Inter-War Years

INTER-WAR YEARS - Around the world

Years of great turmoil

Desire for democracy and self-determination contributed to explosive struggles in many regions

Revolutions toppled governments - (Mexico and Canada) - and triggered civil wars

Continued western imperialism fueled the forces of nationalism - (Latin America, Africa, and Asia)

Everywhere, new leaders were slowly forging liberation movements that would change the face of the world

Latin America

Mexico

• Swept with revolution between 1910 and 1920
• Unleashed radical forces
• Indian peasants battled to end centuries of oppression and to win land
• Porfirio Diaz - ruled almost 35 years by 1910 - On the surface, Mexico enjoyed peace and economic growth - He welcomed foreign investors - benefited the wealthy landowners, business people and foreign investors - most Mexicans were peasants who live in desperate poverty
• In 1910 Francisco Madero - liberal reformer - demanded free elections - imprisoned by Diaz - led a revolt - soon joined by revolutionaries all across Mexico
• Faced with rebellion Diaz resigned in 1911
• Madero became president but was murdered within two years - probably at the order of one of his generals (Victoriano Huerta)
• Power struggle followed
• Several radical leaders
• Francisco "Pancho" Villa - hard riding rebel from the north - fought mostly for personal power -won intense loyalty from his peasant followers
• Emiliano Zapata - southern Mexico - lead a peasant revolt - he was an Indian tenant farmer - understood the misery of peasant villagers - battle cry "Land and Liberty!"
• Fighting flared across Mexico for a decade
• Soldaderas - women soldiers - cooked, tended the wounded, fought along side of the men - marched with the regular army units or joined hit-and-run guerrilla bands

Reforms

• 1917 - Venustiano Carranza - conservative - elected president - reluctantly approved a new constitution - with amendments it is still in force today
• Constitution - permitted the breakup of large estates - placed restrictions on foreigners owning land - allowed nationalization of natural resources - 1938 nationalized foreign oil holdings - church land was made "the property of the nation" - set minimum wage - guaranteed right to strike - suffrage only to men - some protection for women - doing the same job got the same pay as men - allowed married women to draw up contracts, take part in legal suits, have equal authority with men in spending family funds

Social Change

• 1920's government restored order and began reforms
• Helped some Indian communities regain lands
• Supported labor unions
• Launched a massive effort to combat illiteracy - schools and libraries set up
• Mexicans in rural areas who grew up speaking various Indian languages learned Spanish
• Mexico became the first Latin American nation to pursue real social and economic reforms for the majority of its people

Economic Nationalism

• After World War I trade fell off with Europe
• Great Depression spread around the world in the 1930's
• Prices for Latin American exports plunged as demand dried up - same time the cost of imported goods rose
• They were determined to develop their own economy and end foreign economic control
• Set up factories to produce goods
• Urged the governments to raise tariffs to protect the new industries
• Some nations also nationalized resources or took over foreign owned industries
• Most Latin American countries did not have oil and lacked the resources to build large industries
• During and after World War I, investments by the United States in the nations of Latin America soared
• The United States continued to play the role of "international policeman," intervening to restore order when it felt its interest were threatened - caused violent anti-Yankee sentiment in Mexico - 1930's president Franklin Roosevelt pledged "the policy of the good neighbor" - this survived until 1945

AFRICA

1920's and 1930's struggled to stem the tide of imperialism and restore Africa to Africans

Kenya and Rhodesia - white settlers forced Africans off the best land - those lucky enough to keep their land were forbidden to grow the most profitable crops - only Europeans could grow these - in Kenya the British made all Africans carry identification cards and restricted where they could live or travel

Everywhere Africans were forced to work on European plantations or in mines to earn money to pay taxes

Opposition to imperialism grew among Africans

Many western educated Africans criticized the injustice of imperial rule - best jobs went to the Europeans - condemned the system that excluded Africans from the political life of their own lands - socialism had a growing appeal - protests were common

South Africa

• Between 1910 and 1940 whites strengthened their grip on South Africa
• Apartheid - 1948 - goal to ensure white economic power - blacks had to carry passes at all times
• Vital nationalist movement - African Christians churches and African run newspapers demanded rights for black South Africans
• 1912 - Political Party - African National Congress (ANC) - members worked through legal means - protested laws that restricted the freedom of black Africans

During 1920"s movement known as Pan-Africanism emphasized the unity of Africans and people of African descent around the world

Negritude - celebrated Africa's rich cultural heritage - fostered African pride

EGYPT

1922 - British finally agreed to declare Egypt independent

Troops stayed in Egypt to guard the Suez Canal and Britain remained the real power

TURKEY

The defeated Ottoman empire collapsed in 1918

Arab lands divided up between Britain and France

Mastafa Kemal

• Leading Turkish nationals overthrew the sultan
• Defeated western occupation forces
• Declared Turkey a republic
• Kemal later took the name Ataturk - meaning "father of the Turks"
• Forces through an ambitious program of radical reforms - wanted to modernize Turkey and separate religion from government
• In order to do this ruled with an iron hand
• Replaced Islamic law with a new law code based on European models
• Changed from a Muslim calendar in favor of the western calendar and moved the day of rest from Friday to Sunday
• Forced the people to wear western dress
• Replaced Arabic script with the western alphabet
• Closed religious schools but opened thousands of state schools
• Women - no longer had to veil their faces - allowed to vote - polygamy was banned - given freedom to work outside the home - became teachers, doctors, lawyers and even politicians
• Helped industry expand
• Built roads and railroads

IRAN

• Resented the British and Russians
• 1925 - ambitious army officer - Reza Khan - overthrew the shah- set up his own Pahlavi dynasty
• Rushed to modernize
• Built factories, roads, and railroads
• Adopted the western alphabet
• Forced Iranians to wear western clothing
• Set up modern, secular schools
• Muslim religious leaders fiercely condemned his efforts to introduce western ways
• In the decades ahead oil would become a major factor in Iranian economic and foreign affairs

MANDATES

• Outraged Arabs
• Had been promised independence
• Instead the Allies carved up the Ottoman lands - gave France mandates in Syria and Lebanon - British mandates in Palestine and Iraq
• Arabs felt betrayed by the West - a feeling that has endured to this day
• Palestine - 1897 - Theodor Herzel (HERS tsuhl) founded modern Zionist movement - goal to rebuild a Jewish state in Palestine
• During World War I the Allies made two vague sets of promises - 1. Promised the Arabs their own kingdoms in former Ottoman lands, including Palestine - 2. 1917 - British issued the Balfour Declaration supporting the idea of setting up a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine - did say "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine."

INDIA

British promised India greater self-government after WW I - then proposed only a few minor reforms

Mohandas Gandhi

• United all Indians behind the drive for independence
• Called Mahatma or "Great Soul"
• Came from a middle-class Hindu family
• At 19 he went to England to study law
• Returned to India than then joined a law firm in South Africa - for 20 years he fought laws that discriminated against Indians - he adopted the weapon on nonviolent (passive) resistance
• 1914 - returned to India
• His ideas inspired Indians of all religions and ethnic backgrounds and  encouraged them to resist British rule
• Believed in civil disobedience - the refusal to obey unjust laws
• He rejected the inequalities of the caste system - fought hard to end the harsh treatment of untouchables - urged equal rights for all Indians - women as well as men (Today the caste system has been legally done away with.  But it still exists in society.  As per my Indian history teacher: "If you want to find the untouchables just ask who the Christians are in a village.")
• Gave up western style clothing - dressed in a dhoti - simple white garment (He actually wove his own.)
• Called for boycotts of British goods - especially textiles (cloth) - urged Indians to wear only cotton grown and woven in India
• Worked to restore pride in India's traditional spinning and weaving industries
• The Salt March - to end the British salt monopoly - British claimed the sole right to produce and sell salt - by taxing those sales they collected money to maintain their government in India - Indians forbidden to touch the natural salt available in the sea - could only buy it from the government - Ghandi set out on a 240 mile walk (it took 24 days) - started with 78 followers - by the time they reached the sea they numbered in the thousands - when he reached the sea he waded in and picked up a lump of sea salt - he was arrested and jailed - but coastal villagers started collecting salt
• As Ghandi's campaign gained force tens of thousands of Indians were dragged off to jail
• All around the world newspapers turned against Britain
• Embarrassed Britain
• Slowly Britain was forced to agree to hand over some power
• Freedom would not be achieved until 1947 - one year before Ghandi was assassinated (shot)
• While millions of Muslims responded to Gandhi's campaigns tensions between Hindus and Muslims often erupted into violence
• Idea of a separate state for Muslims - Pakistan - means "land of the (ritually) pure

CHINA

(The movie The Last Emperor shows a lot of this from the emperors perspective.)

After the overthrow of the Qing dynasty Sun Yixian (I always had seen this spelling as Sun Yat Sen.  This is the spelling in the state textbook.  I assume this new spelling gives a closer correct pronunciation.) took over

In 1912 Sun Yixin stepped down in favor of a powerful general Yuan Shikai - Yuan tried to start a new dynasty but died in 1916

China plunged into still greater disorder - local warlords seized power - constant fighting ravaged the land - foreign powers also increased their influence over Chinese affairs

Japan tried to make China a protectorate

May 4, 1919 - student protest erupted in Beijing and later spread to cities across China - set off a cultural, intellectual ferment known as the May Fourth Movement - its goal was to strengthen China - reformers wanted to learn from the West and use that knowledge to end foreign domination - women played a key role - campaigned to end arranged marriages, foot binding, and the seclusion of women in the home - their work helped open doors for women in education and the economy

1921 - Sun Yixian and his Guomindang or Nationalist party established a government in south China - Russian experts helped the Nationalists plan and carry out their campaign against the warlords (western powers ignored pleas for help)

1925 - After Sun's death Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek - again a new spelling) - energetic young army officer began a march into northern China crushing local warlords - struck at the Communist party - saw them as a threat - 1927 - Jiang ordered troops to slaughter Communist party members and the workers who supported them - thousands were killed - anger over the massacre would fuel a bitter civil war for the next 22 years

Mao Zedong

• Young revolutionary of peasant origins
• Had been a librarian and was a school principal when he founded the Communist party
• Looked for support among the large peasant masses
• Organized the peasants in southeastern China
• Jiang determined to destroy the "Red bandits" as he called the Communists - led a series of "extermination campaigns" against them
• 1934 - Long March - epic retreat - Mao and about 100,000 of his followers fled the Guomindang - during the next year they trekked more than 6,000 miles facing daily attacks - only about 20,000 people survived the ordeal - during the march enforced strict discipline - 3 main rules 1. don't steal - pay for the goods you want   2. treat peasants politely   3. avoid damaging crops - made Mao's forces welcome among peasants - at the end of the Long March the Communists set up a new base in remote northern China - he rebuilt his forces and plotted new strategies
• 1931 - Japan invaded Manchuria in northeastern China - eventually Jiang was forced to form a united front with the Communists against Japan
• 1937 - Japanese attacked China proper - well-equipped Japanese troops overran eastern China - the Japanese set up a puppet government in Nanjing - killing and brutality - became known as the "rape of Nanjing"
• From 1937 to 1945 locked in a three - sided struggle
• After Japan's defeat the United States tried to prevent renewed civil war but with no success
• Within a few years the Communist would triumph

JAPAN

Hirohito - reigned from 1926 to 1989 (63 years)

1920's Japan moved toward greater democracy - political parties grew stronger - by 1925 all men could vote - overall Japanese women remained subordinated to men - they could not vote until 1947

During WW I the Japanese economy enjoyed phenomenal growth - exports soared - by the 1920's powerful business leaders known as the ziabatsu strongly influenced politics through donations to political parties

During the 1920's the economy grew more slowly than any time since the Japanese had modernized - rural peasants did not enjoy the prosperity of city-dwellers

1929 - Great Depression rippled across the Pacific striking Japan with devastating force - prices for all exports plummeted - unemployment in the cities soared - countryside peasants were only a mouthful from starvation

Economic disaster fed the discontent of the military and extreme nationalists - condemned the politicians

Further outraged by racial policies in the U.S., Canada and Australia that shut out Japanese immigrants

As the crisis worsened nationalists demanded renewed expansion

1931 - A group of Japanese army officers provoked an incident that would provide an excuse to seize Manchuria

• Blew up tracks on a Japanese owned railroad line and claimed the Chinese had done it
• In "self-defense" they attacked the Chinese without consulting their own government
• Japanese army conquered all of Manchuria and set up a puppet state
• League of Nations condemned their aggression
• Japan simply withdrew from the League
• When politicians in Tokyo objected to the army's high-handed action public opinion sided with the military
• Members of "patriotic" societies assassinated a number of politicians and business leaders who opposed military expansion
• Military leaders plotted to overthrow the government - 1936 briefly occupied the center of Tokyo
• The civilian government survived but by 1937 it had been forced to accept military domination
• Most democratic freedoms were ended

Revived the ancient warrior values and built an cult around the emperor

Students were taught absolute obedience to the emperor and service to the state

Japan expected to complete its conquest of China within a few years but WW II broke out and spread swiftly to Asia

EUROPE

1920's

• The war stirred feelings of revulsion among most Europeans - so many had died yet so little had changed
• Culture rejected many of the values of the pre-war years
• Art moved from the Impressionist and Expressionist movements into the Cubist and Surrealist periods
• Cubism rejected visual reality in favor of a geometric expression - Picasso
• Surrealism created a world of the disjointed dream - views of the subconscious - ex. melting watches - Dali
• Architecture moved away from the Victorian and new-Gothic styles of the pre-war into the modern movement of minimalist building - Bauhaus (school) - founded by Walther Gropius (1883 - 1969) who was a WW I vet - he established the principle that "form follows function" - had collaborative efforts with architects, sculptors, artists and artisans
• Literature reflected the pessimistic outlook common among the youth in the post-war period - ex. All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque
• Motion picture industry developed in the 1920's
• Music entered the Jazz Age
• Sexual mores, gender roles, attitudes towards elders, substance abuse all underwent a complete transformation
• Fascism (Italy) - comes from the Roman symbol fasces - a bundle of rods tied around a ax - strongly nationalistic political system - always a dictatorship - emotionalism, strong pro-war, anti-Christian, anti-liberals - to thrive needs enemies - when enemies not available they are created
• Totalitarianism - complete control of the state by a dictator - individual has no rights - state hold all rights - robs the individual of their dignity and freedom
• How they gain control - modern technological methods and communication - excellent tools - mass media - easy for propaganda - modern methods of imprisonment, psychological torture and killing - destroyed effective opposition

GREAT BRITAIN

• Britain survived the war better than most of the countries in Europe - the nation was financially devastated but the Empire was intact - the government was stable - the first Prime Minister from the Labour Party was elected in 1923 - PM Ramsey MacDonald
• the Great Depression began at the end of 1929 - Britain survived the Depression with fewer problems than most nations
• the Empire provided a supportive network of business
• Unemployment did rise substantially
• In 1931 MacDonald formed the National Government - a coalition government of Labour, Conservatives and Liberals
• While the popularity of Fascism grew all across the continent in Britain it was insignificant

Foreign Policy -

• Britain and France quickly disagreed about the treatment of Germany
• Britain wanted Germany to recover to be a bulwark against the Soviets
• Home Rule was granted to the Irish Free State in 1922
• Britain opposed the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923
• Britain supported the Treaty of Locarno in 1925 (it basically renounced war)

Scandal

• In 1936 King Edward VIII ascended the throne - his father had died Jan. 20 - He quickly fell into trouble over his desire to marry a twice divorced American Wallis Warfield Simpson ( I talked to a woman who had seen her in her 70's and said she was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen.  I don't think this shows in her pictures.)
• Because he was head of the Church of England he was not allowed to marry a divorcee (This is kind of ironic since Henry VIII started the church so he could get a divorce!)
• He abdicated Dec. 11, 1936 - before his coronation - for the "woman I love."

FRANCE

The Third Republic had survived the war - France was victorious but was physically and financially exhausted

There was no agreement about the direction of France - unstable governments - between 1918 and 1940 over 40 separate governments were formed

Economy

• The nation had insisted on heavy reparations on Germany at Versailles to finance the cost of rebuilding
• When Germany missed its 1923 payment France occupied the Ruhr - it was an attempt to not only get their money but also to remind the Germans who was boss - it failed - German workers went on strike and refused to work - Britain angrily demanded French withdrawal - showing the growing disagreement over how to deal with Germany
• By the mid-1920 France had recovered its pre-war prosperity
• The Depression did not hit France until after 1931 - when it did it hit hard

Politics

• France was a house divided - (They had many political parties not a two party system like we have.  These groups formed coalitions.) -the French Left (Socialists and Communists) despised each other as much as the Right - disagreed about loyalty to the Soviet form of socialism (fascism)
• The French Right was increasingly violent and fanatic - in 1934 a huge right-wing riot left 14 dead
• Control of the government continued to alternate between the two extremes all through the 1930's
• In the election of 1936 a coalition of left-wing parties called the Popular Front was established - led by the socialist Leon Blum - the new government instituted numerous reforms such as wage hikes and two-week vacations for all to win support - but the right resisted
• By 1938 the Popular Front government was replaced by a right-wing administration under Edouard Daladier (dah-lah-DYAY) - but the left resisted
• On the eve of WW II France was so divided it could not put up a united front against Germany

Foreign Relations

• After the war France considered itself to be the leading continental power
• France was determined to keep Germany in line
• To keep Germany isolated France sought new allies in the new successor states in eastern Europe
• France allied itself with the Little Entente of Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia - a weak substitute for the old Triple Entente
• As France felt more isolated after the break with Britain following the Ruhr Crisis of 1923 the nation began to spend on defense - during the 1930's the Maginot Line was constructed

Successor States of Eastern Europe

The new nations of Eastern Europe faced a wide array of problems - weak economies - unstable governments - rise of dictatorial governments

Austria

• following the end of the war a democratic government was established
• But - there was no economic base - when the Empire collapsed raw supplies were cut off from industry
• The economy could not function properly
• The Depression hit hard
• Austria also quickly turned to authoritarian government
• Engelbert Dollfuss ruled as dictator
• In 1934 Nazi supporters attempted a coup
• Dollfuss was assassinated ( He was a friend of Mussolini's and Mussolini stepped in and stopped the coup.)
• Kurt von Schuschnigg became the new Chancellor until the Anschluss (This is the union Hitler forced with Austria.)

Hungary

• Following the end of the war Hungary was embittered over the huge loss of territory (to Romania especially)
• In 1919 a communist coup set up a government under Bela Kun - it lasted a few months and was crushed by Romanian troops and counter-revolutionaries
• A traditional authoritarian government was established under Admiral Horthy which was a regency and continued until 1944

Poland

• A major disappointment
• Poland became a military dictatorship under the rule of General Pilsudski by 1926
• The nation was caught between Germany and the Soviet Union - Germany wanted to recover the Polish Corridor - The Soviets wanted to recover the old Russian section of Poland
• Made alliances with France

Czechoslovakia

• The success of Eastern Europe
• Czechoslovakia contained a strong industrial base and an educated population
• It established a truly democratic government under Thomas Maseryk
• The greatest danger facing the new nation came from the unhappy German minority ( less then 3,000,000) living in the Sudetenland - they resented the Czech government - the Sudeten Germans will find an ally in Hitler