembered as:

Germany

• The reparations covered the destruction caused by the war,

pensions for millions of Allied soldiers, widows and families.

2. Germany had to pay over $33 billion in Reparations, or fines.

BRAT

1. Germany had to accept the Blame for starting the war in the

form of a “war guilt” clause.

Germany’s punishment in the Treaty can be

remembered as:

Germany

3. Germany was forbidden to have an Army over 100,000 men,

no submarines, and no air force.

2. Germany had to pay over $33 billion in Reparations, or fines.

BRAT

1. Germany had to accept the Blame for starting the war in the

form of a “war guilt” clause.

Germany

Germany’s punishment in the Treaty can be

remembered as:

3. Germany was forbidden to have an Army over 100,000 men,

no submarines, and no air force.

4. Germany lost Territory and colonies to Britain and France.

2. Germany had to pay over $33 billion in Reparations, or fines.

BRAT

1. Germany had to accept the Blame for starting the war in the

form of a “war guilt” clause.

Germany

Germany’s punishment in the Treaty can be

remembered as:

President Woodrow Wilson created the League

of Nations.

The countries that joined the League promised to

take cooperative economic and military actions

against any aggressive country.

Wilson’s Creation

The United States Congress rejected the League

because Americans feared it would pull them into

future European wars.

Russia and Germany could not join

The lack of the US severely weakened the

League.

Many nations were upset with the Treaty of Versailles, and felt

their goals had not been achieved.

• Germany was horrified by their reparations,

reduced military, and territorial losses.

• Italy wanted to gain more land from Austria than

it received.

• Americans also felt the Treaty was too harsh on

Germany, and the US Congress refused to

approve it.

• Russia was angry they were not invited to

Versailles, and upset over losing Finland,

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Unfortunately, the

treaty that ended the

“war to end all wars”

merely provided the

motivation for WWII,

just twenty years later.

World-wide Depression• Causes

- 1929 stock market crash (Starts in

the US) “Black Tuesday” – October

29th 1929

- dominance of U.S. in world market

(US falls, so does everyone else…

like dominos)

- German Reparations Payments

-Many European countries in debt to

the U.S. from WWI

-France and Germany had a lot of

destruction from WWI

-Poor economies even before the

World-Wide Depression

World Wide Effects

• Effects

– high unemployment

– bank failures (people lost their savings)

– collapse of credit (no one could borrow

money)

– lead to unstable governments in Europe

– runaway inflation- Inflation is the rate at which

the general level of prices for goods and

services is rising and power of currency falls

Rise of Nazism

• The Nazi Party was formed in 1919

• Hitler joined the party shortly after its inception

• Germany was in a state of disarray after the First World War

1919-1923

• Many Germans felt that they had been ‘Stabbed in the back’ by the German government by signing the Treaty of Versailles.

• People feared a Communist revolution in Germany.

• Nazis gained popularity by saying that they would not adhere to the Treaty of Versailles.

1923: Munich/Beer Hall Putsch

• By 1923 the Nazi party had

gained much support in Bavaria.

• Adolf Hitler attempted to seize

control force.

• Despite having many

sympathisers the coup

(overthrow of the government)

failed and Hitler was imprisoned.

• The failure of the Munich Putsch

demonstrates that power needs

to be taken through legal means.

Regrouping

• While in prison Hitler

analysed, developed and

refined the party’s strategy

• Shift to winning electoral

support

• Development of

propaganda tools

• Attempts to win support of

big business

1924-1929

• Focus on traditional

German values

• Built fear of communists

groups

• Continued use of military

imagery

Absolute Power

• Invited to become Chancellor

by politicians who believed that

Hitler could be manipulated

• Hitler and the Nazis takes more

and more power.

• By 1933 the Nazi Party’s rise to

power was complete