The Aftermath of World War I and the Rise of Totalitarianism

Posted on Sep 11, 2024 in History

Consequences of World War I

Human and Material Loss

Germany suffered the highest number of casualties. Many soldiers and civilians died in World War I. There was more human loss than material loss due to the stability of the fronts. The war was very expensive, and many countries borrowed money abroad (primarily from the USA). European debt reached unprecedented levels.

The Paris Peace Conference

The Paris Peace Conference (1919), with 27 participating countries excluding the Central Powers, produced a series of treaties signed by the defeated countries:

  • Treaty of Versailles (Germany)
  • Treaty of Saint-Germain (Austria)
  • Treaty of Trianon (Hungary)
  • Treaty of Sèvres (Turkey)
  • Treaty of Neuilly (Bulgaria)

The conference had three main goals:

  1. To prevent the resurgence of Germany as a great power.
  2. To achieve a balance of power among the victors to avoid potential conflicts.
  3. To isolate Russia to prevent the spread of revolution.

Another consequence was the League of Nations, an international organization based on American President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Wilson hoped to create lasting peace through diplomacy instead of war. Germany, Russia, and the USA did not join the League of Nations.

Territorial Changes

  • The German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires ceased to exist.
  • Germany ceded its colonies, which became administered by the League of Nations. It returned Alsace-Lorraine to France and ceded territory to Poland in the east.
  • The Austro-Hungarian Empire was divided into four countries: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.
  • The Ottoman Empire ceded Syria to France, Iraq and Palestine to Britain, and various territories to Italy and Greece. The empire was replaced by the Republic of Turkey.
  • Finland and the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) gained independence from Russia.
  • Poland was enlarged by acquiring Russian, Austrian, and German territories.
  • Romania received territory from Austria-Hungary.

Other Consequences

The Treaty of Versailles held Germany and its allies responsible for the war. Germany had to pay high war reparations, reduce its armed forces, and demilitarize the Rhineland region bordering France.

Origins of the Russian Revolution

Tsarist Russia in the Early 20th Century

Russia was under the Old Regime. Tsar Nicholas II was an absolute monarch governing with the support of the nobility, the Orthodox Church, the army, and a bureaucracy. The Duma (parliament) had limited power. Political freedom and individual rights were not recognized, and the secret police persecuted the Tsar’s opponents.

The economy was agrarian, with most of the population being peasants. Serfdom had been abolished, but relations between the nobility and peasants remained feudal. Peasants lived in poverty due to low productivity.

Industrialization in the 19th century, including railway construction and heavy industry, led to the emergence of a proletariat and a small bourgeoisie.

Clandestine political parties opposing the Tsar emerged in the 19th century:

  • The Socialist Revolutionary Party believed peasants were the true revolutionary force and wanted to collectivize land (under Alexander Kerensky).
  • The Constitutional Democratic Party wanted to transform Russia into a constitutional monarchy.
  • The Marxist Russian Social-Democratic Worker’s Party split into two groups:
    • The Mensheviks were moderate and favored a liberal regime that would transition to socialism.
    • The Bolsheviks were radicals led by Lenin, who rejected cooperation with the bourgeoisie and wanted to establish a dictatorship.

The Revolution of 1905

Russia’s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War led to anger and the Revolution of 1905. Crowds marched to the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg demanding improved living conditions and political reform. The Tsar’s repression, including Bloody Sunday, did not end the unrest.

Peasants and workers formed soviets (popular assemblies or councils), a model of organization that became crucial in Russian history.

The main concession was the election of a Duma via universal male suffrage, seemingly turning Russia into a parliamentary monarchy. However, the Tsar did not fulfill his commitments and continued to govern without the Duma.

The Revolutions of 1917 and the Russian Civil War

The February Revolution

Russia’s involvement in World War I led to military defeats and food shortages, causing discontent, strikes, and demonstrations.

The 1917 Revolution began after a demonstration in Petrograd demanding”peace, bread, and land” A general strike and military mutinies followed.

The Provisional Government, formed under moderate socialist Alexander Kerensky, aimed for a liberal political system.

Workers, peasants, and soldiers formed soviets with their own armed militias (the Red Guard), which soon fell under Bolshevik control.

Failure of the Provisional Government

Two powers existed in Russia: the Provisional Government and the soviets. The government remained in World War I, but the Russian army suffered defeats.

Lenin’s April Theses outlined a new program:

  • Russian withdrawal from the war
  • Redistribution of land
  • Control of factories by worker committees
  • Autonomy for national minorities
  • Rule by soviets

War defeats and civil discontent led to a popular insurrection in Petrograd. The government accused the Bolsheviks of insurrection.

The October Revolution

Lenin joined the Petrograd Soviet. The soviets seized strategic points in the city, marking the beginning of the October Revolution.

The Bolshevik government, under Lenin, signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and implemented significant changes:

  • Large estates were seized and land was distributed to peasants.
  • Factories were placed under worker control.
  • Nationalities within Russia were granted the right to sovereignty.

Civil War and War Communism

Tsarists, military commanders, and the Orthodox Church, favoring a liberal system, formed the White Army and fought against the Bolshevik Red Army in the Russian Civil War (1918-1921). The Bolsheviks won.

War communism was introduced to guarantee supplies to cities and war fronts. In the new Russian state, the Bolsheviks (Communist Party) made all decisions, establishing a communist dictatorship and banning all other parties.

Economic measures led to strikes and revolts, which the government repressed.

The Impact of the Russian Revolution

The October Revolution had a global impact similar to the French Revolution. Western liberals believed the Soviet regime would be short-lived, while Bolsheviks believed it would lead to socialist revolutions worldwide. The Spartacist revolt was an unsuccessful attempt to establish a communist regime in Germany.

Recovery in the 1920s

Unequal Economic Growth

Global economic dominance shifted from Britain to the USA, with London remaining an international financial center. The transition from war to peacetime was difficult due to destruction, high unemployment, and Germany’s obligation to pay reparations. This led to high prices and the devaluation of the German mark, resulting in hyperinflation (1 USD = 493 marks).

Production, employment, and living standards improved in Europe, but less so than in the USA. This recovery was fueled by American investment.

The Roaring Twenties in the USA

The USA experienced industrial growth (1922-1929), with rapid development in industries like automobiles and electricals. This was driven by the production line method, standardized production, and the rise of large corporations capable of significant investments.

A consumer society emerged, and the standard of living rose. The”American way of lif” developed, with people buying products like washing machines on payment plans. New entertainment forms, such as cinema and American football, gained popularity.

International Politics

Tensions arose between France and Germany in the 1920s. Germany’s economic crisis prevented it from paying reparations to France, which in turn couldn’t repay its war debts to the USA.

France occupied the Ruhr, Germany’s main coal and steel region, to exploit its resources. Germany, with its military reduced under the Treaty of Versailles, couldn’t resist. German workers responded with strikes and passive resistance, worsening the economic crisis.

The Dawes Plan (1924), initiated by the USA, aimed to resolve the conflict. The USA would lend money to Germany to pay reparations to the Allies, who could then repay the USA.

The Treaty of Locarno (1925) improved relations between France and Germany, leading to Germany’s admission to the League of Nations in 1926. This period of pacifism between France and Germany became known as the”Spirit of Locarno” further exemplified by the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928).

The Great Depression

Causes of the Crash

  • Overproduction: During World War I, countries focused on their own economies while others produced consumer goods. After the war, this led to an excess supply of products.
  • Speculation: Banks lent money to businesses and individuals who invested in the stock market, inflating stock values beyond companies’ actual worth. When companies needed money, they sold their stocks, causing a crash and bankrupting companies and investors (Stock Market Crash of 1929).

The Great Depression

The stock market crash triggered an economic crisis (the Great Depression). Customers withdrew their money from banks, demand for industrial and farm products plummeted, and investment dried up. Companies closed, and farmers went bankrupt.

The crisis became global as the USA reduced imports and banks withdrew investments from Europe.

The New Deal

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal to help the USA recover from the crisis. It included:

  • Public works to create employment and stimulate investment.
  • Farming subsidies to raise prices and increase farmers’ profits.
  • Improved working conditions, including a shorter workday.
  • Restructuring of the financial system.

These measures aimed to increase consumption and stimulate the American economy.

The League of Nations convened the London Economic Conference to adopt international recovery measures, but it ultimately failed.

The Rise of Totalitarianism

The First Dictatorships

Europe’s political landscape was complex. Authoritarian empires disappeared, and democratic regimes emerged in many countries. The economic crisis fueled social tensions and communist revolutions, leading to the rise of dictatorial regimes in several countries.

Political Extremism in the 1930s

The 1929 crash eroded public confidence in democracy and traditional political parties. Extremist parties gained followers and became more radical:

  • Left: Many workers and peasants supported communist parties.
  • Right: Extremist parties, including fascists, gained support from those who believed moderate parties couldn’t solve the crisis or suppress a communist revolution.

A new wave of totalitarian dictatorships emerged, characterized by:

  • A single party controlling all state powers.
  • Imposed rules on behavior and thought.

Totalitarianism existed on both sides of the political spectrum, with fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany on the right, and Stalinism in the USSR on the left.

Fascist Italy

Italy after World War I

Italy suffered heavy losses in World War I and was disappointed with the limited territorial gains from the Paris peace treaties. The war caused high inflation and unemployment, leading to social unrest. Peasants occupied estates, and industrial workers occupied factories, fueling fears of a communist revolution among the middle and upper classes.

What was Fascism?

Italian fascism reflected the personality of Benito Mussolini, who founded the National Fascist Party. Its main characteristics included:

  • Opposition to democracy and communism
  • A dominant state role with the elimination of individual rights
  • A single political party with no free elections
  • Use of violence
  • State monopoly of media and propaganda
  • A state-controlled economy aiming for autarky (self-sufficiency)
  • Nationalism and belief in the superiority of certain peoples and nations
  • Glorification of military conquest

The Fascist Dictatorship

Fascists responded to social unrest with violence. Despite not winning many parliamentary seats in the 1919 and 1921 elections, Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister by King Vittorio Emanuele III.

Mussolini amassed near-absolute power and established a dictatorship, taking the following actions:

  • Imprisoned opponents, banned unions and political parties, and abolished individual liberties.
  • Created the OVRA (Organisation for Vigilance and Repression of Antifascism), a secret police force.
  • Increased production to achieve autarky.

Mussolini’s foreign policy was expansionist. He occupied Ethiopia and Albania and sent troops to support Franco in the Spanish Civil War.