a decade of recovery europe in the 1920s the war’s end: 11 november 1918 monuments to the dead...
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A DECADE OF RECOVERYEUROPE IN THE 1920S
• The War’s End:
11 November 1918
Monuments to the dead
Yearly commemorations
FAILED REVOLUTIONS• In Germany:
“Spartakists” vs. “Free-corps”
Liebknecht executed, Luxemburg lynched
• In Hungary:
Bela-Kun’s nationalizations vs. Romanian army repression
Who will foot the bill ?
• Britain and France owed gigantic sums by Russia
• Britain and France owe still greater sums, principally to the USA
• The Soviets refuse to recognize the debts of the Tsar…
• The US refuse to reschedule..
• So, let Germany pay…
THE VERSAILLES TREATY
• Signed on 28 June 1919 in Versailles• 440 articles in 15 parts – Art. 231 war guilt
clause -- 132 billion gold marks• Three main areas:• Territorial losses – Alsace-Lorraine and colonies• Financial losses – heavy fines/war reparations• Military losses – Military abolished. No big
standing army
ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE
PEACE
• Maynard Keynes: Versailles Treaty is wrong. Price is too high for
• Moral reasons -- Germany was conned• Political reasons -- G. necessary to European
equilibrium. • Financial reasons -- Debt burden overvalued• Economic reasons -- Allies overestimate G.’s
capacity to pay back
PARIS PEACE CONFERENCELEGACY
• Covenant of the League of Nations
• Wilson’s Idealism
• No U.S. ratification
• Weimar Germany and USSR not permitted to join
CONSEQUENCES…
• Central Europe
• The National Question:
• Territorial claims vs. disgruntled national minorities
CONSEQUENCES…
• Eastern Europe: liberal democracies fall prey to authoritarian regimes
• Bulgaria: 1923 Military coup d’etat• Poland: 1926 coup by Joseph Pilsudski• Lithuania: 1929 one-party state• Romania: 1930 royal dictatorship• Estonia: 1934 state of emergency• Latvia: 1934 parliament dissolved
CONSEQUENCES…
• The Colonies
• Despite fears of declining prestige in Britain and France, high tide of Western Imperialism
WEIMAR REPUBLIC
• Constitution:• Reichsrat – delegates of Laender
• Reichstag – universal suffrage
• President – 7 years• Armed with unlimited powers with art. 48
to dissolve Parliament in exceptional circumstances
WEIMAR REPUBLICCHRONOLOGY
• 1923: hyper-inflation
• 1924: Dawes Plan – refinancing scheme
• 1925: Spirit of Locarno on West. borders
• 1926: Germany enters League of Nations
• 1929: Young Plan – 59 year plan
• 1930: 2 million unemployed
WEIMAR REPUBLICCULTURAL LIFE
• Expressionism in the arts
• Satirical newspapers
• Bertolt Brecht Theater
• Berlin nightlife
• Cabaret
• Functional Bauhaus architecture and interior design
THE CRAZY YEARS: PARIS IN THE TWENTIES
• The circle of Montparnasse: bars and cafes such as Le Dome, La Coupole and Le Select
English-speaking artists from the West: Dos Passos,Hemingway,the Fitzgeralds, Ezra Pound, E.E. Cummins, Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, Josephine Baker, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett
Diaspora refugees from the East: Diaghilev, Lipchitz, Zadkine, Soutine, Chagall
PARIS IN THE TWENTIES• Coco Chanel:• Her clothes appealed to the modern, independent,
career-woman• Hair clipped short• Marketing inexpensive costume jewelry• The first of grands couturiers to make perfume an
adjunct to fashion line
• 1927 Charles Lindbergh solo flight across Atlantic• 33 hour ordeal. 45,000 ecstatic people at Le
Bourget airport.
