AP EUROPEAN CHAPTER 27 STUDY GUIDE

“The Interwar Years: The Challenge of Dictators and Depression”

Section 1 – After Versailles: Demands for Revision and Enforcement

  1. Identify three examples of resentment and discontent that emerged in post-war Europe as a result of the Paris peace settlement.

Section 2 – Toward the Great Depression in Europe

  1. What three factors combined to bring about the intense severity and the extended length of the Great Depression?
  2. Why did France insist on strict enforcement of German reparations payments? How did France force Germany to pay? What were the consequences of the French actions towards German reparations?
  3. Discuss the various agricultural issues of the 1920’s that would contribute to the start of the Great Depression.
  4. Discuss the political changes that developed in Great Britain and France as a result of the economic downturn of the late 20’s and early 30’s.

Section 3 – The Soviet Experiment

  1. Explain the characteristics of War Communism. What was the response to this Russian policy in 1920 and 1921?
  2. Discuss the purpose and function of Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP). To what extent did it succeed?
  3. Identify the purpose of the Third International (Comitern). How did the Twenty-One Conditions attempt to achieve its goal?
  4. Explain the impact of Comintern policies and the resulting divisions within the socialist parties on the political landscape of Europe in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
  5. Compare and contrast Trotsky’s and Stalin’s political and economic positions during their struggle for power following the death of Lenin.
  6. Discuss the characteristics of rapid industrialization that took place during Stalin’s 5-Year Plans. Describe the social impact on the workers involved?
  7. Define collectivization. How did Stalin attempt to justify this agricultural policy? What was the resulting social impact on the peasantry of Russia?
  8. How did the drive toward collectivization impact the Russian Orthodox Church?
  9. What events prompted the Great Purges? How and why were these Purges carried out?

Section 4 – The Fascist Experiment in Italy

  1. Identify the various characteristics of the political movement known as fascism.
  2. Describe the social turmoil that existed in Italy between 1919 and 1921. How did Benito Mussolini take advantage of the situation to become prime minister?
  3. What were the immediate and long-term effects of the parliamentary election of 1924 in Italy?
  4. Discuss the significance of the Lateran Accords.

Section 5 – German Democracy and Dictatorship

  1. Discuss the various political and economic problems encountered by the WeimarRepublic in the 1920’s.
  2. Identify the influences that shaped Adolf Hitler’s political and social ideology.
  3. What were the major stipulations of the Nazi platform known as the Twenty-Five Points?
  4. Discuss the results of Hitler’s time in prison following the failed Beer Hall Putsch.
  5. Discuss the significance of the Dawes Plan, the Locarno Agreements, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact in creating new hope in Europe during the latter half of the 1920’s. Was this hope justified?
  6. In what ways did Hitler and the Nazis use the Depression to their political advantage?
  7. Discuss the actions taken by Adolf Hitler as a result of the Emergency Decree and the Enabling Act.
  8. Describe the actions taken by the Nazis that exemplified their strong anti-Semitic beliefs in the 1930’s
  9. Discuss the expectations of German women within the Nazi regime.
  10. Explain the economic policies of the Nazis that helped to lift Germany out of the Depression.

Section 6 – Trials of the Successor States in Eastern Europe

  1. Identify the economic and ethnic pressures that challenged the successor states of Eastern Europe in the 20’s and 30’s.