* WWI
- the end of the war left Europe exhausted
-> a whole generation of men was dead
=> made people extremely unwilling to contemplate fighting
again
-> economies and infrastructures ravaged, especially in Germany
and Eastern Europe
- Germany had been punished in the Treaty of Versailles
-> had to pay reparations (money for damage caused)
=> Saar valley also given over to French economic control to
pay debts
-> had to give up a great deal of land
=> key bits gone to Poland and Czechoslovakia
-> had to demilitarize parts of own country between France and
Germany
=> the Rhineland
-> limits on military force were imposed
=> Navy and Army size limited
- treaty of Versailles also left a lot of weak little countries
scattered about
-> chum for the sharks
- a number of poorly cobbled-together countries
-> Yugoslavia
=> riven by ethnic hatreds
-> USSR Soviets had united many only partially integrated
"republics"
* Depression
- triggered by the stock market crash on the US in 1929
- economic downturn hurt the whole word
- all countries turned to strong central government or leaders
-> in some cases, governments were safe, but in bad ones, a lot
of power was available
- bad times made large militaries a virtue
-> instant employment
-> Lots of jobs building tanks and planes
-> marching around in uniform more fun than standing in line
waiting for food
- bad times cause people to turn on each other
-> US turned of Asians and Mexicans
=> deportations and land restrictions
=> shameful, but not genocidal
-> Germans turned on Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and Slavs
=> shameful and genocidal
* Fascism
- started by Mussolini in Italy
-> in 1920s, he threatened his way into power
- fascist characteristics
-> based on an all-powerful leader
-> government run in manner of corporatism
=> representation by social sector rather than population
+> business, workers social groups, etc. had reps instead of elected
representatives
-> big business controlled/influenced by government with workers paying a
price
-> strongly nationalistic - "our country right or wrong"
-> generally militaristic and fixated on uniforms
=> militarily aggressive and pro-war
-> wildly anti-communist
-> willing to use violence, often street fighting
-> careful to cloak activities in legalistic language, even if reality is
entirely different
- Hitler and the Nazi's add organized racism