Rise Of The Dictators 1st Period
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Russian Revolution and Rise of the Dictatorships

Comintern: Headed by Zinoviev, the Comintern was an international organization that supported an immediate international revolution to overthrow capitalism and install communism. This idea of international communism differed greatly from Stalin’s “socialism in one country” slogan that praised a nationalist branch of socialism in Russia. (KatieMayo)

Dada art movement- The Dada art movement swept across Europe from 1916-1924 and was a reaction toward the brutality of WWI. As displayed in Hannah Hoch’s “Cut with the Kitchen Knife”, the antagonistic attitudes towards established society are clearly shown through the jumbled up piece with machinery and gear shifts. (Lauren Burton)

-It’s especially important to see that the artwork in this movement is flat out weird. Melted clocks are far from what one could call a still life piece of art and this distortion of convention is fundamental to the movement’s purpose. Dada art shows the time period’s dysfunction and how people’s understanding of the world was turned upside down and how life seemed entirely meaningless. While this movement did not spread to America in the art world, its themes are present in American literature as shown in the work of William Faulkner among others. –Richmond

Key to Dada art is the nature of anti-art. Dad inverts typical notions of art in an attempt to force the viewer to consider their definition of art and expression. Look towards two works by Marcel Duchamp: LHOOQ and Fountain. LHOOQ, a portrayal of the Mona Lisa with a mustache and gotee, inverts common held notions of beauty by taking something that is typically thought of as beautiful (the Mona Lisa) and ruining it with a mustache. Beauty is quickly converted into ugliness, and the viewer must question what beauty is. Similarly, Fountain, a urinal turned on its side, forces the viewer to question what is art. Through placing the piece in a exhibit and through adorning it with a signature, the piece becomes art, it is accepted as something beautiful, in spite of the fact that it is a simple of filth (a urinal).-David Farrow

Dawes Plan: The Dawes Plan was essentially a stimulus package put together by American bankers who realized Germany’s among other European nations’ need for gold to trade and restart their economy. WWI wiped out the European nations’ gold reserves as well as put them in tremendous debt, much of which was owed to the United States. As a result of all the spending and debt, the European economies weren’t able to regrow because they didn’t have enough money for the public spending needed to rebuild after the war. This plan, which handed over gold as well as forgave some huge debts like that of Germany’s to the United States, acted to jump start the economies back into play. –Richmond

Dawes Plan: The Dawes Plan was the loaning of money by US banks to Germany after World War I in an effort to stimulate the German economy. In addition to loaning money to the Germans, the United States also forgave war reparations owed to them by its allies, France and Great Britain, to further its efforts in stimulating the German economy, which in turn would stimulate the economy of the rest of Europe. (Meaghan Shimota)

Dictatorship of the Proletariat: Even though the proletariat made up less than 3% of the Russian population, Russia’s transition period from capitalism to communism under Lenin was titled the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. This title implies the rule of the working class over the bourgeois, or the Russian kulaks, but in reality it was a dictatorship of the communist party. (KatieMayo)

Five Year Plan - This plan was crafted by Stalin in 1928 in order to Launch Russia on a massive plan of change until 1932. The primary goal was to Industialize the country using agriculture and forced labor as a means of paying for this. Collectivization of Agriculture in 1930 eliminated all private property and allowed the government to dictate what to do with the land. Kulaks (richer peasants) were targated due to their resistment of the collectivization. Although the Industialization was successful and amazingly only took 15 years, there were numerous consequences paid by the Russian people. - Ellie Sheild

While the first Five Year Plan was the most effective, all three furthered Russia down the road of industrialization. However, these plans owed their efficacy to scare tactics and massive use of slave labor from the Gulags. The Five Year Plans also contributed to the creation of a totalitarian state in the USSR, as Stalin took greater control over Soviet affairs by directly (and often arbitrarily) planning the economic path to be take. However, to the outside world, the Five Year Plans made the USSR seem like an economic anomaly during the Great Depression, and inspired communists throughout Europe, often leading to fearful reactions to the perceived rise in communist power (fascism…). -DavisHeniford

Goebbles, Josef: Known as the Reichminister of Propaganda he was sometimes called the "poison dwarf." He pushed movies like "Triumph of the Will," slogans like "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer," and large rallies like those in Nuremberg in order to try and spread a positive and strong image of nazism and Hitler throughout Germany and even beyond (Beuler).

Similar to Hitler, Goebbles developed a hatred for the Jews when he allegedly was rejected by Jewish publishers about his book. Maybe most importantly, he played up a hatred against the Allied Powers through many medias. He became a huge influence in the life of Hitler during the Second World War. (Robert Jessell)

Göring, Hermann - Placed in charge of creating a German Air Force by Hitler, Goring secretly built an Air Force as a leading member of the Nazi Party. He became commander-in-chief of the Air Force and remained as so until the end of WWII. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) had been disbanded after WWI in the Treaty of Versaille, so the secret creation of it was another direct violation of the Treaty. - Ellie Sheild

Goring, Hermann: Hitler's right hand man, Goring created the Gestapo (the German secret police), was head of the Luftaffe (the German Air Force), and was significant in the economic stimulus reforms (the four year plans). As the power of the Luftwaffe diminished, so did the power and respect of Goring. (Meaghan Shimota)

Griffith, Arthur - 1871-1922, Griffith was a Irish nationalist and journalist who founded and led the political party Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein was founded on the principle that that union between Britain and Ireland was illegal, and began a separatist movement in Ireland. CarterWiles

Gulags - Gulags were labor camps in the Soviet Union housing all sorts of convicts from petty criminals to political prisoners. Translating to English, Gulag is an acronym for Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Colonies, the organization that ran the gulags in the USSR. It was officially created in 1930 and abolished in 1960. Gulags are recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union, and at its height, gulags housed millions of prisoners. (Connor Haines)

The Gulags proved essential in that Stalin needed to prevent any opposition to his rule. The Soviet Union was constructed on a powerful ruse: the thought that the people (proletariat) was actually in control. The Gulags thus surved to remove the people who would cause others to question this narrative. Problematically, however, the heavy reliance on the Gulags and purges of others acted to harm the Soviet Union as a whole, in that every person removed meant more skills and intellect removed from the society.-David Farrow

Himmler, Heinrich - Heinrich Himmler was the commander of Hitler’s SS. In this position he had lots of power. He was largely responsible for running the concentration camps. Matt Borin

- Himmler also was appointed Commander of the Replacement Army by Hitler, and despite his immense responsibility for the Holocaust, towards the end of the war in April 1945 he was dismissed by Hitler for attempting to begin peace talks with the Western Nations. He committed suicide in May of that year. CarterWiles

Hitler Youth:Hitler Youth was a paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party active from 1922 to 1945. The goal of the organization was to indoctrinate Aryan boys with Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism, make them loyal to the Fuhrer and mobilize future soldiers of Germany. —-TB

Above all, the Hitler Youth pledged their loyalty to the Fuhrer Hitler himself, not the country, although the program did create a very nationalistic mindset in children. These kids became so enthralled in the program that they were willing to turn in their parents if they did not follow Hitler's way. By 1939, attendence in the Hitler Youth meetings was made mandatory. Sometimes children would become so exhausted from the meetings that they could not even pay attention in school the next day. (Robert Jessell)

Kellogg-Briand Treaty: written in 1928 this treaty was written "in the spirit of locarno," but included the U.S. This basically just meant that it added the U.S. to the promise made in the Locarno pact of 1924 which promised never to go to war again unless it was out of self-defense. Hitler abused the Kellogg-Briand Treaty for a real long time (Beuler).

Keynes, John Maynard - Keynes rejected the concept of a self-regulating economy, arguing that an unfettered cycle of booms and busts, with high unemployment and suffering during the busts, was capitalism gone too far. He didn't like Marxism either, though, and instead proposed that government should "smooth out" the economic cycle, lowering interest rates and financing public works projects to help during bad times while checking inflation and limiting excessive speculation during boom periods. Keynes published his book in 1936, giving theoretical backup to FDR's New Deal, which had begun three years before. (Jane Wester)

Part of Keynes central doctrine is also the irrelevancy of debt (at least in the short term). What Keynes advocates is for a government to invest heavily within the economy (infrastructure investment, human capital investment, etc) in order to boost economic activity. In doing this, however, the government assumes debt, but the debt is borrowed with the expectation that the economy will grow (as a result of the investment) and as such will then be able to pay back the borrowed debt. Also under a Keynesian system, inflation isn't thought of as an absolute evil, but instead a short term necessity to help with the stimulative effects of investment.-David Farrow

Keynes, John Maynard: British economist Keynes' ideas laid the foundation of modern macroeconomics. Helping end the Great Depression, the Keynesian economic ideas advocate federal spending of borrowed money, especially on public works projects that both benefit the country (like FDR's New Deal and Eisenhower's highway/interstate stuff) and create jobs, to stimulate the economy. (Meaghan Shimota)

Kornilov Affair - An attempted coup by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Lavr Kornilov in August 1917 against the Provisional Government set up in Russia by Kerensky. He led an attack on Petrograd, but many of his men refused to obey his orders, and the coup never posed a real threat to Kerensky’s control. CarterWiles

Kristallnacht:SA-coordinated offensives on Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues on November 9th and 10th in 1938. Known as the “Night of Broken Glass”, Jews living in Germany were left vulnerable as authorities failed to intervene. The event marks the beginning of Jewish “ghettoization” as Jews were pushed out of their neighborhoods; thousands were sent to concentration. —-TB

kulaks: Although by no means wealthy, the kulaks were regarded as rich Russian peasants who had earned their above subsistence level lifestyle through hard work and determination. This, however, also made them the target for Lenin’s Dictatorship of the Proletariat, a transition period from capitalism to communism that implied the rule of the working class over the bourgeois (kulaks in Russia). Lenin ordered his comrades to round up the kulaks and hang them all, exposing Lenin’s hatred towards a group of people who hated the revolutionary plan and felt they didn’t need the Bolsheviks to better their lives. (KatieMayo)

Lateran Accords (Lateran Agreements):The treaty was signed by the Holy See and the Kingdom in Italy on February 11, 1929, recognizing the sovereignty of the Holy See. The treaty settled the Vatican’s problems posed by unification, as it resisted joining the Kingdom of Italy. —-TB

After the unification of Italy, the Pope refused to recognize the new Kingdom of Italy which had largely weakened the Pope by taking control of the former Papal States and undermining the Pope's authority. However, Mussolini, in one of his few successes, healed the divide between the Pope and the Italian state, earning him support from Catholics. The Lateran Accords recognized the Vatican City as an independent state and also settled payments to the Vatican City for the Pope's lost land. -DavisHeniford

lebensraum: Nazi policy aimed at expanding living space for the Aryan race. Adolf Hitler declared Germany overpopulated and incapable of supporting Aryans. The policy asserted the importance and supremacy of the Aryan race and how gaining lebensraum would purify the race and prevent from any mixing in the future. Consequently, inferior peoples were subject to expulsion, whether civil or violent. —-TB

Locarno Pact: Made in 1924 this pact promised never to go to war again unless it was defensive and included the big European countries, and was later expanded to include the U.S. and renamed the Kellog-Briand Treaty (Beuler).

-According to the textbook, the 1925 Locarno Pact was a series of treaties between Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, France, and Italy. All parties involved accepted the Versailles Treaty's definition of Germany's western frontier and promised to work through differences using arbitration, not war. After Locarno, a European war caused by German aggression seemed impossible. The United States and over twenty other nations then signed the 1928 Kellogg-Briand pact. (Jane Wester)

March on Rome (1922)- After Mussolini created the fascist party in 1921, he sent a threat to King Victor Emmanuel that he would “march on Rome” if he was not named Prime Minister. In October of 1922, Mussolini and his black shirts instigated a peaceful but intimidating march with approximately 300,00 men. Soon after, King VE declared Mussolini as a Prime Minister. (Lauren Burton)

New Economic Policy- The new economic policy was established by Vladimir Lenin in the USSR after the Civil War. When Lenin’s “war communism” failed, he was quick to establish a more harsh economic policy that was not as practical and compromising like the one before. This new policy limited capitalism following the war and helped rescue the economy from its downfall during the war communism phase. (Lauren Burton)

During the Tenth Party Conference in 1921, Vladimir Lenin proposed his plan that would allow peasants to dispose of surplus harvest in the open market for private profit. Trusts were established, and a greater emphasis on personal gain was made a point. While the New Economic Policy did help the economy, it left conflict between poor peasants and kulaks, and Stalin saw an opportunity to exploit this. (Robert Jessell)

-The New economic policy was actually much more relaxed than Lenin’s “war communism” as it took a step back from overbearing and micromanaging government involvement in the economy to one that balanced communist and capitalist policies. Instead of the previous requisition quotas for grain, Lenin put in a low tax that gave the government the food it needed and allowed peasants to take their surplus to sell on the open market. Thus the NEP was a step towards capitalism rather than away from it. It helped shift Russia from its rural and simple agricultural sector to a more industrialized and mature model that Stalin would continue to build on. –Richmond

Night of the Long Knives- Night of the Long Knives – The Night of the Long Knives was a purge in Nazi Germany on June 30th 1934. Hitler feared that the SA had become too powerful and their leader, Ernst Rohm, too popular. In response he ordered his elite guards, the SS, to murder many SA leaders including Rohm. Hitler ordered hundreds of other perceived threats that night, including Kurt von Schleicher and Gregor Strasser. (Connor Haines)

Along with popular support for Rohm, many members of the SA were beginning to take Socialism too seriously, which worried Hitler since they were not following his lead. As a result, Hitler was worried that the SA would become too concerned with workers' rights and lose sight of the ultimate goal in industrializing Germany for a future war. The move resulted in the killing of Nazis who helped him get to power in the first place. (Robert Jessell)

Nuremburg Laws - These 1935 laws were the first glance of the rising Anti-Semitic feelings in Germany. They claimed that Jews were no longer citizens, banned intermarriage b/w a Jew and a non-Jew, forced Jews to wear the Star of David, and banned Jews from pursuing professions. Some Jews recognized that these Laws were only the beginning of a looming future if they stayed in Germany, so while they still had the chance many emigrated from Germany (Like Albert Einstein). - Ellie Sheild

Politburo - The politburo is a Russian parliament-esque government organization. It is where most of the power resided in Russia’s Communist government, even above the acknowledged leader. Whichever party controlled the Politburo was able to effectively control all of Russia. Many leaders, notably Stalin, didn’t actually become Premier of the Soviet Union till after he had held power in the Soviet Union, through the Politburo, for some time. Matt Borin

Rohm, Ernst - (1887-1934) He was an early Nazi leader and co-founder of the Sturmabteilung (“Storm Battalion”; SA), and was later its commander. As the SA and Rohm gained popularity and Hitler began to view him as a threat, culminating with Hilter ordering his assassination as part of what became known as The Night of the Long Knives. (Connor Haines)

- S.A.: Also known as the Brown Shirts, this organization was Hitler’s henchmen in the early stages of his rise. Led by Ernst Rohm, it functioned much as Mussolini’s Blackshirts did in that it went around beating the bejesus out of opposing political and social forces, especially the socialists. It was made up of mostly WWI vets who’ve returned home bitter and thoroughly confused and in this confusion they turned to Hitler. –Richmond

While the S.A. largely contributed to Hitler's initial popularity as defender of Germany from the disruptive socialists, the S.A., with its popular leader, Ernst Rohm, became a bit of a nuisance. The S.A.'s numbers had swelled, and its purpose was called into question now that Hitler controlled the German Army (Wehrmacht) as well as the S.S. Hitler then consolidated his power through the Night of the Long Knives, when many S.A. leaders were murdered. Hitler then merged the S.A. with the Wehrmacht, eliminating the confusion. -DavisHeniford

Show Trials (USSR) - The 1938 Show Trials accurately showed this dupicitiousness of the corrupt Russian government which makes it difficult for Historians to know the truth. During the Purges by the Russian government, trials of the accused would be displayed all around the world in order to prove the western reporters that there really were guilty men in the USSR. When in actuality, innocent officials were being condemned in order to consolidate power. Koestlre wrote Darkness at Noon, a novel that takes the reader through the process of the prosecuting and diehard red Bolsheviks. The Show Trials lent legitimacy to the USSR efforts. - Ellie Sheild

“Socialism in one country” - the theory adopted by Stalin in 1924, that is based on the fact that after Socialist revolutions had failed in every other country except for the Soviet Union, the USSR's main goal should be to strengthen itself internally, which is different from Marx's idea of a worldwide socialism. Carterwiles

soviet-After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and during the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky, Bolsheviks were working hard to take over the soviets, established worker counsels before unions were allowed. Through the soviets, the Bolsheviks became an alternate form of local government with the most popular soviet being the Petrograd Soviet with leader Leon Trosky. (Lauren Burton)

Stresemann, Gustav - Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929) was a German statesman who served as chancellor (for the brief period of 102 days) in 1923 and late as foreign minister from 1929-1929 during the Weimar Republic. He was largely responsible for restoring Germany’s international status after WWI. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926 with Aristide Briand for achieving reconciliation between Germany and France. (Connor Haines)

During the tumultuous 1920s, seemingly the only German politician who could remain popular was Gustav Stresemann. His victories included convincing the Ruhr miners to go back to work in 1924, which helped reduce inflation and proved to be a psychological step forward, negotiating the Dawes Plan, and pushing forward the Locarno Pact (also in 1924). Thus, the chaos of 1929 was exacerbated when Stresemann died, one of the few well-respected German politicians. -DavisHeniford

Trotsky, Leon: Leon Trotsky is a main figure throughout this tempestuous period of Russian history, beginning his rise to fame with the triumph of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution. The leader of the Petrograd soviet, Trotsky was in an ample position to plan the coup in Petrograd on Nov. 6th, 1917, storm the Winter Palace, and crush the previous government. Trotsky aided Lenin immensely during Lenin’s rule of Russia, but in 1924, Lenin’s death brought about the possibility that Trotsky would be the successor. This “condescending, but brilliant” man, even though he controlled the army, was exiled in 1927 by Stalin. (KatieMayo)

Ulysses, by James Joyce (1922) - Ulysses, a novel by James Joyce, is a prime example of Modernist literature. It is an inventive stream-of-consciousness narrative of an Irish man's one-day journey through Dublin, with some events roughly paralleling Homer's Odyssey (note that Ulysses is the Latinized form of Odysseus). The book was controversial and prompted obscenity trials upon publication in the early 1920s. (Jane Wester)

Ulysses and the modernist tradition both reinforce the confusion that is felt by modern man during the interim between World War I and World War II. Before the war, life was seemingly simple, able to be categorized into traditional paradigms of thought. The war, in addition to changing scientific, philosophical, and psychological mindsets, causes a complete shift within man's mind and by extension the nature of art and fiction. Ulysses thus follows in this tradition as the usage of stream of consciousness serves to reflect the confused, jumbled world in which Joyce existed.-David Farrow

War Communism - When the Bolsheviks first gained power, Lenin adopted "War Communism," aiming to maintain power at any cost and bring Russia back from the brink of economic collapse. Under war communism, the government requisitioned so many supplies that black markets were flourishing and the people were starving. War communism ended when Lenin announced the NEP, a more moderate transitional policy that was gentler to the peasants. (Jane Wester)

War Communism: The idea of War Communism was an economic policy created during the Russian Civil War by Lenin. The government seized anything and everything that would help in the war effort and help the new government flourish after the war. Giving the people little incentive to work, the system and economy was an epic fail, as famine was provoked, the black market budded, and the economy plumitted. After recognizing the failure of war communism, Lenin initiated his NEP, which permitted slight capitalism and caused the economy to rebound. (Meaghan Shimota)