By 1922 only the green countries supported the Versailles Treaty

The Russian Civil War,

1918-1920:France

intervened from Odessa; Britain & the

USA from Murmansk & Archangel; Japan & the USA from

Vladivostok

“Capitalists of the World,

Unite!”(1920):Soviet

Communists believed that all Western Powers

sought their destruction

“Long Live the Third Communist International!”(Soviet Poster, 1920)

COST OF LIVING INDEX (1914=100)

PERCENTAGE OF LABOR FORCE UNEMPLOYED

THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY

1918/19: Lenin imposes one-party state with powerful secret police in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (which formed the USSR in 1922).1922: Fascists come to power in Italy and in 1924 suppress all other parties.1923: General Primo de Rivera dissolves Spanish parliament and rules in the name of King Alfonso XIII.1926: Marshal Pilsudski imposes strong-man rule in Poland and suppresses parliament in 1929.1929: King Alexander I of Yugoslavia suppresses parliament and imposes royal dictatorship.1931: Military leaders gain power in Japan. 1933: Nazi seizure of power in Germany

Benito Mussolini(1883-1945)

as a volunteer in the Italian army, 1917.

This former revolutionary

socialist had become a fervent patriot.

In ancient Rome the lictors carried before the consuls the “fasces” that symbolized their authority.

MUSSOLINI: THE ULTIMATE FLIP-FLOPPER

FASCIST PROGRAM OF 1919

FASCIST PROGRAM OF 1921

Italy must be a republic! Cherish the monarchy!

Separate Church & State!Revere the Catholic

Church!

Nationalize heavy industry!

Promote free enterprise!

Ally with the Socialists! Crush the Reds!

Imperial expansion! Imperial expansion!

Mussolini called for his Black Shirts to “March on Rome” in October 1922, and King Victor Emmanuel III

caved in.

Mussolini presided at first

over a parliamentary coalition with

liberals, but he unleashed the

Blackshirts whenever he

suffered defeat in parliament.

Mussolini shows off his torso

The quest to revive the Roman Empire:Mussolini reviews a new detachment of mini-

tanks, 1932

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940): Ukrainian Jew, cosmopolitan intellectual, founder of the Red Army

Joseph Vissarionovich

Jugashvili, code-named

“Stalin” (1878-1953):photographed with Lenin in

1922.He persuaded

the Politburo to banish Trotsky

in 1927.

“We will smite the kulak who agitates

for reducing the cultivated area”(USSR, 1930):

Stalin launched a brutal campaign to

collectivize agriculture in 1929.

“Imperialists cannot stop the triumphal march of the Five-

Year Plan”(USSR, 1930)

THE RISE OF ADOLF HITLER(1889-1945)

Born the youngest son of an Austrian tax collector

1908-13: Fails to gain admission to Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and lives for years as a drifter

1913-18: Moves to Munich, volunteers for service in German army, decorated for bravery

1920: Joins tiny “German Workers’ Party” in Munich, which seeks to combine nationalism and socialism

1923-25: Failure of the “Beer Hall Putsch” in November 1923; Hitler imprisoned for 16 months

1926-32: Builds his NSDAP into Germany’s largest party and wins 37% of national vote in July 1932

“Carriage Shafts” (Austria, 1900):“Schmul’s Patented Automobile. Cheapest

operation!Completely safe!”

Adolf Hitler with two

soldiers and his dog, Foxl, in Fournes,

France (1915)

The impact of the Treaty of Versailles (June 1919)

“The Stab in the Back”

(Nazi magazine cover, 1924)

Alfred Rosenberg and Adolf Hitler review marching stormtroopers in Munich, 4 November 1923

Nazi Stormtroopers outside Munich City Hall, 9 November 1923

Postcard of Hitler in Landsberg Prison (1924), where he dictated vol. 1 of

Mein Kampf

TOTAL GERMAN SALES:

1929: 23,0001932: 80,000

1933: 1,500,000

1945: 10,000,000

Newly elected President Paul von Hindenburg(born in 1847!) reviews the troops in 1925

Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann, who signed the Treaty of Locarno in 1925 and won the Nobel Peace Prize

THE POLARIZATION OF THE GERMAN ELECTORATE IN THE GREAT

DEPRESSION

0%5%

10%

15%20%25%30%35%40%

45%

1919 1928 1930 Jul-32 Nov-32

CommunistSocial DemocratModerate (Libs + RC)Con./ NationalistNazi

PROBLEMATIC ARTICLES OF THE WEIMAR CONSTITUTION OF 1919

• A mixed parliamentary/presidential system of government; the Chancellor was “responsible” to the Reichstag but appointed by a President, who was the commander-in-chief.

• Proportional representation guaranteed a voice for minorities but encouraged political splintering.

• Under Article 48 the President could issue emergency decrees with the force of law and suspend civil liberties.

• A two-thirds majority of the Reichstag could pass an “Enabling Act” to delegate all law-making powers to the cabinet.

Hermann Müller’s cabinet of the Great Coalition (SPD+Center+Liberals) could not agree in March 1930 on how to finance unemployment benefits

Heinrich Brüning of the Center Party

formed a cabinet in April 1930 that

relied on Article 48 emergency decree powers to balance

the budget

Thousands of Stormtroopers march the streets of Brunswick, October 1931:

Only they can save us from the Reds!

“Our last hope:HITLER”

(March 1932,when Hitler challenged

Hindenburg for the presidency)

Brüning united a broad front from the

SPD to moderate conservatives to

secure Hindenburg’s reelection in April

1932

“We choose Hindenburg!

We choose Hitler!Look at these faces, and you will known where you belong!”

Hitler won the endorsement of many leading monarchists,

including Crown Prince William of

Hohenzollern.

In June 1932 General Kurt von

Schleicher replaced Brüning

with the arch-reactionary Franz

von Papen(shown together

at the horse races in September

1932)

“Bravo Herr von Papen! Just

continue with your emergency decrees:

You are giving us Communists our

best chance!”(Nazi campaign

poster, November 1932)

Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher addresses a rally in Berlin in January 1933; he was opposed by all parties, and

Papen sought to undermine him by reaching out to Hitler