{"id":6078,"date":"2025-09-28T15:12:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T19:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/history208.voices.wooster.edu\/?page_id=6078"},"modified":"2025-12-02T10:19:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:19:28","slug":"exam-2-study-guide","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/history208.voices.wooster.edu\/?page_id=6078","title":{"rendered":"Exam #2 Study Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

rev 9\/28\/25<\/p>\n

Note:<\/i> The format for Exam #2 will be exactly the same as Exam #1. It will cover class and readings from Exam #1 to our last class meeting before Exam #2 (from film as primary source for history to the meanings of World War II).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Big Questions for the Mini-Essay. I will adopt two of these questions for the exam. (I may ask some version of these questions for Part 2 as well).<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
    \n
  • What was the Depression of the 1930s? And what was its impact on European politics?<\/li>\n
  • What is totalitarianism? How might or how should historians use the concept?<\/li>\n
  • Compare and contrast Nazism, Italian Fascism, and Stalinism. What did they have in common? How did they differ?<\/li>\n
  • What was the appeal of Nazism in Germany in the early 1930s?<\/li>\n
  • How did the democracies of Britain and France confront the international challenges of the 1930s?<\/li>\n
  • How did Europe go to war in 1939? And how does it compare to the First World War?<\/li>\n
  • What was the impact of the Second World War on European history?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
    \n

    How to Think Like a Historian<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n
      \n
    • What are some central concepts of historical analysis?\n
        \n
      • Primary source analysis, evidence, secondary source analysis, historiography<\/li>\n
      • Context, Change and Continuity, Causality, Contingency \u2013 and Complexity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
      • What are some \u201cways of thinking\u201d that historians use?\n
          \n
        • Make judgements based upon evidence<\/li>\n
        • Understand multiple points of view<\/li>\n
        • Understand complexity \u2013 make distinctions \u2013 see the world in shades of gray<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
          \n

          Reflect on Ian Kershaw and his History of Twentieth-Century Europe<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

          \n
            \n
          • English political historian, best known for his multi-volume biography of Hitler<\/li>\n
          • What is his approach? What is its value? What does he foreground? What is missing from this story?<\/li>\n
          • It is a beautifully written, accessible, evocative account of the political crisis of Europe. Based on deep research. Focuses on politics, international relations, governments, and leaders. Frequently treats states as actors (but note, they have competing forces within them).<\/li>\n
          • Kershaw puts Germany at the center of this story\u2026<\/li>\n
          • We don\u2019t hear much about European empires, the view of colonial subjects, the experience of women, cultural history (esp. popular culture). Social history plays a role here, but it is typically subordinated to political history.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
            \n

            \u00a0<\/i>What kinds of regimes and governments and societies were there in aftermath of WWI?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

            \n

            Britain<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

            \n
              \n
            • Still a constitutional monarchy<\/li>\n
            • Still a Parliamentary system – House of Commons \u2013 House of Lords<\/li>\n
            • Still a two-party system \u2013 but Conservatives and Labour \u2013 diminished role for Liberals<\/li>\n
            • Still an enormous empire \u2013 25% of the people of the world \u2013 with the addition of mandates in the middle east \u2013 Palestine, Transjordan \u2013 mounting anti-colonial and independence movements<\/li>\n
            • Votes for women \u2013 from February 1918<\/li>\n
            • Ireland independent \u2013 Irish Free State from 1921<\/li>\n
            • Gold Standard \u2013 slow economic recovery \u2013 strikes and protests \u2013 1926 general strike<\/li>\n
            • Some politicians: Ramsay Macdonald (Labour PM), Neville Chamberlain (Conserv PM), Winston Churchill (Conserv PM during WW2)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
              \n

              \u00a0France<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n
                \n
              • Still the French Third Republic, until 1940<\/li>\n
              • Still an immense empire in Africa, Asia, Caribbean \u2013 with the addition of mandates in the middle east \u2013 Lebanon, Syria \u2013 mounting anti-colonial and independence movements<\/li>\n
              • Economic recovery in aftermath of war<\/li>\n
              • But persistent political instability \u2013 right wing \u201cleagues\u201d marching in the streets \u2013 rioting as in 1934<\/li>\n
              • A Popular Front government in 1936, but instability<\/li>\n
              • Some key figures: L\u00e9on Blum (socialist PM under Popular Front govt, first socialist and first Jewish PM in France), Edouard Daladier (centrist PM, involved in Munich negotiations)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                \n

                Germany<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                \n
                  \n
                • The German Republic \u2013 established November 1918 with abdication of Kaiser and declaration of republic<\/li>\n
                • Early republic built on agreement between socialists and the army \u2013 a deal with the devil (recall the Ebert-Groener Pact)<\/li>\n
                • We know it as the Weimar Republic \u2013 after the city where the National Assembly met and the Constitution of 1919 was negotiated<\/li>\n
                • Parliamentary republic, multiparty system with power to Chancellor \u2013 and strong President<\/li>\n
                • In times of crisis, President could rule by decree. Article 48<\/li>\n
                • End of Weimar Republic is typically dated to 1933, with the passage of Enabling Act that revised the constitution and the outlawing of all parties except the Nazi Party<\/li>\n
                • Some key figures: Gustav Streseman (foreign minister), Paul von Hindenburg (president from 1924), Heinrich Br\u00fcning (Chancellor in 30-32), Franz Von Papen (Chancellor in 32, argued to bring Hitler into govt)\u00a0<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                  \n

                  Soviet Union<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                  \n
                    \n
                  • Russia from October Revolution (of November 1917). \u201cUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics\u201d or \u201cSoviet Union\u201d from 1922<\/li>\n
                  • Death of Lenin, 1924. Stalin into power. Controlled bureaucracy of the Communist Party and pushed others out of power<\/li>\n
                  • New Constitution in 1936 spoke the language of democracy and rights<\/li>\n
                  • But the secret police – the NKVD in the 1930s \u2013 had the right to arrest and pass judgement without restraint<\/li>\n
                  • Great Famine \u2013 the Genocide-Famine of Ukraine, the Holodomor \u2013 1932 to 1933, killed millions<\/li>\n
                  • Great Purge of 1936 to 1938 \u2013 against kulaks, ethnic minorities, Communist officials, and Red Army leaders. Show trials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                    \n

                    Italy<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                    \n
                      \n
                    • Postwar crisis \u2013 political and economic \u2013 \u201cunredeemed Italy\u201d \u2013 territorial ambitions including new areas won (such as Trentino) and other areas that were not won for Italy (Fiume) \u2013conflict in the streets \u2013 workers and peasants striking \u2013 the red years (biennio rosso<\/i>)<\/li>\n
                    • Fascist political movement \u2013 comes to be led by Mussolini \u2013 fascisti<\/i> or squadristri<\/i><\/li>\n
                    • Mussolini appointed Prime Minister in 1922 by King in face of March on Rome \u2013 gathered total power over course of three years \u2013 in 1925 be was recognized as \u201cIl Duce,\u201d the Leader<\/li>\n
                    • Fascist doctrine \u2013 valued the state over the individual<\/li>\n
                    • War in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) \u2013 dream of building a greater Italy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                      \n

                      Note the new states formed out of the ruins of the Habsburg Empire:<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                      \n
                        \n
                      • Austria<\/li>\n
                      • Hungary<\/li>\n
                      • Czechoslovakia\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                        \n

                        Other New and Reformed States:<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                        \n
                          \n
                        • Poland<\/li>\n
                        • Baltic States \u2013 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania<\/li>\n
                        • Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                          \n

                          Some East European political figures to know about:<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                          \n
                            \n
                          • J\u00f3zef Pi\u0142sudski, or Marshal Pilsudki, Polish patriot, military leader, and war hero. Led Polish forces in Soviet-Polish War (1919-1921). Would become de facto leader of a \u201cmild\u201d authoritarian government in the late 1920s (coup of 1926) to his death in 1935. He opposed<\/i> xenophobia and anti-Semitism. But laid the groundwork for authoritarian rule in Poland up to the Second World War.<\/span><\/li>\n
                          • Thomas Masaryk, founder and first president of independent Czechoslovakia. Helped establish democratic norms in the rubble of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He worked to integrate Czechoslovakia into the international system. Died in 1937, before the crisis that saw the annexation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                            \n

                            How to Think about the 1930s<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                            \n
                              \n
                            • The Depression marks a terrible shift from the optimism of the late 1920s. Fear. A return to the chaos of the immediate postwar era, 1918-1923<\/li>\n
                            • An era marked by the ideological confrontation of liberal democracy, fascism, and communism<\/li>\n
                            • Remarkable intellectual ferment, esp. on the left \u2013 called by many the \u201cPink Decade\u201d \u2013 evident in pacifist movements<\/li>\n
                            • A time of a move to the right in politics \u2013 in particular, authoritarianism in eastern Europe and southern Europe \u2013 and to conservatism in western Europe<\/li>\n
                            • Marked by fears about population decline \u2013 backlash against contraception and abortion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                              \n

                              The Great Depression<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                              \n
                                \n
                              • Not just the Wall Street Crash of 1929 \u2013 that was only one sign of something much larger that had been building for some time. Three key crises: 1) depression in agriculture, 2) a financial crisis \u2013 following from stock market crash and banking failures, resulting in the end of American loans, and 3) a crisis of industrial production.<\/li>\n
                              • Impact would include: economic downturn, mass unemployment, steep drop in industrial production, radical fall-off of world trade, crisis in the countryside.<\/li>\n
                              • 1932 \u2013 the slump was at its worst. By 1934, much of Europe was emerging from the worst. (How does that correlate with Hitler\u2019s rise to power?)<\/li>\n
                              • Some measures:\n
                                  \n
                                • Average Income in Germany, down 33%, 1929-1932<\/li>\n
                                • World Production, down 38%, 1929-1932<\/li>\n
                                • International Lending, down 90%, 1927-1933<\/li>\n
                                • Whole or Partial Unemployment in Germany, almost 50% in 1932<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                                • First responses of governments in 1930-31: efforts to balance budget, cut expenditures, raise tariffs. This was economic orthodoxy of the day. Had the effect of making the economic downturn worse and longer.<\/li>\n
                                • John Maynard Keynes \u2013 after several years of Depression, in General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money <\/i>(1936) \u2013 developed theory that in times of economic downturn governments needed to increase spending<\/i> to stimulate economy, provide economic stimulus to make up for reduced consumer spending with government spending, to \u201cprime the pump\u201d of the economy. It was a radical idea at the time but has since become an essential lesson of the Depression. This is what we mean today by \u201cKeynesian economics.\u201d<\/li>\n
                                • Efforts to retain a high exchange rate for national currencies \u2013 that is, to refuse to devalue the currency \u2013 made the economic downturn worse. In France, the Depression came late but was deep and persistent.<\/li>\n
                                • Note the variety of experience:\n
                                    \n
                                  • in Germany, the Br\u00fcning government cut government expenditures in 1930-31. Hitler\u2019s government, in 1933 and after, pursued government spending on public works, highways (the Autobahn), and rearmament, inflationary policies that helped restore the economy. In the Soviet Union, the 1930s were a time of crash industrialization.<\/li>\n
                                  • All states \u2013 even western democracies \u2013 moved toward autarky that is, economic self-sufficiency. Esp. with failure of World Economic Forum.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                                  • Impact of the Depression: radicalized politics. \u201cIn practically every country outside the Soviet Union, the Depression brought a surge in support for fascist movements that aimed to destroy the Left and reorder societies through manufactured and enforced national unity.\u201d (Kershaw, 207)<\/li>\n
                                  • The economy that suffered the most? Germany<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                    \n

                                    How Did the Nazis Take Power in Germany?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                    \n
                                      \n
                                    • Hitler appointed Chancellor January 30, 1933. How?<\/li>\n
                                    • Some essentials: by legal means, under the shadow of economic disaster, in the face of divided opposition, with the support of conservative elites, with a powerful propaganda message of German unity and a rejection of Weimar democracy<\/li>\n
                                    • NSDAP. The National Socialist German Workers Party. Or Nazis. Hitler, the Leader, the Fuehrer<\/li>\n
                                    • Remarkable electoral success in context of the Depression. 1928 \u2013 less than 3% of vote. 1930 \u2013 huge wave of Nazi support, 18%. Nov. 1932 \u2013 Nazis received 33% of the vote. This was a decline from their result in July, a sign that their appeal was waning. It was here that elites surrounding Von Hindenburg convinced him to support Hitler as Chancellor, with the idea that they could control him. Jan 1933 Hitler appointed Chancellor. In course of the next year, he and his Nazi Party gathered total power.<\/li>\n
                                    • But note \u2013 the SPD and the KPD received more than 35% of vote in the elections of Nov. 1932<\/li>\n
                                    • Hitler took quick steps to root out other sources of authority. Within six months established total domination. Fire in Reichstag, outlawing Communist Party, dissolution of Center Party and the Fatherland Party. By July 1933, the Nazi Party was the only party.<\/li>\n
                                    • Enabling Act \u2013 in March 1933 \u2013 amended Constitution to give government power to issue decrees with force of law<\/li>\n
                                    • With Hindenburg\u2019s death, in 1934, Hitler assumed functions of head of state.<\/li>\n
                                    • Gleichschaltung<\/i> \u2013 \u201cCoordination\u201d \u2013 all institutions and organizations of civil society coordinated into the Nazi party.<\/li>\n
                                    • Speaking more broadly \u2013 how did Nazis take power?<\/li>\n
                                    • A perfect storm created the conditions that allowed them to succeed:\n
                                        \n
                                      • the humiliation of the Versailles Treaty and all it represented<\/li>\n
                                      • political attitudes from imperial Germany that fostered respect for army and authority<\/li>\n
                                      • the failure of the institutions of the Republic (viewed as weak and ineffective)<\/li>\n
                                      • the economic crisis of the 1930s<\/li>\n
                                      • assistance of conservatives (who were fearful of the left)<\/li>\n
                                      • divisions in German society (esp. on the left, bw socialists and communists)<\/li>\n
                                      • and, of course, Nazi political strategies \u2013 effective propaganda<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                        \n

                                        Movement to the Right in Politics in the 1930s<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                        \n
                                          \n
                                        • Meant different things in different contexts\u2026.<\/li>\n
                                        • The appeal of fascism \u2013 with hyper-nationalism, xenophobia, destruction of political enemies, military organization of organizations, belief in charismatic leadership. Promised to create a \u201cnew man.\u201d<\/li>\n
                                        • Appealed to a lot of different people, but especially high appeal for the middle-classes, veterans, businessmen, farmers, and students.<\/li>\n
                                        • Didn\u2019t have much success in Britain or Scandinavia. Played some role in France with fascist organizations (esp. of war veterans). Found fertile ground in central and eastern Europe, but were kept in check by authoritarian govts. Italy and Germany \u2013 and the triumph of fascism and Nazism stand out as exceptions.<\/li>\n
                                        • In Britain and France, democracy proved resilient\u2026\n
                                            \n
                                          • In Britain, Oswald Mosley\u2019s British Union of Fascists was something of a joke, but a sign of dangerous currents.<\/li>\n
                                          • In France, right-wing leagues \u2013 the Croix de Feu and the Action Fran\u00e7aise, for example \u2013 threatened the peace, as in the riots of February 1934 that left 15 dead. Eventual outcome was to bring Communists, Socialists, and Radicals together in Popular Front government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                                          • Central and Eastern Europe proved to be fertile ground for authoritarian and outright fascist movements\u2026<\/li>\n
                                          • Takeaway: on the eve of WWII, three-fifths of Europeans lived under repressive, authoritarian rule. Kershaw: \u201cOf the democracies created after the First World War to succeed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, only Czechoslovakia had survived\u201d (245).<\/li>\n
                                          • What made Hitler\u2019s Germany so dangerous: Hitler\u2019s dreams of territorial expansion in eastern Europe. Lebensraum<\/i>, \u201cliving space\u201d for the people of Germany. A racial ideal of community: the Volksgemeinschaft<\/i> or national (or racial) community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                            \n

                                            What Was the International Crisis of the 1930s?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                            \n

                                            In broad perspective, it entailed\u2026<\/p>\n

                                              \n
                                            • A three-way conflict bw liberal democracy, fascism\/Nazism, Stalinism \u2013 and in this era, liberal democracy seemed to be on the losing side<\/li>\n
                                            • The failure of democracy in Germany and Eastern Europe (it had already failed in Italy)<\/li>\n
                                            • The failure of liberal democracies of Britain and France to respond to authoritarian threats \u2013 in the remilitarization of the Rhineland, the Spanish Civil War, the crisis over Czechoslovakia<\/li>\n
                                            • The failure of the League of Nations \u2013 in wake of American isolation, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)<\/li>\n
                                            • Rearmament led by Nazi Germany. The Maginot Line in France. New tactics of military strategy \u2013 armored divisions<\/li>\n
                                            • A realignment of international affairs that saw Mussolini turn away from Britain and France and align Italy with Nazi Germany<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                              \n

                                              Examples include:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                              \n
                                                \n
                                              • 1931 \u2013 Japanese invasion of Manchuria<\/li>\n
                                              • 1934 \u2013 German withdrawal from LoN \u2013 Soviet Union joins<\/li>\n
                                              • 1935 \u2013 German creation of a new and large army, the Wehrmacht<\/li>\n
                                              • 1935 \u2013 Italian invasion of Abyssinia, int\u2019l outcry, Italian withdrawal from LoN<\/li>\n
                                              • 1936 \u2013 remilitarization of the Rhineland \u2013 failure of France and Britain to respond \u2013 changes all military calculations in France<\/li>\n
                                              • 1936 \u2013 Rome-Berlin Axis \u2013 and a month later the Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany and Japan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                \n

                                                What are dictatorship, authoritarianism, totalitarianism?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                \n
                                                  \n
                                                • Dictatorship entails: strong head of state, restriction of civil liberties, restrictions on parties, no independent judiciary, control of media, sham (or limited) elections, typically ties to military<\/li>\n
                                                • Authoritarianism is similar, but puts power in a small group rather than an individual dictator. Sometimes the term is used for a government that suppresses dissent while allowing limited freedoms<\/li>\n
                                                • Totalitarianism is distinct. It makes a total<\/i> claim on allegiance of individuals, no civil society outside the watchful eye of the state, no space for dissent, a single party<\/li>\n
                                                • See Kershaw\u2019s comparison of Stalinism, Mussolini\u2019s Fascism, and Nazi Germany\u2026 What was the level of popular support for these regimes? How did it compare? How did the regimes enforce consent? How \u201ctotalitarian\u201d were they?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                  \n

                                                  How Did Stalin Rule Over Soviet Union in the 1930s?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                  \n
                                                    \n
                                                  • Stalin took power in vacuum after death of Lenin, 1924, in time pushing out other members of Politburo<\/li>\n
                                                  • \u201cRevolution from Above\u201d to reform peasantry and heavy industry.<\/li>\n
                                                  • General Secretary of the party, a man of bureaucratic genius. In time, a personality cult. Popular acclaim for Stalin<\/li>\n
                                                  • Great Purges (or Great Terror) 1936-38 \u2013 targeting threats to Stalin, party members, government, army officials, kulaks, and anyone suspected of \u201ccounter-revolutionary\u201d thinking \u2013 summary justice and show trials. The Gulag.<\/li>\n
                                                  • Nikolai Yezhov, head of NKVD, secret police \u2013 led many purges, eventually would be arrested and executed as a counter-revolutionary<\/li>\n
                                                  • Perhaps a million dead in 37-38 \u2013 many more sent to Gulag (perhaps 3 million in 1939)<\/li>\n
                                                  • Kershaw: \u201cTerror was the defining characteristic of Stalin\u2019s regime\u201d (274)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                    \n

                                                    How Did Mussolini Rule Italy in the 1930s?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                    \n
                                                      \n
                                                    • Mussolini\u2019s Fascist party was the sole party. But in course of 1930s it became \u201can establishment party\u201d (275)<\/li>\n
                                                    • Surrounded by ideologues promoting the \u201cDoctrine of Fascism.\u201d Mussolini spoke the language of totalitarianism. In fact, it was a much looser authoritarianism than Nazi Germany<\/li>\n
                                                    • Italian Fascism remarkable for it \u201caesthetics of power\u201d, art, literature, and architecture \u2013 and for its organization of sport and leisure<\/li>\n
                                                    • Promised rebuilding Rome \u2013 a dream of a new empire<\/li>\n
                                                    • Note that anti-Semitism played no role in early fascism in Italy. It only became a factor after the alliance of Italy and Nazi Germany and particularly after 1938<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                      \n

                                                      And Hitler and Nazi Germany?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                      \n
                                                        \n
                                                      • An aggressive economic strategy \u2013 to turn the economy to arms production<\/li>\n
                                                      • An aggressive military strategy \u2013 to rearm and reassert Germany\u2019s military role<\/li>\n
                                                      • A total control of civil society \u2013 through the \u201ccoordination\u201d of independent organization<\/li>\n
                                                      • A role for Nazi organizations \u2013 esp. the SS (Stormtroopers, military wing of Nazi Party), the Hitler Youth Movement (compulsory from 1936), etc.<\/li>\n
                                                      • At the center was a particular ideology \u2013 the racial community (the Volksgemeinschaft<\/i>) and the promise of \u201cracial cleansing\u201d<\/li>\n
                                                      • Other keys: anti-Semitism, which would be enshrined in Nuremburg Laws of 1935<\/li>\n
                                                      • Lebensraum<\/i> \u2013 \u201cliving space,\u201d the need for new territory for German people, particularly in eastern Europe<\/li>\n
                                                      • The danger of Nazi Germany \u2013 plans for territorial expansion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                        \n

                                                        How do you compare and contrast these regimes?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                        \n
                                                          \n
                                                        • Historians like to make distinctions! Each of these were quite different \u2013 even if they had some features in common. Each made \u201ctotal claim\u201d on citizens. Each spoke of \u201cenemies within.\u201d<\/li>\n
                                                        • Italy, more authoritarian than totalitarian – a looser system of control<\/li>\n
                                                        • Penetration of regimes\u2019 values: highest in Nazi Germany, lowest in Fascist Italy<\/li>\n
                                                        • Soviet Union \u2013 focused on internal threats. Nazi Germany \u2013 on external ambitions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                          \n

                                                          The Popular Front in France<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                          \n
                                                            \n
                                                          • Popular Front \u2013 general name for a coalition that brings together the communists, socialists, and republicans against fascism<\/li>\n
                                                          • L\u00e9on Blum \u2013 socialist Prime Minister of France in the Popular Front government; Jewish intellectual<\/li>\n
                                                          • Popular Front promised: public works, pensions, unemployment insurance<\/li>\n
                                                          • Came out of crises in French politics \u2013 such as anti-govt riots (some said attempted coup) of 1934<\/li>\n
                                                          • May 1936 \u2013 before govt took office \u2013 huge wave of strikes in France. Negotiations led to legislative reforms and reworked relationships between workers and employers. Support for unions, wage increases, forty-hour work week, and paid vacations.<\/li>\n
                                                          • Economic crisis led Blum to step down. The Popular Front would wither away (though Pop Front would be remembered with nostalgia by those on the left)<\/li>\n
                                                          • Kershaw frames The Popular Front as another example of the failures of the left.<\/li>\n
                                                          • France was \u201ca completely divided country.\u201d Nationalist right hated Blum and the Popular Front. Some said: \u201cBetter Hitler than Blum.\u201d Ideological polarization (A sign of divisions to come).<\/li>\n
                                                          • What survived from the Popular Front in France? A national mythology about the possibility of progressive reform<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                            \n

                                                            The Spanish Civil War<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                            \n
                                                              \n
                                                            • Why did the Civil War break out in Spain? What were its impacts? What does the Spanish Civil War tell us about the larger international crisis? What ideological conflicts were at play?<\/li>\n
                                                            • The Spanish Civil War was a great tragedy for the Left in Spain \u2013 and in Europe.<\/li>\n
                                                            • Grew out of deep polarization in Spanish politics and in Spanish society, divisions between urban Spain and rural Spain, between conservatives and socialists, between regions with strong identities such as Catalonia and the Basque Country and the rest of Spain, and more\u2026<\/li>\n
                                                            • Second Republic from 1931, in aftermath of dictatorship<\/li>\n
                                                            • Years of conflict \u2013 brutal right-wing governing coalition and leftist alternative.<\/li>\n
                                                            • Popular Front government (yes, another one) took power in 1936. An electoral pact of Republicans, Socialists, Communists, Catalan separatists, and trade unions. On the right, it was viewed as the triumph of godless Communism\u2026.<\/li>\n
                                                            • On the right, a growing movement, the Falange, promised a more aggressive move against the Republic. Support in the Army, such as General Franco, and in the Churches.<\/li>\n
                                                            • Attempted coup \u2013 launched from Spanish Morocco \u2013 in July 1936 \u2013 soon spread to mainland. Army leaders expected it would be quick, but unanticipated resistance on the left from trade unions, militias, some in Army, prolonged the conflict into a three-year civil war<\/li>\n
                                                            • The Spanish Civil War, 1936 to 1939. Many hundreds of thousands dead in fighting. Tens of thousands more dead in reprisals after the war.<\/li>\n
                                                            • Right, the Nationalists, Rebels, Fascist \u2013 supported by much of the rural population, traditionalists, the Church, most of the Army<\/li>\n
                                                            • Left, Republicans, supporters of democracy \u2013 supported by much of urban populations, workers, and some members of the military<\/li>\n
                                                            • Francisco Franco, military commander, head of rebel movement from September 1936 and leader of the Falange (or FET) \u2013 and then head of state. Little charisma, but ruthless in his control of Spain. Would lead Spain as military dictator until his death in 1975.<\/li>\n
                                                            • International response:\n
                                                                \n
                                                              • Germany and Italy supported the nationalists with arms and troops and planes.<\/li>\n
                                                              • Great Britain and France \u2013 sympathetic to the Popular Front government but unwilling to intervene \u2013 organized an arms embargo<\/li>\n
                                                              • The Soviet Union send support to the Popular Front govt \u2013 esp. to Communist militias<\/li>\n
                                                              • Thousands of international volunteers went to Spain to fight against fascism and in defense of democracy<\/li>\n
                                                              • Most infamously, Condor Legion of the German Air Force practiced civilian bombings in the Basque town of Guernica in 1937. One of countless terror raids. Inspiration for Picasso\u2019s paining of \u201cGuernica\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                                                              • The Spanish Civil War is remembered as a confrontation between democracy and fascism. Many observers at the time and since saw it as a sign of the weakness of democracy and the weakness of the Left.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                                \n

                                                                How Did Europe Go to War in 1939?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                                \n
                                                                  \n
                                                                • Sleepwalking? Slithering? No! Nazi Germany prepared the way from 1934<\/li>\n
                                                                • The miscalculations of democratic powers Britain and France in the 1930s made their efforts to prevent war ineffective.<\/li>\n
                                                                • German aggression was met by Western appeasement \u2013 German territorial aggression and weak resistance from the West<\/li>\n
                                                                • Appeasement \u2013 the diplomatic policy of making concessions in order to avoid conflict<\/li>\n
                                                                • Hitler becomes the supreme commander of the German army (Wehrmacht<\/i>) taking total control of the military as well as the state \u2013 February 1938<\/li>\n
                                                                • The Anschluss \u2013 German annexation of Austria \u2013 March 1938 \u2013 Hitler greeted with acclaim<\/li>\n
                                                                • Conflict over the Sudetenland \u2013 territory in Czechoslovakia inhabited by ethnic Germans that Hitler wanted to annex<\/li>\n
                                                                • After weeks of threats and negotiations, Mussolini brokered the Munich Agreement \u2013 September 1938 \u2013 Czechs cut out of negotiations. Permitted the annexation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany. Public response in Britain and France was ecstatic. \u201cPeace in our time.\u201d The high tide of appeasement.<\/li>\n
                                                                • French and British miscalculations. The failure was political, not military (see 1936 and remilitarization of the Rhineland)<\/li>\n
                                                                • British disagreements over legitimate German expansion:<\/li>\n
                                                                • Neville Chamberlain \u2013 recognized German claims as legitimate; \u201cCzechoslovakia a faraway country\u201d he said; Britain needed time to rebuild armed forces<\/li>\n
                                                                • Winston Churchill \u2013 German expansion was evidence that Britain had given up every interest in central and eastern Europe; Germany as untrustworthy; diplomacy insufficient for the peace and protection of Europe; need grand alliance with Soviet Union against Hitler<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
                                                                  \n

                                                                  Preparation for War<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                                                                  \n