Social Studies Notes

Social Studies Notes

Aim #1: Why were the years between WWI (1919) and WWII (1939) both times of great hopes and great troubles?

1)Great Hopes

A)Peace- Disarmament (to reduce military) conferences

1)Washington Naval Conference (1921-1922)

a) The Five-Power Treaty resulted from this conference

i)The treaty stated that the countries Italy, the United States, Britain, Japan, and France agreed to stop building naval warships for ten years

2)Locarno Pact (1925)

a)The members of the treaty agreed to settle all future disputes peacefully

b)Guaranteed the existing Franco-German borders

c)Invited Germany to join the League of Nations

3)Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)

a)In Paris 60 countries signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact making war illegal

4)The League of Nations

a)The League of Nations said that if there was any dispute between two countries they would let a third party (An arbitrator or council) resolve the dispute peacefully

b)The United States never joined because they wanted to be isolated from Europe

i)WWI had caused a large number of casualties and dept for the United States

B)Progress and Prosperity

1)“Roaring Twenties”

a)During the 1920s people were living well because:

Automobiles became a popular means of transportation
Commercial airlines began carrying mail
Telephones linked millions of homes
Movies became a favorite form of entertainment
Jazz became popular

b)Banks were making loans and investments

1. Good for business

c)Women gain the right to vote

2) Great Troubles

A) October 29, 1929- Stock market crash

1)Banks lost all the money that they had invested in the stock market

a)To prevent this the FDIC now insures up to $100,000 for each account

2)Why did the stock market crash?

a)People were buying stocks on credit (They bought stocks with money they didn’t have)

b)There was to much over-production (Companies were making more products than they were selling)

c)People were buying on margin

B) The Great Depression

1)Causes

a)The slowdown of business activity

b)The high rate of unemployment

c)Falling wages and prices

2)Effects

a)There were long lines at soup kitchens

b)Many people lost their jobs

c)The Great Depression was not limited to the United States

i)In 1933 25% of the workforce in the United States was unemployed and in Germany in 1932 30% of the workforce was unemployed. (This trend happened throughout Europe)

C) Global Depression

1)Causes

a)United States bankers who loaned money to Europe wanted their money back

b)Banks in Europe stopped investing (Loaning)

i)Bad for business

c)Economic Nationalism was enforced by many countries

i)Definition: a policy nations use to try to improve their own economic well being through protective tariffs and similar restrictions, without consideration for other countries.

ii)Nations of the time raised taxes on imports to fix the economy, but as a result foreign trade declined

D) Germany

1)Germany was hit before the depression

a)Why?

i)The Versailles Treaty forced Germany to pay reparations

a)This caused hyper-inflation

i)The value of German currency went down enormously, thus prices sky-rocketed (2,000,000,000 German marks to buy a loaf of bread)

2)The depression completely devastated Germany

3)The Weimer Republic, the German government, was also plagued with many problems (There were several revolts attempted)

a)Germans didn’t like the Weimer Republic because they thought that it was a traitorous government for signing the Treaty of Versailles

b)The Weimer Republic was also Germany’s first democracy and it had been imposed upon Germany

i)This caused Germany to get a leader like Hitler. The United States was also in the midst of depression, but they got FDR. The reason that Germany got a leader like Hitler and not like FDR was because the United States was originally a democracy while Germany was forced to be a democracy.

Aim #2: How did Stalin rule the Soviet Union?

1)Dictators

A)What did they all have in common?

1)They all had the same type of government

a) Totalitarian: a government that controls every aspect of its citizens lives

i) How did this government work?

a)It had a single ruler (Dictator) and a single party

b)People had few or limited individual rights

ii) Every

c)Political

d)Economic

e)Educational

f)Culture

g)Social

iii)Citizens

They wanted more than passive obedience
They expected active involvement in the achievement of the state/government
They wanted to conquer the hearts and minds of its citizens
They used propaganda to achieve this

iv)The word totalitarian comes from total war (WWI)

2)They all had secret police

3)They were all very nationalistic

2) Stalin’s road to power

A) 1924- Lenin dies

1)Conflict for power between Stalin and Trotsky

a) Stalin only wanted a Russian revolution

i) He won out

a) Why?

i)He ruled through intimidation

ii)He was ruthless

b) Trotsky wanted a worldwide revolution

3) Stalin as a leader (The name Stalin means man of steel)

A) “Cult of Personality”

1)People were brainwashed as if their leader was a god

B)Stalin’s position on religion

1)Atheism was the official party line

C)Propaganda

1)Examples:

a)Stalin is drawn near many people of different races. (The USSR consisted of 15 different nations) He was drawn larger than everyone else. Everyone was smiling and looking up at Stalin as if he were a god.

This exposed Stalin as an atheist and a god like figure

b)Parades showing Stalin as a god

c)There was a picture of a woman next to a child pointing to a church. The quote on the picture said “religion is poison”

This showed that Stalin was against religion

d)“Knowledge will break the chains of serfdom”

1. Stalin highlighted education

e)“Come join the tractor brigade”

Stalin tried to show that everything in Russia was going great

a)Socialist Realism

i) Although times were bad, everyone had to show the USSR as being in the best light

f)Schools had to praise the Soviet Union in children’s books

Children were the future, so Stalin wanted them to be brought up loving him

D)Stalin said that the USSR had to industrialize and catch up to the advanced countries very quickly

1)Stalin realized it now for two reasons

a) WWI

b) Russia lost to Japan in 1905

4) Stalin’s plan to industrialize

A) The Five-Year Plan (1928)

1)It set industrial, agricultural, and social goals for the next five years

2)How?

Step 1: Eliminate private farms and create collective farms, state owned farms operated by peasants as a group.
Step 2: Force peasants to give up their private land and property (Tools and livestock)
Step 3: Sell surplus agricultural products to make money
Step 4: Money from surplus agricultural products would be used to buy heavy machinery
Step 5: Heavy machinery would be used to industrialize the Soviet Union
There was a lack of consumer goods
Goods that were made were of poor quality
Workers had to rush to meet a quota

3)Problems

The peasants didn’t like Stalin’s plan
They killed or sold their livestock (If they couldn’t have them then no one could)
About 14 million cows were killed
They destroyed their tools
Stalin’s reaction
Stalin attacked wealthier peasant known as Kulaks
Why?
He wanted to intimidate the regular peasants to collectivize
He rounded up the wealthier peasants
He sent them away to work
He executed some
People say that Stalin killed between 40-60 million people
He imprisoned some
He exiled some
Stalin confiscated property and tools
1932-1933- bad harvest
Stalin seized grain
Famine
5-8 million people starved in Ukraine

5) The “Great Purge” 1934-1938 (Purge means cleansing)

A) Stalin killed most of the people in the government (He used the KGB-secret police)

1)Why?

He was paranoid
He was afraid of rivals in the government
He wanted to concentrate his power
He replaced government officials with people who were loyal to him

2)Who?

Army heroes
Factory managers
Writers
Ordinary citizens

3)How?

4-8 million were arrested
About 1,000,000 were executed

4)What charges?

“Counter-revolutionary”
“Crimes vs. the Soviet Union”
“Relatives of the enemy (People who arrested) of the state”

5)What about trials?

“Show” trials
People already knew the outcome was death
People were tortured until they confessed

B) Problems with the “Great Purge”

1)WWII

Stalin had executed all his experienced officers

Aim #3: How did Mussolini rise to power in Italy?

1)Quotes by Mussolini

A) “Believe Obey and Fight”

B) “Mussolini is always right” (Like a god)

1)This was recited by school children to brainwash them that he was a god

C) “A minute on the battlefield is worth a lifetime of peace”

1)Militarism (The glorification of armed strength)

2) What was Italy like?

A) Problems in Italy post WWI

1)The Treaty of Versailles

Italians were resentful because they didn’t get the land that they wanted
Italians were also resentful that they won WWI and got nothing

2)Economic

Returning soldiers needed jobs
This caused unemployment
Debts from WWI had to be paid
There was a shortage of food and goods
Inflation

3)Labor

Frequent strikes
Fear of Communism
When there were strikes people were afraid it would lead to a Communist revolution

4)Government

Weak
Politically divided
This made it so nothing could get done

3) Mussolini’s Methodology

A) Promises, Promises, Promises

1)Businessman

Protect against Communism
No proletariat (Working class) revolution

2)Nationalist

He would restore the pride and glory of Italy (Roman Empire)

3)Unemployed

Jobs

4)Peasants

Land

B) “Blackshirts” (His thugs)

1)They went around using intimidation, violence, and threats

2)Militaristic

C) He attracted children

1)Why?

They were very impressionable/gullible
So what?
Kids are the future and they will grow up to love him

D) Charismatic speaker

1)He convinced people how great he was and how great the nation was

E)Il Duce

1)A title he gave himself meaning great leader (Like Stalin)

F)1922- March on Rome

1)He convinces the King that only he (Mussolini) can save Italy

4) Mussolini’s Rule

A) Absolute Rule

B) Fascism (His government party)

1)Extreme nationalism

2)The State is above all

Everything is for the state

C) Civil rights are denied

D) Expansionists

1)He wants to make Italy great

E) Brought stability

1)“Made the trains run on time”

Aim #4: How did Hitler rise to power in Germany?

1)“Mein Kamf” (A book Hitler wrote in jail, in 1923, meaning my struggle)

A)Hitler’s obsessions

1)Extreme nationalist (Everything for Germany and only Germany)

He is going to create the 3rd Reich (Empire)

2)Racism

He was racist by nature
He was very anti-blacks and Jews
In 1936 a black, named Jessy Owens, American beat Germany in the Olympics and Hitler refused to shake his hand
He felt that the Aryan/Nordic race was superior
Every good thing in the world came from a German/Aryan/Nordic

3)Anti-Semitism

Jews were the lowest of the low and caused all of Germany’s problems

B)Plan for Revival

1)He urged all Germans to come together and unite (Make an empire)

2)“Lebensraum” (Living space)

Germany needs to expand and conquer land because they need more living space

3)All Slavic people are going to bow down to the Aryans

4)Germany, like Italy, must have someone to lead them (“der fuehrer”- the leader)

Everyone is going to have to listen to the leader

2)Road to power

A)Great Depression “played” into Hitler’s hand

1)How?

People lost all their money and jobs and he appealed to them

B)Appealed to:

1)The middle-class business-people

They lost all their money

2)Unemployed workers

Unemployment went down to 2% (The greatest Germany’s ever had) when Hitler came into power

C)Promised to: (1 And 2 are against the Treaty of Versailles)

1)He is going to end all reparations

2)He is going to rearm Germany

3)He is going to create jobs

D)Became leader through:

1)Hitler and his party were voted in by legal means

How?
Negative campaigning
He used propaganda
“End the oppression vote for Hitler”
“Our last Hope: Hitler”

2)1933

January: Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany
February: There was a fire in the Reichstag (German government) building
Hitler blames on the Communists
March:
Hitler won 288 seats, a majority, in the Reichstag
Enabling Act
Hitler gets emergency power (Because of the fire)
Hitler is allowed to disregard the constitution for four years
November: Hitler controls all of the German government

3) Totalitarian State

A) To achieve goals Hitler…

1)Organized a brutal system of terror

2)Had SS men or Gestapo (His own henchmen)

3)Controlled all aspects of German life

B) Few Germans worried… Rather cheered because:

1)Hitler ended unemployment

In America he was called the “20th century hero”

2)Hitler revived German power

4) Economic policy

A) Combat depression

1)He gave people jobs in the military building weapons

The world didn’t do anything because they had their own problems

2)Hitler built a large public works program

He built bridges, tunnels, streets, and stadiums

B) Few people objected to the loss of freedom because:

1)Their standard of living went up

People usually vote with their wallet

5) Propaganda

A) Hitler’s ideas about propaganda

1)Clever propaganda can make anyone believe anything

2)If you keep telling the same lie people will believe it

3)Hitler valued propaganda very much and even had a minister of propaganda named Josef Goebbels

B) Hitler utilized propaganda:

1)In the arts

2)In education

C) Hitler’s “purged” culture

1)He rewrote textbooks

2)He burned books:

Against the German culture
Written by Jewish authors

6) Campaign against the Jews

A) Nuremberg Laws [1935]- restrictions

1)Jews can not marry non-Jews

2)Jews were forbidden to attend schools and later to teach at schools

3)Jews were prohibited from holding government positions/jobs

4)A Jew was defined as having one Jewish grandparent

B) “Kristallnacht or”

1)Kristallnacht means the night of broken glass

2)It was like a pogrom

7) Similarities between Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini

A) They all had symbols

B) They all had a single party dictatorship

C) They all had strict censorship and government control of the media

1) They burnt books

D) They all had police spies and thugs to do their dirty work

1)Stalin had the KGB

2)Hitler had the Gestapo

3)Mussolini had the Black-shirts

E)They all used schools and the media to indoctrinate and mobilize citizens

F)They all called for unquestioning obedience to a single ruler

G)They all used propaganda

H)They all attracted the youth (Young people are very gullible)

I)They were all very militaristic

J)Hitler and Mussolini were both excellent speakers, but Stalin wasn’t

K)Hitler and Mussolini were both anti-communism, while Stalin supported communism

Aim #5: How did WWII erupt in 1939?

1)Aggressive actions taken by Italy, Germany, and Japan leading to WWII and the response of the world (United States, France, and England)

A)Action

1)Japan becomes militaristic (They expanded their navy and air-force because they were an island)

1931: Japan conquered Manchuria
Why?
They needed natural resources to industrialize and build weapons. Japan is mainly mountains and has few natural resources.
The “Rape of Nanjing” (Also called the forgotten Holocaust)
It was called the “Rape of Nanjing” because Japan raped up to 80,000 Chinese women
The Japanese killed 300,000 men, women, and children even after they conquered the city of Nanjing. (All within 6 weeks)
Japan till today still refuses to acknowledge their evil actions
Because of this actions Koreans and Chinese people still hate the Japanese
1937: Japan invaded Eastern China
1941: Japan attacked Pearl Harbor
Why?
Because Japan felt that the United States was the only potential threat in the Pacific Ocean and the United States had a base in Pearl Harbor.

B)Reaction

1)The League of Nations recommended that Japan withdraw from Manchuria (They gave Japan a censure, which is like a slap on the wrist)

A cartoonist draws a bullet going through treaties (Showing that they are only paper and that they need to be enforced) and hitting China
Japan decided to leave the League of Nations

C)Action

1)1935: Italy invades Ethiopia and defeats them

D)Reaction

1)The League of Nations voted on sanctions [penalties] against Italy

Nations are not allowed to sell war materials, weapons, but not oil
They were not enforced

E)Action

1)1936: Hitler sends troops into the Rhineland (Against the Treaty of Versailles)

F)Reaction

1)The world only had verbal protests, but no real actions

It was 5 months before the Olympics that were to be held in Berlin and the world could have boycotted the Olympics

G)Action

1)Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis (A treaty between Italy, Germany, and Japan)

They agreed to fight communism
They agreed not to interfere in other’s expansion

H)Reaction

1)The world did nothing

I)Action

1)1938: Germany annexed Austria

Anschluss- the union of Germany and Austria

J)Reaction

1)The world didn’t do anything and took on a policy of appeasement (Appeasement= giving in to demands in hopes of avoiding war)

Why?
The French were demoralized (They lost their spirit after WWI)
The French loss men and property
The British had no real desire to confront Hitler because of WWI
Many people, like some of the British, thought that Hitler was justified in his response to the Treaty of Versailles
Britain and France saw Hitler as a defense against a worse evil- communism
The Great Depression sapped (Drained) the energies of all the Western Democracies
Pacifist movement
Everyone was against war

K)Action