The Twenties and the WorldAP World II

Chapter 29

PEACE (and, Pacifism)

• Locarno Treaty

• Kellogg-Briand Pact– Both showed the desire for

Europe to remain peaceful.

• League of Nations– Established at the Paris Peace

Conference, but with limited powers of enforcement, and missing the United States

Post-WWI picture…

• Developed countries’ economies were extremely weak following WWI.

• Nations depended on reparations from Germany to repay loans owed to the United States.

• Newly developed states fall victim to political extremism in the face of economic crises

Italy

• Benito Mussolini and Fascism– Right-wing radicalism– Seeks to bring about change– Anti-communist– Anti-democratic– Hyper-nationalism

Mussolini, and Mussolini• Increasingly

dictatorial-TOTALITARIAN

• Censorship and control over Italian culture

• Placed enemies and dissidents in prison

• Used propaganda to shift Italian norms and beliefs

• Built modern highways

• Sponsored literary campaigns

• Fought the Mafia• Brought medicine and

technology to the whole country

• Syndicalism: form of capitalism where labor unions are suppressed

Mexico

• Benito Juarez dies in 1872.– Liberal reformist

• Mexico is under leadership of Porfirio Diaz at the turn of the century.

• Rebels like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa fight Diaz and his dictatorial successors

• The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) restored order in a seemingly democratic process.

• The PRI had elections every six years.– Oligarchic controls on election process

• Oligarchy is a form of government where most political power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence). The word oligarchy is from the Greek for "few" and "rule". Some political theorists have argued that all societies are inevitably oligarchies no matter the supposed political system.

• Oligarchies are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and mentored to become inheritors of the power of the oligarchy, often at some sort of expense to those governed. In contrast to aristocracy ("government by the 'best'"), this power may not always be exercised openly, the oligarchs preferring to remain "the power behind the throne", exerting control through economic means. Although Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which the exact term is plutocracy, oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, as oligarchs can simply be a privileged cadre. It has also been suggested that most communist states fit the definition of oligarchy.

• A society may become an oligarchy by default as an outgrowth of the shifting alliances of warring tribal chieftans, although any form of government may transform into an oligarchy at some point in its evolution. The most likely mechanism for this transformation is a gradual accumulation of otherwise unchecked economic power. Oligarchies may also evolve into more classically authoritarian forms of government, sometimes as the result of one family gaining ascendancy over the others. Many of the European monarchies established during the late Middle Ages began in this way.

Japan• During the 1920’s Japan

made moves towards a democratic parliamentary-monarchy.– The powers of the DIET

increased– Political parties became more

competitive– Universal male suffrage– Bill of Rights– Media became freer– The economy continued to

grow, and modernize

Japan

• At the same time, the 4 most powerful ZAIBATSU controlled over 20% of the banking industry and 35% of all shipbuilding, 40% of merchant marine, and 21% of the mining industry.

• In the 1930’s Japan will abandon its democratic programs in the wake of the Depression.– 9/31: Japanese invasion of Manchuria– Full scale Asian war by 1937– 1938-1939: Clash with the Soviets– Then, onto Southeast Asia to push Western

powers out.

China…• Sun Yat-Sen:

Revolution overthrows the imperial dynasty of the Qing.– The Chinese

republic takes over under the leadership of Sun and the Nationalist (Kuomintang) party.

China…• General Yuan Shikai: Sun must

give up government to Yuan Shikai to gain support of military. – Sun grows wary of increasing

power of Yuan, and launches a revolt of the Kuomintang vs. Yuan.

China…

• This revolution fails. Sun is forced to flee to Japan.

• Yuan dies in 1916– Military officials rule into the 1920’s

• The issues in China during the 20’s:– Military government wants to reignite Confucian

principles– Younger students and intellectuals want progressive

concepts, such as democracy, technology, and science.

• May 4, 1919: The May 4th Movement (students gather in Tiananmen Square with desire for political and social reform.

– Chinese Communist Party: Begun in 1921 at Beijing University was more progressive in its outlook

China, a lil more…

• Mao keeps the CCP alive during the LONG MARCH North (1934-1935).– Strategy was to make Communism appealing

to the rural peasantry, rather than concentrate on the small industrial working class

• 1937: Japan would attack Chinese mainland starting a 3-way attack between – Chiang’s Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang) – Mao’s Communists– Invading Japanese