Chapters 28 & 29

Years Between the Wars

Vocabulary:1. Zionists

2. Politburo

3. League of Nations

4. Great Depression

5. Russian Civil War

6. Nazi

7. Gestapo

8. Marne River

9. Self-determination

10. Propaganda

11. Collectivization

12. Treaty of Versailles

13. Armistice

14. Red Army

15. Kellogg-Briand Pact

16. Fascism

17. New Deal

18. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

19. Guomindang

20. Western Front

21. Eastern Front

22. Mexican Revolution

23. Mandates

24. The Great War

25. Pogroms

26. Pan-Africanism

27. Anschluss

28. Appeasement

29. Bolsheviks

30. Five-Year Plan

I. The World in 1914

A. China

1. Sun Yat-sen and Revolutionary Alliance…Sun elected president…set up European-style Parliament

B. Japan

1. Growing economic and military influence in China

2. Need to meet the demands of industrialization

3. Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905…annexation of Korea

C. Latin America

1. Mexican Revolution

2. Economic strain – banking crises of 1907-1908

3. American influences… Panama Canal 1914

4. Growing nationalism

Dr. Sun Yat-sen

D. India

1. Indian National Congress Party established 1885

2. Development of common Indian identity…rising nationalism – resentment of British

E. Egypt

1. British occupation in 1882…governed through local Turkish elite (khedive)

2. British reforms benefited the elites and small middle class

3. Newspapers led attacks on British and Turkish elites

4. Violent clashes between elites and nationalist groups

5. Constitution granted 1913…parliament set up

F. Russia

1. Rise of Socialism / Marxism…Bolsheviks

a. Working-class unrest

2. Defeat in Russo-Japanese War 1905

a. Revolt of 1905 and repression

3. Duma formed

4. Ties to Slavic Balkans

G. The Balkans

1. Independence of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro from Ottoman Empire

2. The Balkan Wars 1912-1913

3. Friction between Austria and Serbia / Russia

H. Europe

1. Greater ties due to interconnected economies

2. Intense competition over colonies and markets

I. United States

1. Industrial Revolution…urbanization

2. Imperialism and Spanish-American War 1898

II. World War I Looms Ahead

A. Causes – the “Ism’s”

1. Economic rivalries…Imperialistic rivalries…fight over colonies – Imperialism

2. System of alliances

a. Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

--Italy joins the Entente in 1915…Ottomans join

--Later become the “Central Powers”

b. Triple Entente: France, Russia, Great Britain

--Later become the “Allied Powers”

3. Militarism – Arms race…build-up of weapons by all parties

a. Britain - the Dreadnought

b. Germany - naval buildup

c. France - military spending

4. Nationalism…national pride

a. Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)…loss of Alsace and Lorraine

b. Germany’s fear of encirclement

5. Other causes

a. Political weakness of Austro-Hungarian Empire

b. Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913

--Slavic nations supported by Russia

--Balkans were the “Powder Keg” of Europe

BalkanPeninsula

III. World War I Begins – (1914 – 1918)

A. Assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand

1. Heir to the Austria-Hungary throne

2. Killed by a Serb – Gavrilo Princip at Sarajevo. He was a nationalist that wanted Serbia to be independent.

a. Belonged to the secret society, “the Black Hand”

B. Sequence of Events Following Assassination

1. Austria…demands justice from Serbia

2. Serbia rejects demands

3. Austria mobilizes for war…in response, Russia mobilizes

4. Germany and France mobilize for war

5. Germany initiates Schlieffen Plan

--Hoped to avoid a two front war

6. Britain chooses to join France based on “neutral” Belgium claim

Schlieffen Plan

1. Fix French army on border

2. Attack France through neutral Belgium

3. Defeat France before Russian mobilization

4. Confront Russia

Long Range Causes

Nationalism

Militarism

Alliances

Imperial Competition

Immediate Causes

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand

Mobilization of militaries

World War I

C. The Western Front

1. Germans advance though neutral Belgium

2. France attacks Germany

3. Stagnation and trench warfare lead to massive casualties

Both sides thoughtthis war would beover quickly…they

were wrong!!!

Typical trench system layout

Trench Warfare

View of trench & no man’s land

Obstacles in attacking a trench system

Trench Warfare

Sappers dig mines and countermines

Trench Warfare

Machine guns were especially deadly in trench

warfare!

Trench systems seen from the air

Trench systems ran from Switzerland to the North Sea

Trench Warfare

Wet conditions inside the trenches produced “trench foot”

Trench Warfare

Trench Warfare – Battle of the Somme

No Man’s Land – Between the Trenches

D. The Eastern Front

1. Russians…early offensives against Germany were successful, but not long-lived…only large numbers of troops kept the Russians from being forced to surrender

a. Severe Russian defeats led to the Russian Revolution and eventually the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk…this called for the withdrawal of Russia from war

2. Italians also had early gains, but war with the Austrians soon stalemated…help from the British and French shored up the lines

Lenin

The war caused social & political turmoil in Russia & Italy!

E. The Home Fronts in Europe

1. Little sympathy at home…most people away from the front lines had little idea of the atrocities and horrors there…enthusiasm for the war was still high.

2. Growth in governments

a. Propaganda was crucial…governments had to get their points across…the British aimed much of this at the Americans, hoping to persuade them to enter the war

b. Suppression of criticism was harsh…newspapers and letters from soldiers were heavily censored

c. Labor groups dissatisfied

--Weakens Germany…revolutions threatened

--Russia government falls in revolution

d. Women in work force…led to demands for more equality…women received the right to vote in Britain, Germany, and the U.S. after the war

Propaganda

F. The War Outside Europe

1. British navy blocks supplies to Central Powers

a. Uses imperial resources, manpower in the fight

--Indians deployed in many areas

2. French…Use African troops on the Western Front

3. Japan…Fights Germans in China, the Pacific

4. Ottomans…side with Germany

a. Gallipoli peninsula

b. Suffered severe defeat in Southern Russia, and had some success in the Middle East threatening the Suez Canal

Australian troops at Gallipoli

Churchill’s idea to break the deadlock on the Western Front

Gallipoli

5. United States…Begins neutral

a. WWI began 1914…United States entered war in 1917 with the Allies on the verge of collapse

b. Entrance of US signals the beginning of the end for the Central Powers…fresh troops bring a new attitude

c. Reasons for U. S. entrance

--Unrestricted submarine warfare…Germans would attack any ship unprovoked, regardless of neutrality, in the war zone

--Zimmerman telegram…attempt by the Germans to draw Mexico into the war on the side of the Central Powers…promised a return of land taken from Mexico

--Financial stake in Allied success…had sold goods and loaned money…primarily to the Allies

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Zimmerman Note

G. The End of Hostilities (1918)

1. Massive German offensive on the Western Front has some success, but the allies regroup to stop the attack

2. Austro-Hungarian Empire falls apart…wants peace

3. Germany faced with widespread revolts on the home front

4. Germany forced to sue for peace

a. Armistice agreed to on November 11, 1918

The physical, economic,social, and psychological

results of the warincluded the Great Depression

and the rise ofTotalitarianism in the two

decades that followed.

IV. A Failed Peace

A. England & France determined to punish Germany

1. Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points

a. Open treaties – no secret agreements

b. Freedom of the Seas

c. No International tariffs…free trade

d. Weapon reduction…end militarism

e. Points 5-13: Countries based on nationality

--Austria-Hungary broken into Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia

f. Point 14: Create a League of Nations…international peacekeeping organization…the U. S. never joins

Woodrow Wilson

Key Aspects of Wilson’s Fourteen

Points

Freedom of the Seas Free Trade Self

Determination

League of Nations

Arms Reduction

Restoration of Belgium

Independent Poland and

Czechoslovakia

2. Peace of Paris…Treaty of Versailles

a. Germany forced to accept war guilt even though they weren’t the first to declare war…Reparations were demanded by the British and French

b. Poland independent

c. The harsh and humiliating terms of the treaty provide the foundation for the rise of the Nazis and WWII

The Big 4 at Versailles – David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson

The Treaty of Versailles

Return of Colonies and

Territory

German War Guilt Reparations

German Disarmament

Occupation of the Rhineland

British Mandates

League of Nations

British Cartoon…1919

B. Other Results of Treaty

1. Destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

2. Destruction of the German Empire

3. Destruction of the Ottoman Empire

4. Destruction of the Russian Empire and the creation of Communist Soviet Union (USSR)

5. Weakening of the surviving Western empires

6. Creation of new states: Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia

7. Territorial gains by Italy, France, Britain

US Senate rejects Treaty of

Versailles

Germans bitter over terms of

Treaty

Asian and African colonies angry at broken

promises

Decline in power of League of Nations

Rise of Adolf Hitler

Rise of Independence

Movements

Cause & Effect

V. Challenges to European Colonialism in Asia, Africa & M.E.

A. India: A Pattern for Challenging the British

1. India, Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines began nationalist movements

2. Worldwide patterns from India

a. Leadership of Western-educated elite

b. Charismatic leaders

c. Nonviolence

3. Indian National Congress, 1885…party led the way

a. Initially loyal to British

b. Spurred by British racism…no matter where Indians were from or how well educated, they all suffered

c. This racism and their response to it helps build a common Indian identity

B. Indian Social Problems Under British rule

1. Economic privilege for British

2. Indian army used for British interests

3. High-paid British officials instead of qualified Indians

4. Cash crops (cotton, etc.) push out food production…led to famines

C. Nationalism with Violence

1. B.G. Tilak – Nationalism above religious concerns…he felt that nationalism should be centered on Hinduism; caused a split with the millions of Muslims in India

a. Called for boycotts of British goods and violence

b. Was arrested, imprisoned and sent into exile by British

2. Hindu communalists…wanted the overthrow of the British

a. Advocated violent means, even terrorism

D. Gandhi and the Nationalist Struggle

1. Indians were loyal to British at start of war, but war casualties and costs mount…these were followed by inflation, famine and broken promises of self-government

2. In 1919, greater Indian participation in government was allowed, but the Rowlatt Act passed later that year restricted civil rights

3. Mohandas K. Ghandi emerges as a new nationalist leader

a. He advocates nonviolent, or passive, resistance: boycotts, strikes, demonstrations; these tactics got the message across without allowing the British to use force

Much likeMartinLuther

King, Jr.during thecivil rightsmovementin the U.S.

E. Nationalism Grows in the Middle East…Egypt

1. Egyptian nationalism began in 1882 with British occupation

a. Egypt essentially had two masters…the Ottomans and the British

b. All British reforms benefit the upper classes

2. Journalists predominate the early nationalist movements by pointing out the British and Turkish mistakes

3. By the 1890s political parties form…harsh British repression keeps them ineffective. However, it does bring a focus to Egyptian nationalism.

4. British grant constitution, 1913…the British realized this was inevitable…World War I temporarily slows the drive to Egyptian nationalism.

F. War and Nationalist Movements in the Middle East After WWI

1. Turkey Formed…Independence by 1923

a. Reforms helped “westernize” the country

2. France, Britain reneged on promises of Arab independence

a. Occupy former Turkish lands…gain mandates through the League of Nations

3. Arabs and Jews were given conflicting assurances over Palestine

a. Balfour Declaration: the promise to help establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine

The Middle East After World War I

4. Zionism…movement calling for Jews to relocate back to a homeland…mainly Palestine

a. World Zionist Organization…formed by Theodor Herzl

--Jewish nationalism

--Jewish immigration to Palestine

--British restriction of Jewish migration due to Arab hostility

--Jewish-Palestinian conflict

G. Egyptian Revolution

1. Egypt a British protectorate, 1914

a. Martial law to protect Suez Canal during the war

b. War effort drains Egyptian resources

2. Egyptians weren’t allowed to speak for independence at Versailles…set off riots and demonstrations at home

3. British agree to independence…begin withdrawal

a. From 1922 to the withdrawal to the Canal zone, 1936

4. The early regimes showed little progress

a. In 1952, Gamal Abdul Nasser takes over in a military coup

b. First Egyptian rule since 6th cent. BC

c. Egypt run as quasi dictatorship

Gamal Abdul Nasser

H. Early Attempts at Liberation in Africa

1. Like in other colonies and protectorates, Africans were generally loyal to the Europeans during the war…were promised nationhood after the war

2. War again drains resources…allows western-educated Africans to begin organizing

3. Pan-African movement…attempt to bring together African and African American politicians and intellectuals

a. This movement decreased by the late 1920s…saw a change to nationalism in individual colonies

4. The main time of African independence came after World War II.

VI. The Roaring Twenties

--Was Western Europe still the dominant global power?

A. Was There Real Recovery?

1. Enormous challenges

a. Millions of dead or injured

--France & Serbia…10% of population

--Spanish Flu pandemic 1918-1919 killed 20-40 million (more than Black Death)

b. Economic issues: inflation and property damage

2. Optimism, creativity rebounded…art & architecture

3. Women lose place in workforce, but gain voting rights in Germany, Great Britain, the United States and Turkey

Three major patterns emerged in the 1920s:First, western Europe recovered from the war only incompletely;Second, the United States and Japan rose as giants in industrial production;Third, revolutions of lasting consequence shook Mexico, Russia, and China.

4. Effects of the Treaty of Versailles

a. Billions in reparations crushed Germany’s new government, the Weimar Republic…caused hyperinflation

b. Occupation of Rhineland

c. New European states carved out of Germany, Russia, and Austro-Hungarian Empire

d. Wilson’s failure…League of Nations:

--US Senate does not ratify Treaty

--Wilson suffers stroke…in power?

--Italy attacks Libya and Ethiopia

--Japan moves into Manchuria

B. Other Industrial Centers

1. Canada, Australia, New Zealand gained independence

a. Still part of the British Commonwealth of Nations

2. United States…despite becoming a global economic and cultural (music & movies) power, politically the U.S. practiced an isolationist policy.

a. The U. S. never joined the League of Nations

b. A “Red scare“ over communism added to this policy

3. Japan’s strong economy continued to grow, though it still had to import raw materials…a major factor in WWII

What is Fascism?

• Fascism: a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of the opposition

C. The Rise of Fascism (late 1800s)

--Attacked weakness & corruption in democracy and class struggle in socialism & Marxism

1. Benito Mussolini

a. Formed the Fascist party in 1919 and by 1922 had taken over the government

b. Suspends elections in 1926…eliminated opposition

c. Mussolini (Il Duce) ruled though the Italian government remained intact

Benito Mussolini

Blackshirts - Italian Fascists

D. The New Face of Eastern Europe – new nations: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria

a. Authoritarian governments dominate…hunger, poverty, illiteracy continue

E. A Wrap-up of the Post World War I World

1. Representative governments grew in Germany, Canada, Japan

2. Democracy challenged in Italy and central Europe

3. America and Japan became powerful

II. The Beginning of Revolution

A. Mexico

a. Porfirio Díaz…since 1876

--Economy basically under foreign control

b. Rebellion…Francisco Madero takes control of the government with the help of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata…Díaz removed

--1913, Madero assassinated

c. Victoriano Huerta takes control by force and returns to Díaz’s style of rule

--Forced from power in 1914 by Villa, Zapata and Alvaro Obregon. Obregon takes over as president.

EmilianEmilianoo

ZapataZapata

EmilianEmilianoo

ZapataZapata

DiazDiazDiazDiaz

Pancho Villa Pancho Villa Pancho Villa Pancho Villa

d. General Alvaro Obregón…first elected president

--Civil war over by 1920 

--1917, new constitution

e. President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940)

--Land redistributed, mostly as communal property

--Education expanded

f. Attempts were made to “Indianize” the country…glorified the Mexican past

B. Russian Revolution…1917…begins in St. Petersburg

1. Alexander Kerensky takes over…sets us a provisional government…nothing changes much…reforms were slow…led to a second revolution

2. November, 1917…Bolsheviks (Communist Party)

a. Lenin takes over…signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to get Russia out of the war

--Closes parliament…sets up the Congress of Soviets

  b. 1918-1921…reaction against communism…unhappy over poor economy, redistribution of land, etc.

c. Civil war (Reds vs. Whites) killed millions…the Communist Red army under Leon Trotsky was victorious

Leon Trotsky

C. Russia Settles Down

1. Red Army…provides stability

2. Lenin's New Economic Policy, 1921…allowed some individual decisions (capitalism)…worked to increase agricultural production, but it didn’t last.

3. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics officially formed in 1923

D. Soviet Experimentation in the 1920s

1. Initially there were gains for workers and women in Soviet society…groups were encouraged to organize…public education was provided. However…

2. Lenin died in 1924

a. Succeeded by Stalin after a power struggle (Stalin vs. Trotsky)…he stopped all reforms…eliminated all opponents by either assassination or exile

Joseph Stalin

E. Revolution in China

1. Last Qing emperor abdicates, 1912

2. Local warlords, students, and intellectuals all had a vision for a new Chinese government 

3. Japan invades…adds another player in the game…Japan will have considerable influence in China until after World War II

F. The May 4th Movement & the Rise of Marxism

1. Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Revolutionary Alliance, was elected president in 1911…he never has firm control and resigns in 1912…Yuan Shikai, the most powerful warlord takes over.

2. Japan, firmly involved in WWI, issues the Twenty-one demands to Yuan…Yuan refuses to act against them and is overthrown

a. Versailles gives Japan firm control over former German areas

3. May 4, 1919 - Mass demonstrations over Japan’s actions

a. Call for Western political reform…not Confucianism

4. Russian Revolution & the rise of communism was influential

a. Marxism was adopted to Chinese situation

b. Influences Mao Zedong...Communist Party of China is formed in 1921

Dr. Sun Yat-sen

G. Guomindang (Nationalist Party of China)…takes control…founded by Sun Yat-sen

1. Allies with Communists, both Chinese and Russian…was their link to the peasants

2. The Nationalists needed an army…Whampoa Military Academy formed in 1924

a. Chiang Kai-shek, the first leader, succeeds as head of Guomindang upon Sun’s death in 1925 Chiang Kai-shek

H. Nationalists vs. Communists

1. Chiang turns against the communists (& peasants)

2. Mao Zedong takes firm control of communists…leads followers on the Long March to Shanxi…1934

3. Nationalists & Communists must join to fight the Japanese

China in the Era of Revolution and Civil War

Mao Zedong

III. The Global Great Depression

A. Causes

1. Recession of the early 1920s…agricultural overproduction, severe inflation, high tariffs

B. The Great Depression

1. October, 1929…New York Stock Market crash

a. Banks collapsed, savings vanished, investment capital disappeared

2. Depression continues to deepen from 1929 – 1933

a. Unemployment skyrockets, inflation keeps soaring

3. The Soviet Union was somewhat immune due to isolation from the rest of the world…Stalin used brutality to continue pushing the USSR toward industrialization

C. Responses to the Depression in Western Europe

1. Governments have little good impact…instead use higher tariffs, reduced government spending, etc.

a. Radicalism, such as socialism or communism, became attractive as people’s unhappiness with traditional parliamentary systems increased

D. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal

1. Offered more direct unemployment assistance through direct aid or public works jobs…Social Security is formed

a. Began rapid government growth and restored the public’s confidence in the government, thus removing the possibility of radicalism in the U. S.

2. Only the government spending necessary for World War II officially brought the country out of the Great Depression

Franklin Roosevelt

IV. Totalitarianism Grows

A. The Birth of the Nazi Party (1920s)

1. Fascism grows rapidly…Weimar Republic is weak

2. Adolf Hitler leads the National Socialist party…the 1932 elections saw the Nazis win the largest portion (still not a majority) of the vote…by 1933 he has seized power

a. Party was Anti-Semitic and very totalitarian

b. Wrote Mein Kampf

--Attacked Jews, Marxists (communists), non-Aryans, democracy

--Advocated lebensraum (living space) for all German speaking peoples

3. Hitler’s Moves to War and a German Empire

a. Rhineland occupied by German troops in 1936…no response to this move

b. Anschluss, 1938…union of Germany & Austria

c. Sudetenland, 1938-1939…Western Powers allow Hitler to take this part of Czechoslovakia…appeasement

d. Invasion of Poland, 1939…begins World War II

4. Hitler’s inner circle:

a. Goebbels – propaganda

b. Goering – Luftwaffe commander

c. Himmler – commanded Schutz Staffel (SS) Hitler’s bodyguard

Josef Goebbels

Hermann Goering

Heinrich Himmler

Sudetenland given to Hitler

as an appeasement!

Europe

1939…

Invasion

of

Poland

B. Fascism Grows

1. Mussolini and Italy attack Ethiopia in 1935…the League of Nations (without America) does nothing

2. Spanish Civil War, 1936 - 1939

a. Germany, Italy support right…General Francisco Franco

b. Russia, Western volunteers support left

c. Semi-Fascist state is founded

3. Japan invades China in 1937…continues empire building

4. Axis Powers formed in 1940…Germany, Italy, Japan

C. Economic and Political Changes in Latin America

1. Economic expansion of the late 19th century was crushed by the Great Depression

2. Reaction to liberalism…people became disillusioned. Socialist and Communist parties are formed.

D. Latin American Responses to Global Economic Problems

1. Exports dropped drastically…growing poverty led to reform

2. Conservatives attempted to find a balance between capitalism and Marxism…had some aspects of Fascism

3. Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940) of Mexico redistributed land to the people and nationalized the country’s oil wells

4. Cuba also had a revolution in 1933 that included major social reforms as well

E. The Vargas Regime in Brazil

1. Contested 1929 Election leads to civil war…Gétulio Vargas becomes president

2. Vargas’ reforms centered around tighter government control…he stopped coups by the communists and fascists with the support of the military

a. New constitution, 1937…very much influenced by Mussolini’s Italy…became authoritarian, emphasized nationalism and economic reforms, eliminated people opposed to his reforms

3. Commits suicide in 1954 when both the left & right were seemingly against him

F. Argentina: Populism, Perón, and the Military

1. Economic collapse, 1929

2. Nationalists take control in 1943 with the goals of industrializing and modernizing the country

3. Colonel Juan d. Perón takes control with his wife, Eva Duarte (Evita)

a. Forms a coalition government including workers, industrialists, and the military

b. Nationalizes railroads, telephone & oil

c. Driven from power (exiled) in 1955 as the economy continued to worsen

d. He maintains influence with the workers and unions even in exile…briefly returnsto power in 1973

4. Upon the death of Perón in 1974 Argentina returned to military dictatorship

G. Japan Arms Itself

1. Depression causes suffering and it also increased suspicion of the West and spurred expansion into Asia to secure additional markets

2. Revolts in 1932 and 1936 allowed the military to gain power

3. General Hideki Tojo won influence over the prime ministers

4. War with China in 1937 made the military dominant

5. 1938 Japan controls Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan

6. Steady erosion of civil liberties in Japan

H. Japanese Industrialization and Recovery

1. Japan moved fully toward industrialization from 1931; production of iron, steel, and chemicals soared

2. Japan became self-sufficient in tools and scientific equipment, and the basis was set for more expansion that occurred later in the 20th century

I. Stalinism in the Soviet Union

1. Prior to 1927, the largely independent economy of the U.S.S.R. avoided the Great Depression. Stepped-up industrialization, abject worship of the leader, and a violently repressive police state marked a system very similar to Nazism.

2. However when Stalin took control, He sought to make the U.S.S.R. an industrial society under full control of the state.

J. Economic Policies of the Soviet Union under Stalin

1. Collectivization of Agriculture, 1928…large state-run farms were set up…in theory this would allow better mechanization of agriculture since most equipment was scarce

a. Famines grow out of these policies…leave over 10 million dead

2. Five-year plans for industrial development were a success…plans even set output levels and demand for new facilities

a. By the 1930s, only Germany and the U.S. ranked higher than the U.S.S.R. in industrial production

b. Some welfare services, old-age pensions, and health programs were provided by the government.

Starving peasant children

K. Totalitarian Rule in the Soviet Union

a. Harsh suppression of criticism

--Uses terror, spies, secret police, and gulags (prison work camps, usually in Siberia) to stay in power

--During the late 1930s Stalin purged the country of many real and imagined enemies…many were executed after “show trials”

--Changed history to make himself look good and enemies look bad – used propaganda

--Tried to replace devotion to religion with devotion to the communist party.

b. 1939, ally with Hitler…signed the Russo-German Non- Aggression Pact.

--Stalin didn’t want to do this, but it allowed the U.S.S.R. to regain part of Poland and also buy time for the inevitable war with Germany