Jimmy Laureano

Chapter 26 Notes
The Political Experiments of the 1920s
I. Political and Economic Factors the Paris Settlement
Many nations turned/changed to liberal democratic because of
population
A. Demands for Revision of the Paris Settlement
Many nations not satisfied: unhappy w/reparation arrangements, eastern
Euro. countries felt treated unjustly (denied self-determination), border
adjustments, & Allies felt treaty too lenient = calls to revise
B. Postwar Economic Problems
Euro. economy couldnt return to pre-war conditions = economic
dominance weakened
Many states in debt by 1918 to U.S or other states; Bolsheviks denied
debt of tsar govt
No international economic cooperation = individual nations tried
pursuing selfish economic aims
Facilities (transportation, mines, & industry) destroyed by war, new
boundaries separated source of raw materials from factories = new small
states weak economically
C. New Roles for Government and Labor
Worker Unions supported war = members received better wages

After war, wages fell; collective bargaining & union recognition =

improvement in statues/influence of labor
II. The Soviet Experiment Begins
A. War Communism
W/in months of revolution, Cheka (new secret police) appears

Political & economic administration became highly centralized

Under war communism economy policy, revolution govt confiscated/ran

banks, transport system, & heavy industry; seized grain from peasants
for army/city-workers; civil war permitted suppression of opposition of
this policy
Some domestic opposition: peasants tried to resist, strikes, & Baltic fleet
mutinied
B. The New Economic Policy
March 1921: After opposition, Lenin outlined the New Economic Policy
(NEP)
NEP: Govt would tolerate private enterprise (capitalism), peasants could
farm for profit; was unsuccessful
C. Stalin Versus Trotsky
After the death of Lenin (1924), Trotsky & Stalin in conflict for power
Trotskys Position

Left Wing: Urged quick industrialization agriculture should be

collectivized; Russias revolution could only succeed if other nations also
revolutionized
Stalins Rise
Was commissar of nationalities & party general secretary, had power due
to position
Nikolai Bukharin: editor of Pravda, voice of Right Wing, opposed quick
industrialization, pressed for continuation of NEP when economy not able
to recover
Stalin used power to kick Trotsky out of party (1927), & eventually into
exile in Mexico, later murdered by an agent (1940)
D. The Third International
West socialists saw Bolsheviks as Marxist extremists, Bolsheviks saw
them an enemies
Soviets founded Third International (1919) of the European socialist
movement (Comintern); Bolshevik model of socialism was seen as the
rule of all other socialist parties outside the Soviet Union
1921: Comintern imposed Twenty-one Conditions on socialist parties
that wanted to join
Conditions: acknowledging Moscows leadership, rejection of
reform/revision socialism, reputing previous socialist leaders, & adopt
Communist Party name
Decision to accept = communist/socialist partied emerged in other
countries
E. Women and the Family in the Early Soviet Union
Utopian projections of family life: writer Alexandra Kollontai wrote
Communism and The Family (1918): new kind of family
Views: Expansion of sexual freedom, sharing home tasks b/ween
husband & wife; few people agreed with her views
Family Legislation from Reform to Repression
From 1917, Bolsheviks issued laws that affected women: Easier to
divorce, marriage no longer religious ceremony, illegitimate children had
same rights as legitimate, more protection in workplace/marriage,
abortion legalized (1920)
Problems from civil war in 1920s disrupted soviet lifestyle: husbands left
wives trough divorce, domestic violence, birthrate fell, more
abortions/abandoned children,
Women had education opportunities & to achieve high positions in party
III. The Fascist Experiment in Italy
Fascism: used to describe right wing dictatorships that arose Europe;
govt were antidemocratic, anti-Marxist, antiparliamentary, & antiSemitic; singe-party dictatorships, used terror & police surveillance
B. The Rise of Mussolini

Was editor of a socialist newspaper (Avanti), but support for war lost him
editorship; nationalism replaced socialism as his ideology for national
revolution
Starts own paper, Il Popolo dItalia, served in the army, was wounded
Postwar Italian Political Turmoil
During war, Parliament had no power, Italians felt they werent treated
as great power
Extreme nationalist Gabriele DAnnunzio seized Fiume w/force of patriotic
Italians, driven out by Italian army = showed how a non-govt force could
be put to political use
B/ween 1919-1921, strikes were common, peasants seized uncultivated
lands, no cooperation in Parliament because of Socialist Party & Catholic
Popular Party
Early Fascist Organization
Mussolini targeted socialists, they supported internationalism & workingclass interests
Formed local squads of terrorists: Disrupted Socialist Party meetings,
beat up leaders/supporters, attacked strikers; later intimidated local
officials = control local govt
March on Rome
1921 elections: Mussolini & 34 followers sent to Chamber of Deputies =
much support
October 1922: Wearing black shirts, began march on Rome (Black Shirt
March)
Victor Emmanuel III refused to sign decree to stop them = assured
fascist seizure of power
October 29, Mussolini appointed P.M by Emmanuel
C. The Fascists in Power
Mussolini appointed P.M, was ruthless, Nov. 23,1922: granted doctoral
authority for 1 year
Repression of Opposition
1924: Change of election law = Fascists won complete control of
Chamber of Deputies
1925/1926: laws allowed Mussolini to rule by decree, 1926: all other
political parties dissolved
Fascist put in charge of police force, terror quad became govt militia;
Giacomo Matteotti (non-communist socialist leader & Parliament
member) murdered for criticizing Mussolini
Propaganda used to gain Mussolini respect, opposition exiled or even
murdered
Accord with the Vatican
Lateran Accord of Feb. 1929: peace with R.C.C; pope was temporal
ruler of independent Vatican City, Italy paid indemnity for confiscated

territory, Catholicism religion of state, exempted church property from

taxes, & allowed to govern marriage = respect to regime
D. Motherhood for the Nation in Fascist Italy
Encourage women to have more children & stay at home; govt instituted
policies such as maternity leaves, insurance, subsidies to large families,
etc..
Outlawed abortion & contraceptives= difficult for women to control size
of family
Although women made 25% of work force, female participation
discouraged; 1938: govt limited # of women employees in offices to no
more than 10%
IV. Joyless Victors
A. France: The Search for Security
Chamber of Deputies wanted to achieve security against
Germany/Russia after Clemenceaus defeat bid
New Alliances
Plan to keep Germany weak & to replace Eastern alliance w/Russia

1920/1921, Czechoslovakia, Romania, & Yugoslavia form Little Entente,

form military alliance w/France (also w/Poland)
Germany & Russia also signed a treaty of their own in Rapallo (1922)
Quest for Reparations
P.M Raymond Poincar sent troops w/Belgium to occupy Ruhr & occupy
mining/manufacturing district in Rhineland (Jan. 11,1923)
Germans resist (strike), Poincar sends French civilians to run
mines/railroads= Germans pay up
France no real benefit: alienated British, inflation hurt economy

1924: Poincar ministry gives way to coalition of leftists parties (Cartel

des Gauches)
B. Great Britain: Economic Confusion
1918: Parliament expanded electorate to include all men aged 21 &
women aged 30
Liberal Party divided: Herbert Asquith was P.M until 1916, Liberal David
Lloyd George replaced him= party split b/ween followers
Lloyd George decided to keep coalition on Liberal, Conservative, &
Labour ministers trough tasks of the peace conf. & domestic
reconstruction; 1918: less Labour Ministers
Depression during 1920s, high unemployment, no real expansion of jobs

The Dole (from 1922) maintained poor British families that could find
jobs

The First Labour Government

Conservative Bonar Law replaced Lloyd George (Oct. 1922), later replace
by Stanley Baldwin (Law had throat cancer)

Baldwin had plan to abandon free trade & impose protective tariffs,
rejected by voters (1923), Conservative Party lost majority in House of
Commons
Dec. 1923, King George V asked Ramsay MacDonald to form 1st Labour
Ministry
Labour Party was socialistic in platform, but democratic &
nonrevolutionary; MacDonalds program consisted for social reform, but
not nationalization of industry
The General Strike of 1926
1924: Baldwin returns w/Conservative Party, 1925: govt returned to gold
standard
Conversion rate too high = raised priced of British goods to foreign
customers
To offset high prices, wages were lowered; coal industry hardest hit

1926: coal miners went on strike, other industries join (lasts 9 days),
later surrender
Empire
Aid from Canada & Australia demonstrated new independence on their
part
Self-determination ideology spread to India: Congress Party led by
Mohandas Gandhi attracted support, led to eventual self government for
India
Ireland
A
V. Trials of the Successor States in Eastern Europe
A. Economic and Ethnic Pressures
New States (except Czechoslovakia) not financially independent; didnt
trade w/each other, but more w/ Germany
They were rural states, especially hit hard by depression

No one to oversee/check nationalistic goals by different ethnic groups,

unwilling to make compromises = some sort of domestic authoritarian
govt
B. Poland: Democracy to Military Rule
When it was restored (1919), nationalism not enough to overcome
differences
Minorities (Ukrainian, Jewish, etc..) didnt trust govt

Parts were ruled different before, weak new govt = military coup led by
Marshal Josef Pilsudski (1926)
C. Czechoslovakia: A Viable Democratic Experiment
Had strong industrial base, substantial middle-class, & liberal values;
Under leadership of Thomas Masaryk
Tensions b/ween ethnic groups (Czechs/ Slovaks, & others)
D. Hungary: Turn to Authoritarianism

1919: Bela Kun established a short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic (later

removed by Romanian forces)
After collapse of Kun govt, Hungarians were executed or imprisoned;
reaction to cooperation w/socialists (against Comintern), later fled to
Russia & was killed
Economy suffered stagnation; resented territory that was lost in Paris
settlement
1920s: ruled by Count Stephen Bethlen w/parliamentary govt; later
succeeded by General Julius Cmbs, pursued anti-Semitic
policies/rigged elections
E. Austria: Political Turmoil and Nazi Occupation
Two major parties in 1920s: Leftist Social Democrats & conservative
Christian Socialists; both had small armies to terrorize opponents
1933: Christian Socialist Englebert Dollfus became chancellor; 1934:
outlawed all political parties expect for Christian Socialists, the agrarians,
etc
Shot later in year during unsuccessful Nazi coup
F. Southeastern Europe: Royal Dictatorships
A
VI.The Weimar Republic in Germany
Born after defeat of Imperial army & revolution against Hohenzollerns in
1918 in city of Weimar, where constitution was written
Many desired to revives Paris treaty
A. Constitutional Flaws
A
B. Lack of Broad Popular Support
A
C. Invasion of the Ruhr and Inflation
A
D. Hitlers Early Career
A
E. The Stresemann Years
A
F. Locarno