Political Tensions after WWI

1
Political Tensions after WWI

• Europe

2
Postwar Difficulties

• Postwar years strained older and experienced
  Democracies in Europe
• Great Britain, France
• Economies were hurt
• Planned Economies were economies in which govt
  directs the use of natural resources and the
  economy
• To achieve goals and stability

3
Frances Postwar Difficulties

• France emerged victorious, but unstable
• Much of the country in ruins
• Many young men killed during war
• Weak industry, inflation, high prices, heavy debt
  to U.S.
• Military Security

4
French Defenses

• Maginot Line was series of defenses along German
  border
• France had been invaded twice in less than fifty
  years
• Steel and Concrete fortifications
• Nearly 200 miles long
• Cost was enormous

5
Locarno Pact

• Germany had ceased to pay reparations
• French and Belgian soldiers seized German
  industry until it collected money
• Locarno Pact signed by many Euro. Countries
• Pledged to peacefully settle all disputes, and
  guaranteed French/German border

6
Political Unrest

• Government Scandal in France
• Riots in Paris
• Right-wing trade unions organized strike
• Socialist left-wing movement organized the
  Popular Front and became Premier
• Industry and banks became Nationalized

7
French Democracy

• Socialist govt collapsed
• Democracy remained in France
• French still feared German military aggression
• German military had been recovering

8
Great Britain

• G.B. had become indebted after WWI
• Labor Troubles 1/4th of pop. Unemployed
• Strikes
• Troubles with Irish nationalists

9
Eastern Europe

• New boundaries and instability
• Little democratic experience led to economic
  problems
• Great Depression
• Austria, Hungary, Poland struggled to maintain
  democracies

10
Starting MondayFascist Dictators
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Mussolini
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Josef Stalin
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Stalin
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Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill
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Soviet Expansion in Eastern Europe
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Soviet Flag
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Fascist Dictators in the 21st Century