05 Between WWI and WWII

Unit Overview

Student Contribution #1

World war one ended with a peace agreement to stop the war. Later the Monroe Doctrine was signed by all countries. Being World War I only war to occur again. Peace settlement decided by the United States, France, and Britain. Germany was blamed for causing it, thus had to pay for the loss in all countries involved, causing much embarrassment for the country of Germany. It lost parts of land and people, Military reduced to less than one-eighth of a size, Germany ordered to pay the cost of war. All in all, morale was down because of the millions of men were killed. Everyone was in an economic depression, giving room for many new ideas of revolutions and nationalism around the world. Japan, Germany, Italy and the United States and many others have different desires that all believe the only way to regain power and economic efforts was to expand the country.

Japan borders were enclosing and their population was rapidly increasing, with no more economic support from the USA halting trades. Japan had a feeling of no choice but to expand outwards for the betterment of its people. Telling its citizens that their victory and succession will have to be bloody, because that is the only way to restore Japan’s economy. Germany’s citizens were angered by the outcomes and felt a need for a new revolution to happen. This created a rise in communism, and Adolf Hitler wanted to have ultimate militarism within its country, with ideas of a war possibly forming. He was a military commander who wanted to invest the economy on militarizing the country and creating new weaponry. New social roles for women while the men were in war, they were now able to find jobs outside the home and had the right to vote.

A new wave of nationalism and propaganda spread in all countries, Hollywood started dramatizing the war and with the new technology of radio and television, propaganda was in its highest. The USA goes into isolation. This all could have been avoided if there was a central world organization to intervene in the countries uncertainties.

Student Contribution #2:

At the end of WWI there were clear winners and clear losers. The victorious Allies took the opportunity to create a treaty that established clear blame for the billions of dollars and lives lost in WWI. The world was left in an economic depression because of WWI and it encouraged revenge among the countries. Germany was left in a state of shock after the Versailles Treaty was put into effect. The 1929 Crash further plunged Europe into economic hardship. This caused a rise of nationalism among counties along with isolationist policies in order to stay out of another war. The attempt to create world order happened when the League of Nations was created but during inter-war it was found ineffective. The rise of dictators came apparent during the inter-war such as Nazism in Germany, Fascism in Italy, Imperialism in Japan, and Totalitarian rule in USSR. The accumulation of these events lead to the beginning of WWII.

WWI resulted in both immediate and long term consequences. The immediate consequences were the losses of millions of people and the loss of billions of dollars, along with worldwide depression until WWII. The long term consequences were political policies put in place because of the war such as isolationists policies put in place by the U.S. and other countries. The war also weakened countries for future war because of the massive loss of people and money. Women roles began to change due to their war involvement and loss of men. To create order back in each country the League of Nations was created. There was also economic weakness worldwide which created future economic depression.

After WWI Japan turned to democracy and new economic ideas along with new thoughts about diplomacy. Japan declared war on the U.S. because of raw resources needed for independent industrial growth. They also opposed the colonial powers in Southeast Asia which were the British, Dutch, and the French. Germany turned to Nazism and Italy turned to Fascism after WWI which incorporated total government control of society. They both embraced Fascism in order to seek an improved economic stability. The Germans embraced Hitler to fix Germanys current economic problems of a high inflation rate and a high unemployment rate. Hitler also promised to fix the social and political unrest in Germany. As for the U.S. F.D.R. wanted to build confidence in the U.S. economy by creating the New Deal. The New Deal invested in the economy in order to get the U.S. out of economic depression. The U.S. also embraced isolationism to stay out of another war which reduced immigration by 50%. The US moved away from interfering with Latin American affairs and moved toward supporting European allies. After an appeasement failed in Europe this lead to the second world war. To prepare for this war the U.S. To promote nationalism within the U.S. and promote the war, there were films and propaganda aimed at influencing the American people.

Key Vocabulary Terms:

Set #1

• Fascism: Fascism is where a dictator has all of the power within the nation and rules all of the people within it. The people are not allowed to go against or disagree with what the government says. Benito Mussolini was the first fascist leader in Europe. The word fascism was taken from the Latin word fasces, which meant official authority. A big focus of the fascist party is, having a very strong military, By the end of World War II, fascism bas banned in West Germany and Italy while in other Countries fascism was broken up.
• Mandates: Mandates were used by the League of Nations to authorize another nation to govern a former Turkish or German colony. This came into play after World War I. The German colonies throughout Africa were split up among the Allied powers, along with the Ottoman Empire under the authority of Article 22. This was made by the Allies to divide the mandates based on Location, and level of political and economic development. By 1949 all Turkish provinces mandates were independent and no longer in control by European countries. In 1946 the UN trusteeship system replaced the mandate system.
• Militarism: Militarism is the belief that the country should have a strong military and use it to gain power, or to defend themselves from enemy forces. Nazi Germany was well known for this along with the United States of American. They both practice militarism. After World War II militarism in Germany was reduced by a significant amount since they lost the war.
• League of Nations: The League of Nations was created after world war one in the Treaty of Versailles. It was an international organization to help maintain world peace. Its purpose was to prevent wars from happening and they would do this through negotiation and collective security, which was if one country went against another, they went against all the other countries in the League of Nations. During World War II it was not active because the members were unable to take action against Germany, Italy and Japan. Eventually in 1946 League of Nations had been replaced by the United Nations.
• Caliph In Arabic caliph means successor. A caliph is known as the leader of the Muslim state, who is a successor from the prophet Muhammad. The caliphs were chosen through a form of early democracy called shura. The caliphs were to carry out prophet Muhammad’s work and to be the head of the Muslim community but they were never seen as having the same prophetical power as Muhammad.
• Balfour Declaration The Balfour Declaration was a statement written by Arthur James Balfour from the British government giving the Jews a national home in Palestine, without prejudice against the non-Jewish community rights and political status. Zionists were people who wanted Palestine to be the Jewish National home, so when the Balfour Declaration was created it was considered a huge triumph for Zionists. Later on, the Jews violated the “Civil and religious rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.

Set #2

• Nation-state: It is the type of state where the political entity of a state and the cultural entity of a nation are joined. It hit its peak in the when the Nazis were in control of Germany. Any people with non-German background were not considered a part of the people and were targeted for persecution.
• Political democracy: The political system where it is government by the people using majority rule. There was a move away from this system in many countries after the war, with many going towards a more socialist way of government.
• Socialism: The theory that states that the means of production, distribution, and exchange by the community as a whole. After WWI, there was a rise of this political system in Russia and Germany and ultimately led to WWII.
• Totalitarian state: It is a repressive, unfree nation. They government has complete control over political, social, and cultural matters. After WWI, this type of state had risen to power in Italy, Germany, and in the Soviet Union.
• Normalcy: This is the movement the US had to return things back to normal after the war. This included disbarment of the military, returning to an isolationistic foreign policy, and restricting immigration. Other things that happened during this time were the prohibition of alcohol and the Great Depression.
• Good Neighbor Policy: It was the foreign policy of President Roosevelt’s administration towards Latin America. They would withdraw the troops from Latin and South America. They also would support the democratic governments in those areas. In addition, they would have indirect control through economic trading companies.

Potential Essay Questions:

Essay Question #1. Describe the rise of power of Hitler in Germany. What were the reasons for Hitler's success in gaining public support for his plans?

This answer depends heavily upon the lecture notes and video clips displayed during class along with what you learned about Hitler's ideas described in the earlier unit on Genocide and The Holocaust. Especially note the interactions between England's Prime Minister Chamberlain and Hitler. Some of the assigned readings would also be useful: Citino's "Meet the Frekorps", and Dattilo's "German Austria Annexation".

Student Contribution #1

1. Hitler

a. Chancellor of Germany

i. A strong leader, Fhurer

b. Representing a political party

i. German Workers’ Party

ii. Dominant of conservatives

c. Experience through wars

i. A soldier fighting in the frontlines

2. Observations/analyzations of Hitler

a. Projecting power in his communications

i. Video of Chamberlin visiting Hitler for a meeting

ii. Leading the Nazis

iii. Wanting a change for Germany

b. Using advantages and looking over strong and ignoring the weak

i. Ex. Appeasement: showing appeasement would express signs of weakness

c. Addressing the emotion of hate that created fear to the civilians

i. And ideology the German soldiers lived on

1. “Meet the Freikorps”

3. Relation to the public

a. Reference article “Meet the Freikorps”

i. Process of Germany after the war

ii. German volunteers aiding as mercenaries for Germany

iii. Influenced soldiers who did not want to return to civilian life.

b. Influence speeches

i. Displaying the fight for liberty and Justice

1. Between Wars Day Two Only lecture: Charlie Chaplin films

ii. Communication with country as a whole

1. Goal of unifying all German-speaking areas

a. Germany Annexes Austria transcript

Essay Question #2. Communication and miscommunication was an important factor for events that occurred during this period between World War One and World War Two. Compare and contrast the messages given by Germany, Great Britain, and the United States either by their governments or by their leaders? What were the purposes of the messages and what evidence did they use to convince the listeners to believe them?

This answer depends heavily upon the assigned readings (speeches by Roosevelt and Hitler; article about the British poster boys) and the videos displayed during class (Hitler's speeches, Talks between Chamberlain and Hitler, Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, U.S. Government's Prelude to War).

Student Contribution #1

A. Communication during and between WWI and WWII

a. Germany

i. Germany was very active in their efforts in using propaganda to influence and persuade its citizens to join the war effort

1. Art, music, theater, film, books, radio, and press were all skewed by German government to convey a particular message

2. Permitted and encouraged violence against Jews

3. Nazi Germany was made to seem as if it were restoring order within the country

ii. Hitler

1. Implemented regulations that affected cinema

2. Spoke in ways that created suspense and made the citizens feel excited about their efforts against the Jews and restoring Germany

b. United States

i. Instigated hatred for opposing countries and supported the allies in the war

1. Patriotism: an emotional feeling towards a nation that is viewed as a homeland

2. Men were encouraged to enlist in the military, women were encouraged to help in factory jobs in order to produce supplies for the war, farmers were encouraged to grow more crops

3. Citizens saw these opportunities as debts they owed their country

c. Britain

i. Propaganda was aimed at local and distant audiences, some even overseas

1. Encouraged individuals to become involved in the war effort

2. Emphasized the importance of supporting the allies

3. Citizen opportunities: grow vegetables, save metal, start work in munition factories

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