The Interwar Years Flashcards

This deck focuses on world events between World War I and World War II, how international peacekeeping bodies failed to ensure international tranquility, and how militarism and totalitarianism arose in Europe and East Asia.

1
Q

How did the German people react to the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

A

Germans were incensed at the Treaty of Versailles. They resented the clause that fastened the First World War’s guilt solely on Germany and felt it unduly harsh given that by the War’s end there was not a single Allied soldier in German territory.

Other sources of irritation included German territory that had been given to Poland and the large reparations payments.

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2
Q

What form of government replaced the German monarchy after World War I?

A

In 1919, Germany became a republic. The new government was a semi-presidential system in which power was divided between a popularly elected president, the cabinet headed by a chancellor and responsible to the parliament, and a two-chambered parliament.

This republic is known as the Weimar Republic from the town in which the new government first sat.

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3
Q

What was the Stab-in-the-Back myth?

A

The Stab-in-the-Back myth was popularized by German conservatives in the 1920s and 1930s and contended that it was not battlefield defeat that led to Germany losing World War I. Instead, it was the actions of German liberals on the Home Front.

German politicians such as Hitler also tied the Stab-in-the Back myth to the activities of purportedly disloyal German Jews during the war.

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4
Q

In 1923, the leader of Germany’s National Socialist Party, _____ _____, attempted to seize power in Munich in an event known as the Beer Hall Putsch.

A

Adolf Hitler

The National Socialist Party, better known as the Nazi Party, had the support of popular German hero Erich Ludendorff.

The Putsch (German for a sudden attempt to overthrow the government) failed and Hitler was arrested and charged with high treason. During the trial, German newspapers reported Hitler’s testimony, enabling him to reach a wide audience with his ideas. Given a short sentence in comfortable quarters at Landsberg Prison, Hitler used his time to compose his book Mein Kampf.

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5
Q

In 1921, the Allies presented their first reparations demand to Germany, totaling some 132 billion gold marks. How did Germany respond?

A

The reparations demand required payment in gold or non-German currency and was far more than the entirety of Germany’s gold and non-currency holdings.

To meet the demand, Germany began printing vast sums of money with which to purchase foreign currency. Hyperinflation set in and the German mark (the form of German currency before the euro) fell from 8.4 marks to the dollar in 1921 to 4.2 trillion marks to the dollar in 1924.

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6
Q

How did the French and Belgian governments react to Germany’s inability to make its reparations payment in 1922?

A

When Germany proved unable to make its 1922 reparations payment, French and Belgian forces occupied Germany’s Ruhr Valley, where much of Germany’s heavy industry took place.

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7
Q

Proposed in 1924, the Dawes Plan was an attempt to resolve what international crisis?

A

The Dawes Plan was an attempt to solve the continuing German reparation crisis. In exchange for Franco-Belgian forces leaving the Ruhr Valley, Germany agreed to resume reparations payments in staggered amounts increasing over time.

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8
Q

Which 1925 diplomatic arrangement guaranteed the borders of the Western European states?

A

In 1925, the leaders of many European countries met at Locarno in Switzerland to discuss lingering territorial disagreements from the Treaty of Versailles.

While the Locarno treaties guaranteed Western European borders, they effectively ignored Eastern European borders that were viewed by the countries of Germany and Eastern Europe as being subject to potential revision.

As a further consequence of Locarno, international relations with Germany were normalized and she was invited to join the League of Nations.

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9
Q

What was the Young Plan?

A

Although the Dawes Plan had mitigated the effects of reparations on Germany, the total amount Germany owed was still enormous at 269 billion gold marks, the equivalent of 100,000 tons of pure gold (roughly 50% of all gold mined in all of history).

By the late 1920s, it was apparent that Germany would not be able to indefinitely meet the annual reparation payments. In 1929, the Allies and Germany agreed in the Young Plan to reduce the amount of reparations to a more reasonable amount.

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10
Q

What is fascism?

A

Fascism escapes easy definition, but it generally refers to a nationalist authoritarian regime opposed to both Marxism and capitalism. Instead of either, fascism advocates an economic policy of corporatism, where employers and employees form syndicates that are joined together and guided by the government to advance national economic policies and production.

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11
Q

What Italian proved to be fascism’s most effective proponent?

A

Benito Mussolini rose to power in the early 1920s by promoting fascist solutions for Italy’s problems. Mussolini appealed to Italian nationalism, promised to restructure the Italian army, and to revitalize the Italian economy by promoting syndicates between workers and capitalists guided by the Italian government.

Mussolini proved popular on both sides of the Atlantic during the 1920s and early 1930s; several of his ideas were adopted by members of the Roosevelt Administration.

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12
Q

In 1922, Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party seized power by marching on what Italian city?

A

In October 1922, Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party marched on Rome led by Mussolini’s band of enforcers, the Blackshirts.

As the march approached Rome, Prime Minister Luigi Facta had resigned and King Vittorio Emanuele III named Mussolini as the head of government.

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13
Q

Which two sides fought the Russian Civil War, which lasted from 1917 to 1922?

A

The Russian Civil War was fought between the Russian Communists, known as the Reds, and a conglomeration of forces with little in common except being anti-Bolshevik, known as the White Movement. In 1922, the White forces were defeated, and the Soviet Union was firmly established.

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14
Q

In 1921, Lenin announced that the Soviet Union would follow a New Economic Policy. What did Lenin mean?

A

Soviet agriculture had yet to return to pre-World War standards and starvation was rampant. Lenin’s New Economic Policy allowed for some small-level capitalism but still mandated government control over all high-level economic production.

The New Economic Policy was largely successful, and agricultural production returned to its 1913 level within a few years.

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15
Q

Who succeeded Lenin as head of the Soviet Union in 1924?

A

Following Lenin’s death in 1924, there was a brief jockeying for power before Joseph Stalin emerged as the de facto head of the Soviet Union. Over the next few years, many of Stalin’s potential rivals were executed or exiled.

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16
Q

How did Stalin’s economic policies differ from Lenin’s?

A

Stalin favored rapid industrialization and scrapped Lenin’s New Economic Policy for “5-Year Plans” that established a command and control economy with well-defined goals for the Soviet industry.

The policy was successful and by the late 1930s Russia trailed only the United States and Germany in industrial capacity. It was also disastrous in that millions died of the famines brought about by the Plans.

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17
Q

Which 1922 treaty restricted the size of naval forces countries could build?

A

The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 placed limits on the size of naval forces that the European countries, the United States, and Japan could construct.

As an arms control agreement, the Treaty was moderately successful, although it failed to anticipate the development of the aircraft carrier, which countries could build without violating the Treaty.

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18
Q

The signatories of the _____-____ Pact of 1928 pledged not to use military force as an aggressive means.

A

Kellogg-Briand

The signatories of the Pact, including the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and dozens of other nations, pledged not to use war to resolve disputes with other nations and pledged collective action to intervene against aggressor nations.

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19
Q

German President Paul von Hindenburg named Hitler to what office in 1933?

A

In 1933, Hindenburg named Hitler Chancellor.

In two elections in 1932, the Nazi Party had done well, gaining above 30% in each election. When Hindenburg named Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, Hitler immediately dissolved the Reichstag for the third time in less than 18 months and called for yet another round of elections to be held on March 5, 1933.

Through an alliance with a smaller political party, the Nazi Party gained a majority of seats in the Reichstag.

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20
Q

The burning of the _____ building in February of 1933 gave Hitler an excuse to convince President Paul von Hindenburg to remove all civil liberties from German communists.

A

Reichstag

The burning of the Reichstag building was likely done under orders from the Nazis. By July 1933, Hitler had convinced Hindenburg to allow him to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag. Hitler dissolved all political parties by July; the Nazis were fully in control of the entire country.

21
Q

Define:

totalitarianism

A

Totalitarianism is a form of government in which the government controls all aspects of society.

Totalitarian governments are usually headed by a leader who relies on charisma and brute force to control the activity of the citizenry.

22
Q

As one of his first acts, Hitler withdrew Germany from what international organization?

A

In 1933, Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations.

23
Q

In 1935, Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles by taking what action?

A

In 1935, Germany began to rearm, developing tanks, planes, and submarines.

24
Q

What were the Nuremberg Laws?

A

Announced during the Nazi Party’s rally in the German city of Nuremberg, the Nuremberg Laws removed the citizenship of all German Jews and prohibited all marriages and sexual intercourse between Jews and Germans.

25
Q

In 1935, Italy attacked what fellow member of the League of Nations?

A

In 1935, Italy attacked Ethiopia. Both countries were members of the League of Nations. Yet other than protest, the other members of the League did nothing, a failure of the League’s principle of collective security.

Ethiopia’s fellow League members hoped that by appeasing Mussolini’s desire for conquest, they would appease him.

26
Q

Germany re-occupied the _____ in 1936, a clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles.

A

Rhineland

Hitler’s reoccupation of the Rhineland, and the Western Powers’ lack of action, indicated that the Treaty of Versailles was a dead letter. Hitler became convinced that the Western Powers would do nothing to stop his efforts.

27
Q

What term best describes the United States’ foreign policy toward Europe in the 1930s?

A

During the 1930s, American foreign policy was profoundly isolationist.

Isolationism is a foreign policy under which one isolates one’s country from economic and diplomatic relations with other countries. Isolationists typically devote their entire efforts to their own internal advancement.

28
Q

In 1936, a civil war broke out in _____.

A

Spain

The League of Nations did nothing besides imposing a lackluster blockade that was routinely ignored.

29
Q

Although strictly against the terms of the Versailles Treaty, in 1938 Hitler’s Germany annexed _____, an event known as the Anschluss.

A

Austria

Once more, the League of Nations, the European powers, and the United States did little except to conduct some mild diplomatic protests.

30
Q

Hitler’s desire for a portion of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland led to what international conference in 1938?

A

The Munich Conference

At the Munich Conference, Britain and France awarded the Sudetenland to Germany, upon Hitler’s promise not to make any further territorial demands. Giving in to Hitler’s demands was known as appeasement, a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to an aggressor.

31
Q

In 1939, Germany signed a non-aggression pact with which country?

A

In 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a 10-year non-aggression pact. In addition to agreeing not to declare war on each other for 10 years, the two countries divided Poland and much of Eastern Europe.

32
Q

Who rose to power in Turkey after the end of World War I?

A

Mustafa Kemal, who’d risen to fame during the Battle of Gallipoli, seized control of Turkey in the 1920s. After driving the Greeks from Turkey, he deposed the last Ottoman sultan and instituted a secular Turkish republic. Kemal took the name “Ataturk,” which means “Father of the Turks.”

33
Q

In 1925, _____ _____ deposed the Qajar rulers of Persia, renaming the country Iran.

A

Shah Pahlavi

Much like Ataturk, Shah Pahlavi sought to secularize Iran. Pahlavi instituted economic and educational reforms.

34
Q

What were the League of Nations’ mandates?

A

After World War I, the former Ottoman states in the Middle East were placed under French and British control under the supervision of the League of Nations.

The French took control over Syria and Lebanon. The British controlled Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine.

35
Q

What did the Balfour Declaration promise?

A

Announced in 1917, thanks in part to Jewish contributions to the British war efforts, the Balfour declaration announced the intention of the British government to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which was then approximately 90% Arab.

36
Q

What was the only truly independent Arab state in the interwar period?

A

Only Saudi Arabia, under the control of Ibn Saud, ruled independent of Western dominance. The remaining Arab regions of the Middle East were either mandates (e.g. Syria), or under more direct Western European control (e.g. Libya).

37
Q

What were the two most powerful political parties in China in the early 1920s?

A

In China in the early 1920s, the Communists under Mao Tse-Tung and the Nationalists under Sun Yat-Sen (and after his death Chiang Kai-Shek) were the most powerful Chinese parties.

Both parties combined to drive out warlords and foreign powers from China and by 1927 had succeeded in establishing control over all of China south of the Yangtze River.

38
Q

What caused a breach between the Nationalists and Communists in China in the late 1920s?

A

In 1927, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek decided to seize control of all of China. He slaughtered thousands of Communist troops in Shanghai and marched on Beijing, which he captured in 1928.

Mao’s Communist troops were driven into northern China, a trek known as the “Long March.” From northern China, Mao kept up a civil war against the Nationalists.

39
Q

After conquering Chinese Manchuria in 1931, which nation invaded mainland China in 1937?

A

In 1937, Japan attacked mainland China, leading to a three-way conflict among the Japanese, Chinese Communists, and Chinese Nationalists.

40
Q

What did Japanese Nationalists mean by the phrase “Asia for the Asians”?

A

The phrase “Asia for the Asians” ostensibly meant the expulsion of all Western colonies from Asia, but in reality was a Japanese call for the replacement of the Western powers with Japanese dominance.

In the late 1930s, Japan announced plans for the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,” a Japanese empire that would stretch from Southeast Asia through China and Japan itself.

41
Q

At least 200,000 Chinese civilians died in the Rape of _____ in 1937.

A

Nanking

In 1937, the Japanese invaded China and by December had laid siege to Nanking. The Japanese ruthlessly slaughtered civilians, even going so far as to engage in biological warfare.

42
Q

Who was the dominant figure of the Indian National Congress?

A

The Indian National Congress’ most dominant figure was Mohandas Gandhi. In the wake of World War I, Gandhi and the Congress demanded more autonomy from the British rulers of India. Gandhi advocated for freedom but preached a policy of nonviolent resistance.

43
Q

Who was Gandhi’s chief political ally?

A

Gandhi’s chief political ally was Jawaharlal Nehru. During the 1930s, Gandhi became far more of the spiritual leader of Indian liberation, advocating Hindu principles. Nehru focused on the political side of things.

In 1935, Britain granted India its own constitution. In 1937, Gandhi and Nehru began agitating for the British to leave India permanently. In 1947, after World War II, Britain withdrew from India.

44
Q

Like the Indian National Congress, the _____ _____ advocated British withdrawal from India. Unlike the National Congress, it called for the creation of a separate Muslim state within India called Pakistan.

A

Muslim League

The League was formed in 1930 as an organization advocating for Indian independence. Although India had a long tradition of Hindu and Muslim co-operation, the League and the Congress never worked well together. After Indian independence in 1947, the League formed the separate nation of Pakistan. India and Pakistan continue to have a tense relationship.

45
Q

In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt announced his Good Neighbor Policy. To whom was the policy directed?

A

The Good Neighbor Policy was directed toward the nations of Latin America. Throughout the early 20th century, the United States had intervened directly in Latin America affairs.

For instance, the United States had enacted a protectorate over Cuba and had occupied Haiti. Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy was designed to minimize the United States’ direct presence in Latin America.

46
Q

How did the Great Depression affect the Latin American states?

A

Most of the Latin American states were dependent upon the United States for their monoculture export economies. For instance, Brazil grew 75% of the world’s coffee in the 1930s and sold most of it to American consumers.

With the U.S. economy shattered, exports were cut nearly in half. In the wake of economic collapse, many of the Latin American governments turned to fascist and totalitarian governments.

47
Q

In 1911, a revolution in _____ ousted President Porfirio Díaz.

A

Mexico

For the next 10 years, Mexico was chaotic as rivals, including Pancho Villa, jockeyed for power. In 1920, the military seized control, although violence continued until 1929.

48
Q

Which political party dominated Mexican politics for much of the 20th century?

A

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled the country from 1929 until the late 1980s.

Although closely tied to the upper classes, the PRI did institute land reforms and nationalized the country’s oil industry under the state-run PEMEX, which was in turn de-nationalized in December 2013.

49
Q

What form of government prevailed in the Latin American states in the 1930s and 1940s?

A

Most Latin American states during the period were ruled by dictators, most of whom governed from the far right. These dictators, such as Brazil’s Getúlio Vargas and Cuba’s Fulgencio Batista, were supported by the military.