Democracy's Fragility and Totalitarian Rise

History - Theme 1 Theme 1: The Fragilisation of Democracy, Totalitarianism and WWII (1929 - 1945) Figures are highlighted as such. Woodrow Wilson’s view of the world order → collective security (based on cooperation): - 1919 - 1929 ⇒ cooperated well - 1929 onwards ⇒ stop of cooperation (why?) Rank of economies/industrial power post WWI: US1st, UK2nd, France3rd ⇒ UK & France basically = LON Chapter 1: The Impact of the Crisis of 1929: Economic and Social Instability Causes of the Great Depression Stock market crash ≠ Great depression: - SMC: A lot of rich people lost money (3% of Americans owned stock) - GD: massive unemployment and accompanying hardship (didn't begin until 1930/1931) By 1930, the markets recovered a lot of their value, although they did go down again due to the GD. Big banks and corporations were buying a lot of stock (they bought on margin*). The Stock Market 1921-29: 400% increase in stock market value In 1928 - 1929 the FED raised interest rates to slow the increase of stock prices ⇒ led to a depression in interest-sensitive spending (aka: credit was doomed) ⇒ especially in construction & automobile purchases ⇒ in turn, reduced production Minor events lead to price decline and investors lost trust and began to sell on October 24th 1929: ⇒ between September-November 1929: SM dropped 33% The role that the SMC had on being the trigger event to the great depression: People lost trust and reduced their spending as much as possible ⇒ fall in aggregate demand (includes: consumers (GDP decline: 1929: 80 billion → 1933 57 billion, shows decline in production & people buying goods) & investors (investment in the US : 90 million USD during the twenties to about 10 million in 1932)) It put in question the 1920s model of democracy & capitalism ⇒ was it really good ? The Great Depression did begin after the stock market crash, but not because of it (trigger event): the underlying economic conditions in the U.S. before the SMC weren't favourable. ⇒ 1920s - large-scale domestic consumption of relatively new consumer products: - good for American industry - BUT fueled by credit and instalment buying* (unsustainable ⇒ works fine unless and until economic uncertainty increases ⇒ see the “stock market” square) 1 History - Theme 1 Agricultural sector suffered throughout the 1920s: farm prices kept dropping for two reasons - American farms had expanded enormously during WWI to provide food for soldiers - This led many farmers to mechanise their operations (mechanisation ⇒ expensive ⇒ many farmers had to go into debt) - Leads to ⇒ combination of overproduction & low prices ⇒ often their farms were foreclosed upon* - The agricultural sector was in recession since 1922 (⅓ of USA) Other signs of economic weakness appeared throughout the 1920s: - 1925, the growth of car manufacturing slowed, along with residential construction (intensified by FED action in 1928 - 1929) - Residential construction drop in 1928/29 ⇒ some believe that it was because of he boom in housing construction in the mid-1920s that led to an excess supply of housing and thus to a particularly large drop in construction - Economy slowing down: Herbert Hoover labelled "an orgy of mad speculation" - Quote: "By 1929, commercial bankers were in the unusual position of loaning more money for stock market and real estate investments than for commercial ventures." - Historian David Kennedy ⇒ Companies/Government did not react to the signs of slowing economy (Hoover called the slowing economy “An orgy of mad speculation” Can be argued that the main cause of GD ⇒ America’s weak banking system: The Failures of America's Banking System FED ⇒ created in 1913 but the majority of America's banks were small, individual institutions that had to rely on their own resources. - Thus, if there was a panic and depositors rushed to take money out of the bank, the bank failed if it lacked the reserve Because of the rise in interest rates, businesses stopped investing, leading to: - Banks not making any more money/enough money to run properly without the immense amount of interest rates coming in of business investments - The amount of money dropped - People and businesses had less ability to pay back their loans (therefore they defaulted their loans and went bankrupt) - But, as banks needed money now, the population did not have a chance to restructure their loans ⇒ banks called in loans and sold assets ⇒ leading to frozen credit system - Banks Failed - Therefore, there was a panic and everyone wanted to take their money out 2 History - Theme 1 - But banks did not have enough money - So more banks closed - Panic rose (in particular in 1932-33 where there were thousands (25%) of bank failures) - ⇒ Europeans started to be nervous, so they took their money out of the bank, massive banks in Europe started to close (1st one ⇒ largest bank in Austria) ⇒ what happened in the US happened in Europe but with a delay Bank panics: - Fall of 1930 - Spring of 1931 - Fall of 1931 (by the end of 1931 ⇒ 2300 banks has failed) - Fall of 1932 - Winter of 1933 - This culminated in the declaration of a “bank holiday” (closing of all banks) ⇒ 6th March 1933 by Franklin D Roosevelt Therefore, because of less money in circulation deflation rose enormously leading to (⇒ money supply declined 31% 1929-33): - Businesses laying off employees as their main way to cut costs ⇒ rise of unemployment (peaked at 25.6% in 1933) - There was a fall in aggregate demand - Businesses laid off more people/went bankrupt (32,000 went bankrupt) The FED did not infuse money into the economy to combat this deflationary cycle but instead increased interest rates in September 1931, contracting further the economy (rise in deflation) US Response to GD 2 actions that the government could do: - Restrictive/conservative fiscal policy = classical liberalism (→ do nothing and the system will fix itself out, just let time go by ⇒ was initially supported by big businesses) - Expenditure expansion (→ intervene somehow: Keynes: without gov interference, the cost on society will be too great, gov should temporarily intervene in the situation ⇒ eg of intervention: lower interest rates, lower taxes, subsidies all to maintain market equilibrium (in this case, stop the deflationary cycle) ⇒ social democratic model ⇒ gov should be implied in social wellbeing → welfare state. Ways to do that: - Lower taxes - Employ people - Buy excess product BUT the main model until the 1930s was classical liberalism (reason why Hoover (1929-33) didn't intervene) ⇒ too much production, not enough money in circulation & unemployment → GD 3 History - Theme 1 Spread of the GD & Economic nationalism Why GD spread to Europe Hoover claimed that WWI was the main cause of GD → not 100% true, but WWI did set the stage: - Germany had to pay $33 billion in reparations to UK & France ⇒ loaned money from US banks - The US was owed $10 billion by Britain and France (paid back some with German reparations) - USA became the main creditor, pillar of international financial system - With SMC & GD and failure of banks, the US desperately needed more money, so it asked everyone to pay back the loans now, which the 25 countries could not ⇒ economies of Germany, France, and UK also fell off a cliff ⇒ european recession ⇒ halt of world trade So the world needed more trade BUT: Hoover, to stimulate domestic demand for domestic products, raised tariffs on most European imports ⇒ Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1930 European countries raised tariffs as well Beneficial for no one ⇒ fewer buyers for goods, less trade, fewer sales, fewer jobs, deflation rise - Tariff warfare → caused a worldwide trade decline of about 40% by 1933 First instance of Economic Nationalism: policies of protectionism (tariff barriers) and currency devaluation pursued by great economic powers such as USA & Britain after the SMC (leading to a collapse of global trade) → Reluctance of the great democratic powers (USA, Britain and France) to defend the liberal order they had created at Versailles = Isolationism and Appeasementcf. chapter 2 The London Economic Conference of 1933 ⇒ 66 countries joined the LEC, at the initiative of Hoover. Topics they should have discussed: - Economics (country priorities) - Political (what to do about Hitler & Manchurian Crisis) They needed to compromise for the greater good and negotiate to arrive to a conclusion BUT Everyone came with their own agenda and no one wanted to compromise (as well on the political stuff). - US priority: tariffs & prices (deflation) - UK priority: WWI debts - French priority: gold standard ⇒ All they agreed on was the need for another conference ⇒ example of failure of democracies to cooperate ⇒ economic nationalism ⇒ therefore failure of capitalism // failure of democracies 4 History - Theme 1 The Gold Standard In order to give confidence that money is worth something, they decide on a certain value in gold ⇒ a certain % of the money can be exchanged into gold Post-WWI, most big countries went back to the GS Why did France want it? ⇒ if everyone adopted the GS, world economy would be stable as the GS: - Prevents gov from putting too much money in circulation so no hyperinflation (fiscal restriction) Dec 1931 ⇒ UK leaves the GS (because you can fiddle around with the money supply) 1932 ⇒ 20 countries followed (perhaps the ultimate collapse of the world economy through the disruption of the global monetary system) April 1933 ⇒ just before LEC, Roosevelt announced that the US left the GS So the french was lonely ⇒ they hoped that the US would help them get the UK back to the GS, but it didn't work as they left it France left the GS little after the LEC The Manchurian Crisis of 1931 ⇒ failure of LON (UK & France) to defend world order, first test on the LON Background info : - China : ineffective and weak government due to civil war ⇒ in need of order - Japan : industrial, militarised country (militarism wants expansionism) - overpopulation (growth of 1M/year) - dynamic economy but lacked land ( Europe had colonised the world leaving no place for Japan ⇒ grudge, victimised ) - saw military conquest as the only viable solution = expansion policies - Started in 1903 with the invasion of Korea - Japanese - Russia war of 1903 -1905 - ⇒ this kind of activity was supposed to be prevented by the LON - Invasion of Manchuria 1931 (region in north/east of China) was a strategic move = gateway to China - Geographically close to Japan which had commercial rights to the railway - Industrial region - Mineral wealth, agriculture land SMC : contraction of world trade with tariffs - Japan imported silk to pay for staple food (notably rice) ⇒ silk pricing collapsed ⇒ mass hunger Mukden Incident - Sept 1931: explosion of railway controlled by Japan 5 History - Theme 1 - ⇒ presented it as an unprovoked attack from China - ⇒ China called upon the LON - March 1932: Manchuria ⇒ Manchukuo, a puppet state under J protection Failure of LON: LON unwilling to confront Japan - Economic reason : could not support an embargo during Great Depression crisis - Military reason : practical difficulties ⇒ absence of enforcement power Response of LON : What they could have done (3 levels of what to do): - Moral condemnation → moral diplomacy - reduce trade with Far East BUT impact on international trade → economic diplomacy - military sanctions BUT they could not send a naval task force with uncertain prospects of success + could provoke a military attack in British and French colonies in Far East ⇒ felt like they could do nothing → armed conflict What they did : - Moral diplomacy: Lytton Commission - Lord Lytton was to lead a commission of enquiry to Manchuria - Took them 1 year to submit their results (1932-33), by that time, Manchuria was Japanese ⇒ 1933 Japan refused Lytton’s report - left LON (also for the glorification of the regime) - Invaded Jehol province near Manchuria ⇒ extend empire - Economic diplomacy: US did not want economic sanctions, UK & France did not want to annoy Japan (they had other priorities than to have an armed conflict in their asian colonies) - Armed conflict: US, UK & France did not want any military involvement LON weakened : - seen as slow to act - see as weak : reluctant to use force and sanction - Aggressor’s foreign policies won ⇒ nations could take advantage of LON’s weakness Eg: Germany: Post WWI, didn't like the sanctions (notably disarmament), so went to LON and demanded other countries to disarm as well. LON couldn’t find anyone willing to disarm. Germany left LON and rearmed openly ⇒ Failure of democracies : no collective will and security, no penalties (only gain) Disarmament conference Held in Geneva (Feb 1932 - Nov 1934) Goal: reduce armament and peacefully settle disputes Failed to reach an agreement: Germany needed to rearm to restore honour and employment ⇒ Germany left LON in November 1933 ⇒ failure of LON to defend collective security (= word order) 6 History - Theme 1 US Neutrality Acts of 1935 - 37 ● in response to issues in Asia and Europe; ensured that US would not become involved in conflicts ⇒ caused by desire to be isolationist in the US following WW1 ● US had a very strong history of isolationism; geographic isolat° made this isolationism possible ● debate in the US in the interwar period: isolationism or internationalism? ● The legacy of N.A. is widely regarded as having been generally negative since they made no distinct° between aggressor and victim (treated both equally as belligerents) and limited the US gov’s ability to aid BR & FR against Nazi Germany US neutrality laws aimed at preventing US involvement in European war (certain restrictions would automatically go into effect): - Prohibited sales of arms to belligerent nations. - Prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations. - Forbade Americans to travel on vessels of nations at war (in contrast to WW I). - Non-military goods must be purchased on a "cash-and-carry" basis -> pay when goods are picked up. - Banned involvement in the Spanish Civil War. ⇒ This limited the options of the President in a crisis. ⇒ America in the 1930s declined to build up its forces +: public opinion: Sept 41 ⇒ survey in the US “would you be willing to go to war to protect democratic countries in Europe? Less than 40% yes but to “protect interests in the pacific”, more than 70% said yes LON was implemented by the US (Wilson) and rested on 3 countries: US, UK & France - US not involved in international world order (not in LON) - Could be accused of not intervening, not assuming its responsibilities (US less and less isolationist through its acts, and eventually took part in WW2) US joined WW2 partly bc they had put sm money into BR & FR, and the only way they could get it back was for BR and FR to win war Definitions Instalment buying: credit agreement between a buyer and seller that allows the buyer to purchase a good and extend the payment over a set amount of time (⇒ loans) Foreclosure: legal process where a lender seizes and sells a property for defaulting on a loan. Margin buying: when you invest using someone else’s money Belligerent nation: a nation involved in a war Stock price: the amount of money it would cost to buy one share in a company Aggregate demand: total demand for goods and services in an economy 7 History - Theme 1 Chapter 2: Totalitarian Regimes Overall causes for the rise of totalitarianism (tot) - Treaty of Versailles → humiliated Germany + destroyed her economically → IT felt cheated out the land they were promised → massive war debt and reparations - Economic + social crisis → failure of capitalism → social crisis: unemployment - Political instability → new world order → failure of democracies / Democracy → failure of the League of Nations Democracy/democracies in retreat - the steady advance of tot The failure of Democracy and democracies in the 1930s accelerated the expansion (territorially and politically) of tot. FAILURE OF DEMOCRACY (= world order) = failure of LON: (failure of cooperation between France & UK) - 1931 - 1933: Manchurian crisis - 1935 - 1936: Italian invasion of Abyssinia: (Mussolini wanted to increase his prestige + capture living space for Italians + resources + Italian expansion) - Reasons: logical next step, didn't think UK & France would oppose (appeasement) thought for sure that he would win - December 1934: Wal-wal incident laid the foundation for the Abyissinian crisis (Italy built a fort at the Wal-wal oasis (1930) within Abyssinian borders ⇒ diplomatic crisis; in 1934, Ethiopians threaten to attack it if not given back. Refuses ⇒ rise of tensions until battle in dec 1934 = 150 deaths ) - call upon the League BUT LON decided not to attribute blame to either side ⇒ will of FR and BR to gain Mussolini’s help + support in impending war against Hitler - renewed Mussolini’s confidence (weak LON) - Mussolini attacked Abyssinia on 3rd October 1935 (250,000 men) - LON condemned the Italian invasion + voted for economic sanctions on Italy ⇒ implemented 6 weeks later but not on oil, coal, iron or steel & did not close suez canal - FR and BR still wanted to maintain good relations with Mussolini ⇒ proposed a negotiated settlement to the war (Hoare-Laval Pact dec 1935) which greatly favoured the Italians Italy could have ⅔ of Abyssinia in return for a cease-fire - Secret but leaked to the public → horrified - Plan was dropped & Italy continued its war - Showed that UK & France prioritised their own interests 8 History - Theme 1 - May 1936 ⇒ end of war with the capture of Addis Ababa. - July 1936 ⇒ all sanctions are lifted - Italy left the League in 1937 - meanwhile, Hitler took advantage of the Abyssinian Crisis and defied the LON by reoccupying the Rhineland in 1936 LON banned members from selling arms to Abyssinia (result: it couldn’t defend itself) = France and Britain’s appeasement policies as they tried to avoid the impending war (prioritised other concerns above the principles of the League) = the US as a foil to collective security (neutrality, isolationism) (economic sanctions had limited efficacy w/o US interference The LON: - set up to make sure peace treaties were respected BUT flawed from the start because the US didn’t join ⇒ no effective sanctions on Japan & Italy - not willing/able to use collective force to prevent conflicts - not united in its approach to dealing with conflict - the major powers were willing to make concessions at the expense of smaller nations in order to prevent wider conflicts - the major powers who were not members of the LON (USSR, US) would not intervene unless their own interests were threatened FAILURE OF DEMOCRACIES (= individual nation) Failure of capitalism: (cf chapter 1) = economic nationalism (SHT, GS, LEC) = social discontent (GD, unemployment) ⇒ no more belief in democracy / capitalism Political factors ⇒ failure: = appeasement of UK & France = US isolationism (US Neutrality Acts) ⇒ This is what is known as the shift in World Order philosophies: (bc of all the problems in 1930s) - from internationalism to nationalism - from cooperation to isolationism - ⇒ they saw this inward turn as the ultimate ideal solution to solve their crisis - These new nationalistic policies weakened most nations (mainly democracies) and weakened the already fragile global politics. This new world order set the stage for totalitarianism: less international surveillance / agreements + authoritarian regimes are often more nationalistic From an Economic Crisis to a Social Crisis: - high unemployment (1933: US ⇒ 25% // EU was similar: 6M unemployed in Germany) 9 History - Theme 1 ⇒ The human suffering and extreme economic crisis pushed nations to adopt more nationalistic policies, therefore going against international political stability (ex: infrastructure building programs to stimulate employment like New Deal in the USA) - Living standards got so low that they got to the point of impacting politics. Tot was seen as an attractive alternative ⇒ unified people around a singular goal, promised prosperity and security - The middle class lost a lot (especially savings) = afraid to lose more (economic crisis and communism) ⇒ rise of alternative systems promising better wages & living standards = totalitarian regimes. - It was the apparent capacity of totalitarian regimes to solve the economic and social crisis that pushed them to rise to power and be adored by the population. - However, not all the people of these countries saw these totalitarian leaders as saviours (intellectuals, higher class, politicians) ⇒ brain drain (the emigration of highly trained/qualified people) from EU to US ⇒ BUT, also participated in the rise and increased power of totalitarianism: the people that left had the most opportunities/abilities to oppose themselves to totalitarianism, mount opposition. The nature of totalitarianism (Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan) Ideology: a way of thinking based on a set of principles, ideals, beliefs (“ism”) Totalitarianism: a one-party dictatorship that regulates every aspect of the lives of its citizens → Disregard for human lives → Propaganda (nationalism) → Cult of the personality → Supremacy of military → Persecution of intellectual & art elites → Sexism → Censorship, control of communication → Monopoly over the economy → Enemies within → Obsession with national security → Corruption/Cronyism (friends in power) → Suppression of labour movements ● 3 governmental systems competed for influence in post-war EU: - Democracy (FR + BR) - Communism (USSR + other) ⇒ seen by the west as the worse of 2 evils pre-1935 - Fascism (IT + GER) ⇒ seen by the west as the worse of 2 evils post-1935 (in hard times, most people look up to fascism) (+ French & British military not so against tot) - Useful context: 1930-35 period: - Could be argued that it was a period to accommodate fascism & authoritarianism because of economic & military weaknesses, domestic concerns (rise of communism in Fr) - Little condemnation when Mussolini invaded/intervened in Libyan civil war, also little condemnation when he invaded Corfu (1923) ⇒ greek island - There was some belief that they could manage fascism & empires - + if they annoyed Japan & Germany ⇒ problems to their own empires - US ⇒ able to cooperate (good neighbour policies) well with the Americas & Asia (Asia = more of a concern to the US (⇒ footprint in Philippines) 10 History - Theme 1 ● Fascism: - Fascism: any centralised, authoritarian form of government that is not communist, whose policies glorify the state over the individual and are destructive to basic human rights - Not only a form of gov, also a way to organise society - Authoritarian (NOT tot in the case of Italy) - Includes a specific organisation of government centred around a dictator - Not aimed to control all aspects of the lives of its inhabitants, more the glorification of the state (linked to glorification of god, to justify an « enemy within ») - both fascist leaders came to power in a context of political instability within their country = governments that failed to solve the social + economic problems - fascism appeared as a sort of utopian myth in this context: regenerated economy + national community, social well-being ⇒ seen as strong stable governments that could end the political feuding ITALY: National Fascist Party (Benito Mussolini) - Context: - Hated ToV (wanted territory in the Balkans) - Felt like they fought in WWI for no reason (especially veterans ⇒ big support for Mussolini - High inflation ⇒ middle class for Mussolini (1913-20 value of money divided by 6) - More and more influential communists movements ⇒ worries middle class and bourgeoisie - Democratic Italian gov was not solving the country’s problems (high corruption) - Mussolini promised to save economy & make Italy strong - Oct. 1922: Mussolini takes control “legally” , put in charge by the king - 30,000 fascists marched on Rome - King scared of a possible civil war and wanted to stay in power - Black Shirts = violent paramilitary group in support for Mussolini - idea of the “glorious state”: - Men ⇒ “selfless warriors”, urged to fight/work - Women pushed out of jobs and have many children (if a woman had more than 14 ⇒ medal awarded by mussolini himself) - strict military discipline for children - State capitalism - 1925 - New italian socialist party (PSI) - Ballot rigging & intimidation - Ministry of corporations, 1926 - Piccole Italiane → military children 11 History - Theme 1 GERMANY: National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) (Adolf Hitler) - Nazism: a form of fascism (Hitler was inspired by Mussolini) - restless and unhappy population under Weimar Republic - To liberal for conservatives, not radical enough for communists - Germany had to pay $33 billion in reparations to UK & France - WR signed ToV ⇒ germans hated them for it - Weak gov because: it was new, huge WWI debs (insisted by the French) - Timeline: - Germany fell behind on reparation payments so France occupied the Ruhr valley - Workers in the Ruhr refused to work but the German gov still payed them by printing massive amounts of money - Hyperinflation - Many families lost their savings: - Cost of a loaf of bread: - 1922 ⇒ 163 Mark - Sept 1923 ⇒ 1.5 x 106 Mark - Nov 1923 ⇒ 200 x 109 Mark - 1920: Hitler founded the NSDAP - 1923: failed coup by NSDAP led by Hitler ⇒ imprisoned (wrote Mein Kampf) - January 1933: Hitler appointed chancellor by president Hindenburg - Turned Germany in a tot state (banned all parties except NSDAP after Reichstag fire (feb 1933), implemented the Schutzstaffe (SS)) - New European Order (cf chapter 3) - New army: - 26 Feb 1935: hitler ordered Goering to appoint a new air force (against treaty of Versailles) - March 1935: Hitler publicly announces that he wants new and big army, conscription introduced - expansionism→ Rhineland, Anschluss, Sudetenland, Poland, rest of Czechoslovakia ⇒ this was possible due to appeasement policies led by BR and FR who turned a blind eye on Hitler’s actions (until Poland) ; sacrificed more little countries because wanted to avoid a WWII Other countries that fell to fascism: HUNGARY, SPAIN, YUGOSLAVIA, POLAND. Only CZECHOSLOVAKIA remained democratic in eastern europe. ● Communism: USSR (Joseph Stalin) - Why is it called Stalinism? ⇒ was there for the longest, was also inwardly directed - 1924: Stalin in power - 1925-47: League of militant atheists (= union of the godless) created by soviet gov to promote atheism, antireligious 12 History - Theme 1 - 1928 - 1939: industrial growth through “five year plans” (development of industry, transportation + increased farm output) - 1929: trotsky exiled by Stalin (bcs he publicly criticised him) - 1930: Cinema stops importing films - 1930: Creation of NKDV (people’s commissariat for internal affairs), has the monopoly over law enforcement - 1932: Union of Soviet writers public execution, show trials - absenteeism - 1932: Terror famine: mass starvation (grains seized, low wages, scarce consumer products, controlled pop) ⇒ 6-8M deaths due to starvation in Ukraine alone - 1934: Great Purge (Stalin fearful of rival parties, plottings, opposition) ⇒ 4M people purged between 1934 - 1938 - 1939: - 20 mins late = absenteeism - Nationalisation of agriculture - Collectivisation failure (agricultural output didn’t increase) - Renaming towns a part of the cult of personality (Stralingrad, Stalinsk, Stalinabad) - Death penalty for criticism of Stalin Differences between communism/fascism: ⇒ quite similar Communism Fascism Worked for international change Spoke of creating a classless society Pursued national goals Supported society with defined classes Blind devotion to the state Terror for power Flourished in economic hard times Rule by an elite ● Militarism and ultranationalism: Japan - 1931: Japan was hit badly by the economic depression ⇒ Japanese people lost faith in the government. - Saw the army as the solution to their economic problems. - In order to produce more goods, Japan needed natural resources for its factories. The Japanese army invaded Manchuria, an area rich in minerals and resources ⇒ the LON didn’t adequately sanction - Japan left the LON and continued with its expansion - Japan’s terror acts were mostly located in countries outside of Japan Appeasement Churchill (little after Munich Conference) “You had the choice between dishonour and war, you chose dishonour, you will have war” 13 History - Theme 1 = policies implemented by France & UK towards Germany, Italy & Japan ⇒ focuses on diplomatic negotiations and concessions to prevent immediate armed conflict 1935-1939 in the West, although Japan beforehand arguably In appeasing Germany & Italy, they abandoned the NWO they were supposed to create Reasons for appeasement: - 1930s ⇒ ToV was seen as unfair. Appeasement ⇒ world leaders could correct some of the injustices and demands for self-determination (for the UK - in France, they didn’t find the ToV unfair, they just didn’t think their military/economy could take it) - Overestimated Hitler’s army (Remilitarisation of the Rhineland - bad estimates by the French intelligence service, Guernica - bombed by the Luftwaffe in April 1937, The Times reports 3,000 deaths, today historians say less than 300) - UK doubted that it could defeat Germany, Italy and Japan - UK & French rearmement was difficult (they needed time) - Public opinion didn’t want a WWII - France would not act against Hitler without the support of Chamberlain, - The UK couldn’t act because they wouldn’t have the support of the US, Commonwealth, and colonies - France ⇒ unstable government (too many parties ⇒ lead to chaos + growing communism which lead them to be “too soft on communism” for the UK (failure of coopera°)) ⇒ few resources devoted to foreign policy - The crisis in Abyssinia was much more of an immediate threat than Hitler's remilitarisation of the Rhineland, which was widely seen as Hitler "going into his own backyard". - Threat of the USSR and world communism (USSR worse of 2 evils at the start) Why appeasement was criticised: - It allowed Germany to grow in power and strength, making it harder to defeat after 1939. Post 1935 ⇒ Germany increased its territory by 36%, its population by 28%, (+ had more time to rearm) - Germany could have been easily defeated in 1936, when it remilitarized the Rhineland. - It was morally wrong to allow stronger, more aggressive countries to take advantage of smaller, weaker ones. - It made Britain and France appear weak and gave Hitler confidence. This may have made him more aggressive in his aims. - It contributed to Stalin's decision to sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Hitler as he saw the actions of Britain and France as weak. Timeline & Interpretations of Appeasement ⇒ see fiches Nazi-Soviet Pact NSP ⇒ agreement on the 21st August 1939 btw Nazi Germany and USSR What was agreed: no war between them for 10 years + share Poland ⇒ made war in the West more likely as, apart from USSR, there was no real force to oppose Hitler ⇒ made Hitler more aggressive since he wouldn’t have to fight on two fronts 14 History - Theme 1 Before NSP, by July 1939, USSR and UK/France negotiated for months to sign an agreement but UK refused ⇒ Hitler took the opportunity and signed NSP While signing the agreement, both parties knew that it would not be sustainable (USSR started to rearm) WWII in Asia From 1937-45 In Japanese POV: - Japanese = master race - All the rest are slaves to support the motherland/master race Japanese atrocities in China ⇒ no sanctions/military action towards Japan Rape of Nanking: From 13th December 1937 for 6 weeks Deaths: 200,000 (consensus) estimates ⇒ 40,000 - 300,000 Japan was really quick to invade China. They saw big resistance at Nanking ⇒ slower to take ⇒ frustration ⇒ Japanese officials ordered to « kill all captives » (ex: « contest to kill 100 people using a sword », soldiers smiling in front of piles of decapitated heads ⇒ trophies (photos taken from the Japanese army)) ⇒ most condensed period of atrocities (20,000 to 80,000 women raped then murdered) To what extent was totalitarianism a cause for WW2? ● expansionism - Expansionism was pursued by all totalitarian regimes - their expansionist policies inevitably involved war eventually ex: Japan: As Japan invaded other areas of South-East Asia (after Manchuria) including Vietnam, the United States grew concerned about its territories in Asia, such as the Philippines and Guam. Japan felt that its expansion could be threatened by the United States military and attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941. World War II had begun in Asia and the US entered the war officially. - The lack of response to these expansionist policies (from LON, FR, BR, US…) made totalitarian leaders more confident and willing to pursue their conquest ⇒ war ex: Hitler’s will to rip up the ToV, unite all German-speaking countries and create living space in the East by conquering other countries to make space for his “master race” ⇒ impossible without war 1933: Hitler secretly started to rearm the German army 1935: the German army was 5 times the allowed size - Some consider Hitler responsible for starting WW2: fired the opening shots (invasion of Poland), expansionism 15 History - Theme 1 BUT, much deeper causes: humiliating ToV, flawed LON, appeasement, economic crisis… ● Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 - The rise of increasingly powerful and influential nations (ex: GER + Soviet Union), the lack of international cooperation and appeasement meant that the rising totalitarian regimes had considerable freedom of action - This allowed for Hitler and Stalin to sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939 (no war between them for 10 years + share Poland) ⇒ made war in the West more likely ⇒ made Hitler more aggressive since he wouldn’t have to fight on two fronts In what ways did the rise to power of totalitarian regimes in the 1930s threaten world stability? ● Extreme nationalism Unifying force, an attractive alternative after the Economic hardship of the 30s ⇒ unified people around a singular goal & promised prosperity and security This made people turn to extreme nationalism on a national scale. On an international scale, this lead to a destabilisation of global order (supremacy of democracy challenged) ● Militarism = philosophy of garanteeing security by bypassing diplomacy and economic sanctions (directly go to the military option) Undermined foundation of LON, ToV, Fr-UK cooperation to guarantee collective security: - Disarmament conference 1932 - 34 (in oct 1933, Germany left, threatening even more the legitimacy and credibility of LON) - Remilitarisation of the Rhineland 1936 - Anglo-German naval agreement 1935 → Stresa Front challenged ● Expansionism Manchuria, Abyssinia, Sudetenland ⇒ direct violation of the principle of territorial integrity ● Challenged the role of Western democracies to maintain the post-WW1 order - US neutrality - Appeasement - Lytton report / HL pact Chapter 3: World War Two Why talk about WWII as a crucible? Crucible = a place or situation in which people or ideas are tested evereley, often creating something new in the process ⇒ bcs fascism/tot tested its ideology on USSR and Democracy Apparatus = a system/institution General Idea about a new world order (NWO) After a catastrophe (ex: war) 16 History - Theme 1 1st NWO: post-Naopleon & lasted until WWII NWO/NEOs has aims and features: - Aims = objectives/goals - Features = How they want to achieve these aims In this case, NEO = the foreign and domestic policies, and the war aims, of the Nazi state and Hitler Nazi ideology and rationale The New Order (Neuordnung) (New Order of Europe (Neuordnung Europas)) = political order which Nazi Germany wanted to impose on the conquered areas under its dominion (= Germany as the hegemonic power) → Described in Mein Kampf (1924), in which he presented himself as “the natural leader”, a “divine prophet” → NEO influenced by Hitler’s will to achieve a “circle of revenge” against the countries having established the post-WWI order (ie. the rest of the world) Ideology → Racialist doctrine: - Strict hierarchy of human race: creation of a “master race” ⇒ aryan race by purification - Everyone else was seen as an enemy and was unwelcome (⇒ expulsion/extermination) → Geopolitical strategy - Expansionism was at the heart of the ideology as expressed by Hitler in Mein Kampf as he believed it was the only way for Germany to stay vital (not an enslaved nation) - This expansion had to start East and was an inevitable step to Germany’s world domination - This pan-german expansionism was justified by the will to reunite all german-speaking people of the aryan race and to grant them more living space (lebensraum = wanted space for 10M additional Germans) + German women were encouraged to have as many children as possible to inhabit the conquered territories with “superior” beings - In addition to territorial expansion, this also involved the mass extinction of millions of non-aryan people to “leave space” → Aims - Redraw/reorganise the European continent, thereby changing the then-existing geo-political structures to turn Europe into a German colony - Secure a fair rearrangement of territory for the "common benefit" of a new, economically integrated Europe - Total post-war continental hegemony for Nazi Germany through expansionism and political + economic subjugation = creation of the “Greater German Reich” (Großgermanisches Reich Deutscher Nation) THUS: NEO features: total war for territorial conquest, economic expansion, entrench German hegemonic status, racialist, ideological 17 History - Theme 1 From an NEO to an NWO → 3 stages to his plan: 1) Controlling EU 2) Extension to Africa 3) Then US → “final battle/victory” (Endsieg) Invasion and Occupation Implementation of the NEO → began peacefully - Consolidate the ideology on a domestic scale - Annexation of Austria (+ Sudetenland) through plebiscite in 1938 - NSP (cf chapter 2) → 2nd phase: violence (influenced by appeasement) - Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939 + Poland - Blitzkrieg = attack on Northern + Western Europe to neutralise opposition from the west (Subjugated Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium and France by summer 1940) → failure - Failed to subjugate part of France + the UK ⇒ elements of failure of Blitzkrieg - If he had subjugated the UK, the political re-ordering of Western Europe would have been accomplished BUT controlled most of the West so turned East (sent 3M soldiers) Ex: Operation Barbarossa Very different experiences w/ NEO one eastern Europe and Western Europe (ended up being the same but the process was very different) ⇒ Goal of NEO: go east first BUT they needed to neutralise the west first ⇒ w/ NSP (USSR being an ally, why give the west time to rearm? There might be US involvement too in the near future SO they decided to first neutralise the west and then focus on the east + After US, western Europe was the most industrialised place in the world New European Disorder? Eg: NEO in the west Authors: - Mark Mazower: Dark continent (1998) - Ian Ousby: Occupation: the Ordeal of France 1940-1944 (1999) NEO = act of saving European civilisation from collapse ⇒ there were elements of total chaos in the NEO (Germans didn’t plan anything, they just went with the flow) Some say NEO was organisational chaos, some say its not But why? 18 History - Theme 1 1st phase of the war: unexpectedly extremely successful for Germany (victorious for more than 2 years). Defeated and occupied Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg & France by summer 1940 Mazouer: “Most Germans, Hitler included, had been astonished by the speed and scale of their victory in the west. The future of the continent was under consideration in Berlin” (they urgently needed policies to rule the west, conquering is one thing, ruling is another) Nazis came up with a plan: - Hitler in Fr → 4 year plan → promised to make everyone work and flourish - Pegged reichsmark to reduce inflation (= fixing it to a specific quantity of gold) - A single market for agriculture with fixed prices for farmers - NEO would operate as a single trade block - Berlin → financial capital of NEO, German banks would be the main lenders Main focus of NEO = economic to focus on war effort: - Fr was the main economic hub, Ger wanted to make the most of it Case study - France Ousby “Few, if any periods of modern French history have seen less order” No grand application plan from the Nazis, only acting and reacting → resolving short-term problems Inefficiency hypothesis ⇒ the manner Nazis ruled Germany was disorganised (“polycratic chaos”) ⇒ a lot due to corruption Evidence for France: (france pretty much became a colony) - Champaign ⇒ in 1940, German troops drank 9 million bottles of champaign, financed through occupation payments made by France. In 1941 this was 18 million bottles, even though troops in France decreased ⇒ greater lack of discipline as time went on - Herman Göring ⇒ man with the largest private art collection in Europe (2.9 billion worth in today’s money, around 1400 works. Liked jewels, had zoo animals, morphine addiction) - Black market ⇒ despite being illegal, was very active. Purchases from German occupiers increased x11 btw 1941-42 (up to 8 million reichsmarks/day, ⅓ of all extracted in France per day). Göring organised “christman campaigns of mass black market purchases” so that Ger could have a good SoL. Made by soldiers and gov agencies THUS: reckless, uncontrollable plunder of NEO (Nazis were victors and had the right to take limitless amounts of wealth from conquered territories ⇒ “A lower race needs less food, less clothes and less culture than a higher race” – Robert Ley, leader of German labour front, 1940) However, there is an alternative way at looking at the economic policies of NEO in France ⇒ There WERE plans, they were just very short-term: 19 History - Theme 1 - Throughout the occupation period, ‘free France’ had to pay btw 15-25 million RM/day. Vichy gov thought it was “random” and not linked to any reality. The Reich Finance Ministry (RFM) used military costs as a basis for the figure - Germany entrenched Ger hegemony through the control of the Stock market ⇒ French firms would therefore be controlled by Germans, increasing the reliance of Fr on Ger - Service du travail obligatoire (STO) ⇒ sent 1.5 million french to work in Nazi Germany So after all, it wasn't such a bad deal to attack the west first as it gave Germany resources for their attack east Speer’s vision: rationalism vs exploitation: - Speer – “It is imbecility if I call up one million men in France. I end up with 2 million workers less there and 50-100 thousand more in Germany” ⇒ 2 million cus the other 1 million went into hiding - Basically better keep them in France cus in Germany they won’t be very productive - France: 40-50% of french production went to the Reich by 1943 (only can starve the population to some extent, or they don't become productive/serve your purpose) - Business superspending & political conflict clashed with Hitler’s primitive economics of conquest (what worked before needed to be changed moving forward) NEO in the East What pushed the Nazis to the point of no return? (ie: the creation of extermination camps) Initially, the racial part was only supposed to push the impure races out of Europe 1941-42, the year that changed everything (shift from victor to loser) 1942 - a turning point in WW2: from Nazi successes to Nazi failures (defeats against Russia + US in the war) eg: Stalingrad in 1942 ⇒ the NEO was progressively brought to a halt By dec 1942, things started to be difficult in the east (thus, rise of pressure to move labour) Labour needs ⇒ approx. 3 million Russian Personnels of war were killed that winter and Ger faced a desperate shortage Violent forced conscription ⇒ counterproductive ⇒ male workers abandoned their jobs and went into hiding & local administrators turned a blind eye to protect their people The twisted road to auschwitz Auschwitz ⇒ not planned, the Nazis did not envision it at the beginning (they did not want genocide, only forced migration) Antisemitism: already some support pre-WWI for racial purification of jews before (Dreyfus, 1890) so the Nazi plan wasn't only badly received When not having a plan worked, this was just fine but when it didn't work, they became more radical 20 History - Theme 1 Himmler (may 1940) “I hope to completely erase the concept of jews through the possibility of great emigration to a colony in Africa or somewhere. However cruel and tragic each case may be, this is still the mildest and best if one rejects the bolshevik method of physical extermination” ‘or somewhere’ ⇒ unplanned However, Germany had to renew their jew plan after 3 events: - Invasion of Poland - Invasion of western Europe - Invasion of USSR Evolution of the Nazi Jewish plan: - Madagascar plan (1940), ended when the battle of Britain had failed, but the goal remained unchanged - Einsatzgruppen (1941), Heydrich’s death squads of volunteers that followed the front lines (by mid april 1942, they recorded 520000 victims, showing that resettlement was no longer the final solution - Himmler in Minsk (Aug 1941), witnessed a mass shooting, sought an alternative. Use of gaz vans in East Russia by the SS in 39-40. Einsatzgruppen started to use these by Aug 1941 - Outrage at the Aktion T4 euthanasia Programme (for the mass murder of the mentally ill initially), leading to 300000 innocents killed, mostly gassed, this technique was later used in extermination camps. Also used east. Aktion T4 was hardly a state secret and broke out, closed in 1941 bcs of public pressure ⇒ basically they had no plan, Hitler had no clue of the “how” the NEO had to work in the east - Too simplistic economic plan - Unsure plan abt purification of Jews The initial approach to the east lacked coordination and uniformity: - Economic policies did not follow the model envisaged by Speer (efforts to build up arms production in Poland were not as effective as in France) - Nazi organisation was not one of managerial efficiency - The racial policy was clear but the implementation was no - As the economic perspective did not work in the east, what could work? ⇒ racial policies put in place ⇒ Rosenstraße Protest Feb-March 1943 (non-jewish protesters on Rosenstraße following the deportation of 2000 jews) - It required the consent of ordinary citizens throughout Europe (lead to the cancellation of Aktion T4) DEATH FACTORIES Taylorism ⇒ people working in bureaux only saw a little part, but they organised the whole thing Construction of extermination centres, key to the final solution (Belzec, 1942) Auschwitz (1941) became the main death camp for the extermination of Jews (in 1942-43) 21 History - Theme 1 - Unusual camp: labour & death camp, encapsulates the economic and racial ideology of NEO - 3% survived Auschwitz Need for collaboration from the allies for the extermination of the jews. Ex: France: - 27 March 1942: First train load of Jews left Drancy for Auschwitz - 7 August 1944: Last train from Drancy (8 days before the liberation of Paris) - Total Jews from france killed: more than 75000 - Year with highest deportation: 1942 (42000 jews) - “La grande rafle” (july 1942) - 12000 Jews arrested in Paris & taken to the vélodrome d’hiver to be processed before deportation to Auschwitz Difference btw NEO/NWO: 3 different types of orders during 20th century: - Post WWI order - NEO ⇒ 1939-45 (never fully put in place) - NWO ⇒ order post WWII (overlaps with NEO) Barbarossa and what it implied (June 22th 1941) to conquer and occupy large parts of USSR, including the resource-rich regions of Ukraine, the Caucasus and Siberia. Very violent w/ mass murder (jewish shootings) and ghettos. Even though it failed, as the Soviets pushed Germany back, this invasion remains one of the most significant and devastating examples of Lebensraum. Lebensraum = economic space in which wealth and control goes to the “pure race” This is the time here Russia will start to have military defeats + US involvement in the war in January 1942 Its legacy → significantly determined the conduct of the war: - was the catalyst to WW2 as it was an inevitable part of the accomplishment of phase 1 - Concentration and extermination camps - General Plan East (1940) - Soviet victories accelerated the implementation of the NEO through increased brutality (camps and violence within Vichy gov) - Italy was completely subjugated and served as a sphere of influence → shaped post-war conferences - Germany at the heart of post-war talks and aims (yalta, potsdam): denazification, occupation ⇒ strong will to reconstruct Germany to avoid reawakening feeling of revenge and injustice - Interference in politics in Italy, in Germany What if Nazism hadn’t been defeated? 22 History - Theme 1 → Germany’s “new race” implied the removal of 30-40M jewish-bolshevists, Himmler had expressed the intention to kill about 80% of the populations of France and England by special forces of the SS after the German victory → There was to be no post-war general peace conference in the manner of the one held in Paris after WW1, merely bilateral negotiations between Germany and her defeated enemies. All still existing international organisations such as the International Labour Organization were to be dismantled or replaced by German-controlled equivalents. → the commander-in-chief of the German Army, Walther von Brauchitsch, directed that “The able-bodied male population between the ages of 17 and 45 will, unless the local situation calls for an exceptional ruling, be interned and dispatched to the Continent” → creation of 4 Reich commissariats (administrative centres) - Ostland - Ukraine - Muscovy - Caucasus → creation of wehrdörfer (defence villages) in order to conquer more territory and protect its borders from Japan ⇒ this would have allowed him to secure food supplies for the additional Germans, have access to oil and labour ⇒ “1000 year Reich” (consolidate the reich, restructure cities) → accepted the Japanese as another power and possibly the US ( + BR without empire) Questions: - How significant was economic policy to the NEO? - How far did the invasion of the USSR transform the NEO in the east? - To what extent was the NEO ordered? - How significant was racial policy to the NEO? - To what extent was the NEO an example of Europeanism Assess the aims of the New European Order (WW2). Introduction: 23 History - Theme 1 “Whoever dominates Europe will therefore assume the leadership of the world” - main objective of the NEO” (Goebbels) “The year 1941 will be, I am convinced, the historical year of a great European New Order” ( Adolf Hitler) The New European Order designates the political order that Nazi Germany wanted to impose on the conquered areas under its domination. Hitler’s New European Order entailed the creation of a German racial state, structured according to Nazi ideology, to ensure the existence of a perceived greater German Reich which would entrench Germany’s position as a hegemonic power. I/ In the context of totalitarianism, the New European Order appeared as a continuation of a larger movement menacing the established world order. > Hitler wanted to achieve a “circle of revenge” against WW1 → unfair treatment of Germany during Treaty of Versailles + following years → considered all were to blame ⇒ used nationalism as a tool for totalitarianism + a justification for the NEO > racialist doctrine → strict hierarchy of the human race: n°1 aryan race → creation of a superior and legitimate population destined to dominate the world → oppression of opponents to the ideology (10 000 communists arrested by March 34, to concentration camps) > ideology shaped and orchestrated by Mein Kampf (1924): “the new bible”, “the book of the German people” II/ Consolidate the influence and power of the NEO on a domestic scale in order to reinforce ideological beliefs > structure german society according to the nazi ideology: → one-party state → cult of personality: Hitler = “messiah to restore a fallen nation”, “divine prophet”, “natural leader”, “sent from god” → propaganda: “Believe! Obey! Fight!”, films “Triumph of the Will”, any anti-german art had to disappear (ex: more than 25 000 books burned in one night on 10th of May 1933 ) ⇒ spreading of the aims to the population, use of nationalism to entrench the NEO within German minds For example, govt reforms always received over 90% of yes to plebiscites 24 History - Theme 1 > A strategic plan to consolidate and strengthen Germany’s national power on an international stage in order to ensure its capacity to accomplish the further aims of the NEO → social: unemployment went from 6M to 3M between 1933 and 1935 → economy: cut welfare spending to spend more on industry + reallocation of resources, creation of an autocratic power (self-sufficient in terms of resources) + state control over means of production to ensure economic growth (4 year plan: strict control of food prices) Eg. Nazi regime established a system of forced labor to provide w/ cheap and abundant source of labor for its war economy. In August 1944, over 7.6 million Fremdarbeiter (foreign workers) officially registered on the employment rolls in the territory of the “greater German Reich”. Of those, 1.9 million were prisoners and 6.5 million were civilian forced laborers especially Eastern Europeans such as Polish → political: increased military spending, creation of a indoctrinated youth Ex: remilitarization of Rhineland ⇒ in the space of 4 years Nazi Germany changed from a defeated nation, a bankrupt economy strangled by war debt, inflation and lack of foreign capital into full employment with the strongest economy and biggest military power in Europe III/ Expansionism was at the heart of the envisioned New European Order as Hitler saw war as the construct of a grandiose political and economic apparatus which would entrench Germany’s hegemonic status in the world > a major catalyst to the conduct of WW2 → WW2 was part of Hitler’s larger plan of achieving his NEO → the recourse to war was fundamental to the fulfillment of the NEO’s hegemonic ambitions > creation of the “Greater German Reich” (revenge + lebensraum + Ger hegemony) → 1936-1939: peaceful (Anschluss, Sudetenland) → after 1939: violence (Czechoslovakia + subjugation of Den, Nor, NDL, Bel, Lux, Fr) → Invasion of Poland: declaration of WW2 ⇒ enslaved Europe + completed his “circle of revenge” ⇒ “1000 years Reich” (control of EU, then Africa, then “final battle” against US or co-existence) = “Endsieg” ⇒ according to Hitler, the only way for Germany to stay vital was through expansionism (not enslaved to other states) Eg. Operation Barbarossa (June 22th 1941) to conquer and occupy large parts of the SU, including the resource-rich regions of Ukraine, the Caucasus and Siberia. Very violent w/ mass murder (jewish shootings) and ghettos. Even though it failed as Soviets pushed Germany back, this invasion remains one of the most significant and devastating examples of Lebensraum Conclusion: 25 History - Theme 1 Although it ultimately failed, Hitler and his orchestrating of the NEO were largely successful in the 1930s and early years of the war The NEO influenced the conduct + nature of WW2 through extermination camps, territorial expansion, german nationalism It’s legacy still shaped post-war global governance as the confrontation with the dark reality of Hitler’s New European Order had a profound impact upon the politics of the post-war era → Germany at the heart of post-war talks and aims (yalta, potsdam): de-nazification, occupation ⇒ strong will to reconstruct Germany to avoid reawakening feeling of revenge and injustice + Interference in politics in Italy, in Germany 26

The Great Depression did begin after the stock market crash, but not because of it (trigger event): the underlying economic conditions in the U.S. before the SMC weren't favourable. ⇒ 1920s - large-scale domestic consumption of relatively new consumer products: - good for American industry 
- BUT fueled by credit and instalment buying* (unsustainable ⇒ works fine unless and until economic uncertainty increases ⇒ see the “stock market” square) 
1
History - Theme 1 
Agricultural sector suffered throughout the 1920s: farm prices kept dropping for two reasons - American farms had expanded enormously during WWI to provide food for soldiers - This led many farmers to mechanise their operations (mechanisation ⇒ expensive ⇒ many farmers had to go into debt) 
- Leads to ⇒ combination of overproduction & low prices ⇒ often their farms were foreclosed upon* 
- The agricultural sector was in recession since 1922 (⅓ of USA) 
Other signs of economic weakness appeared throughout the 1920s: 
- 1925, the growth of car manufacturing slowed, along with residential construction (intensified by FED action in 1928 - 1929) 
- Residential construction drop in 1928/29 ⇒ some believe that it was because of he boom in housing construction in the mid-1920s that led to an excess supply of housing and thus to a particularly large drop in construction 
- Economy slowing down: Herbert Hoover labelled "an orgy of mad speculation" - Quote: "By 1929, commercial bankers were in the unusual position of loaning more money for stock market and real estate investments than for commercial ventures." - Historian David Kennedy 
⇒ Companies/Government did not react to the signs of slowing economy (Hoover called the slowing economy “An orgy of mad speculation” 
Can be argued that the main cause of GD ⇒ America’s weak banking system: 
The Failures of America's Banking System 
FED ⇒ created in 1913 but the majority of America's banks were small, individual institutions that had to rely on their own resources. 
- Thus, if there was a panic and depositors rushed to take money out of the bank, the bank failed if it lacked the reserve 
Because of the rise in interest rates, businesses stopped investing, leading to: 
- Banks not making any more money/enough money to run properly without the immense amount of interest rates coming in of business investments 
- The amount of money dropped 
- People and businesses had less ability to pay back their loans (therefore they defaulted their loans and went bankrupt) 
- But, as banks needed money now, the population did not have a chance to restructure their loans ⇒ banks called in loans and sold assets ⇒ leading to frozen credit system - Banks Failed 
- Therefore, there was a panic and everyone wanted to take their money out 2
History - Theme 1 
- But banks did not have enough money 
- So more banks closed 
- Panic rose (in particular in 1932-33 where there were thousands (25%) of bank failures) - ⇒ Europeans started to be nervous, so they took their money out of the bank, massive banks in Europe started to close (1st one ⇒ largest bank in Austria) ⇒ what happened in the US happened in Europe but with a delay 
Bank panics: 
- Fall of 1930 
- Spring of 1931 
- Fall of 1931 (by the end of 1931 ⇒ 2300 banks has failed) 
- Fall of 1932 
- Winter of 1933 
- This culminated in the declaration of a “bank holiday” (closing of all banks) ⇒ 6th March 1933 by Franklin D Roosevelt 
Therefore, because of less money in circulation deflation rose enormously leading to (⇒ money supply declined 31% 1929-33): 
- Businesses laying off employees as their main way to cut costs ⇒ rise of unemployment (peaked at 25.6% in 1933) 
- There was a fall in aggregate demand 
- Businesses laid off more people/went bankrupt (32,000 went bankrupt) 
The FED did not infuse money into the economy to combat this deflationary cycle but instead increased interest rates in September 1931, contracting further the economy (rise in deflation) 
US Response to GD 
2 actions that the government could do: 
- Restrictive/conservative fiscal policy = classical liberalism (→ do nothing and the system will fix itself out, just let time go by ⇒ was initially supported by big businesses) 
- Expenditure expansion (→ intervene somehow: Keynes: without gov interference, the cost on society will be too great, gov should temporarily intervene in the situation ⇒ eg of intervention: lower interest rates, lower taxes, subsidies all to maintain market equilibrium (in this case, stop the deflationary cycle) ⇒ social democratic model ⇒ gov should be implied in social wellbeing → welfare state. Ways to do that: 
- Lower taxes 
- Employ people 
- Buy excess product 
BUT the main model until the 1930s was classical liberalism (reason why Hoover (1929-33) didn't intervene) ⇒ too much production, not enough money in circulation & unemployment → GD 
3
History - Theme 1 
Spread of the GD & Economic nationalism 
Why GD spread to Europe 
Hoover claimed that WWI was the main cause of GD → not 100% true, but WWI did set the stage: - Germany had to pay $33 billion in reparations to UK & France ⇒ loaned money from US banks - The US was owed $10 billion by Britain and France (paid back some with German reparations) - USA became the main creditor, pillar of international financial system 
- With SMC & GD and failure of banks, the US desperately needed more money, so it asked everyone to pay back the loans now, which the 25 countries could not ⇒ economies of Germany, France, and UK also fell off a cliff ⇒ european recession ⇒ halt of world trade 
So the world needed more trade BUT: Hoover, to stimulate domestic demand for domestic products, raised tariffs on most European imports ⇒ Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1930 
European countries raised tariffs as well 
Beneficial for no one ⇒ fewer buyers for goods, less trade, fewer sales, fewer jobs, deflation rise - Tariff warfare → caused a worldwide trade decline of about 40% by 1933 
First instance of Economic Nationalism: policies of protectionism (tariff barriers) and currency devaluation pursued by great economic powers such as USA & Britain after the SMC (leading to a collapse of global trade) → Reluctance of the great democratic powers (USA, Britain and France) to defend the liberal order they had created at Versailles = Isolationism and Appeasementcf. chapter 2 
The London Economic Conference of 1933 
⇒ 66 countries joined the LEC, at the initiative of Hoover. 
Topics they should have discussed: 
- Economics (country priorities) 
- Political (what to do about Hitler & Manchurian Crisis) 
They needed to compromise for the greater good and negotiate to arrive to a conclusion BUT 
Everyone came with their own agenda and no one wanted to compromise (as well on the political stuff). - US priority: tariffs & prices (deflation) 
- UK priority: WWI debts 
- French priority: gold standard 
⇒ All they agreed on was the need for another conference 
⇒ example of failure of democracies to cooperate ⇒ economic nationalism 
⇒ therefore failure of capitalism // failure of democracies 
4
History - Theme 1 
The Gold Standard 
In order to give confidence that money is worth something, they decide on a certain value in gold ⇒ a certain % of the money can be exchanged into gold 
Post-WWI, most big countries went back to the GS 
Why did France want it? ⇒ if everyone adopted the GS, world economy would be stable as the GS: - Prevents gov from putting too much money in circulation so no hyperinflation (fiscal restriction) 
Dec 1931 ⇒ UK leaves the GS (because you can fiddle around with the money supply) 1932 ⇒ 20 countries followed (perhaps the ultimate collapse of the world economy through the disruption of the global monetary system) 
April 1933 ⇒ just before LEC, Roosevelt announced that the US left the GS 
So the french was lonely ⇒ they hoped that the US would help them get the UK back to the GS, but it didn't work as they left it 
France left the GS little after the LEC 
The Manchurian Crisis of 1931 
⇒ failure of LON (UK & France) to defend world order, first test on the LON 
Background info : 
- China : ineffective and weak government due to civil war ⇒ in need of order - Japan : industrial, militarised country (militarism wants expansionism) 
- overpopulation (growth of 1M/year) 
- dynamic economy but lacked land ( Europe had colonised the world leaving no place for Japan ⇒ grudge, victimised ) 
- saw military conquest as the only viable solution = expansion policies 
- Started in 1903 with the invasion of Korea 
- Japanese - Russia war of 1903 -1905 
- ⇒ this kind of activity was supposed to be prevented by the LON 
- Invasion of Manchuria 1931 (region in north/east of China) was a strategic move = gateway to China 
- Geographically close to Japan which had commercial rights to the railway 
- Industrial region 
- Mineral wealth, agriculture land 
SMC : contraction of world trade with tariffs 
- Japan imported silk to pay for staple food (notably rice) ⇒ silk pricing collapsed ⇒ mass hunger 
Mukden Incident 
- Sept 1931: explosion of railway controlled by Japan 
5
History - Theme 1 
- ⇒ presented it as an unprovoked attack from China 
- ⇒ China called upon the LON 
- March 1932: Manchuria ⇒ Manchukuo, a puppet state under J protection 
Failure of LON: 
LON unwilling to confront Japan 
- Economic reason : could not support an embargo during Great Depression crisis - Military reason : practical difficulties ⇒ absence of enforcement power 
Response of LON : 
What they could have done (3 levels of what to do): 
- Moral condemnation → moral diplomacy 
- reduce trade with Far East BUT impact on international trade → economic diplomacy - military sanctions BUT they could not send a naval task force with uncertain prospects of success + could provoke a military attack in British and French colonies in Far East 
⇒ felt like they could do nothing → armed conflict 
What they did : 
- Moral diplomacy: Lytton Commission 
- Lord Lytton was to lead a commission of enquiry to Manchuria 
- Took them 1 year to submit their results (1932-33), by that time, Manchuria was Japanese ⇒ 1933 Japan refused Lytton’s report 
- left LON (also for the glorification of the regime) 
- Invaded Jehol province near Manchuria ⇒ extend empire 
- Economic diplomacy: US did not want economic sanctions, UK & France did not want to annoy Japan (they had other priorities than to have an armed conflict in their asian colonies) - Armed conflict: US, UK & France did not want any military involvement 
LON weakened : 
- seen as slow to act 
- see as weak : reluctant to use force and sanction 
- Aggressor’s foreign policies won ⇒ nations could take advantage of LON’s weakness Eg: Germany: Post WWI, didn't like the sanctions (notably disarmament), so went to LON and demanded other countries to disarm as well. LON couldn’t find anyone willing to disarm. Germany left LON and rearmed openly 
⇒ Failure of democracies : no collective will and security, no penalties (only gain) 
Disarmament conference 
Held in Geneva (Feb 1932 - Nov 1934) 
Goal: reduce armament and peacefully settle disputes 
Failed to reach an agreement: Germany needed to rearm to restore honour and employment ⇒ Germany left LON in November 1933 ⇒ failure of LON to defend collective security (= word order) 
6
History - Theme 1 
US Neutrality Acts of 1935 - 37 
● in response to issues in Asia and Europe; ensured that US would not become involved in conflicts ⇒ caused by desire to be isolationist in the US following WW1 
● US had a very strong history of isolationism; geographic isolat° made this isolationism possible ● debate in the US in the interwar period: isolationism or internationalism? 
● The legacy of N.A. is widely regarded as having been generally negative since they made no distinct° between aggressor and victim (treated both equally as belligerents) and limited the US gov’s ability to aid BR & FR against Nazi Germany 
US neutrality laws aimed at preventing US involvement in European war (certain restrictions would automatically go into effect): 
- Prohibited sales of arms to belligerent nations. 
- Prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations. 
- Forbade Americans to travel on vessels of nations at war (in contrast to WW I). - Non-military goods must be purchased on a "cash-and-carry" basis -> pay when goods are picked up. 
- Banned involvement in the Spanish Civil War. 
⇒ This limited the options of the President in a crisis. 
⇒ America in the 1930s declined to build up its forces 
+: public opinion: Sept 41 ⇒ survey in the US “would you be willing to go to war to protect democratic countries in Europe? Less than 40% yes but to “protect interests in the pacific”, more than 70% said yes 
LON was implemented by the US (Wilson) and rested on 3 countries: US, UK & France - US not involved in international world order (not in LON) 
- Could be accused of not intervening, not assuming its responsibilities 
(US less and less isolationist through its acts, and eventually took part in WW2) US joined WW2 partly bc they had put sm money into BR & FR, and the only way they could get it back was for BR and FR to win war 
Definitions 
Instalment buying: credit agreement between a buyer and seller that allows the buyer to purchase a good and extend the payment over a set amount of time (⇒ loans) 
Foreclosure: legal process where a lender seizes and sells a property for defaulting on a loan. Margin buying: when you invest using someone else’s money 
Belligerent nation: a nation involved in a war 
Stock price: the amount of money it would cost to buy one share in a company Aggregate demand: total demand for goods and services in an economy 
7
History - Theme 1 
Chapter 2: Totalitarian Regimes 
Overall causes for the rise of totalitarianism (tot) 
- Treaty of Versailles 
→ humiliated Germany + destroyed her economically 
→ IT felt cheated out the land they were promised 
→ massive war debt and reparations 
- Economic + social crisis 
→ failure of capitalism 
→ social crisis: unemployment 
- Political instability 
→ new world order 
→ failure of democracies / Democracy 
→ failure of the League of Nations 
Democracy/democracies in retreat - the steady advance of tot 
The failure of Democracy and democracies in the 1930s accelerated the expansion (territorially and politically) of tot. 
FAILURE OF DEMOCRACY (= world order) 
= failure of LON: (failure of cooperation between France & UK) 
- 1931 - 1933: Manchurian crisis 
- 1935 - 1936: Italian invasion of Abyssinia: (Mussolini wanted to increase his prestige + capture living space for Italians + resources + Italian expansion) 
- Reasons: logical next step, didn't think UK & France would oppose (appeasement) thought for sure that he would win 
- December 1934: Wal-wal incident laid the foundation for the Abyissinian crisis (Italy built a fort at the Wal-wal oasis (1930) within Abyssinian borders ⇒ diplomatic crisis; in 1934, Ethiopians threaten to attack it if not given back. Refuses ⇒ rise of tensions until battle in dec 1934 = 150 deaths ) 
- call upon the League BUT LON decided not to attribute blame to either side ⇒ will of FR and BR to gain Mussolini’s help + support in impending war against Hitler 
- renewed Mussolini’s confidence (weak LON) 
- Mussolini attacked Abyssinia on 3rd October 1935 (250,000 men) 
- LON condemned the Italian invasion + voted for economic sanctions on Italy ⇒ implemented 6 weeks later but not on oil, coal, iron or steel & did not close suez canal - FR and BR still wanted to maintain good relations with Mussolini ⇒ proposed a negotiated settlement to the war (Hoare-Laval Pact dec 1935) which greatly favoured the Italians Italy could have ⅔ of Abyssinia in return for a cease-fire 
- Secret but leaked to the public → horrified 
- Plan was dropped & Italy continued its war 
- Showed that UK & France prioritised their own interests 
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History - Theme 1 
- May 1936 ⇒ end of war with the capture of Addis Ababa. 
- July 1936 ⇒ all sanctions are lifted 
- Italy left the League in 1937 
- meanwhile, Hitler took advantage of the Abyssinian Crisis and defied the LON by reoccupying the Rhineland in 1936 
LON banned members from selling arms to Abyssinia (result: it couldn’t defend itself) = France and Britain’s appeasement policies as they tried to avoid the impending war (prioritised other concerns above the principles of the League) 
= the US as a foil to collective security (neutrality, isolationism) (economic sanctions had limited efficacy w/o US interference 
The LON: 
- set up to make sure peace treaties were respected BUT flawed from the start because the US didn’t join ⇒ no effective sanctions on Japan & Italy 
- not willing/able to use collective force to prevent conflicts 
- not united in its approach to dealing with conflict 
- the major powers were willing to make concessions at the expense of smaller nations in order to prevent wider conflicts 
- the major powers who were not members of the LON (USSR, US) would not intervene unless their own interests were threatened 
FAILURE OF DEMOCRACIES (= individual nation) 
Failure of capitalism: (cf chapter 1) 
= economic nationalism (SHT, GS, LEC) 
= social discontent (GD, unemployment) ⇒ no more belief in democracy / capitalism 
Political factors ⇒ failure: 
= appeasement of UK & France 
= US isolationism (US Neutrality Acts) 
⇒ This is what is known as the shift in World Order philosophies: (bc of all the problems in 1930s) - from internationalism to nationalism 
- from cooperation to isolationism 
- ⇒ they saw this inward turn as the ultimate ideal solution to solve their crisis - These new nationalistic policies weakened most nations (mainly democracies) and weakened the already fragile global politics. This new world order set the stage for totalitarianism: less international surveillance / agreements + authoritarian regimes are often more nationalistic 
From an Economic Crisis to a Social Crisis: 
- high unemployment (1933: US ⇒ 25% // EU was similar: 6M unemployed in Germany) 9
History - Theme 1 
⇒ The human suffering and extreme economic crisis pushed nations to adopt more nationalistic policies, therefore going against international political stability (ex: infrastructure building programs to stimulate employment like New Deal in the USA) 
- Living standards got so low that they got to the point of impacting politics. Tot was seen as an attractive alternative ⇒ unified people around a singular goal, promised prosperity and security - The middle class lost a lot (especially savings) = afraid to lose more (economic crisis and communism) ⇒ rise of alternative systems promising better wages & living standards = totalitarian regimes. 
- It was the apparent capacity of totalitarian regimes to solve the economic and social crisis that pushed them to rise to power and be adored by the population. 
- However, not all the people of these countries saw these totalitarian leaders as saviours (intellectuals, higher class, politicians) ⇒ brain drain (the emigration of highly trained/qualified people) from EU to US 
⇒ BUT, also participated in the rise and increased power of totalitarianism: the people that left had the most opportunities/abilities to oppose themselves to totalitarianism, mount opposition. 
The nature of totalitarianism (Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan) Ideology: a way of thinking based on a set of principles, ideals, beliefs (“ism”) 
Totalitarianism: a one-party dictatorship that regulates every aspect of the lives of its citizens 
→ Disregard for human lives 
→ Propaganda (nationalism) 
→ Cult of the personality 
→ Supremacy of military 
→ Persecution of intellectual & art elites → Sexism
	→ Censorship, control of communication → Monopoly over the economy 
→ Enemies within 
→ Obsession with national security 
→ Corruption/Cronyism (friends in power) → Suppression of labour movements

● 3 governmental systems competed for influence in post-war EU: 
- Democracy (FR + BR) 
- Communism (USSR + other) ⇒ seen by the west as the worse of 2 evils pre-1935 - Fascism (IT + GER) ⇒ seen by the west as the worse of 2 evils post-1935 (in hard times, most people look up to fascism) (+ French & British military not so against tot) 
- Useful context: 1930-35 period: 
- Could be argued that it was a period to accommodate fascism & authoritarianism because of economic & military weaknesses, domestic concerns (rise of communism in Fr) 
- Little condemnation when Mussolini invaded/intervened in Libyan civil war, also little condemnation when he invaded Corfu (1923) ⇒ greek island 
- There was some belief that they could manage fascism & empires 
- + if they annoyed Japan & Germany ⇒ problems to their own empires 
- US ⇒ able to cooperate (good neighbour policies) well with the Americas & Asia (Asia = more of a concern to the US (⇒ footprint in Philippines) 
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History - Theme 1 
● Fascism: 
- Fascism: any centralised, authoritarian form of government that is not communist, whose policies glorify the state over the individual and are destructive to basic human rights - Not only a form of gov, also a way to organise society 
- Authoritarian (NOT tot in the case of Italy) 
- Includes a specific organisation of government centred around a dictator 
- Not aimed to control all aspects of the lives of its inhabitants, more the glorification of the state (linked to glorification of god, to justify an « enemy within ») 
- both fascist leaders came to power in a context of political instability within their country = governments that failed to solve the social + economic problems 
- fascism appeared as a sort of utopian myth in this context: regenerated economy + national community, social well-being ⇒ seen as strong stable governments that could end the political feuding 
ITALY: National Fascist Party (Benito Mussolini) 
- Context: 
- Hated ToV (wanted territory in the Balkans) 
- Felt like they fought in WWI for no reason (especially veterans ⇒ big support for Mussolini 
- High inflation ⇒ middle class for Mussolini (1913-20 value of money divided by 6) - More and more influential communists movements ⇒ worries middle class and bourgeoisie 
- Democratic Italian gov was not solving the country’s problems (high corruption) - Mussolini promised to save economy & make Italy strong 
- Oct. 1922: Mussolini takes control “legally” , put in charge by the king 
- 30,000 fascists marched on Rome 
- King scared of a possible civil war and wanted to stay in power 
- Black Shirts = violent paramilitary group in support for Mussolini 
- idea of the “glorious state”: 
- Men ⇒ “selfless warriors”, urged to fight/work 
- Women pushed out of jobs and have many children (if a woman had more than 14 ⇒ medal awarded by mussolini himself) 
- strict military discipline for children 
- State capitalism 
- 1925 - New italian socialist party (PSI) 
- Ballot rigging & intimidation 
- Ministry of corporations, 1926 
- Piccole Italiane → military children 
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History - Theme 1 
GERMANY: National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) (Adolf Hitler) 
- Nazism: a form of fascism (Hitler was inspired by Mussolini) 
- restless and unhappy population under Weimar Republic 
- To liberal for conservatives, not radical enough for communists 
- Germany had to pay $33 billion in reparations to UK & France 
- WR signed ToV ⇒ germans hated them for it 
- Weak gov because: it was new, huge WWI debs (insisted by the French) 
- Timeline: 
- Germany fell behind on reparation payments so France occupied the Ruhr valley - Workers in the Ruhr refused to work but the German gov still payed them by printing massive amounts of money 
- Hyperinflation 
- Many families lost their savings: 
- Cost of a loaf of bread: 
- 1922 ⇒ 163 Mark 
- Sept 1923 ⇒ 1.5 x 106 Mark 
- Nov 1923 ⇒ 200 x 109 Mark 
- 1920: Hitler founded the NSDAP 
- 1923: failed coup by NSDAP led by Hitler ⇒ imprisoned (wrote Mein Kampf) - January 1933: Hitler appointed chancellor by president Hindenburg 
- Turned Germany in a tot state (banned all parties except NSDAP after Reichstag fire (feb 1933), implemented the Schutzstaffe (SS)) 
- New European Order (cf chapter 3) 
- New army: 
- 26 Feb 1935: hitler ordered Goering to appoint a new air force (against treaty of Versailles) 
- March 1935: Hitler publicly announces that he wants new and big army, conscription introduced 
- expansionism→ Rhineland, Anschluss, Sudetenland, Poland, rest of Czechoslovakia 
⇒ this was possible due to appeasement policies led by BR and FR who turned a blind eye on Hitler’s actions (until Poland) ; sacrificed more little countries because wanted to avoid a WWII Other countries that fell to fascism: HUNGARY, SPAIN, YUGOSLAVIA, POLAND. Only CZECHOSLOVAKIA remained democratic in eastern europe. 
● Communism: USSR (Joseph Stalin) 
- Why is it called Stalinism? ⇒ was there for the longest, was also inwardly directed - 1924: Stalin in power 
- 1925-47: League of militant atheists (= union of the godless) created by soviet gov to promote atheism, antireligious 
12
History - Theme 1 
- 1928 - 1939: industrial growth through “five year plans” (development of industry, transportation + increased farm output) 
- 1929: trotsky exiled by Stalin (bcs he publicly criticised him) 
- 1930: Cinema stops importing films 
- 1930: Creation of NKDV (people’s commissariat for internal affairs), has the monopoly over law enforcement 
- 1932: Union of Soviet writers public execution, show trials 
- absenteeism 
- 1932: Terror famine: mass starvation (grains seized, low wages, scarce consumer products, controlled pop) ⇒ 6-8M deaths due to starvation in Ukraine alone 
- 1934: Great Purge (Stalin fearful of rival parties, plottings, opposition) ⇒ 4M people purged between 1934 - 1938 
- 1939: 
- 20 mins late = absenteeism 
- Nationalisation of agriculture 
- Collectivisation failure (agricultural output didn’t increase) 
- Renaming towns a part of the cult of personality (Stralingrad, Stalinsk, Stalinabad) - Death penalty for criticism of Stalin 
Differences between communism/fascism: ⇒ quite similar 
Communism 
	Fascism
	Worked for international change 
Spoke of creating a classless society
	Pursued national goals 
Supported society with defined classes
	Blind devotion to the state 
Terror for power 
Flourished in economic hard times 
Rule by an elite

● Militarism and ultranationalism: Japan 
- 1931: Japan was hit badly by the economic depression ⇒ Japanese people lost faith in the government. 
- Saw the army as the solution to their economic problems. 
- In order to produce more goods, Japan needed natural resources for its factories. The Japanese army invaded Manchuria, an area rich in minerals and resources ⇒ the LON didn’t adequately sanction 
- Japan left the LON and continued with its expansion 
- Japan’s terror acts were mostly located in countries outside of Japan 
Appeasement 
Churchill (little after Munich Conference) “You had the choice between dishonour and war, you chose dishonour, you will have war” 
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History - Theme 1 
= policies implemented by France & UK towards Germany, Italy & Japan ⇒ focuses on diplomatic negotiations and concessions to prevent immediate armed conflict 
1935-1939 in the West, although Japan beforehand arguably 
In appeasing Germany & Italy, they abandoned the NWO they were supposed to create 
Reasons for appeasement: 
- 1930s ⇒ ToV was seen as unfair. Appeasement ⇒ world leaders could correct some of the injustices and demands for self-determination (for the UK - in France, they didn’t find the ToV unfair, they just didn’t think their military/economy could take it) 
- Overestimated Hitler’s army (Remilitarisation of the Rhineland - bad estimates by the French intelligence service, Guernica - bombed by the Luftwaffe in April 1937, The Times reports 3,000 deaths, today historians say less than 300) 
- UK doubted that it could defeat Germany, Italy and Japan 
- UK & French rearmement was difficult (they needed time) 
- Public opinion didn’t want a WWII 
- France would not act against Hitler without the support of Chamberlain, 
- The UK couldn’t act because they wouldn’t have the support of the US, Commonwealth, and colonies 
- France ⇒ unstable government (too many parties ⇒ lead to chaos + growing communism which lead them to be “too soft on communism” for the UK (failure of coopera°)) ⇒ few resources devoted to foreign policy 
- The crisis in Abyssinia was much more of an immediate threat than Hitler's remilitarisation of the Rhineland, which was widely seen as Hitler "going into his own backyard". 
- Threat of the USSR and world communism (USSR worse of 2 evils at the start) Why appeasement was criticised: 
- It allowed Germany to grow in power and strength, making it harder to defeat after 1939. Post 1935 ⇒ Germany increased its territory by 36%, its population by 28%, (+ had more time to rearm) 
- Germany could have been easily defeated in 1936, when it remilitarized the Rhineland. - It was morally wrong to allow stronger, more aggressive countries to take advantage of smaller, weaker ones. 
- It made Britain and France appear weak and gave Hitler confidence. This may have made him more aggressive in his aims. 
- It contributed to Stalin's decision to sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Hitler as he saw the actions of Britain and France as weak. 
Timeline & Interpretations of Appeasement ⇒ see fiches 
Nazi-Soviet Pact 
NSP ⇒ agreement on the 21st August 1939 btw Nazi Germany and USSR 
What was agreed: no war between them for 10 years + share Poland 
⇒ made war in the West more likely as, apart from USSR, there was no real force to oppose Hitler ⇒ made Hitler more aggressive since he wouldn’t have to fight on two fronts 
14
History - Theme 1 
Before NSP, by July 1939, USSR and UK/France negotiated for months to sign an agreement but UK refused ⇒ Hitler took the opportunity and signed NSP 
While signing the agreement, both parties knew that it would not be sustainable (USSR started to rearm) 
WWII in Asia 
From 1937-45 
In Japanese POV: 
- Japanese = master race 
- All the rest are slaves to support the motherland/master race 
Japanese atrocities in China ⇒ no sanctions/military action towards Japan 
Rape of Nanking: 
From 13th December 1937 for 6 weeks 
Deaths: 200,000 (consensus) estimates ⇒ 40,000 - 300,000 
Japan was really quick to invade China. They saw big resistance at Nanking ⇒ slower to take ⇒ frustration ⇒ Japanese officials ordered to « kill all captives » (ex: « contest to kill 100 people using a sword », soldiers smiling in front of piles of decapitated heads ⇒ trophies (photos taken from the Japanese army)) 
⇒ most condensed period of atrocities (20,000 to 80,000 women raped then murdered) 
To what extent was totalitarianism a cause for WW2? 
● expansionism 
- Expansionism was pursued by all totalitarian regimes 
- their expansionist policies inevitably involved war eventually 
ex: Japan: As Japan invaded other areas of South-East Asia (after Manchuria) including Vietnam, the United States grew concerned about its territories in Asia, such as the Philippines and Guam. Japan felt that its expansion could be threatened by the United States military and attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941. World War II had begun in Asia and the US entered the war officially. 
- The lack of response to these expansionist policies (from LON, FR, BR, US…) made totalitarian leaders more confident and willing to pursue their conquest ⇒ war 
ex: Hitler’s will to rip up the ToV, unite all German-speaking countries and create living space in the East by conquering other countries to make space for his “master race” ⇒ impossible without war 1933: Hitler secretly started to rearm the German army 
1935: the German army was 5 times the allowed size 
- Some consider Hitler responsible for starting WW2: fired the opening shots (invasion of Poland), expansionism 
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History - Theme 1 
BUT, much deeper causes: humiliating ToV, flawed LON, appeasement, economic crisis… 
● Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 
- The rise of increasingly powerful and influential nations (ex: GER + Soviet Union), the lack of international cooperation and appeasement meant that the rising totalitarian regimes had considerable freedom of action 
- This allowed for Hitler and Stalin to sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939 (no war between them for 10 years + share Poland) ⇒ made war in the West more likely ⇒ made Hitler more aggressive since he wouldn’t have to fight on two fronts 
In what ways did the rise to power of totalitarian regimes in the 1930s threaten world stability? ● Extreme nationalism 
Unifying force, an attractive alternative after the Economic hardship of the 30s ⇒ unified people around a singular goal & promised prosperity and security 
This made people turn to extreme nationalism on a national scale. On an international scale, this lead to a destabilisation of global order (supremacy of democracy challenged) 
● Militarism 
= philosophy of garanteeing security by bypassing diplomacy and economic sanctions (directly go to the military option) 
Undermined foundation of LON, ToV, Fr-UK cooperation to guarantee collective security: - Disarmament conference 1932 - 34 (in oct 1933, Germany left, threatening even more the legitimacy and credibility of LON) 
- Remilitarisation of the Rhineland 1936 
- Anglo-German naval agreement 1935 → Stresa Front challenged 
● Expansionism 
Manchuria, Abyssinia, Sudetenland ⇒ direct violation of the principle of territorial integrity ● Challenged the role of Western democracies to maintain the post-WW1 order - US neutrality 
- Appeasement 
- Lytton report / HL pact 
Chapter 3: World War Two 
Why talk about WWII as a crucible? 
Crucible = a place or situation in which people or ideas are tested evereley, often creating something new in the process ⇒ bcs fascism/tot tested its ideology on USSR and Democracy Apparatus = a system/institution 
General Idea about a new world order (NWO) 
After a catastrophe (ex: war) 
16
History - Theme 1 
1st NWO: post-Naopleon & lasted until WWII 
NWO/NEOs has aims and features: 
- Aims = objectives/goals 
- Features = How they want to achieve these aims 
In this case, NEO = the foreign and domestic policies, and the war aims, of the Nazi state and Hitler 
Nazi ideology and rationale 
The New Order (Neuordnung) (New Order of Europe (Neuordnung Europas)) = political order which Nazi Germany wanted to impose on the conquered areas under its dominion (= Germany as the hegemonic power) 
→ Described in Mein Kampf (1924), in which he presented himself as “the natural leader”, a “divine prophet” 
→ NEO influenced by Hitler’s will to achieve a “circle of revenge” against the countries having established the post-WWI order (ie. the rest of the world) 
Ideology 
→ Racialist doctrine: 
- Strict hierarchy of human race: creation of a “master race” ⇒ aryan race by purification - Everyone else was seen as an enemy and was unwelcome (⇒ expulsion/extermination) → Geopolitical strategy 
- Expansionism was at the heart of the ideology as expressed by Hitler in Mein Kampf as he believed it was the only way for Germany to stay vital (not an enslaved nation) 
- This expansion had to start East and was an inevitable step to Germany’s world domination - This pan-german expansionism was justified by the will to reunite all german-speaking people of the aryan race and to grant them more living space (lebensraum = wanted space for 10M additional Germans) + German women were encouraged to have as many children as possible to inhabit the conquered territories with “superior” beings 
- In addition to territorial expansion, this also involved the mass extinction of millions of non-aryan people to “leave space” 
→ Aims 
- Redraw/reorganise the European continent, thereby changing the then-existing geo-political structures to turn Europe into a German colony 
- Secure a fair rearrangement of territory for the "common benefit" of a new, economically integrated Europe 
- Total post-war continental hegemony for Nazi Germany through expansionism and political + economic subjugation 
= creation of the “Greater German Reich” (Großgermanisches Reich Deutscher Nation) 
THUS: NEO features: total war for territorial conquest, economic expansion, entrench German hegemonic status, racialist, ideological 
17
History - Theme 1 
From an NEO to an NWO 
→ 3 stages to his plan: 
1) Controlling EU 
2) Extension to Africa 
3) Then US → “final battle/victory” (Endsieg) 
Invasion and Occupation 
Implementation of the NEO 
→ began peacefully 
- Consolidate the ideology on a domestic scale 
- Annexation of Austria (+ Sudetenland) through plebiscite in 1938 
- NSP (cf chapter 2) 
→ 2nd phase: violence (influenced by appeasement) 
- Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939 
+ Poland 
- Blitzkrieg = attack on Northern + Western Europe to neutralise opposition from the west (Subjugated Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium and France by summer 1940) → failure 
- Failed to subjugate part of France + the UK ⇒ elements of failure of Blitzkrieg - If he had subjugated the UK, the political re-ordering of Western Europe would have been accomplished 
BUT controlled most of the West so turned East (sent 3M soldiers) 
Ex: Operation Barbarossa 
Very different experiences w/ NEO one eastern Europe and Western Europe (ended up being the same but the process was very different) ⇒ 
Goal of NEO: go east first BUT they needed to neutralise the west first ⇒ w/ NSP (USSR being an ally, why give the west time to rearm? There might be US involvement too in the near future SO they decided to first neutralise the west and then focus on the east 
+ After US, western Europe was the most industrialised place in the world 
New European Disorder? Eg: NEO in the west 
Authors: 
- Mark Mazower: Dark continent (1998) 
- Ian Ousby: Occupation: the Ordeal of France 1940-1944 (1999) 
NEO = act of saving European civilisation from collapse ⇒ there were elements of total chaos in the NEO (Germans didn’t plan anything, they just went with the flow) 
Some say NEO was organisational chaos, some say its not 
But why? 
18
History - Theme 1 
1st phase of the war: unexpectedly extremely successful for Germany (victorious for more than 2 years). Defeated and occupied Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg & France by summer 1940 
Mazouer: “Most Germans, Hitler included, had been astonished by the speed and scale of their victory in the west. The future of the continent was under consideration in Berlin” (they urgently needed policies to rule the west, conquering is one thing, ruling is another) 
Nazis came up with a plan: 
- Hitler in Fr → 4 year plan → promised to make everyone work and flourish - Pegged reichsmark to reduce inflation (= fixing it to a specific quantity of gold) - A single market for agriculture with fixed prices for farmers 
- NEO would operate as a single trade block 
- Berlin → financial capital of NEO, German banks would be the main lenders Main focus of NEO = economic to focus on war effort: 
- Fr was the main economic hub, Ger wanted to make the most of it 
Case study - France 
Ousby “Few, if any periods of modern French history have seen less order” 
No grand application plan from the Nazis, only acting and reacting → resolving short-term problems Inefficiency hypothesis ⇒ the manner Nazis ruled Germany was disorganised (“polycratic chaos”) ⇒ a lot due to corruption 
Evidence for France: (france pretty much became a colony) 
- Champaign ⇒ in 1940, German troops drank 9 million bottles of champaign, financed through occupation payments made by France. In 1941 this was 18 million bottles, even though troops in France decreased ⇒ greater lack of discipline as time went on 
- Herman Göring ⇒ man with the largest private art collection in Europe (2.9 billion worth in today’s money, around 1400 works. Liked jewels, had zoo animals, morphine addiction) - Black market ⇒ despite being illegal, was very active. Purchases from German occupiers increased x11 btw 1941-42 (up to 8 million reichsmarks/day, ⅓ of all extracted in France per day). Göring organised “christman campaigns of mass black market purchases” so that Ger could have a good SoL. Made by soldiers and gov agencies 
THUS: reckless, uncontrollable plunder of NEO (Nazis were victors and had the right to take limitless amounts of wealth from conquered territories ⇒ “A lower race needs less food, less clothes and less culture than a higher race” – Robert Ley, leader of German labour front, 1940) 
However, there is an alternative way at looking at the economic policies of NEO in France ⇒ There WERE plans, they were just very short-term: 
19
History - Theme 1 
- Throughout the occupation period, ‘free France’ had to pay btw 15-25 million RM/day. Vichy gov thought it was “random” and not linked to any reality. The Reich Finance Ministry (RFM) used military costs as a basis for the figure 
- Germany entrenched Ger hegemony through the control of the Stock market ⇒ French firms would therefore be controlled by Germans, increasing the reliance of Fr on Ger - Service du travail obligatoire (STO) ⇒ sent 1.5 million french to work in Nazi Germany So after all, it wasn't such a bad deal to attack the west first as it gave Germany resources for their attack east 
Speer’s vision: rationalism vs exploitation: 
- Speer – “It is imbecility if I call up one million men in France. I end up with 2 million workers less there and 50-100 thousand more in Germany” ⇒ 2 million cus the other 1 million went into hiding 
- Basically better keep them in France cus in Germany they won’t be very productive - France: 40-50% of french production went to the Reich by 1943 (only can starve the population to some extent, or they don't become productive/serve your purpose) 
- Business superspending & political conflict clashed with Hitler’s primitive economics of conquest (what worked before needed to be changed moving forward) 
NEO in the East 
What pushed the Nazis to the point of no return? (ie: the creation of extermination camps) Initially, the racial part was only supposed to push the impure races out of Europe 
1941-42, the year that changed everything (shift from victor to loser) 
1942 - a turning point in WW2: from Nazi successes to Nazi failures (defeats against Russia + US in the war) eg: Stalingrad in 1942 
⇒ the NEO was progressively brought to a halt 
By dec 1942, things started to be difficult in the east (thus, rise of pressure to move labour) 
Labour needs ⇒ approx. 3 million Russian Personnels of war were killed that winter and Ger faced a desperate shortage 
Violent forced conscription ⇒ counterproductive ⇒ male workers abandoned their jobs and went into hiding & local administrators turned a blind eye to protect their people 
The twisted road to auschwitz 
Auschwitz ⇒ not planned, the Nazis did not envision it at the beginning (they did not want genocide, only forced migration) 
Antisemitism: already some support pre-WWI for racial purification of jews before (Dreyfus, 1890) so the Nazi plan wasn't only badly received 
When not having a plan worked, this was just fine but when it didn't work, they became more radical 20
History - Theme 1 
Himmler (may 1940) “I hope to completely erase the concept of jews through the possibility of great emigration to a colony in Africa or somewhere. However cruel and tragic each case may be, this is still the mildest and best if one rejects the bolshevik method of physical extermination” ‘or somewhere’ ⇒ unplanned 
However, Germany had to renew their jew plan after 3 events: 
- Invasion of Poland 
- Invasion of western Europe 
- Invasion of USSR 
Evolution of the Nazi Jewish plan: 
- Madagascar plan (1940), ended when the battle of Britain had failed, but the goal remained unchanged 
- Einsatzgruppen (1941), Heydrich’s death squads of volunteers that followed the front lines (by mid april 1942, they recorded 520000 victims, showing that resettlement was no longer the final solution 
- Himmler in Minsk (Aug 1941), witnessed a mass shooting, sought an alternative. Use of gaz vans in East Russia by the SS in 39-40. Einsatzgruppen started to use these by Aug 1941 - Outrage at the Aktion T4 euthanasia Programme (for the mass murder of the mentally ill initially), leading to 300000 innocents killed, mostly gassed, this technique was later used in extermination camps. Also used east. Aktion T4 was hardly a state secret and broke out, closed in 1941 bcs of public pressure 
⇒ basically they had no plan, Hitler had no clue of the “how” the NEO had to work in the east - Too simplistic economic plan 
- Unsure plan abt purification of Jews 
The initial approach to the east lacked coordination and uniformity: 
- Economic policies did not follow the model envisaged by Speer (efforts to build up arms production in Poland were not as effective as in France) 
- Nazi organisation was not one of managerial efficiency 
- The racial policy was clear but the implementation was no 
- As the economic perspective did not work in the east, what could work? ⇒ racial policies put in place ⇒ Rosenstraße Protest Feb-March 1943 (non-jewish protesters on Rosenstraße following the deportation of 2000 jews) 
- It required the consent of ordinary citizens throughout Europe (lead to the cancellation of Aktion T4) 
DEATH FACTORIES 
Taylorism ⇒ people working in bureaux only saw a little part, but they organised the whole thing Construction of extermination centres, key to the final solution (Belzec, 1942) 
Auschwitz (1941) became the main death camp for the extermination of Jews (in 1942-43) 21
History - Theme 1 
- Unusual camp: labour & death camp, encapsulates the economic and racial ideology of NEO - 3% survived Auschwitz 
Need for collaboration from the allies for the extermination of the jews. Ex: France: - 27 March 1942: First train load of Jews left Drancy for Auschwitz 
- 7 August 1944: Last train from Drancy (8 days before the liberation of Paris) - Total Jews from france killed: more than 75000 
- Year with highest deportation: 1942 (42000 jews) 
- “La grande rafle” (july 1942) - 12000 Jews arrested in Paris & taken to the vélodrome d’hiver to be processed before deportation to Auschwitz 
Difference btw NEO/NWO: 3 different types of orders during 20th century: 
- Post WWI order 
- NEO ⇒ 1939-45 (never fully put in place) 
- NWO ⇒ order post WWII (overlaps with NEO) 
Barbarossa and what it implied 
(June 22th 1941) to conquer and occupy large parts of USSR, including the resource-rich regions of Ukraine, the Caucasus and Siberia. Very violent w/ mass murder (jewish shootings) and ghettos. Even though it failed, as the Soviets pushed Germany back, this invasion remains one of the most significant and devastating examples of Lebensraum. 
Lebensraum = economic space in which wealth and control goes to the “pure race” This is the time here Russia will start to have military defeats + US involvement in the war in January 1942 
Its legacy 
→ significantly determined the conduct of the war: 
- was the catalyst to WW2 as it was an inevitable part of the accomplishment of phase 1 - Concentration and extermination camps - General Plan East (1940) 
- Soviet victories accelerated the implementation of the NEO through increased brutality (camps and violence within Vichy gov) 
- Italy was completely subjugated and served as a sphere of influence 
→ shaped post-war conferences 
- Germany at the heart of post-war talks and aims (yalta, potsdam): denazification, occupation ⇒ strong will to reconstruct Germany to avoid reawakening feeling of revenge and injustice - Interference in politics in Italy, in Germany 
What if Nazism hadn’t been defeated? 
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History - Theme 1 
→ Germany’s “new race” implied the removal of 30-40M jewish-bolshevists, Himmler had expressed the intention to kill about 80% of the populations of France and England by special forces of the SS after the German victory 
→ There was to be no post-war general peace conference in the manner of the one held in Paris after WW1, merely bilateral negotiations between Germany and her defeated enemies. All still existing international organisations such as the International Labour Organization were to be dismantled or replaced by German-controlled equivalents. 
→ the commander-in-chief of the German Army, Walther von Brauchitsch, directed that “The able-bodied male population between the ages of 17 and 45 will, unless the local situation calls for an exceptional ruling, be interned and dispatched to the Continent” 
→ creation of 4 Reich commissariats (administrative centres) 
- Ostland 
- Ukraine 
- Muscovy 
- Caucasus 
→ creation of wehrdörfer (defence villages) in order to conquer more territory and protect its borders from Japan 
⇒ this would have allowed him to secure food supplies for the additional Germans, have access to oil and labour 
⇒ “1000 year Reich” (consolidate the reich, restructure cities) 
→ accepted the Japanese as another power and possibly the US ( + BR without empire) 
Questions: 
- How significant was economic policy to the NEO? 
- How far did the invasion of the USSR transform the NEO in the east? 
- To what extent was the NEO ordered? 
- How significant was racial policy to the NEO? 
- To what extent was the NEO an example of Europeanism 
Assess the aims of the New European Order (WW2). 
Introduction: 
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History - Theme 1 
“Whoever dominates Europe will therefore assume the leadership of the world” - main objective of the NEO” (Goebbels) 
“The year 1941 will be, I am convinced, the historical year of a great European New Order” ( Adolf Hitler) The New European Order designates the political order that Nazi Germany wanted to impose on the conquered areas under its domination. 
Hitler’s New European Order entailed the creation of a German racial state, structured according to Nazi ideology, to ensure the existence of a perceived greater German Reich which would entrench Germany’s position as a hegemonic power. 
I/ In the context of totalitarianism, the New European Order appeared as a continuation of a larger movement menacing the established world order. 
> Hitler wanted to achieve a “circle of revenge” against WW1 
→ unfair treatment of Germany during Treaty of Versailles + following years 
→ considered all were to blame 
⇒ used nationalism as a tool for totalitarianism + a justification for the NEO 
> racialist doctrine 
→ strict hierarchy of the human race: n°1 aryan race 
→ creation of a superior and legitimate population destined to dominate the world → oppression of opponents to the ideology (10 000 communists arrested by March 34, to concentration camps) 
> ideology shaped and orchestrated by Mein Kampf (1924): “the new bible”, “the book of the German people” 
II/ Consolidate the influence and power of the NEO on a domestic scale in order to reinforce ideological beliefs 
> structure german society according to the nazi ideology: 
→ one-party state 
→ cult of personality: Hitler = “messiah to restore a fallen nation”, “divine prophet”, “natural leader”, “sent from god” 
→ propaganda: “Believe! Obey! Fight!”, films “Triumph of the Will”, any anti-german art had to disappear (ex: more than 25 000 books burned in one night on 10th of May 1933 ) ⇒ spreading of the aims to the population, use of nationalism to entrench the NEO within German minds 
For example, govt reforms always received over 90% of yes to plebiscites 
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History - Theme 1 
> A strategic plan to consolidate and strengthen Germany’s national power on an international stage in order to ensure its capacity to accomplish the further aims of the NEO 
→ social: unemployment went from 6M to 3M between 1933 and 1935 
→ economy: cut welfare spending to spend more on industry + reallocation of resources, creation of an autocratic power (self-sufficient in terms of resources) + state control over means of production to ensure economic growth (4 year plan: strict control of food prices) 
Eg. Nazi regime established a system of forced labor to provide w/ cheap and abundant source of labor for its war economy. In August 1944, over 7.6 million Fremdarbeiter (foreign workers) officially registered on the employment rolls in the territory of the “greater German Reich”. Of those, 1.9 million were prisoners and 6.5 million were civilian forced laborers especially Eastern Europeans such as Polish → political: increased military spending, creation of a indoctrinated youth 
Ex: remilitarization of Rhineland 
⇒ in the space of 4 years Nazi Germany changed from a defeated nation, a bankrupt economy strangled by war debt, inflation and lack of foreign capital into full employment with the strongest economy and biggest military power in Europe 
III/ Expansionism was at the heart of the envisioned New European Order as Hitler saw war as the construct of a grandiose political and economic apparatus which would entrench Germany’s hegemonic status in the world 
> a major catalyst to the conduct of WW2 
→ WW2 was part of Hitler’s larger plan of achieving his NEO 
→ the recourse to war was fundamental to the fulfillment of the NEO’s hegemonic ambitions 
> creation of the “Greater German Reich” (revenge + lebensraum + Ger hegemony) → 1936-1939: peaceful (Anschluss, Sudetenland) 
→ after 1939: violence (Czechoslovakia + subjugation of Den, Nor, NDL, Bel, Lux, Fr) → Invasion of Poland: declaration of WW2 
⇒ enslaved Europe + completed his “circle of revenge” 
⇒ “1000 years Reich” (control of EU, then Africa, then “final battle” against US or co-existence) = “Endsieg” 
⇒ according to Hitler, the only way for Germany to stay vital was through expansionism (not enslaved to other states) 
Eg. Operation Barbarossa (June 22th 1941) to conquer and occupy large parts of the SU, including the resource-rich regions of Ukraine, the Caucasus and Siberia. Very violent w/ mass murder (jewish shootings) and ghettos. Even though it failed as Soviets pushed Germany back, this invasion remains one of the most significant and devastating examples of Lebensraum 
Conclusion: 
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History - Theme 1 
Although it ultimately failed, Hitler and his orchestrating of the NEO were largely successful in the 1930s and early years of the war 
The NEO influenced the conduct + nature of WW2 through extermination camps, territorial expansion, german nationalism 
It’s legacy still shaped post-war global governance as the confrontation with the dark reality of Hitler’s New European Order had a profound impact upon the politics of the post-war era → Germany at the heart of post-war talks and aims (yalta, potsdam): de-nazification, occupation ⇒ strong will to reconstruct Germany to avoid reawakening feeling of revenge and injustice + Interference in politics in Italy, in Germany 
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Transcript for:Democracy's Fragility and Totalitarian Rise

Transcript for:
Democracy's Fragility and Totalitarian Rise