20th Century European History

Short & Long Questions

20th Century International Relations

Phase I1919 – 1939

The Uneasy Peace(SLIDES 3-36)

•Treaty of Versailles•Weimar Republic•Mussolini’s Italy•Wall Street Crash•Great Depression•Rise of Extremism•League of Nations•Nazi Germany•Appeasement

•Munich Conference

Phase II1939 – 1945World War II

(Slides 37-61)

•Invasion of Poland •Blitzkrieg•The Phoney War•Hitler’s Turns West•The Maginot Line•Fall of France•Vichy France•Operation Dynamo•Operation Eagle (Battle of Britain)•Operation Sealion•Operation Barbarossa•Battle of Stalingrad•Pearl Harbour•Final Solution•Operation Overlord: D-Day•The Battle of the Bulge•The Manhattan Project•Fall of Berlin•The Holocaust •Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Phase III1945 – 1990The Cold War

(Slides 62-74)

•Divided Germany•Europe Divided•NATO & Warsaw Pact•SuperPowers•Operation Vittles: Berlin Blockade•The Truman Doctrine•The Korean War•Sputnik I•Yuri Gagarin•NASA•Cuban Missile Crisis•The Vietnam War•SALT

Phase I: 1919 – 1939

The Uneasy Peace

War Guilt Clause

Hyperinflation

Reparations

Wall Street Crash

Propaganda March on Rome

Squadristi Night of the Long Knives Der Fuhrer

Lebensraum

Herrenvolk

Fourteen Points

Il Duce

Enabling Law

Rearmament

Great DepressionOVRA

Kristallnacht

Nuremberg Laws

Anschluss

Appeasement

Battle for Grain Weimar Republic

Acerbo Law

Brownshirts (SA)

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

Germany:

• Lost Alsace-Lorraine to France & Danzig to Poland (and all its overseas colonies)

• Had to reparations of 6.6 billion marks to France, Belgium & Britain

• Army reduced to 100,000 men

• U-boats scrapped• Surface navy reduced

Article 231: ‘War Guilt Clause’

Whereby Germany accepted complete responsibility for the war and the damage

it caused

War Guilt Clause (1919)

Article 231: ‘War Guilt Clause’

Whereby Germany accepted complete responsibility for the war and the damage it caused

This would become a item of contention & controversy in Germany from 1920 on, providing Hitler & the Nazis with a reason to call the Weimar Republic a “nation founded in defeat” and a

means to attract German Nationalists to their extreme ideology.

 ’Dolchstoßlegende’: ‘Stab in the back’ myth

(Nazi accusation towards German politicians of 1918)

4 New Countries Created after World War II

• Austria • Hungary• Yugoslavia• CzechoslovakiaWoodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points:

One of President Wilson’s 14 Points was that of ‘self-determination of small nations’. This helped to break up old empires and create many new small nations throughout Europe.

March on Rome (22nd – 29th October1922)

• The Italian National Fascist Party marched on Rome, demanding to be made the new government of Italy

• The Blackshirts (‘Squadristi’) led the march on Rome

• 30,000 men took part in the march

• The Italian King, fearing a civil war, invited Mussolini and his party to form a new government for Italy

• Contrary to popular belief, Mussolini did not take part in the march. Staged photos were later taken

The Blackshirts‘Squadristi’

• Italian Fascist Militia• Strongly pro-

nationalist • Supported Mussolini &

the Italian Fascist Party

• Intimidated political opponents

• Attacked Communist parties & groups

Acerbo Law (1923)

•A law passed in Italy in 1923 whereby the political party who won the most seats would automatically get 2/3 of the seats in the Italian Parliament.

• Ostensibly introduced to create strong, stable governments, the law was in fact introduced to give Mussolini and the Italian Fascists dominance over the parliament.

Reasons Why Mussolini’s Party Gained Support after 1919

• Many Italians felt that they should have received more land in the Paris Peace Settlement and resented the little they received.

• Mussolini promised to crush communism and take on the mafia gangs

• Italy was heavily in debt after the First World War and Mussolini promised to bring strong, stable government to Italy

• Effective use of propaganda

OVRA Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-

Fascism• Italian Secret Police in

Mussolini’s Italy

• Founded in 1927

• Leader:  Arturo Bocchini

• Arrest, detain & torture opponents of fascism in Italy

‘Battle for Grain’• Poor marshland was drained &

reclaimed for wheat production. Government gave grants to farmers to invest in machinery & fertiliser.

• Tariffs placed on imported bread

• Mussolini wanted to reduce Italy’s balance of trade deficit (due to imports). He wanted to make Italy as self-sufficient as possible

• Italy was almost entirely self-sufficient in wheat production by 1940

Mussolini ‘working’ in the fields, bringing in the harvest

(Propaganda)

Weimar Germany 1919 - 1933

• Founded in the aftermath of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

• City of Weimar was the capital of the new republic.

• Gustav Streseman was the Prime Minister of Weimar in 1923 and Foreign Minister from 1924 – 1929.

• The Young Plan & Dawes Plan (American loans) helped to alleviate the financial burden on Weimar, particularly reparations & employment.

Threats to the Weimar Republic

(1919 – 1933)• Both Communist (KPD) and

Fascist (NSDAP) parties threatened the stability of Weimar Germany.

• Associated with defeat of World War One, many Germans disliked the Weimar Republic as being artificial and weak.

• Weimar suffered from depression & hyperinflation from 1920 – 1923 due to the enormous strain on its economy from payment of the war reparations.

• Weimar Republic joined the League of Nations in 1925 with the signing of the Locarno Pact, which declared that Germany would respect the western borders set out in the Treaty of Versailles.

Extremist Uprisings in Weimar Republic

Communist • Spartacist Uprising

(1919)

•

Nationalist & Fascist • Kapp Putsch - nationalist

uprising (1920)• Beer Hall Putsch –

Fascist (1923)

2 Reasons for Growth of Fascism in Europe after World War One

Fear of Communism

• Most western countries were afraid of communism spreading to their countries after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia.

• Because of this, many people supported fascist parties as they were seen to be strongly anti-communist

Unstable Economies & High Unemployment

• Many European countries suffered greatly from the Wall Street Crash and following Depression throughout Europe.

• In Germany, there were over 6 million workers unemployed by the time Hitler & the Nazis took power in 1933, promising to eradicate unemployment

Wall Street Crash (1929)• 4th October – 29th October 1929

• Investors (up to 25,000,000) had invested steadily in a growing American Stock Exchange during the 1920s.

• However, when rates began to drop, people rushed to sell their shares and caused the Stock Exchange to collapse

• On 29th October – ‘Black Tuesday’ the American Stock Exchange lost 30 Billion Dollars worth of shares through hurried sales. The event plunged USA into the ‘Great Depression’, which also affected all of Western Europe

Lateran Treaty (1929)

The Treaty recognised:

• Catholic religion as the official state religion, with the Church being granted special authority over education & marriage laws

• Also, the treaty meant that Italy recognised the Vatican as an independent city-state

Reasons Why Hitler & Nazis Came to Power in 1933

• Resentment at the Treaty of Versailles

• Failure of democratic governments to deal with economic crisis following the Wall Street Crash

• Fear of communist groups staging a revolution & taking power in Germany

The Brownshirts (SA)Germany

• Ernst Rohm (leader)

• Militia of ex German soldiers & officers (WW1) that supported Nazi party demonstrations & speeches

• Strongly pro-nationalist & anti-communist

• Disrupted rival party gatherings and clashed with communist groups

Enabling Act (1933)

• Introduced in 1933 after the Reichstag Fire, this law granted Hitler the right to ‘rule by decree’

• This meant that Hitler could

make decisions and enact policies without consulting the German Parliament, in times of emergency

• In effect, it made him a dictator as soon after this, all other political parties were banned in Germany, creating a totalitarian state.

Night of the Long Knives ( June 30th – July 2nd1934)

• Ernst Rohm & hundreds of leading members of the Brownshirts (SA) assassinated by Nazis.

• The SA leadership was targeted by Hitler as they refused to become part of the German Army (Wehrmacht)

• Hitler knew he needed the support of the German High Command, who refused to allow a ‘second’ private army operate in Germany.

Nuremberg Laws (1935)

Under these laws, Jews ........

• Were forbidden from marrying Germans (non-Jews)

• Lost their citizenship of Germany (became ‘state subjects’)

• Could not hold public office or own property

• Forced to wear the Star of David

Nuremberg Rallies1927 - 1939

• Nazi Party annual parades of the Nazi Party and its followers •  Organised by Albert Speer • Leni Riefenstahl made a documentary based on the 1934 Rally: ‘Triumph of the Will’ • Speeches, parades and celebrations of National Socialism 

Hitler Youth & League of German Maidens

Hitler Youth League of German Maidens

Joseph Goebbels & Propaganda

• Minister for Propaganda & Popular Enlightenment

• Controlled the press, cinema and all forms of media

• Launched the Nazi newspaper ‘Der Angriff’

Gestapo 

• Nazi Germany’s secret police

• Founded by Hermann Goering (1933)

• Under Himmler’s (SS) control from 1934 onwards.

SS - Schutzstaffel• Heinrich Himmler (leader of

SS 1929 – 1945)• Paramilitary organisation who

absorbed the police and Gestapo under its control. The most feared & powerful organisation in the Third Reich.

• Membership was based solely on ability, obedience & physical & mental excellence.

• Swore an oath to Hitler (daggers)

• Responsible for many of the crimes against humanity (Jews) – SS Einsatzgruppen (death squads)

Appeasement

The practise whereby European leaders (& the League of Nations) gave in to Hitler’s demands in the hope that he would eventually stop being aggressive militarily

Reasons:Nobody in Europe wanted a repeat of WWI (deaths)

Britain could not afford another war in Europe

Hitler meets Chamberlain at the Munich Conference (1938)

Munich Conference (1938)“Peace in Our Times”

• The Munich Conference of 1938 was convened to attempt to prevent war in Europe.

• Four European leaders attended: Chamberlain (UK), Daladier (France), Hitler (Germany) & Mussolini (Italy). No Czech representative was invited.

• At this conference, it was decided to allow Germany to take control of the Sudetenland, where 3 million German speakers lived inside the border of Czechoslovakia

• Chamberlain returned to Britain, declaring that they had secured “peace in our times”

Anschluss (1938)

• Union of Germany & Austria

Hitler’s Foreign Policy Aims

• Destruction of The Treaty of Versailles:

• Grossdeutschland: A unified country of all German-speaking people in Europe

• Anschluss: Union of Germany & Austria

• Lebensraum: ‘living space in the East’ (whereby Germany would forcibly take land from Slavic & Russian people to increase the living space of Germany

Pact of Steel (1939)

Nazi-Soviet 10-Year Non-Aggression Pact (1939)

Reasons why League of Nations failed to prevent war in

1939

• The League of Nations had no standing army to enforce its decisions

• The League failed to stand up to aggression by its members (Italy invading Abyssinia)

• The USA never joined the League of Nations

League of Nations

Phase II: 1939 – 1945

World War II

Blitzkrieg

Luftwaffe

Operation Eagle Operation Sealion

Operation Dynamo

Blitz

RAF Final Solution

Roosevelt

Vichy France

Pearl Harbour

Stalin

Allies v. Axis

Operation Barbarossa

Manhattan Project

ChurchillMaginot Line

Operation Overlord

Atlantic Wall

Battle of Britain

Holocaust

Battle of the BulgeU-Boats

Desert Fox

Blitzkrieg (‘lightning war’)

German Armies Invade Western Poland (1939)

Junkers Ju 87 ‘Stuka’

Highly-effective dive bomber used in ‘Blitzkrieg’ warfare, attacking defensive positions and tanks

Maginot Line

• French defensive barrier located along the boprder with Germany.

• Constructed after World War One.

Evacuation of Dunkirk‘Operation Dynamo’

300,000 British & French troops rescued by over 800 ships and pleasure craft

Fall of France (1940)

Vichy France(1940 – 1944)

Operation Sealion

• Hitler’s plan to invade Britain

• • •

Battle of Britain

Radar

Spitfire Mk IV

Messerschmitt Bf109

The ‘Blitz’(October 1940 – April 1941)

Invasion of USSR - Operation Barbarossa

(June – October 1941)Hitler invades Russia with over 3 million men & 4,000 tanks, supported by the Luftwaffe

3 Army groups invade:Army Group North: Leningrad

Army Group Centre: Moscow

Army Group South: Stalingrad

Hitler’s target was the oil-rich region of the Caucasus

Pearl Harbour(7th December 1941)

Operation Overlord: D-Day (6th June 1944)

D-Day Landings: Operation Overlord

(6th June 1944)

D-Day Landing Sites

D-Day Landings

Battle of the Bulge (1944)

• Last German counter-offensive in the west attempting to stop the Allied advance into Germany (1944)

Fall of Berlin (1945)

The Manhattan Project

• The research & development of the atomic bomb in USA

• Led by Dr. Oppenheimer

Hiroshima & Nagasaki6th & 9th August 1945

Oppenheimer

Final Solution(1942 – 1945)

The Holocaust

By the end of WWII, after the concentration & extermination camps

were liberated throughout occupied

Europe, it was estimated that over 6 million Jews had been murdered as part of

‘The Final Solution’; the plan to eradicate all Jews from Europe

between 1942 & 1945.

Phase III: 1945 – 1990

The Cold War

Containment

Korean War

Zones of Occupation Iron Curtain

Warsaw Pact

Nikita Khruschev

Hydrogen Bomb

Berlin BlockadeBerlin Wall

Operation Vittles

NASA

Yuri Gagarin

S.A.L.T.38th Parallel

Sputnik I

Space RaceTsar Bomba

NATO

Fidel Castro

Satellite States

Cuban Missile Crisis

Marshall Plan

Bay of Pigs

John F. Kennedy

Truman Doctrine

United Nations

Division of Europe post-1945

The ‘Iron Curtain’

Cold War(1945 – 1990)

Marshall Plan

Berlin Blockade (1948 – 1949)

Berlin Blockade

Operation ‘Vittles’• When Stalin closed all road and rail

access to West Berlin in response tot he unification of West Germany, the Western Allies responded with an enormous airlift – Operation Vittles – to supply West Berlin.

• The operation lasted from 1948 to 1949, with a total of flights, before Stalin relented and re-opened the roads and rail access to West Berlin from West Germany

The Korean War(1950 – 1953)

Korean War (1950-53)

Cuban Missile Crisis(1962)

Cuban Missile Crisis

‘Containment’

64 slides

• 14 left to do • 41 completed