Europe between Wars 1919-1939 and European Crisis - Assignment Example

Europe between Wars – 1919-1939 and European Crisis: World War II 1. The decade of the 1920s has been characterized as both an “age of anxiety” and “a period of hope”. Why? After the First World War, the whole of Europe entered a very difficult period in every segment of life. People wanted to believe that the peace would last forever, and they hoped for much happier times in the future. This decade is also characterized as a “period of hope”, sometimes referred to as the “Golden Twenties” (the “Roaring Twenties” in the USA), because it was regarded as a period of economic prosperity, new scientific discoveries, electrification, the telephone, motor cars, planes, the radio and the “talkie pictures” that distracted people from the difficulties that approached fast. The war left a big trauma and there was no way to repair everything that was destroyed during the War and the October Revolution of 1917. Furthermore, pessimism began to encompass everybody starting from common people (due to unemployment, high inflation, strikes, extensive immigration, poverty, etc.), through artists, writers, philosophers, to politicians and those responsible for the countries’ economies. For example, The Weimar Republic had to face and go through a severe economic fall in the first years of the decade because of the debt and the reparations caused by the War and the Treaty of Versailles, which culminated in 1923 with the devaluation of the Mark (the currency). Communism attracted many followers after the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War, and so communists (Bolsheviks) adopted a policy of mixed economics in the period between 1921 and 1928. Fascist movement as a response and a solution for the prevention of the communism spread in many countries in Europe, with Germany having the leading role. This period was believed to be the third period of anxiety for Europe (the previous two that could be compared in intensity with this one being the one of the ancient world and the Reformation). 2. What are the chief characteristics of totalitarianism? To what extent was Fascist Italy a totalitarian state? Totalitarianism as a concept in political theory arose in the XX century. Although there are slight differences and variations among totalitarian regimes, the chief characteristics of totalitarianism are: a) Totalitarian regime encompasses the whole of the society, and authoritarian government, as a variation focuses only on governance. For a regime to be considered totalitarian, government and society must be closely intertwined and there is only one political party; b) Totalitarianism holds strict government control of the media which is to be used only as means of propaganda; c) There is no personal liberty in cultural, political and artistic expression among the people; d) People must be utterly devoted to the state and must never criticize the government or any of its segments as they and their whole families may “disappear” or end up in prison as “political” prisoners. e) Nazism and Fascism are considered totalitarian regimes of the right, while Stalinism is the totalitarianism of the left. After the First World War and the Versailles Peace Conference, Italy suffered a severe economic downturn, inflation and political strife. As a result inspired by the Roman Empire, Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist movement in March 1919. He promised his followers and the people of Italy to restore order and limit the functions of the state to create conditions suitable for individual activity, science, art, industry, agriculture, etc. Mussolini’s secret police were the “Black Shirts” but Mussolini did not use them much to intimidate and kill people as the Fascist regimes practice. His state was a totalitarian that controlled many aspects of their lives, yet not as far reaching as Hitler’s Nazi state later in the 1930s. Mussolini controlled his citizens mostly by reaching into their sentiments and by manipulating them. He was a great manipulator. However, let’s not forget that all political parties except the Fascist were banned, newspapers and books were censored, farmers were encouraged to grow more wheat while women were discouraged from working, etc. 3. What were Hitler’s core ideas or assumptions? What were the methods used to implement them once he and the Nazis had established the Nazi state in Germany? Hitler’s ideas and all his efforts to enforce them in Germany were widely accepted by the people at the time. He proclaimed social Darwinism – application of socialized biology in society, and the Aryan put on the highest position of civilization as its first creator as a guarantee of its successes. The biggest threat for the civilization is the mixing of the races. The task of history according to him is to study the history of races instead of merely stating facts. The biggest enemy of civilization is the Jew. He was the biggest Anti-Semitist the world has ever known. Furthermore, he aimed toward destroying the “shameful” Versailles Treaty, and helped by a super-modern army to liquidate the “deadly enemy of the German people – France”. Marxism as ideology should be destroyed as well, as an ideology that denies the aristocratic principle of birth and does not accept any personal value in humans. Marxism as basic ideology of the world would mean the end of every system and the end for everybody on this planet. He wanted to conquer new territories in Europe and settle them with “pure blooded” Germans. The leader of the nation should have unlimited authority. Furthermore, he was for additional development of sports and education of the young generation as they should be the next most powerful German army. Bringing up children in the spirit of strong will and developing of the national pride in the young was of essential importance. However, his methods to implement all of his ideas in Germany after the Nazi state was established, were the methods of terror, assassinations, intimidation, mass liquidation in concentration camps, etc. 4. Discuss the major steps taken by Hitler from 1933 to 1939 that ultimately led to war. Could Hitler have been prevented from plunging Europe into war? When and how? In 1933 Hitler became chancellor of the Reich thanks to the weak social democrats, poverty and the Crisis 1929-1934. After Hindenburg’s death in 1934 he proclaimed himself a leader (Führer). He established Fascist dictatorship and started a ruthless persecution of Jews and communists alike. He destroyed the parliamentary democracy, liberalism, the syndicates, human rights and freedom of speech and press. He fit science, art, commerce, the state and the army into the Party apparatus. Moreover, he sent all progressive people to concentration camps. The indulgent policy of the “big” countries, as well as the imperialistic extreme opposites enabled him annex Austria to Germany, to conquer Czechoslovakia, and finally attacked Poland in 1939, which invariably caused the Second World War. As the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, saw the danger of another world war Hitler’s invading of Czechoslovakia, he believed he could defuse this crisis through direct negotiations with Hitler. Chamberlain, along with most of the political elite, believed that becoming friends with Hitler and negotiating German expansion instead of opposing would prevent another world war, and gain a powerful new ally in the struggle against Communist expansion. However, no one was able to prevent Hitler from realizing his ideas. 5. Discuss the “Final Solution” If so many ordinary Germans took part in this crime, can its perpetration merely be attributed only to men like Hitler? As was said previously, Hitler hated Jews and wanted to exterminate them, not only in Germany but in all the countries he invaded, too. The Nazi state and the Nazis were the solution to the Jewish question. The “Final Solution” was actually the genocide of as much Jews as possible from the whole of Europe. Having established the SS units, Hitler sent them to track down all Jews searching town after town. Jews were then killed on the spot or sent to death camps, many of which were built by Jews themselves. Later Jews were killed in the gas chambers specially built for them as parts of the death camps. They used poisonous chemicals such as Zyclon B, and after instant death that followed, they would burn the bodies in the crematoriums. Some bodies were even pushed by bulldozers into giant pits. The executioners of the “Final Solution” were many, even doctors, and scientists. Over three million Jews were gassed in the camps, but in its entirety, “Final Solution” meant death for about six million Jews. Rudolf Hoess and Adolf Eichman, Himmler and Heydrich, and many others who were close collaborators of Hitler as well as those plainly seduced by the Nazi idea are also to be blamed for this genocide. However, although the blame is distributed amongst several Nazis, ultimate responsibility is Hitler’s 6. What in essence was the Cold War? The term Cold War became the synonym of enormous tension in the sphere of international relations after the end of the Second World War, especially between the big countries that belonged to two rival blocks, that is, the USA on one side, and the USSR on the other. The increased international tension was caused partly because of the Russian dominance in Eastern Europe and the agitation for the spread of communism worldwide. Both leading countries developed technology that could destroy tens of millions of lives within minutes with a single push of a button. Both USA and USSR proposed inspection of the arms on several occasions but none was successful until the 1980s and the coming of Gorbachev as the head of USSR. All the rest of the satellite countries around these two belonging to the Warsaw Pact and NATO participated in this Cold War supporting the two leading nations. MLA formatted: The Purdue OWL. 26 Aug. 2008. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. 23 April 2008 . Read More