19 20

Comparing and Contextualizing Totalitarianism, Analyzing the context of Totalitarianism

Read Primary Sources 19.1, 19.2 and 19.3 and answer the following:

How does Arendt's view of totalitarianism apply to the three subsequent documents? To which document does the term totalitarian seem most appropriate? To which does it apply least well?

What role do ordinary people play in supporting or resisting the regime in the final three documents?

Identify the nature and limits of state power in the final three documents.

2. Watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=-cwu4CZyr8oGipRe&v=SImUrz19TTo&feature=youtu.be

Complete the following worksheet

CHAPTER 19

Global Crisis,

1910–1939

The Great War (World War I) engulfs the globe, exhausts Europe, and promotes production and consumption on a mass scale.

The victors’ peace imposed on Germany produces resentment and economic instability, while Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations struggles to keep the peace.

European countries’ efforts to rebuild their economies after the Great War by cutting expenses and returning to the gold standard cause the Great Depression, whose severe repercussions reverberate globally.

Three strikingly different visions for building a better world compete: liberal democracy, authoritarianism, and anticolonialism.

Global Storyline

What were the causes of World War I, and how did the war disrupt societies around the world?

In what ways did the development of modern, mass societies cause the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression? How were they affected by it?

What were the ideologies of liberal democracy, authoritarianism, and anticolonialism? How were they alike, and how were they different? How successful was each during this period?

In what ways did access to consumer goods and other aspects of mass society influence political conflict in Asia, Africa, and Latin America?

Focus Questions

Although most battles were fought on European soil, the Great War (1914–1918) was truly global and involved countless countries and soldiers across the world.

Battles were fought in East Asia, Africa, and the Middle East (after Ottoman entry)

Genocide became a new practice of war

Spread ideas of freedom, self-determination, and growing disillusionment with European rule

Great War and its impact

Prompted production and consumption on a massive scale, one of the striking features of economic modernity

New media of radio and film helped spread war propaganda

Harsh treaty after the war contributed to the Great Depression

Enflamed disputes about how to manage mass society and build a better world

Liberal democracy, authoritarianism, and anticolonialism competed for preeminence leading up to World War II.

Global Crisis, 1910–1939

From 1914 to 1918, the Great War devastated Europe. Although some battles were fought in East Asia and Africa, the entry of the Ottoman Empire made the conflict truly global. European forces included contingents from Africa and South Asia, while Ottoman forces brought together Turkish, Arab, Kurdish, Armenian and Caucasian soldiers.

The war brought brought civilians into the fray. The extermination of entire peoples became a new practice of war, exemplified especially by the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

The Great War shook the foundations of the European world. In the colonies, the war helped spread ideas of freedom, self-determination, and growing disillusionment with European rule. Europe’s claim to a “civilizing mission” had been thoroughly undermined.

The impact of the war touched many spheres of life around the world. Economically, it prompted a frenzy of production and consumption. In this sense, it helped catapult the world—or at least parts of it—into economic modernity. At the same time, punitive treaties and attempts to return to the gold standard laid the groundwork for the Great Depression.

Culturally, new media like radio and film helped shape national solidarity against the image of a common enemy. The war had stimulated the beginnings of mass culture.

Politically, the war gave rise to three different responses to the unprecedented problems of the twentieth century; liberal democracy, authoritarianism, and anticolonialism competed for preeminence. The tensions between these ideologies would soon boil over into another global war just a few decades later.

The Great War made clear that the power of the state depended on the support of the people, shaking hierarchies of prewar society around the world.

Causes of the war were complex

Nationalist rivalries

Britain had been the preeminent power in the nineteenth century.

The German economy surpassed Britain, and Germany built a navy.

Rivalry between Great Britain and Germany led to the formation of rival alliances.

The Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary

The Triple Entente (later the Allied Powers once Italy joined): Britain, France, and Russia

The war broke out after the assassination of the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand of Austria in 1914.

The Great War

The Great War drew masses of people into the service of the state. For four years, millions of soldiers from Europe and the colonies killed each other on battlefields all over the world. Mass participation in a national cause disturbed prewar social hierarchies, as people from different classes and segments of society cooperated for a common goal.

The causes of the war were complex. At the top of the list were nationalist rivalries. Britain had been the preeminent power in the nineteenth century, while its greatest rival was Russia. However, over the course of the century, the rise of Germany as a military and industrial power disturbed the balance of power in Europe. France and Russia had allied against Germany by the end of the century. Britain joined them in the early 1900s, forming the Triple Entente.

Meanwhile, Germany allied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire to counter the threat of the rival alliances.

The war began with the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz-Ferdinand in 1914. The assassin was a young Serbian nationalist hoping for independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The assassination set off a chain reaction. The Austro-Hungarian emperor, backed by the Germans, took a firm stand against Serbian independence. Russia backed the Serbs, soon followed by the British and French. Although diplomats struggled to defuse the crisis, war soon broke out.

The war became infamous for its duration and horrors.

Began with Austro-Hungarian bombardment of Serbian Belgrade

Atrocities against civilians

Stalemate

Following the First Battle of the Marne, a stalemate ensued.

Trenches on the Western Front went from the English Channel to the Alps.

Germans urged Ottomans to enter war

Encouraged sultan to proclaim an anticolonial jihad against the British, French, and Russians.

100 million Muslims lived under British colonial rule.

Life in the trenches

Extreme fear and futility

Boredom, dampness, vermin, disease

Battle Fronts, Stalemate, and Carnage (1 of 2)

Many people expected a swift end to the war. They were wrong. The war dragged on for four years, becoming infamous for the horrors of its fighting.

The war began with the Austro-Hungarian bombardment of Serbian Belgrade, followed by an invasion in which the Austro-Hungarian troops committed atrocities against civilians.

The first German offensive pushed deep into French territory, but stalled 30 miles outside of Paris. The rival powers dug trenches all along the Western Front from the English Channel to the Alps.

One German strategy to break the stalemate was to urge the Ottomans to join the war, encouraging the sultan to proclaim a jihad against the British, French, and Russians. At the time, 100 million Muslims lived under British rule. The Germans hoped that the Muslims living under the colonial rule of their rivals would rise up. However, the effect was merely to expand the global scope of the conflict.

Trench warfare combined extreme fear and futility. Soldiers were driven insane by the fear of having to charge into “no man’s land.” Life in the trenches was a mixture of panic attacks, bombardment, boredom, dampness, vermin and disease.

Map 19.1 | World War I: The European and Middle Eastern Theaters

Most of the fighting in World War I occurred in Europe. and most of it was concentrated across a few, agonizingly static fronts. Millions

of soldiers perished over relatively thin belts of land, which became pulverized lunar landscapes.

• Which countries had to fight a two-front war?

• Did the armies of the Central Powers or the Allies gain the most territory during the war?

• According to your reading, how did those territorial gains affect the war’s outcome?

Introduction of poison gas (Ypres, 1915)

Offensive at Somme

600,000 British and French dead

500,000 Germans dead

No advantage gained

Russians advanced into Germany and Austria-Hungary from the east

Opening new fronts added to conflict

Middle East, Anatolia, Caucasus

Armenian genocide (1.5 million massacred or deported)

British, French, and Russians drafted plans to divide Ottoman Empire after war

Appealed to nationalism to break up multicultural and multireligious empire

Battle Fronts, Stalemate, and Carnage (2 of 2)

The war ground to a standstill. Although the Germans attempted to gain the advantage by introducing poison gas, their opponents quickly countered by using gas masks. In 1916, the British launched an offensive along the Somme River in France. After the battle, 600,000 British and French and 500,000 Germans were dead, but no significant advantage had been gained by either side.

Meanwhile, Russians had advanced into Germany and Austria-Hungary along the Eastern Front. New fronts opened in the Middle East, Anatolia, and the Caucasus between the Ottomans and European-led colonial forces. However, this only served to widen the conflict.

The Ottoman decision to ally with the Central Powers was fateful—not only for the integrity of the empire itself, but for the diverse peoples within it. In 1915–1916, when the war was going badly, Ottoman troops massacred more than 1 million ethnic Armenians. The Ottomans suspected that this entire group of people was collaborating with Russia to undermine the empire. Many consider this to be the world’s first genocide.

When the Ottomans declared war against the Allies, the British, French, and Russians began to plan how they would divide up the empire’s territories once it was defeated. The borders that were drawn after the war became the modern states of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine, which remained in existence into the twenty-first century. All sides appealed to nationalism to help break up the multicultural and multireligious empire.

Scale, duration, and toll of war forced governments to enlist more and more men—70 million+ in total

Over half enlisted were killed, injured, taken prisoner, or unaccounted for

Mass mobilization changed expectations about the state.

States were forced to promise welfare, suffrage, pensions

Tens of thousands of women served in auxiliary units at or near the front.

Women replaced men in occupations on the home front.

Food shortages led women to rebel against the state for food for their children.

Postwar demands for women’s suffrage

Denmark (1915), Britain (1918), Germany (1918), United States (1920)

Anticolonial sentiment

Legacies of Mobilization

The astounding death toll forced unprecedented mobilization of the population. More than 70 million men fought during the war; in some cases far exceeding half of the male population between 15 and 49 years old. Over half of these men were killed, injured, taken prisoner, or went missing.

While mass mobilization led to death on an unprecedented scale, it also changed expectations about the state. To serve the war effort, states were forced to promise welfare, expanded suffrage, and pensions for widows and the wounded. Tens of thousands of women served on the front lines as doctors, nurses, and technicians. On the “home front,” women took over previously male occupations in factories. But women also put pressure on the state. The loss of so many millions of men to the war effort was domestically and economically disruptive. Many women were hard pressed to feed themselves and their families. These tensions manifested in bread riots and peaceful protests. Such pressure from the civilian population laid the foundations for social and political reform after the war.

In particular, demands for women’s suffrage were more successful after the war, with Denmark, Britain, Germany, and the United States granting women the right to vote.

Britain and France conscripted soldiers from their colonies: over 1 million Indians served in the Middle Eastern theater, while over 1 million Africans fought each other as representatives of European colonial powers. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand also sent more than 1 million men to fight for the empire in Europe. The war strengthened anticolonial sentiment in many of these areas.

Map 19.2 | World War I: The Global Theater

This map illustrates the ways in which World War I was a truly global conflict.

Which states outside Europe became involved?

Other than Europe, which continent experienced the most warfare?

Which parts of the world were spared the fighting, and why?

The war destroyed empires, and the first to go was Romanov Russia.

In Russia's 1917 February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II stepped down under pressure from his generals.

Some Russian parliamentary members created a provisional government.

Grassroots councils (soviets) sprung up in factories, garrisons, and towns.

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, seized power.

Proclaimed a socialist revolution for the soviets to overtake the February “bourgeois” revolution

Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, a peace treaty with the Germans, acknowledging German victory on the Eastern Front

The Bolsheviks relocated their government to Moscow and set up a dictatorship.

The Russian Revolution

The war both strengthened and destroyed empires. Although Britain and France gained territories, both the Ottoman and Russian Empires fell.

The first empire to fall was Romanov Russia. In the 1917 February Revolution, mass unrest wracked the capital at St. Petersburg. Generals in the Russian army believed that the instability was undermining the war effort against Germany. Hoping to restore stability, the generals pressured the tsar to step down.

In the political vacuum that appeared, some members of the Russian parliament created a provisional government. At the same time, grassroots councils called soviets appeared throughout the empire.

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power. The Bolsheviks were a left-wing socialist party led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. They organized radicalized elements in the soviets and used their growing influence to proclaim a socialist revolution to overtake the February “bourgeois” revolution.

The new government signed a treaty with Germany, acknowledging German victory on the Eastern front, and relocated the capital to Moscow.

The United States’ entry into the war in 1917 tipped the balance in favor of the Allies.

German soldiers faced hunger, influenza, imminent defeat, and potential civil war.

Kaiser Wilhelm II fled the country, and the German Empire became a republic.

Austria-Hungary dissolved into several new states.

The Ottoman Empire also collapsed.

The Fall of the Central Powers

The United States’ entry into the war in 1917 helped speed the collapse of the Central Powers. The United States was drawn into the war after German submarines sunk several American merchant ships. At the same time, news surfaced of German plans to ally with Mexico, causing the United States to declare war.

With American support, the Allies began to turn the tide of the war. At the same time, order began to disintegrate behind German lines. Facing hunger and influenza, German soldiers began to surrender or strike. Internal divisions within Germany were exacerbated by food shortages, putting it on the brink of civil war.

Ultimately, the Central Powers fell. The German kaiser fled into exile, and the last Habsburg emperor abdicated. The Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up into smaller states, and the Ottoman Empire’s territories were divided by the victors.

European powers turned to the problem of creating a durable peace

The Treaty of Versailles

Punitive peace

Division of German Empire

Over objections from American president Woodrow Wilson, the treaty assigned to Germany sole blame for the war and forced it to pay reparations.

Wilson had hoped for a more harmonious and peaceful settlement based on the “self-determination of nations.”

League of Nations

The Peace Settlement and the Impact of the War

After the collapse of the Axis powers, Europeans turned to the problem of how to create a durable peace. Five peace conferences were convened to settle this question. The most important of these was the conference at Versailles. Delegates drew many of their ideas from President Wilson’s “Fourteen Points,” which advocated that new state borders be drawn according to the “self-determination of nations” and that a League of Nations be established to negotiate future disputes.

However, the Treaty of Versailles also imposed punitive peace on Germany, engendering tensions that would be consequential for the rest of the twentieth century. The treaty assigned sole blame for the war to Germany and forced it to pay reparations. Parts of the German Empire were distributed among the victorious imperial powers.

Nationalism and political turmoil

Wilson’s ideas for a League of Nations and national self-determination did see partial adherence in the peace treaty.

Self-determination was difficult in practice.

Emergence of new nation-states put 25 million into states as ethnic minorities

Self-determination didn’t apply beyond Europe

Throughout the world, colonial subjects applied Wilsonian ideas to their own struggles for national independence, to no avail.

Rebellions in Egypt and Syria

Massacre at Amritsar (India)

Protests in China

Arab rebellion against Ottomans

Balfour Declaration (1917)

Broken Promises and Political Turmoil

Although the war had ended, political conflict still raged at home between socialists, communists, fascists. Racial hatred and anti-Semitism flared.

Wilson’s notion of self-determination contributed to the turmoil. Wilson intended this principle to apply only to the peoples in the former empires of the Central Powers. But the idea was adapted by others, who thought it should apply to them as well. After the war, 60 million people found themselves inhabitants of new nation-states. But at the same time, 25 million people now lived in supposedly “national” states in which they in fact were ethnic minorities. This left them politically vulnerable and set the stage for ethnic strife.

Colonial subjects also challenged the narrow scope of the principle of self-determination. Rebellions emerged in Egypt and Syria, only to be met by suppression from the colonial powers. In India, British soldiers massacred a crowd of demonstrators in Amritsar, emboldening critics of colonial rule. In China, students protested the minor status given to their country at Versailles. In Iraq, a massive rebellion saw initial successes, only to be crushed by a force of 73,000 British soldiers, most of whom were Indian. An Arab rebellion against the Ottomans was undermined by alliances between European colonial powers. Arab nationalists were further angered by the Balfour Declaration, which declared British support for a homeland for Jews in Palestine.

Map 19.3 | Outcomes of World War I in Europe, North Africa, and Some of the Middle East

The political map of Europe and the Middle East changed greatly after the peace treaty of 1919.

• Comparing this map with Map 19.1, which shows the European and Middle Eastern theaters of war, identify the European countries that came into existence after the war.

• What happened to the Ottoman Empire, and what powers gained control over many territories of the Ottoman state?

• What states emerged from the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

Map 19.4 | The Sykes-Picot Agreement

The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret pact negotiated between British diplomat Mark Sykes and French diplomat François

Georges-Picot in 1916. While the agreement reserved protectorates for the French in Syria and the British in Iraq, it also supported the

creation of a politically independent Arab state or confederation of Arab states under an Arab chief.

Why did the British and French governments want to divide up the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire?

Compare the areas that were to be the Arab confederation (though dominated by the French and the British) with the map of ISIS that appears in Chapter 22 (Map 22.5). How similar are the territories in both maps?

Why do you think that Arabs in particular and Muslims in general believed that this agreement was antithetical to their wishes and contributions to the war effort and continues to this day to provide powerful grievances against the west?

Mass culture

New forms of mass culture and entertainment were partially wartime products.

Propaganda campaigns attempted to mobilize entire populations through public lectures, theatrical productions, musical compositions, and censored newspapers.

Postwar mass culture was distinctive.

Differed from elite culture because it reflected tastes of working class with time and money for entertainment

Relied on new technologies, especially radio and film, to reach the entire population

Mass Society: Culture, Production, and Consumption

Major cultural shifts accompanied the Great War and the postwar period. One of these shifts was the making of a new mass culture. Even before the war, some states were engaging in reforms that broadened political communities—whether that meant increasing democratic political participation or authoritarian mobilization. The new media created the means to turn listeners and readers into integrated communities, helping to promote nationalism at a time of increasing rivalry.

New forms of culture that took shape during this period were in many ways products of the war effort. In order to mobilize societies for total war, states spread propaganda in the form of news, songs, and public lectures.

The mass culture that took shape during this period was distinctive. It differed from elite culture in that it reflected the tastes of working- and middle-class people, who increasingly had more money to spend on entertainment. At the same time, it used new technologies like the radio and film to put cultural products within the reach of the entire population.

Radio

Entered golden age after World War I

In the 1920s, transmitters allowed stations to reach larger audiences with nationally syndicated programs.

Also mobilized the masses, especially in authoritarian regimes

Mussolini pioneered radio address to the nation

Authoritarian regimes could not exert full control over mass culture.

Film and advertising

Film also served political purposes.

Antiliberal governments taking the lead with propagandistic cinema

Soviet propaganda in the form of Hollywood-style musicals

Radio and film became big business, and advertising became a major industry, with commercials influencing consumers’ tastes.

American entertainment increasingly reached international audiences, and the world began to share mass-produced images and fantasies.

Radio, Film, and Advertising

Before the war, the impact of radio was minimal. Beginning in the 1920s, it entered a golden age. Once the technology enabled broadcasting to wide audiences, new masses of listeners could develop a sense of intimacy with newscasters and stars.

This new technology was an important tool for political mobilization. The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini pioneered the radio address, which was later used to great affect by Soviet, Nazi, and Japanese governments. Although the radio was an important tool for disseminating state propaganda, authoritarian governments could never exert full control over the new mass culture. Despite state disapproval, jazz music was popular in both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

Like radio, film also served political purposes. Especially in authoritarian regimes, film enabled the spread of a new kind of propaganda, such as the Hollywood-style musicals produced in Soviet Russia. In market economies, radio and film became major industries. Product advertising grew alongside the new media, influencing consumer tastes on an unprecedented scale. During this time, American-produced entertainment reached an international audience, extending the reach of mass culture beyond the confines of the nation.

The same factors that promoted mass culture also fed mass production and consumption.

War spurred the development of mass production techniques, in response to the modern world’s demands for greater volume, faster speed, reduced cost, and standardized output.

War reshuffled the world’s economic balance of power, with the United States an economic powerhouse.

United States: one-third of world’s industrial production in 1929

Mass Production and Mass Consumption

Mass culture and mass production developed together. The war relied on industrial production to reach an unprecedented level of destructive power. For example, in 1809, Napoleon’s artillery discharged 90,000 shells in the largest battle in European history at that point. By 1916, German guns were firing 100,000 shells an hour for twelve hours straight.

Men and women on the home front worked in factories to produce huge quantities of supplies necessary for the war effort, spurring on improvements in industrial techniques, increasing speed, and reducing costs.

The rise of mass production changed the economic balance of power. The United States emerged as a world leader in industrial production, reaching one-third of the world’s share of industrial production in 1929.

Exemplifies relationship between mass production and consumption

Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903, pioneering the mass production of automobiles.

Model T

A finished car every ten seconds

About 45 million workers owed their jobs to the automobile industry.

Ford paid workers twice the national average, believing that they should be able to afford to buy the cars that they made.

1920: Americans owned 8 million cars.

1930: Americans owned 23 million cars.

The Automobile Assembly Line

Mass production and mass consumption were closely interlinked. This is powerfully exemplified in the history of the automobile. Before the Great War, the relatively few cars in existence were owned by the wealthy. Mass production of automobiles changed that.

Henry Ford was an instrumental figure in this process. Ford pioneered the use of the assembly line, in which car frames were sent through a factory on a conveyor belt. Workers were assigned to one simplified task in the overall production process. By standardizing and mechanizing the process, Ford was able to dramatically increase the number of automobiles produced in his factories. By the 1920s, Ford factories were producing one car every ten seconds.

The simplified and repetitive nature of the labor process led to some discontent among workers. But by the 1920s, automobile production accounted for 4 million jobs.

Ford understood the need to promote mass consumption to keep up with increasing production rates. To do so, he decided to pay his own workers almost twice the average manufacturing wage in the United States at this time. Over the 1920s, car ownership among Americans increased dramatically.

Economic instability followed WWI

Led to Great Depression

Decade of harsh economic conditions

Political polarization

Lingering effects of the war

Efforts by European nations to slash spending and return to the prewar gold standard stifled growth

All former belligerents were burdened by war debts

Dependence on American loans, financial system based in New York

Interdependence of world market left it fragile

The Great Depression (1 of 3)

Economic instability came in the wake of World War I. It finally collapsed in 1929, bringing a decade of harsh economic conditions and political polarization known as the Great Depression.

The war left several lingering effects on the economy. Primary producers struggled to adjust to the industrial age. Some began overproducing, leading to price reductions. European governments after the war cut spending and returned to the gold standard.

All the former belligerents were burdened by war debts. Germany was especially hard hit because it had $33 billion of reparations to pay on top of its own debts. The whole European financial system came to depend on American loans and the financial system centered on New York, leaving the global financial system vulnerable.

The interdependence of the world market left it fragile. When American authorities raised the cost of money, debtors were pushed into insolvency, the U.S. banking system began to collapse, and American lenders began to call in foreign loans. This precipitated an economic crash that would last a decade.

Spread of financial turmoil produced major reduction in world trade

To protect domestic producers, first the United States, then other governments abandoned free trade and raised protective tariff barriers.

By 1935, world trade was at one-third of its level in 1929.

Primary producers in the nonindustrial world suffered the most as commodity prices dropped precipitously.

The Great Depression (2 of 3)

The Depression caused a major reduction in world trade. Several governments enacted protectionist measures to protect domestic producers.

By 1935, world trade had shrunk by two-thirds. This affected producers of raw materials worst of all, as international markets for their goods shut down and prices dropped.

The Depression forced many to rethink laissez-faire liberalism, or the idea that unregulated free markets and free trade lead to economic progress.

New beliefs that state intervention to regulate economy was critical to prevent disaster.

John Maynard Keynes, a British economist, published The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money in 1936.

The Great Depression challenged the belief that liberal democracy and capitalism were the best ways to achieve political stability and economic progress.

The Great Depression (3 of 3)

The Depression forced people to rethink core ideas of laissez-faire liberalism. People lost faith in the idea that free markets were self-regulating and that free trade led to progress. By the 1930s, many people believed that state intervention was necessary to prevent disaster.

One of the leaders of this revolution in economic theory was John Maynard Keynes. Published in 1936, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money argued that the market could not always adjust to its own failures. In Keynes’s vision, the state had to play an expanded role in the economy by stimulating the market through increases in money supply and the creation of jobs.

The Great Depression caused many people to be skeptical of capitalism, challenging the belief that liberal economics and democracy were the best way to achieve progress.

Postwar societies struggled with how to build modern, prosperous states.

The war had upset gender, class, and colonial relations.

States that retained democracy revised the liberal vision.

Authoritarianism gained in popularity.

Anticolonial movements gathered steam.

Mass Politics: Competing Visions for Building Modern States

After World War I, societies struggled to absorb the changes brought by social and political upheaval. Old hierarchies were challenged, and many felt that their participation in the war effort earned them greater social and political inclusion during peacetime. As societies attempted to deal with new realities, competing visions of modern political order emerged. States that retained democracy revised the liberal vision, as authoritarianism gained in popularity and anticolonial movements gathered steam.

All European states had experimented with illiberal policies.

Suspension of democratic rights

Efforts by governments to manage industry and distribution

Jailed individuals who opposed the war

The war revolutionized the size and scope of governments.

British and French responses to economic crises

Britain and France retained their parliamentary systems but liberal democratic ideas were on the defense.

Britain gave independence to the Republic of Ireland in 1922.

The Labour Party couldn’t stave off economic crisis.

France experienced six governments between 1932 and 1933.

Coalition of the moderate and radical left formed the Popular Front government.

Introduced the right of collective bargaining, a forty-hour workweek, two-week paid vacations, and minimum wages

Liberal Democracy under Pressure

To meet the demands of total war, all European states experimented with illiberal policies. Democracies like Britain and France suspended democratic rights, increased state management of the economy, and jailed people who opposed the war. The wartime adaptations of European governments revolutionized the size and scope of the state.

Liberal democracies in Britain and France were threatened by the instability of the war and the postwar period. Britain grappled with strife across the empire, ceding independence to the Republic of Ireland in 1922. The working-class Labour Party gained influence but was unable to cope with the country’s economic crisis.

In France, political instability was even more dramatic. France saw six governments rise and fall between 1932 and 1933. Despite the chaos, working-class citizens did see some progressive reforms. When the French Communist Party formed a coalition with the moderates in 1936, the succeeding two years saw the introduction of collective bargaining, a forty-hour workweek, two-week paid vacations, and minimum wages.

The United States also faced challenges to its liberal democratic system.

Nativism on the rise in 1920s

Jim Crow laws in the South led to the Great Migration.

By the end of 1930, 4 million Americans lost their jobs while President Hoover insisted that self-reliance, not government handouts, would restore economic prosperity.

The Great Depression swept away conservative leadership and led to the landslide election of Franklin Roosevelt to the presidency in 1932.

The American New Deal (1 of 2)

The Great Depression put a stop to the United States’ rapid industrialization after World War I. Here also, liberal democracy faced challenges.

Intensifying nativist sentiment inspired anti-immigrant legislation. In the South, Jim Crow laws codified segregation, economic inequality, and political disenfranchisement for Black people. Many decided to uproot themselves from their homes and seek relief in northern cities like Chicago and New York, only to find new forms of discrimination. Still, Black communities in places like Harlem spearheaded a cultural renaissance.

By the end of 1930, unemployment in the United States had skyrocketed. Almost 4 million Americans had lost their jobs, while industrial production dropped by 50 percent in four years. But the Hoover administration was reluctant to intervene. Instead, the president insisted thrift and self-reliance would restore prosperity.

By 1932, many Americans were no longer buying that story. Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the election that year by a landslide. Once in office, Roosevelt launched a set of programs and regulations intended to jumpstart the economy by dramatically expanding the role of the state. This program of reforms was called the New Deal.

In his first 100 days, Roosevelt launched the New Deal to provide relief for the jobless and rebuild the economy through regulatory agencies.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to guarantee bank deposits up to $5,000

The Securities and Exchange Commission to monitor stock market

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration to help states and local governments assist the needy

The Works Progress Administration provided 3 million jobs to build roads, bridges, airports, and post offices.

The Social Security Act started old-age pensions supported by the federal government.

The New Deal didn’t redistribute national income, but it did stave off authoritarian solutions to modern problems.

The American New Deal (2 of 2)

The New Deal included numerous new government agencies designed to regulate the economy and provide federal assistance for disaster relief. The Works Progress Administration, an enormous public works program, provided 3 million jobs building infrastructure. At the same time, the Social Security Act created old-age pensions supported by the federal government.

The New Deal brought unprecedented levels of social welfare programs and government regulation of the economy, but it did not redistribute national income. The New Deal was intended to save capitalism, not destroy it. But because it relieved some of the pressures of the Great Depression, it helped stave off authoritarian solutions.

Authoritarianism in:

Italy, Germany, Japan (right-wing)

The Soviet Union (left-wing)

Shared dislike of liberal democracies

Claimed broad popular support

Authoritarianism and Mass Mobilization

Some societies turned to authoritarianism to meet the challenges of the Great Depression. Right-wing authoritarian regimes rose in Italy and Germany. Although these regimes had important differences, they were united in their opposition to the Soviet Union, a left-wing dictatorship.

Regardless of political orientation, all of the authoritarian regimes shared a dislike of liberal democracies, which they believed were weak, corrupt, and incapable of the mass mobilization necessary for social order.

Post–World War I dictators claimed broad popular support as the basis of their legitimacy, promising that authoritarian institutions would bring security and prosperity.

The Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia delivered the most dramatic blow against liberal capitalism.

Britain, France, Japan, and the United States sent armies to Russia, fearing the spread of socialist revolutions.

The Bolsheviks fought and won the civil war.

In order to revive the economy, in 1924 the Bolsheviks allowed for the reemergence of private trade and private property.

After Lenin’s death, Stalin seized control of the Communist Party and the nation soon became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union and Socialism (1 of 3)

The most dramatic challenge to liberalism occurred in Russia. When the Bolsheviks seized power, other prominent imperial powers sent armies to Russia, hoping to prevent the spread of more socialist revolutions.

But the Bolsheviks were able to organize the population to fend off foreign attacks and to fight and win a civil war.

As the Bolsheviks consolidated their power, the economy was in shambles. This caused the Bolsheviks initially to moderate their program of socialist revolution and allow private trade and private property.

In 1924, Vladimir Lenin died and Joseph Stalin emerged as the new leader of the Communist Party. Lenin had profoundly shaped the institutions of the new regime, including creating expectations for a single ruler.

Stalin built a new social and political order by defining Soviet or revolutionary socialism in opposition to capitalism.

Stalin’s socialism would have economic planning and full employment, and outlaw “exploitation” of private property.

Socialism would eradicate capitalism and invest socialist forms in housing, culture, values, dress, and even modes of reasoning.

Building a noncapitalist society required class war, which began by combining individual farms into larger units owned and worked collectively.

Early efforts to create socialism were violent.

Many peasants resisted by burning their crops, killing their livestock, and destroying their equipment.

The regime deported resisters to remote areas.

Eventually those living on cooperative farms were allowed household plots of land and the right to sell their individual harvests at peasant markets.

The Soviet Union and Socialism (2 of 3)

In the 1920s, there was no functional example of a socialist society that the Soviets could use as a model. No one was certain how the system would actually work in practice. Stalin resolved this problem by defining socialism in opposition to capitalism. In place of free markets, socialism would have economic planning and full employment. Capitalist forms of life would be replaced by socialist forms of housing, culture, values, dress, and even modes of reasoning.

Building a new, classless society entailed class war. Stalin’s regime began this process in the countryside by consolidating individual farms into larger units that were owned and worked collectively.

This process of collectivization was violent and produced considerable instability and suffering in the countryside. Peasants resisted the new policies by sabotaging their own farms and equipment. The regime dealt harshly with protesters, deporting many of them to remote areas. Declining harvests led to famine that killed millions.

Eventually, the regime grudgingly allowed farmers to keep their own household plots where they could grow their own food and bring surpluses to approved markets.

1928: Regime launched Five-Year Plan to “catch and overtake” leading capitalist countries

More than 10 million people received jobs advancing technology by building dams, factories, hospitals, and schools.

Symbolized promise of Soviet-style modernity, which eliminated unemployment during capitalist Great Depression

The Soviets built socialism in the borderlands, new republics with their own institutions under central rule from Moscow

Mass terror and Stalin’s dictatorship

The Soviet system became ruthless as the state expanded.

Growth in police power, from forcing peasants into collectives and organizing mass deportations

Execution of 750,000 “enemies of the people”

Arrest and deportation of several million more to forced labor camps (gulag)

Purges decimated the loyal Soviet elite.

The Soviet Union and Socialism (3 of 3)

In 1928, the Soviet regime launched an ambitious new project. The Five-Year Plan was an attempt to bolster Soviet production, catching up to and overtaking the major capitalist countries. The program offered mass employment in a time of declining production worldwide. Over ten million people were mobilized to build infrastructure, factories, hospitals, and schools. The flurry of construction symbolized the march toward Soviet- style modernity, both at the center of the new Soviet state and at its periphery. The building of socialism also spread to the borderlands. Soon new republics entered the union, each with their own institutions, but subject to central rule from Moscow.

As the state expanded, it increased its reliance on coercive and violent methods to maintain party power. The power of the police grew considerably, especially as they forced peasants into collectives and organized mass deportations. While the party continued to add more members, other members were purged, especially during the period from 1936–38. During that time, the trials of supposed “enemies of the people” resulted in the execution of more than 750,000 people. Millions more were arrested and deported to forced labor camps, collectively called “the gulag.” This purge, known as the Great Terror, decimated the Soviet elite. While the communist regime made considerable advances in industrialization, it often did so through highly coercive methods.

Map 19.5 | The Soviet Union

Map 19.4 | The Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) came into being after World War I.

• How did its boundaries compare with those of the older Russian Empire, as shown in Map 17.5?

• Identify the Soviet republics other than Russia.

• What does the large number of Soviet republics suggest about the ethnic diversity within the Soviet Union?

Disillusionment with war costs and fear that a communist takeover would occur in western Europe like that in Russia prompted violent political movements.

In Italy, mass strikes, factory occupations, and peasant land seizures swept the country in 1919 and 1920.

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), a former socialist journalist, seized power.

Coined the term fascism: a counterrevolution combining mass movements with an aggressive, authoritarian nationalism, antisocialist and antiliberal values

Fascists presented themselves as champions of the little guy, despite violence-prone black-shirted vigilante squads

Italian Fascism (1 of 2)

The years after the Great War were a time of major political upheavals. In many places, disillusionment with the costs of the war mixed with fears of communist takeovers. This created a chaotic and uncertain political atmosphere in which violent political movements emerged.

Postwar Italy was rocked by economic and social strife. Workers were staging mass strikes and factory occupations, while in the countryside peasants were seizing land. In this chaotic environment, a group of authoritarian nationalists led by Benito Mussolini seized power.

Mussolini coined the term fascism, which represented a force to counter the revolutionary changes that swept through places like Russia in 1917. Borrowing techniques for creating mass movements from the political left, fascists promoted authoritarianism with antisocialist, antiliberal values.

Although fascists attacked socialist organizers and often served the interests of property-owning elites, they represented themselves as the champions of peasants, workers, and veterans.

In 1922, Mussolini announced a march on Rome and seized power.

King Victor Emmanuel III refused to send the army against them.

When the government resigned in protest, the king asked Mussolini to become the prime minister, despite the fascists’ small minority of seats from the 1921 elections.

Mussolini transformed Italy’s constitutional monarchy into a dictatorship, dissolving all opposition parties.

He also used propaganda of film, radio, and even parades to recapture the old Roman Empire grandeur and promote the cult of the leader, Il Duce.

Mussolini also made deals with big industries and the church, allowing traditional elites to stay in place.

As the first antiliberal, antisocialist alternative, Italian fascism became a model for others.

Italian Fascism (2 of 2)

In Italy, 1922 was a crucial year for the development of fascism. Mussolini announced a march on Rome. Although the fascists were militarily weak, the king feared that the violence would spin out of control and withheld the use of the army against the marchers. The government resigned in protest, and the king asked Mussolini to take over as prime minister. He did this despite the small minority won by the fascists in the elections of the previous year.

Soon, Mussolini transformed the Italian government. He remade the constitutional monarchy into a dictatorship and dissolved all other political parties.

Making use of new media, he promoted a propaganda campaign which sought to recapture the glories of the Roman Empire. At the same time, this propaganda promoted the cult of the leader. Mussolini styled himself Il Duce and personified the power and unity of Italy.

The fascist takeover did not entail any social revolution. The new government made deals with big industries and the church, leaving traditional elites in place. As the first successful antiliberal, antisocialist alternative, Italy became a model for authoritarian movements to come.

Fear of Bolshevism and anger over the war’s outcome propelled a violent, authoritarian party to power.

Adolf Hitler backed by nationalist worker’s movement (Nazis)

Nazis’ Twenty-Five Points combined nationalism with anticapitalism

Hitler initially was unsuccessful and was imprisoned for treason, during which time he wrote his autobiography, Mein Kampf.

The Nazis’ fortunes soared after the onset of the Great Depression, when many lost faith in the Weimar Republic.

German Nazism (1 of 2)

In Germany, political instability also led to the rise of a violent authoritarian movement. Fear of Bolshevism and anger over the outcome of the war helped Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party to power.

Hitler was not a socialist, but an early manifesto of Nazi ideology mixed hypernationalism with anticapitalism. The Nazis portrayed themselves as champions of the small man, and villainized those they perceived to be rich, like the Jews.

At first, Hitler was unsuccessful. Imprisoned for treason, he wrote his autobiography, Mein Kampf. This virulently anti-Semitic tract became wildly popular among the Nazis.

The economic instability brought by the Great Depression helped bring Hitler to power. Many lost faith in Germany’s postwar democracy, the Weimar Republic.

Hitler came to power legally: In 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor.

Hitler heightened fears of communist conspiracy, using it to justify suspension of civil liberties and to attack and imprison opponents.

Used propaganda and personal charisma to mobilize mass following

Persecution and terror against the Jews began.

The Nazi regime won popular support for restoring order and reviving the economy.

Germany began pursuing expansionist agenda

German Nazism (2 of 2)

Hitler came to power through legal means. Facing declining legitimacy, Weimar elites tried to use Hitler’s popularity to bolster their own position. The German president invited Hitler to become chancellor in 1933, even though the Nazis were weakening as an electoral force.

As chancellor, Hitler stoked fears of a communist conspiracy. When the Reichstag parliament building burned in 1933, Hitler blamed the communists. Using the atmosphere of uncertainty to his advantage, Hitler seized power. Abolishing other political parties, he made himself dictator of Germany in a matter of months.

Like Mussolini, Hitler used new media to promote a propaganda campaign to mobilize a mass movement, relying on new film and radio to portray his own personal charisma.

In power, Hitler translated the Nazi anti-Semitic ideology into a state-led persecution of Jews. Blaming the Jews for the German loss in World War I, and claiming that they were corrupting the purity of the Aryan race, Hitler encouraged the destruction of Jewish businesses and homes.

The Nazis gained popular support for restoring order. Although the economy was recovering already, the Nazis were able to take credit for its revival. Soon, Hitler began pursuing an expansionist agenda. Like Mussolini, he sought to draw parallels between his regime and the mythical greatness of the Holy Roman Empire.

Militaries in Spain and Portugal instituted dictatorships.

In Spain, this led to civil war (1936–39).

Opponents of republican government backed by Italy and Germany

Soviets supported republic

Forces under Generalissimo Francisco Franco gain the upper hand

Dictatorships in Spain and Portugal

The rising popularity of authoritarianism helped dictatorships come to power in Spain and Portugal. In Spain, this led to civil war. This conflict was international in scope, with Italy and Germany backing the forces that opposed the Soviet-backed republican government. In the end, the forces under Generalissimo Francisco Franco gained the upper hand.

Unlike other countries, Japan benefited from the war and did not suffer from wounded power and pride.

Emperor Hirohito’s rise to power in 1926 veered Japan farther from the liberal democratic order.

Added Manchuria to Korean and Taiwanese colonies

Campaign of terror against uncooperative businessmen and critics of the military

Explicit religious dimension, with state promotion of Shintō and Emperor Hirohito’s divinity

In 1940, political parties were merged into the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, and a radical form of racial purity was advocated

Militarist Japan

Unlike Germany and Italy, the rise of an authoritarian regime in Japan was not buoyed by postwar discontent. In fact, Japan benefited from the war. As competition with European and American products was reduced, Japan was able to expand markets for its own goods.

In the 1920s, Japan was taking some steps toward liberalization. But, with the accession of Emperor Hirohito in 1926, the country took a sharp rightward turn. It engaged in a campaign of colonial expansion, adding Manchuria (northeastern China) and Taiwan as colonies.

Domestically, the government initiated a campaign of terror against uncooperative businessmen and critics of Japan’s increasing militarism.

Unlike the fascist governments of Germany and Italy, Japan’s authoritarianism included an explicitly religious dimension. The state promoted Shintō as an official religion and insisted on the divinity of Hirohito.

By 1940, the power of political parties weakened. The state merged them all into the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, effectively ending democracy. At the same time, the state promoted a radical form of racial purity, dividing the continent of Asia into a hierarchy of races with Japan at the top.

All claimed that the economy required state direction.

All relied heavily on mass organizations, including dynamic youth organizations.

All but Japan adopted large-scale social welfare policies.

All but the Soviet Union were ambivalent about women in public roles.

All used terror and violence as tools for remaking social order.

Common Features of Authoritarian Regimes

Although ideologically and culturally distinct, the authoritarian regimes of the twentieth century had certain features in common.

First, they all believed that modern economies required some form of state direction. At the extreme was the Soviet Union, which owned and managed all industry. In Japan, the government encouraged the development of enormous conglomerates called zaibatsu. Germany and Italy also encouraged the growth of the private sector, so long as entrepreneurs remained loyal to the state.

All of these authoritarian states relied on mass organizations, especially youth-oriented organizations like the Hitler Youth or the Communist Youth.

Except for Japan, all of these states enacted aggressive social welfare programs. The Nazis emphasized full employment and built public housing, while the Italians provided services for unwed mothers and infant care.

Except for the Soviet Union, all of these regimes were ambivalent about women in public roles. Even the Soviets, who championed gender equality, eventually restricted abortion in order to promote population growth.

Finally, all of these regimes relied on terror and violence as tools for remaking the social and political order. The Italians and Japanese routinely arrested political dissidents, whereas the Nazis and Soviets filled concentration camps with alleged enemies of the state.

Map 19.6 | The Japanese Empire in Asia, 1933

Map 19.5 | The Japanese Empire in Asia, 1933

Hoping to become a great imperial power like the European states, Japan established numerous colonies and spheres of influence early in the twentieth century.

• What were the main territorial components of the Japanese Empire?

• How far did the Japanese succeed in extending their political influence throughout East Asia?

• According to your reading, what problems did the desire to extend Japanese influence in China present to Japanese leaders?

Felt the same pressures as elsewhere but devised solutions combining democratic and authoritarian elements

Economic turmoil

Latin American countries avoided fighting in the war, but economic disruptions caused their exports to plummet.

Radical agitation emerged at home, and oligarchic political regimes fell.

The Depression hammered Latin America’s trade and financial system.

Latin American governments turned to domestic rather than foreign markets as the main engine of growth.

After the war, elites formed mass parties that organized workers, peasants, and ethnic minorities, with state sponsorship.

These “corporatist” states used social and occupational groups to bridge the gap between elites and the general population.

The Hybrid Regimes in Latin America

Regimes in Latin America were subject to the same pressures as regimes elsewhere in the world. But Latin American leaders largely found solutions that combined democratic and authoritarian elements.

The Great Depression affected Latin American economies perhaps more than any other region. On one hand, falling international demand for Latin American goods hammered export-dependent economies. On the other, many countries were deeply in debt from ambitious infrastructure and expansion projects. When foreign banks called in these loans, governments defaulted.

Governments turned to domestic markets to revive their economies. Efforts to expand the state’s role in the economy were backed by middle-classes, nationalist intellectuals, and urban workers.

After the war, elites formed mass political parties and encouraged interest groups to associate with them. States encouraged the formation of collective bodies like chambers of commerce, trade unions, peasant associations, and minority associations. These groups helped bridge the gap between the state and the larger society. This form of politics is often called “corporatism.”

In Brazil, Getúlio Vargas created a strong following by enacting socially popular reforms.

He encouraged workers to organize, and he sponsored public works.

He made special efforts to appeal to Black Brazilians, including legalizing previously forbidden Afro-Brazilian practices.

He supported samba schools, which taught the popular dance, and raised money for public works.

He addressed maternity and housing policies, and he enfranchised women.

Arranged foreign funding and technical transfers to create domestic industry

Banned competitive political parties

Reorganized state along corporatist lines (representation from sectors of society)

Relied on an army of propagandists to garner support

Corporatist Politics in Brazil

In Brazil, the Old Republic collapsed in 1930. A coalition led by Getúlio Vargas took its place. By enacting a popular set of reforms, Vargas developed a strong following. He sponsored public works like paving roads, erecting monuments to national heroes, and building schools.

He made special efforts to appeal to Black Brazilians, who had been excluded from public life since the abolition of slavery. He legalized previously outlawed Afro-Brazilian practices, like the candomblé dance. He also supported the spread of samba schools that raised money for public works.

He addressed maternity and housing problems, and he enfranchised women, as long as they were literate.

His stance toward foreign investment was complicated. He condemned old elites for selling out the country to foreign interests. At the same time, he arranged for foreign funding and technical transfers to stimulate domestic industry and reduce Brazil’s dependence on imports.

At the same time, Vargas took measures to quash dissent. He banned competitive political parties in 1937 and reorganized the state along corporatist lines. Each sector of society would be represented and pledge allegiance to the state. While some lamented the loss of democratic rights, others countered that the new system gave a voice to those previously overlooked.

Vargas relied on a small army of propagandists to garner support from the population.

In Africa and Asia, consumer goods and mass society heightened inequalities

World War I increased the number of colonies

Debates over democratic or authoritarian political models engaged the world’s colonial and semicolonial regions.

Most Asians wanted to remove colonial presences.

In Africa, the true role of colonialism was questioned.

Various nationalist movements emerged.

Disagreement on how nations should be governed once they gained independence and on how citizenship should be defined

The competing visions of democracy and radical authoritarianism appealed to different leaders and groups.

The movements most often looked to indigenous religious and cultural traditions for galvanizing the rank and file.

Leaders wished to create modern societies that retained indigenous characteristics.

Anticolonial Visions of Modern Life

In Africa and Asia, new influxes of consumer goods and other aspects of mass society sharpened inequalities, leading to nationalist protest movements. World War I had also done little to address the plight of the world’s colonized peoples. In fact, the end of the war meant more imperial expansion, not less.

Debates between democratic liberalism and authoritarianism occurred in the world’s colonial and semicolonial regions. Most Asians wanted to be rid of European colonial powers. Some even welcomed Japanese imperialism under the slogan “Asia for Asians.” In Africa, where colonial rule was more recent, people questioned the true motives of the colonial powers. In this context, varied nationalist movements emerged to organize the population against colonialism.

Behind these movements there was profound disagreement over how to govern. Some envisioned a democracy modeled on the imperial powers, whereas others looked to authoritarianism as a model for effective and rapid change. Most often, the movements looked to indigenous traditions to gain the support of the rank and file. Leaders hoped to become modern while at the same time retaining their indigenous characteristics.

Anticolonial nationalist movements in Africa were young, as Europeans had recently acquired them as territories.

African interests received little voice under colonialism.

Environmental degradation added to resentment.

More Africans began reconsidering relationship to colonial authorities

Kenya

Demands to provide more and better schools and return land stolen by British settlers

Jomo Kenyatta (1898–1978) invoked precolonial Kikuyu traditions in Kenya as a basis for resisting British colonialism.

Sub-Saharan African Stirrings

In Africa, European powers had only recently arrived. Anticolonialist movements in Africa were therefore quite young. After the end of World War I, Africans began to question more deeply the meaning of Europe’s presence.

African interests received little voice under colonialism. In some areas, environmental degradation also heightened resentment, as European exploitation of the land left less and less for African use.

However, there were some avenues through which colonial subjects could gain representation. In Senegal, French authorities permitted a limited number of delegates to be elected to the French National Assembly. The British authorities did not allow colonial representation in Parliament, but did allow delegates to be elected to municipal offices.

Opposition was not yet widespread in Africa. Protests conflicted not only with colonial governments, but also with western-educated African elites. However, in Kenya after World War I, things began to change. Some started to demand the return of lands taken by British settlers and to call for more and better schools. The leader of this movement, Jomo Kenyatta, invoked native Kikuyu traditions as a basis for resisting colonialism.

The war brought full-blown challenges to British rule.

For over a century, Indians heard British authorities extol the virtues of liberal democracy, but they were mostly excluded from participation.

In 1919, the British attempted to expand voting rights and self-government in India, but this did not mollify Indian nationalists.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) laid the foundations for an alternative, anticolonial movement.

Imagining an Indian Nation

In India, the war brought stronger challenges to British rule. Indians, excluded from the democracy that the British advocated, mobilized modern politics against the colonial rulers. In 1919, the British expanded the franchise, but this did not appease the growing nationalism. In the 1920s and 1930s, Mohandas Gandhi laid the foundations for an anticolonial movement.

Gandhi studied law in England.

Encouraged satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance, as a method for swaraj, “self-rule”

Indian nationalists called for noncooperation and boycotts.

Transformed Indian National Congress from an elite institution into a mass organization open to anyone who could pay dues

In 1930, Gandhi organized a civil disobedience campaign around salt, a commodity consumed by every Indian.

Gandhi’s efforts inspired Indian pride, resourcefulness, and Indian national awareness.

Gandhi and Nonviolent Resistance

Gandhi returned to India in 1915 after studying law in England and working on behalf of Indian immigrants in South Africa. He quickly became the focus of the Indian nationalist movement. He developed the concept of satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance, as a method for achieving self-rule, or swaraj. Gandhi encouraged people to harness their own inner strength and control the instincts that led them to participate in the colonial economy and government.

Following Gandhi’s lead, Indian nationalists called for noncooperation and boycotts of British goods. Forming an alliance with Muslim leaders, Gandhi transformed India’s nationalist party—the Indian National Congress—into a mass organization open to anyone who could pay dues.

In 1930, Gandhi organized a civil disobedience campaign around salt. An essential product used by every Indian, salt production was monopolized by the colonial government. Gandhi led a march to India’s seacoast to gather salt for free.

Gandhi’s efforts, amplified by newspapers and radio broadcasts, inspired Indian pride, resourcefulness, and national awareness.

Gandhi’s program met with opposition in the Indian National Congress.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), a National Congress leader, wanted India to become a powerful nation-state by embracing science and technology.

B. R. Ambedkar demanded an end to Hinduism and the caste system that disenfranchised Dalits.

Radical activists wanted revolution, not peaceful protests.

Religious challenges to Gandhi’s program

The Hindu-Muslim alliance of the 1920s splintered over representation and political rights.

New leadership under Muhammad Ali Jinnah made the Muslim League the sole representative organization of their community.

In 1940, Muslims demanded independent Muslim states where Muslims were the majority.

Hindus also sought to become a religious nation.

A Divided Anticolonial Movement in India (1 of 2)

Despite the charisma of Gandhi as a leader, India’s anticolonial movement struggled to achieve unity. Within the Indian National Congress, Gandhi met opposition from Jawaharlal Nehru, a rising leader. Instead of self-reliance and purity, Nehru advocated the construction of a powerful nation-state through science and technology. Beyond Nehru, radical activists rejected Gandhi’s vision of nonviolence, desiring revolution and class struggle.

New social groups also began participating in politics, demanding an end to caste discrimination. The Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar argued for the rejection of Hinduism and its caste system.

At the same time, religious divisions threatened Gandhi’s vision of national unity. By the 1920s, the Hindu-Muslim alliance had splintered over questions of representation. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a new Muslim leader, cast the Muslim League as the sole representative of India’s Muslim community. By 1940, Muslims claimed that they were a nation of their own, demanding an independent Muslim state. Hindus also sought to define nationhood on religious grounds.

Demands for women’s suffrage escalated

1937: British created institutions of democratic government, but too late

The Indian National Congress Party mobilized the masses to overthrow British rule, but struggled to contain the different ideologies and new political institutions.

By World War II, India was well on its way toward political independence, but British policies and India’s divisions foretold a violent end to imperial rule.

A Divided Anticolonial Movement in India (2 of 2)

Demands for women’s suffrage also escalated. However, the Indian National Congress Party placed the nationalist agenda above women’s demands, as it had done for other marginalized groups.

By 1937, the British belatedly moved toward creating the institutions of democratic government. By this time, India’s political divisions were already deep, and leaders held competing visions of what a postcolonial India should look like.

China was not formally colonized, but its sovereignty was compromised.

Chinese nationalists wanted to rid the nation of foreign domination.

The fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 led to high hopes among nationalists that a new modern nation would emerge.

The new republic couldn’t establish legitimacy.

Sun Yat-sen provided intellectual inspiration.

Began to organize workers’ unions, peasants, and women’s associations

Treaty of Versailles granted Germany’s Chinese possessions to Japan

Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) seized control of the party following Sun’s death.

Launched military campaign to reunify the country

Formed a national government with capital in Nanjing

New Life movement

Chinese Nationalism

Although China was never formally colonized, it was deeply impacted by colonial powers. The Opium Wars had compromised China’s sovereignty, with unequal treaties robbing China of its customs and tariff autonomy and granting privileges to foreign nationals living in the country. Because of the presence of foreign powers, the Chinese nationalist vision echoed the Indian one: a primary condition for national self-realization was getting rid of foreign imperialism.

For many, the fall of the Qing in 1911 was the first step in China’s emergence as a modern nation. But disunity and factional strife threatened this nationalist project. The early republican government was weak, but soon it led mass movements of workers, peasants, and women’s associations to organize popular support. The new government endured yet another blow when the Treaty of Versailles gave all of Germany’s colonial possessions in China to Japan.

After the death of the Guomindang Party’s founder, Sun Yat-sen, a new leader seized control of the party. Chiang Kai-shek led a partially successful military campaign to reunify the country in 1928 and established a new national government centered on Nanjing.

After consolidating power, Chiang launched a mass mobilization program called the New Life movement. This movement drew on diverse ideas, including Confucianism, social Darwinism, and fascism to promote an ethic of self-sacrifice and devotion to the nation.

Guomindang leadership viewed the peasantry as backward.

White Wolf as Chinese Robin Hood, 1913–1914

Figure terrified the elites

The White Wolf movement had fewer than 20,000 members, but its impact went well beyond physical presence.

White Wolf’s goal was to rid the country of government injustices, raiding trade routes and market towns in order to rob from the rich and aid the poor.

The White Wolf movement gained its greatest support in rural areas where peasants were experiencing the disruption of new market forces.

The movement did not restore order but reflected the changes that had come to China.

Peasant Populism in China: White Wolf

The Guomindang leadership looked at China’s peasants as a backward class, neglecting to take advantage of the revolutionary potential in the countryside. But rural areas in China were full of grassroots movements. One of the most dramatic of these was led by a figure called White Wolf.

In 1913–1914, White Wolf emerged as a kind of Robin Hood figure. Roaming the countryside with a band of armed men, he was depicted in popular myth robbing the rich and aiding the poor. Although White Wolf’s band probably had no more than 20,000 members at its height, its impact went far beyond its physical presence.

Stories of White Wolf’s aid to the poor earned him broad support in the countryside, where peasants often joined his group temporarily and went back home when the band moved on. White Wolf did not succeed in restoring order, but the success of his movement reflected coming changes.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881–1938) helped forge the modern Turkish nation-state.

Kemal and followers organized opposition to Greek troops

In 1920, they reconquered most of Anatolia and the European territory surrounding Istanbul.

The new Treaty of Lausanne secured international recognition for the new state.

A massive transfer of Greek and Turkish nationals then took place between the countries.

A Postimperial Turkish Nation (1 of 2)

One of the most successful postwar anticolonial movements occurred in Turkey, as the Ottoman Empire transformed into a modern nation-state. Before the war, the Ottomans were a colonial power themselves. After their defeat and the absorption of their colonial territories by the winning side, Ottoman territory was reduced to a part of Anatolia.

Mustafa Kemal, an Ottoman military officer, led a successful military campaign to recapture Anatolia from Greek troops who had been sent to enforce the peace treaty. In 1923, Kemal negotiated a new treaty that achieved international recognition for Turkey as a new state.

After the signing of the treaty, an enormous population transfer began: 1.2 million Greek Christians left Turkey, and 400,000 Muslims left Greece. With the empire gone, Kemal and his followers embarked on an aggressive program of reforms. Among these reforms was the demand that the Turkish people take on western-style surnames. The Turkish assembly conferred the name Ataturk (“father of the Turks”) on Kemal.

Kemal, who took on the name Ataturk—father of the nation—went on to proclaim a republic and set the nation on a crash course to modernization.

Ataturk aimed to create a European-style secular state and eliminate Islam’s hold over civil and political affairs

Replaced Muslim law with Swiss civil code

Forbade or discouraged Muslim dress

Enfranchised women

Placed schools under state control

He borrowed several antiliberal models, such as state economic planning and the use of radical racial theories.

Became model for founding of secular, authoritarian states in Islamic world

A Postimperial Turkish Nation (2 of 2)

Kemal looked to construct a European-style secular state and eliminate Islam’s influence over political life. Elites in the Kemalist regime replaced Muslim law with the Swiss civil code, forbade the fez and discouraged the veil, enfranchised women, and placed schools under state control.

In doing so, Kemal borrowed antiliberal models like state economic planning and racial theories that depicted the Turks as the founders of all civilizations.

Turkey’s success became a model for the founding of secular, authoritarian states in the Islamic world.

In Egypt, after the war ended, Sa’d Zaghlul pressed for an Egyptian delegation to attend the peace conference at Versailles.

He hoped to present a case for Egyptian independence.

British officials arrested him and exiled him to Malta.

Egypt quickly burst into revolt.

In 1922, Britain proclaimed Egypt’s independence but retained many rights, such as the right to station British troops on Egyptian soil.

Intended to protect traffic through the Suez Canal and protect foreign populations

Also enabled British to continue influencing Egyptian politics

In 1924, the British refused to let the Wafd, Zaghlul’s political party, come to power.

Nationalism and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (1 of 2)

Anticolonial movements appeared elsewhere in the Middle East. The British occupied Egypt before the demise of the Ottoman Empire. But the war’s end gave new opportunity for political agitation. Sa’d Zaghlul, a rising nationalist leader in Egypt, pressed for Egyptian independence and recognition by international powers. British officials responded by arresting and exiling him to Malta.

When news of this spread, Egypt erupted into revolt. In 1922, the British proclaimed Egypt independent. Still, the British reserved certain rights, like the right to station troops on Egyptian soil to protect traffic through the Suez Canal.

The British continued to interfere in Egyptian politics. When the Wafd, Zaghlul’s party, was elected in 1924, the British refused to let them come to power.

Anticolonialism in Egypt soon turned antiliberal.

During the Depression, a fascist group called Young Egypt had wide appeal.

The Muslim Brotherhood also formed during this time. It attacked liberal democracy as a facade for middle-class, business, and landowning interests.

Anticolonial and anti-British, they want to return to a purified form of Islam.

Nationalism and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (2 of 2)

Soon, anticolonial agitation in Egypt turned antiliberal. A fascist movement called Young Egypt gained broad support. The Muslim Brotherhood, which would have long-lasting influence, also formed during this time. Attacking liberal democracy, the Muslim Brotherhood advocated a return to a pure form of Islam as a way of freeing Egypt from colonial domination.

The Great War and its aftermath accelerated the trend toward mass society and the debate over how to organize people.

Competing visions—liberal democratic, authoritarian, and anticolonial—emerged after the war

In Europe and America, liberal democracy was the norm and was only saved from collapse because of far-reaching government reform and greater regulation.

Authoritarianism seemed best positioned to satisfy the masses during the Great Depression; although it involved brutal oppression, it also seemed to restore pride and purpose to the masses.

The colonial and semicolonial world sought to escape European domination, some through liberalism and others through socialism, communism, and fascism, and a return to religious traditions.

Conclusion

The Great War and the postwar period accelerated the trend toward mass society. As production and consumption increased on enormous scale, leaders debated over the best methods to organize the population and define progress.

Three competing visions of progress and modernity emerged: liberal democracy, authoritarianism, and anticolonialism. In Europe and America, liberal democracy was the norm, but it faced grave threats during the economic instability of the 1930s. The only way to save the liberal democratic order was to engage in far-reaching government reforms and expanding regulation of the economy.

Many people became disillusioned with liberal democracy, turning to authoritarianism. Although authoritarian governments often consolidated their power through brutal repression, they also seemed to restore purpose and pride to many people.

At the same time, outside of Europe and the Americas, colonial and semicolonial countries developed nationalist movements against the presence of European powers. Some of these movements borrowed from liberal democracy, but others believed that socialism, communism, fascism, or a return to religious traditions offered a more promising future.

https://digital.wwnorton.com/worldstogether6

This concludes the Lecture Slide Set for Chapter 19 WORLDS TOGETHER, WORLDS APART SIXTH EDITION

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Treaty of Versailles Viewing Questions

Using the information in the video, fill in the tables below:

1. Timeline

Date	Key Event

2. Key Points

Terms of the Treaty	Explanation of what this meant

Paragraph Writing

Based upon what you learnt in the video, answer the following question in paragraph format (Topic Sentence, Explanation, Evidence, Concluding Sentence):

In what ways was Germany punished for their role in World War One?

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