I.                    Postwar Problems

a.       Before the war there were three western democracies, Britain, France, and the United States who appeared to be powerful and had ruled at the Paris Peace Conference.

b.      At first the major issue was finding jobs for veterans returning from war and rebuilding the lands that had been destroyed.

c.       Other troubles included unrest from the Europeans and important strong leaders who had been lost in the war.

 

II.                 Pursuing Peace

a.       During the 1920's diplomats worked hard for peace and many shared the fears of British prime minister who stated that one more war in the west would ruin them.

b.      Around 1925 a series of treaties was made and the "spirit of Locarno" was where almost every dependent nation in the world promised to renounce war as an instrument of national policy.

c.       Although the Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawed war there was no possible way to enforce it.

 

III.               Recovery and Collapse

a.       Everyone was having problems with their economy and one of the major problems was overproduction.

b.      In the US in the late 1920's the stocks in New York soared and so no one expected in 1929 for the major stock crash to occur.

c.       The stock market crash triggered the Great Depression of the 1930's.

d.       

IV.              Britain in the Postwar Era

a.       In Germany during the 1920's unemployment was severe and so in 1926 a general strike b workers in many industries lasted 9 days long.

b.      During the 1920's the Labor Party gained a lot of power because it gained support of the working class.

c.       In 1916 a small group of Irish nationalist (IRA) launched a revolt against British forces.

 

V.                 France Pursues Security

a.       France emerged from World War I as a victor and a looser because they had suffered enormous casualties but their economy was not as affected as most countries.

b.      Still some economic problems added to an unstable political scene.

c.       France built the Maginot Line along its border to secure its borders against Germany.

 

VI.              Prosperity and Depression in the United States

a.       The United States refused to join the League of Nations so that they could avoid foreign entanglements.

b.      The US tried to limit immigration from overseas because too many people were trying to immigrate to there.

c.       Communism has little appeal to the middle class of the US in the 1920’s because they were enjoying the benefits of capitalism

 

VII.            New Views of the Universe

a.       By the early 1900’s scientists were experimenting with radioactivity which they discovered is where the atoms of certain elements spontaneously release charged particles.

b.      In 1905 Einstein argued that space and time measurements are not absolute but are determined by many factors, some of them unknown.

c.       The Austrian physician suggested that the unconscious mind drives such human behavior.

 

VIII.         The New Literature

a.       In the 1920’s war novels, poetry plays, and memoirs flowed off the press that exposed the grim horrors of modern warfare.

b.      To many postwar writers the war symbolized the moral breakdown of western civilization.

c.       During this time writers experimented with a new technique called stream of consciousness and in this a writer probes a characters random thoughts and feelings without imposing any logic or order.

 

IX.              Modern Art and Architecture

a.       Pablo Picasso and his friend created a new style called Cubism and in it they broke three dimensional objects into fragments and composed them into complex patterns of angles and planes.

b.      During and after the war Dada burst into the Paris art world and it was a revolt against civilization. Its goal was to “give the bourgeoisie a whiff of chaos”.

c.       During this time architecture too rejected classical traditions and invented new styles such as industrial, urban world.

 

X.                 Popular Culture

a.       New technologies helped create a mass culture shared by millions in the world’s developed countries.

b.      Movie stars made famous by Hollywood had fans on ever continent.

c.       Jazz was extremely popular during this time and it was originated by Africa Americans.

XI.              A Changing Society

a.       After war many people wanted to return to what was normal for them but rebellious young people rejected the moral values and rules of the Victorian Age.

b.      Flappers were the “bad girls” of this era and they were the ones who rejected the old ways by bobbing their hair and wearing skirts far shorter than before.

c.       The postwar period did not bring much change for most women yet a few made a difference such as Marie Curie who won 2 Nobel prizes for her work in chemistry and physics.

 

XII.            Rise of Mussolini

a.       The Italian people were outraged by the Paris Peace Conference and at the same time things at home were even worse with workers striking and trade declining and taxes rising.

b.      Benito Mussolini had been a socialist in his youth but during the war he switched to a belief in an intense nationalism so he started the Fascist Party.

c.       Mussolini organized a group of his supporters into “combat squads” who used violent action to combat democracy.

 

XIII.         Mussolini's Italy

a.       At first the Fascists held only a few cabinet positions but by 1925 Mussolini had assumed more power and taken the title Il Duce or “The Leader”.

b.      Mussolini put the economy under state control to end conflicts between owners and workers.

c.       In the eyes of a Fascist the individual is unimportant except as a member of the state.

 

XIX.         What is Fascism

a.       It is a term that does not have one determined meaning but today we generally use the term to describe any authoritarian government that is not communist.

b.      Fascists and communists are both very different because communists called for world revolution of the proletariat and fascists pursued national goals.

c.       Mussolini built the first totalitarian state and it served as a model for others.

 

XX.           Struggles of the Weimar Republic

a.       The Weimer republic faced many problems because if was politically weak because Germany had many small parties.

b.      Economic disaster caused even more unrest because Germany had serious problems from there reparations.

c.       With help from the Western government Germany did bring the inflation under control.

 

XXI.         Adolf Hitler

a.       He grew up in Vienna and at age 18 he tried to enter art school but got turned down.

b.      In 1923 Hitler made a failed attempt to seize power in Munich and got thrown in jail and while he was there he wrote Mein Kampf which means my struggle.

c.       After Hitler got out of jail he tried to get power again and found that he found followers among veterans and lower-middle-class people who felt frustrated about the future.

 

XXII.      Hitler's Third Reich

a.       Once in power Hitler moved to build a new Germany and he appealed to nationalism by recalling past glories.

b.      To achieve Hitler’s goals he organized a brutal system, of terror, repression, and totalitarian rule.

c.       To combat the Great Depression Hitler launched large public works programs.

 

XXIII.    Purging German Culture

a.       Nazis used the arts and education as propaganda tools and they denounced modern art saying it was corrupted by Jewish influence.

b.      Hitler despised Christianity because he viewed it as weak and flabby and he sought to replace religion with racial creed.

c.        Hitler set out to drive Jews from Germany by slowly taking away their freedoms.

 

XXIV.   Night of the Broken Glass

a.       One horrible night called Kristallnacht or Night of broken glass is what started all of the terror for Jews.

b.      Nazi-led mob attacked Jewish communities all over Germany and brutally killed many Jews and burned and destroyed there homes and things.

c.       This event brought such bad publicity to Hitler that the event was never repeated again. 

 

XIX.         Looking Ahead

a.       In the 1930’s Germany became Europe’s second fascists state.

b.      Germans of all kinds responded to the wild promises and great speeches that Hitler made.

c.       While Hitler won absolute power in Germany he sought to expand Germany’s power in Europe.

 

XX.           Authoritarian Rule in Eastern Europe

a.       Like Germany, most new nations in Eastern Europe moved from democratic to authoritarian rule.

b.      Old rivalries between ethnic and religious groups created severe tensions.

c.       These ethnic and religious problems caused a lot of unrest which helped the fascist leaders to gain power.