Treaty of Versailles June 28 1919 Article 231

Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919

Article 231 War Guilt Clause • “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies. ” • The same language was inserted into the wording of treaties with Austria and Hungary

Versailles Treaty Terms • Land to France: Alsace-Lorraine • Germany also gives up land to Poland Czechoslovakia (new nations), Belgium, and Denmark • Saar: France administers under League of Nations • Rhineland: demilitarized, no fortifications or military forces allowed. Allied military occupation (1923 -1925)

Versailles Treaty Terms II • Germany loses all colonies in Africa and Asia • Germany army limited to 100, 000 men; no compulsory military service • No big weapons: tanks, airplanes, large ships, submarines, heavy artillery, or gas • Germany can’t join the League of Nations. • Germany has to pay reparations (of about $2. 5 trillion in current dollars) • Austria not allowed to join Germany in a single nation • Germany reduced in size by about 13%

What’s going on in this cartoon? What is the sentiment?

1919 a New Europe

• https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ALd. Fb. P 9 at. MA • 25: 28 -29: 03, 38: 04: 43: 00, 50: 05 -end • What is going on in Germany. How would this contribute to insecurity? • What are the social conditions in Germany and how would this affect people?

Weimar Republic 1919 -1933 • Parliamentary Republic formed in city of Weimar in Feb. 1919 • Inherited a weakened nation divided between German nationalists and communists • Lots of economic and social turmoil

Otto Dix, Prager Straße (Prague Street), 1920, oil and collage on canvas. Write down a list of 10 images that you see in this painting What do they tell you about life in Germany after WW 1?

Turmoil in the streets 1919 -1920 Freikorps—right-wing paramilitaries--tried to take over Berlin …………. . Communist workers engaged in street fighting.

“Street Fight” by Otto Dix

KDP (German Communist Party) fighters .

January 1923 -France and Belgium occupy Ruhr after Germany defaults on reparation payment Occupation further angers Germans who engage “passive” resistance

Hyperinflation 1922 -1923 • German government prints money to pay for reparations • And to support striking workers in the Ruhr • Hurts workers and lower middle class most because they are on fixed salaries

Hyperinflation

In Italy, Benito Mussolini takes power in 1922. First Fascist leader • Capitalizes on weak government, bad economy and Italy feeling ripped off by WW 1/Versailles Treaty • Played on fear of working class/communist revolt

Mussolini’s background • Originally was a socialist • Served in WWI • After the war turned toward fascism

Fasces—symbol of legal authority in Ancient Rome

Mussolini seizes power in October 1922 with a march on Rome

Fascism Belief in strong state Extreme nationalism Totalitarianism Militarism Total obedience State and private corporations work together • Private enterprise • • •

Il Duce—the cult of personality

Appealed to Italian nationalism and militarism

Il Duce • Abolished democracy • Outlawed political parties except fascists • Secret police jailed opponents • Joined together fascists and industrialists

Return of Prosperity 1924 -1929 • After the hyperinflation of the 1922 -23, the German (and other European) economies start to grow again, due partly to loans from the US • 1925, France and Germany sign a treaty (Lacarno) promising that the two nations would never again go to war. • Technological changes: automobile and airplane alter travel and lifestyles • Media—radio and movies—change entertainment and the delivery of news and advertising.

Hitler and National Socialist Workers Party 1920 only 3, 000 members

Beer Hall Putsch in Munich in 1923, ends in failure and Hitler is arrested.

Hitler tapped into several widely held beliefs at the time • Anti-Semitism and racism • Social Darwinism • Eugenics All of these beliefs were present across Europe and in the United States during the 1920 s.

Hitler writes Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in jail • "The external security of a people is largely determined by the size of its territory. " • "The Russian Empire in the East is ripe for collapse; and the end of the Jewish domination of Russia will also be the end of Russia as a state. " • "Every manifestation of human culture, every product of art, science and technical skill, which we see before our eyes today, is almost exclusively the product of Aryan creative power. "

Racism & anti-Semitism common across Europe and U. S. In the U. S. the Ku Klux Klan claims millions of members France: The Jewish Peril

Social Darwinism • The application of Darwinism to the study of human society, specifically a theory that individuals or groups achieve advantage over others as the result of genetic or biological superiority.

Results & Legacy • By 1907 65, 000 of 80, 000 Herero died as well as 10, 000 Nama • Many of the Germans involved in the suppression of the Herero also became involved in the Holocaust • In 2004, the Germans apologized to the descendants of the tribes, but didn’t compensate them

Eugenics • The study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of a human population, esp. by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits or by encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits

Eugenics • The aim of the eugenics movement in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century was to prevent the degeneration of the white race. A central tactic of the movement was the involuntary sterilization of people labeled as feebleminded. . . in the early twentieth century, the concept of feeblemindedness came to operate as an umbrella concept that linked off-white ethnicity, poverty, and gendered conceptions of lack of moral character together…. • ~Anna Stubblefield's article "'Beyond the Pale': Tainted Whiteness, Cognitive Disability, and Eugenic Sterilization"

These beliefs were widespread!

Eugenics/sterilization in the U. S.

65, 000 forced sterilizations in the U. S. 1907 -1981

1927 Supreme Court Decision in the Bell v. Carrie Buck 8 -1 vote • “It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three generations of imbeciles are enough. " –Associate Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

U. S. Supreme Court Decision in Favor of Sterilization • Upholding Virginia's sterilization statute in 1927, the U. S, Supreme Court provided the green light for similar laws in 30 states, under which an estimated 65, 000 Americans were sterilized without their own consent or that of a family member.

1920 s—media changes life Why is this important? What are the effects? Radio Movies • 1920 1 st U. S. commercial • Becomes a mass medium radio station goes on the air • 1920 -1932 “Golden age of in Pittsburgh German cinema • In Germany number of • Focus on crime, horror and radios grows from 9, 000 in historical spectacles: 1924 to nearly 3 million in “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, 1929 “Nosferatu”, “M” • Technology improves: nationwide broadcasts possible

Cultural background: German cinema -1920 s and 30 s—dark themes of horror and crime http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=1 g-sfr. Qnwwg

Genocide in Namibia 1904 -1907

Namibia: the first genocide of the 20 th century 'All the Herero must leave the land. If they refuse, then I will force them to do it with the big guns. Any Herero found within German borders, with or without a gun, will be shot. No prisoners will be taken. This is my decision for the Herero people'. - German General Luther von Trotha 1904

What Happened • • • German missionaries first came to Namibia in 1840 s, then in the 1880 s Germany colonized SW Africa (Namibia) Tribes who lived there—the Herero an the Nama ( a smaller tribe) rebelled in 1904 to regain their land lives New military commander Lieutenant. General Lothar von Trotha said 'I wipe out rebellious tribes with streams of blood and streams of money. 10, 000 German troops surrounded the Herero on three sides and poisoned the desert wells Nama (smaller tribe) also rebelled, were defeated quickly