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Civilians in Europe after World War I was living in social, economic, political, and physical disorder. Most of the free world was involved in the conflict, leading to serious repercussions for Europe and United States which witnessed the two regions going through tremendous change. In total, four of the historic and prevailing empires collapsed as a result of the war including the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire, and German Empire. As a result of these kingdoms collapsing, a plethora of new countries emerged that characterized diverse ethnic regions in Europe including Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, and others. Treaties were occurring that tipped the balance of power in favor of different governments or people, and new intercontinental organizations such as the League of Nations were created. The force driving this madness was Money Changers' constant hoarding of wealth combined with the lower and middle classes' struggle. In response, civilians attempted communism; a poor, fruitless, and ultimately unsuccessful effort at striving to get everyone equal outcomes that resulted in the centralization of economic and political decisions. Let’s talk about the progression of these events in Europe before turning our attention to the roaring 20s in the United States that led to the Great Depression.
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was an internal conflict that started toward the end of World War I after Russia’s defeat against Germany. This revolution is perhaps the most important political, economic, and social revolution of the 20th century because of the lasting effects it had on the world. Like other revolutions at the time, the streets were bloodied, political change was imminent and longtime rivals were created that would forge the next 50 years of life on Earth.
The Russian Revolution lasted 4 years; starting in 1917 toward the end of World War I after Russia’s exit, and ending in June 1923. The German domination of Russian forces on the eastern front of World War I (Western border of Russia), being embarrassed in the Japan-Russo war, and the ineptitude of political leadership were some of the causes of Russian civilians and military to revolt against the higher command and Tsar Nicholas II. The results of that ineptitude were millions of people in poverty, dead, unemployed and homeless. The perceived leadership skills of politicians were being exposed as manipulation and the lower and middle classes could no longer take the starvation that was taking over every corner of Russia.
(Russian troops in trenches awaiting a German attack. National Geographic Magazine, Volume 31. 1917. page 379.)
The living conditions of workers were horrendous, “Workers also had good reasons for discontent: overcrowded housing with often deplorable sanitary conditions, long hours at work (on the eve of the war, a 10-hour workday, six days a week was the average and many were working 11–12 hours a day by 1916), the constant risk of injury and death from poor safety and sanitary conditions, harsh discipline (not only rules and fines, but foremen's fists), and inadequate wages (made worse after 1914 by steep wartime increases in the cost of living)” (The Factory Workers of St. Petersburg, 1855–1870. Stanford, 1971).
Furthermore, the political decisions were highly centralized to Tsar Nicholas II. Therefore, when lower-level leaders got a sense of the revolution, they were able to use this as an opportunity to gain power for themselves. Numerous political parties developed leading up to the Revolution. Consequently, when the Russians were losing in World War I, the people demanded a change of their political rulers.
There are three important events that encapsulate the overarching Russian Revolution from 1917-1924. The February Revolution of 1917 officially ended the Russian Monarchy. The October Revolution that occurred later in 1917 which saw the rise of the Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Civil War that ended in 1923, put an end to the Russian Revolution and involved the incumbents fighting against the Bolsheviks.
The first internal conflict started with the February Revolution in 1917. The February Revolutions started in modern-day Saint Petersburg which was the capital of Russia at the time. This conflict only lasted eight days and consisted of violent collisions between protesters and military police. After 4 days of fighting each other, both sides of the crowd came together and turned on the Tsar, who was abdicated, officially ending the nearly 200-year Russian Empire. To fulfill the needs of a country having a governmental leader, a provisional government was created that put into power Prince Georgy Lvov, who immediately attempted to modernize Russia, “Universal adult suffrage was introduced, freedoms of press and speech were granted, capital punishment abolished, and all legal restrictions of religion, class, and race were removed” (Figes 2017, p. 358.). Despite his good intentions, Russian civilians were still struggling to find food, work, clean shelter, or decent working conditions and the efforts were fruitless.
(Protests in Petrograd, city name was changed to St. Petersburg. Source: Jones, Stinton Russian Revolution. 1917)
While Lvov was attempting to create a peaceful situation inside of Russia, numerous political parties were forming that gained support from the lower and middle classes. One of the parties was the Petrograd Soviet led by Leon Trotsky, a political influencer that followed Marxism. The Soviets became so powerful the young provisional government had to compromise with a dual power that recognized the Soviets as equal in control of decision-making. The Provisional Government and the Soviets were now in a constant struggle against one another and consequently used strategies to sabotage one another’s political progress so they could get selfishly gain and turn the majority of Russian Citizens against each other and in support of their respective parties.
However, yet another political party was forming called the Bolsheviks who were being led by Vladimir Lenin, and they were gaining more supporters by the day. Throughout 1917, Bolsheviks continued their growth of citizen support and eventually gained a majority of political representation in St. Petersburg and Moscow (Stephen Cohen, Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution).
(Vladimir Lenin in 1920)
Nevertheless, a small skirmish between the Russian Provisional Government and protesters, called the July Days, caused the death and arrest of several hundred civilians. The Provisional Government went on to blame the Bolsheviks, and Lenin, for the crisis which caused him to lose political popularity as people believed the two forces should be working together. The Provisional Government sought to make arrests of the leaders of the Soviet and Bolshevik movements and were able to arrest Trotsky, but Lenin managed to flee to Finland without being harmed, temporarily crippling both leaders’ effectiveness at gaining individual power or influence.
(Provisional government opened fire on street Protesters on July 4th, 1917. David King Collection/Tate Gallery/Scala Archives TG07452)
Despite Trotsky and Lenin being exiled, the movement continued to grow and the popularity of the Provisional Government continued to decrease. By September 1917 there were over 200,000 subscribed members of the Bolshevik political group, giving them a majority of representation in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Stephen Cohen, Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution). Recognizing the shift in influence Lenin’s faction had acquired, he returned to Russia in October 1917. The incompetence of the Provisional government led to the Petrograd Soviets having more influence, which they used to free Trotsky and made him their chairman of the Soviets. Therefore, the Bolsheviks and Soviets had to team up against the Provisional Government to establish themselves as legitimate governmental forces.
October Revolution
In October 1917, the Bolsheviks attempted to overthrow the government by calling for widespread military action by the lower and middle classes. In addition, Trotsky supported a military uprising and convinced many of society’s leaders to inspire their followers to step up in support. Then, on October 25, 1917 (O.S; 7th of November in Julian Calendar) Bolsheviks and Soviets captured numerous important government buildings across St. Petersburg, effectively taking over Russia and ending the Provisional Government. This did not have international support from countries like the UK and United States, who were fearful their own citizens would rise up against the government. In addition, not everyone inside Russia agreed with the results, and this led to the Russian Civil War that lasted from 1918-1923. However, with the Bolsheviks now in power as a result of their victory in the October Revolution, Lenin was the head of the state and held substantial political power. During this time, Lenin was formulating his plan for the ideal communist Russian state and went to significant lengths to ensure his political enemies would remain silent.
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War led to the suffering of millions of lower and middle-class citizens across the country who died from starvation, thirst, extreme temperatures, battles, and disease. The result of the conflict led to the birth of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). This organization would be part of a treaty signed in December 1922 that led to the creation of the USSE, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, or the Soviet Union.
(Famine in Russia 1921. http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/famine10.htm)
In the civil war fighting for the Bolsheviks was the Red Army, led by Vladimir Lenin. These individuals were fighting for communism, socialism, and better working/living conditions. The White Army consisted of sporadic supporters of capitalism throughout the country who were fighting for the old Russian Kingdom and retaining the power of Russian elites. Throughout the conflict, the white army had the support of numerous allies, while the red army made a truce with the central powers who were encroaching on their territory. In the end, after numerous battles, the red army would emerge victorious leading to a new era of politics, economics, and society inside Russia that would rear the ugly head of COMMUNISM as its main political stance, led by Vladimir Lenin.
During the Civil War, Lenin was able to get the political support of important decision-makers in the country which enabled him to retain tremendous power through the use of his political heads. In one case, Lenin carried out the Red Scare through his secret police force. The Red Scare resulted in around 200,000 citizens being executed because of their opposing political views. After numerous assassination attempts on Lenin’s life that left him badly wounded, he began instructing his militias to create concentration camps where they would be used to carry out political repression against people who believed in capitalism. Tens of thousands of people were ripped from their homes, tortured, and killed because of their beliefs of wanting to live in a peaceful society.
Furthermore, Lenin had created the New Economic Plan, or NEP, that would be used as a way to modernize the Russian economy with new factories, infrastructure, ports, and other economic necessities. The NEP was what Lenin considered state capitalism, that would introduce certain capitalistic features of the economy, like private ownership of companies, that would allow the country to grow while still being maintained under governmental control (Richman, Sheldon (1981). "War Communism to NEP: the road from serfdom). This stirred political controversy because hard communists believed that Lenin was betraying them by implementing capitalistic features and ruining their visions of having a fully communistic economy.
On the other hand, capitalist supporters still despised Lenin for the amount of governmental oversight that was taking place inside of companies. Stalin responded by explaining that State capitalism was the last stage of capitalism before becoming a fully socialist society and in order to achieve true communism this step in the evolution was necessary. Two political thinkers that had disagreement over this were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Stalin believed in Lenin’s plan, while Trotsky favored having a fully communist society. In the end, Stalin and his supporters would get the better of Trotsky’s political party by gaining the support of the people, but would later implement the first five-year plan in 1928 which was promoted as the final stage of turning Russia into a fully communist economy.
(Stalin on the right confers with an ailing Lenin at Gorky in September 1922. September 1922, taken by Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova)
During Lenin’s NEP, the Russian food supply was in a delicate state because of the recent revolution, World War, and changes in economic structures. This resulted in the Russian famine from 1921-1922 which caused an estimated 6 million people to die and peasants resorted to eating each other to try and survive (Francis Haller (2003-08-12), "Famine in Russia: the hidden horrors of 1921 – ICRC. translation). The end of NEP ended in 1924 when Lenin passed away and Stalin became the undeniable leader of the USSR. In Lenin’s eyes, his goal was to make a historical mark on society and to do that he needed to be bold.
Joseph Stalin would take increasingly violent measures to ensure the population and political opponents would stay obedient. Throughout his tenure as the leader of the USSR, numerous political parties unsuccessfully attempted to remove Stalin from power, in favor of someone who would represent their views. Regardless of the position counterparties had, it’s safe to say the results could not have been much worse than what resulted from Lenin’s leadership.
With this in mind, Stalin implemented the First Five Years Plan in 1928 would create a list of goals the USSR wanted to accomplish that would unify Russia under a socialist regime. Rather than pursue the market-based economic system Lenin tried, Stalin would demand full control of the entire economic system through rapid industrialization and government collection of agricultural land from working-class citizens.
The economic strategy would end in 1932 and because of the communist-based economy in Russia the country was not greatly affected by the Market Crash of 1929, although a majority of its citizens were already living in poverty and Stalin did not achieve a majority of goals originally set out. Even if the First Five Year Plan did not achieve all of its goals, the system set a foundation for future success that would allow Russia to become an international superpower that contended militarily and economically on the world stage.
(Forced collectivization in the Soviet Union in 1933. Proletarian Photo Feb 1. 1933)
The Armistice signed to prevent any further military efforts with the Allies in Germany during World War I occurred on November 11th, 1918; but the Treaty of Versailles was not signed until June 1919, leading to political unrest and economic uncertainty for Germans at the time between these two important events. The Weimar Republic was set up on November 9th, the day Kaiser William II was abdicated, leading to large political uncertainty during the 7-month gap before the official peace.
Throughout this time gap between the armistice and Treaty of Versailles, Germany was going through an internal revolution that lasted from 1918-1919 and led to the abolishment of the German Empire, abdication of King Wilhelm II, creation of new political parties, social unrest, local militias attacking each other and economic disaster. This tornado of travesties created a brief era in German history that was focused on threats from internal forces, as opposed to looking to expand their territory. When King Wilhelm fled and the Weimer Republic was announced, German naval forces rebelled against the higher command and the attitude of nearly the entire German population quickly shifted to replacing the government through rebellions, protests, and planning elections.
(Crowds outside the Reichstag on 9 November as the creation of the republic was announced.)
The success of the 1917 Russian Revolutions inspired other communists around Europe to believe achieving power and dismantling the current system was possible. Many important communist figures such as Marx, Engels, and Lenin were commonly cited as justification to move forward with their efforts. When the revolutions first broke out in Russia in 1917, a strike of nearly 300,000 German workers began on the streets to voice their opinion on exiting World War I and support for communism and the rumblings for a Revolution.
In November 1918 after Wilhelm II fled the country, new and preestablished political parties stepped to the plate and were looking to fill a massive power vacuum that made up the previous German Empire. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was a powerful slightly leftist political party in Germany before and during the World War that held a majority of the parliamentary seats. Toward the end of the Great War, the SPD continued their support for the confrontation, even after obvious defeat. This caused the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) to break out and partner with a number of other political parties, including the Spartacist League, which was far left on the political spectrum. The USPD was in favor of ending the war and taking on communism while the SPD was in favor of continuing the war effort and sought to establish a parliament that would retain members of the previous powers.
When these two political parties arose, the armistice was effective but there was no true peace treaty between the Allies and Central Powers. Therefore, the distinctions in values between the SPD and USPD during a large power vacuum led to internal rebellion against one another. With the Weimer Republic being newly created the citizens had to vote on which political faction would lead their country. The SPD would win the presidential election and have Friedrich Ebert become the German Republic’s first Chancellor when on February 11th, 1919. With this power, Ebert attempted to put an end to the communist and socialist uprisings that were occurring from the far left, including the infamous Spartacist uprising which founded the communist party inside of Germany, while dealing with the exterior pressures from the previous regime’s involvement in the war, including future reparations in the Treaty of Versailles.
Once the treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919 that ended World War I, Germany was tasked with paying 132 billion gold marks to the allies (around $442 billion in 2022), dismantling their military count from around 9 million men to 100,000 men, give away military equipment, were required to take complete blame for the entire war, were frankly embarrassed on the world stage and the allied powers wanted to ensure Germany would never be a global power again. One of the clauses in the Treaty dictated that reparations must be paid in gold or another foreign currency. Foreign governments did not want the German mark because when World War I started, King Wilhelm removed the redeemability of Marks for gold, abandoning the gold standard for German currency. Thus, the way Germany had to pay its debts was to print German Marks to buy foreign currency to pay the reparations. This led to a severe episode of hyperinflation that is truly hard to comprehend.
In the first half of 1920, the currency exchange rate was 8 marks per US dollar. During the war to exchange rate went to 90 marks per US dollar (Laursen and Pedersen, page 134). By June 1921 the exchange rate was 330 marks per dollar. By the first half of 1922, J.P Morgan Jr. was hosting meetings with German officials attempting to restructure the debt, but no solutions were found. Only a year later in November 1923, the exchange rate was 4,210,500,000,000 German Marks per one United States Dollar (Laursen and Pedersen, page 134). Toward the height of the hyperinflation episode citizens of Germany retreated to bartering goods and services, the most basic form of economic activity used before civilizations, to obtain common necessities of life. Corporations couldn’t pay their workers, homelessness skyrocketed, poverty ensued and the lower and middle classes were left to take the biggest brunt of the hit. Prices of foods and drinks skyrocketed from the time you ordered to the time they came to your table, causing the need for predetermined agreements over prices before the time you finished your first drink. Despite all of this chaos, governments and economists were left to solve the issue.
(Emergency banknotes awaiting distribution at the Reichsbank during the hyperinflation in Berlin 1923.)
Obviously, this had severe consequences on the economy and led to severe economic turmoil, the loss of jobs, and more radical political parties rising.
This intense currency devaluation for over three years had terrifying repercussions on the economy and led to hunger, protests, and in severe circumstances death. The economy was able to be stabilized in 1923 after economists, led by new German Finance Minister Hans Luther, proposed linking the currency to gold-backed bonds, called a Rentenmark even though the currency would not be redeemable for gold. This strengthened confidence in the currency and led to a stabilization of the inflation rate. The old paper Marks continued in circulation. The total paper marks in circulation increased to around 1.2 sextillions (1,200,000,000,000,000,000,000) in July 1924 and a new law would be set to exchange 1 trillion papiermark for one Rentenmark (Fergusson, Chapter 13).
(Logarithmic scale of the hyperinflation in the Weimer Republic. Delphi234 December 12th, 2014)
During and after the stabilization of Germany's currency, German President Ebert continued to go through political turmoil, despite the slight economic stabilization. Political murders and attempts at filling the power vacuum were prevalent. One of the parties, that attempted to seize the opportunity of a destabilized government was the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi Party, led by a young and decorated military veteran that would go down as the most famous public speaker in the world, Adolf Hitler.
Hitler’s persistence in gaining power and transforming Germany would plague the existence of the Weimer republic in the coming years.
Adolf Hitler was a decorated war Veteran from World War I who led the National Socialists German Workers Party or National Socialists, which would eventually be known as the Nazis. Hitler and his faction continued to gain support and allegiance from people throughout the region by provoking racist and explosive discharge in his speeches and tapping into people’s emotions. The Nazis began in the 1920s as one of the many parties involved with German politics at the time. They didn’t have much support at first until Hitler attended the first meeting and his enthusiasm and passion for public speaking became apparent to his peers. Hitler was originally sent to the National Socialists meeting to gather political intel for the Weimer republic’s military to use against their opposition, but after listening to their anti-sematic beliefs and rationales for why Germany was losing power, he was swayed to join their small organization and eventually, Hitler became the leader of the National Socialists and started to gather support from his robust and blunt attitude and dialogues. He put the blame for the loss of German power on anyone who wasn’t deemed to be a “Pure German”, Jews, Marxists, and anyone who supported the opposition party in Germany at the time, known as Liberals, who signed the Treaty of Versailles and put German in an irrational amount of debt which was a major contributor to their hyperinflation occurrence which led to destruction in their economy. Nazis still had trouble gaining massive prominence in other parts of Germany, with the exception of Bavaria. Therefore, with the German economy recovering politics were becoming less hostile as a result.
There was one action Hitler took that was the turning point for his popularity within Germany and that was the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. Because the Nazis weren’t gaining popularity in politics across Germany, Hitler decided to do something drastic, which was to storm a public meeting in Munich that was being held and viewed by people across the political spectrum. Hitler declared a revolution and the genesis of a new government. This display was quickly dispersed over the next 24 hours and 20 people were reportedly killed during the entire instance. Hitler was arrested and convicted of Treason and was sentenced to five years in prison which he only served a little one.
(Nazis who participated in the attempt to seize power during the 1923 Putsch)
Hitler may not have known it at the time, but this failed attempt to overthrow the government is perhaps the most important factor that led to the eventual takeover of Germany for two reasons; The first reason is that he gained massive publicity from newspapers, media, politicians and business people across the country from the failed revolution. His speeches in the courtroom were being heard across the country and people were hearing rumblings of this decorated war veteran from Austria trying to become the ultimate power in Germany by submitting a new ideology to their culture, even if they didn’t know it yet.
The second reason is that it gave him time to write his autobiography which spewed his rhetoric, increased his popularity, and established his fame. The autobiography titled, “Mein Kampf,” or “My Struggle” was eventually published and sold over 1,000,000 copies through two volumes from 1925-1933.
After Hitler was released from jail, he was eventually barred from public speaking in Bavaria. In response, Hitler appointed some of his closest followers to spread the word of his new movement throughout Germany and it was beginning to gather more and more traction. Then, perhaps one of the most catastrophic economic events in the world took place, which allowed Hitler and his party to catapult to higher power and influence throughout the region. This event happened on October 24th, 1929 when the United States stock market crashed and caused the Great Depression which had waves felt throughout the world. In Germany, like other countries in the world, major banks collapsed, jobs were lost and the cycle of hunger, homelessness, and poverty began all over again with people looking to the Weimer Republic as being responsible.
(Adolf Hitler saluting members of his military in Brunswick, Lower Saxony, 1932)
When Italy first entered World War I, they joined on the side of the allies with nationalists leading the way because of promises made that stated if the Allies were to win, then Italy would receive large amounts of territory, reparation payments, and influence on the world stage.
Yet, when World War I came to a close, President Wilson and other allied powers went back on their promises, and instead, most of the land was distributed to Great Britain, France, and other Eastern European countries. During President Wilsons Fourteen Points that was an attempt at peace after the First World War included, “A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.
This prompted Italians to experience a stronger sense of nationalism, where they took a deep longing for their country and became enraged that they were involved in a bloody and brutal conflict without any real gains. Italians believed that Italy should be a more powerful nation because of its rich history and had the potential to become a world leader, but the allied powers were treating them like second-class citizens. Therefore, in 1921 Benito Mussolini started the National Fascist Party.
(Benito Mussolini)
During World War I, Mussolini’s ideas were shot down by socialists who didn’t see his vision of Italian Nationalism or the need to enter World War I. Thus, he started a fascist newspaper and began gaining a following of nationalists and socialists who believed Italian should be involved in the war for the sake of gaining international prominence. When he returned from war Mussolini gained work through a job where he would be paid a weekly wage by the British MI5, the British Secret Service, with the role of taming anti-war protests and the promotion of joining the allies in World War I through his writing of newspapers (Kington, Tom 13 October 2009). Mussolini became interested in politics and illustrated his inability to feel empathy, along with Great Britain, by manipulating large swaths of populations to sacrifice their lives for people who could care less if they were dead.
Mussolini’s plan to take back power and instill Nationalism throughout Italy was to take back Rome by the use of force during the infamous March on Rome. Since 1861 Italy had been a constitutional monarchy with a King and a legislative body. From 1900-1946 the king of Italy was Victor Emmanuel III who had led Italy through the first world war and was a descendent of Victor Emmanuel II who was king during the first unification of Italy. During Mussolini’s rise to power, Emmanuel III became increasingly concerned about a communist revolution and therefore instructed the government to stand idle, and in some cases applaud Mussolini’s new fascist party for shutting down communists’ public appearances.
Mussolini would acquire war veterans, followers, and current military men to slow down the growth of communism inside Italy, “The blackshirts clashed with communists, socialists, and anarchists at parades and demonstrations; all of these factions were also involved in clashes against each other. The Italian government rarely interfered with the blackshirts' actions, owing in part to a looming threat and widespread fear of a communist revolution. The Fascisti grew rapidly; within two years they transformed themselves into the National Fascist Party at a congress in Rome. In 1921, Mussolini won election to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time” (Collins, M. E.; Henry, Grainne; Tonge, Stephen. 2004. Chapter 2). The chaos that was ensuing inside Italy gave Mussolini the ability to walk the fine line of not overthrowing the government, yet rising to extreme power by ignoring the king. The March on Rome showcases his ability to manipulate and cater to the human desires of people in poverty who feel like they are getting ripped off by the rich and will fight for their life if it means they can have a taste of the water hose of wealth. Many authors describe Mussolini as simultaneously showing revolutionary and traditionalist tendencies which are described as the “Third Way” (Macdonald, Hamish. 1999. Mussolini and Italian Fascism). In Mussolini’s case, this was beneficial for his rise to power and gave him the ability to gain supporters from both sides of the political spectrum while secretly going behind their back with closed-door deals.
Mussolini organized the march on Rome only one year after being elected to Italy’s legislative body. At the time, Rome was currently being controlled by the Popes. During the march, he gathered 30,000 black shirts who were inching closer and closer to this destination with the goal of conquest. The fascist militia’s first stop was to remove Luigi Facta as Prime Minister of Italy and form a new government structure. King Emmanuel III choose to allow the 30,000 troops to march on the city, despite the once close relationship he had with his Prime Minister. Once Facta resigned in fear of his life, the King appointed Mussolini as the new Prime Minister and asked him to create a new government system.
(Fascists moving towards Rome in 1922.)
Historians believe the Kings decision to hand power to Mussolini was a result of the terror and misbelief of being overthrown. (Lyttelton, Adrian. 2009). The Seizure of Power:). King Emmanuel III was fearing that his kingdom would crumble under the authority of communism, therefore to continue the Kingdom of Italy, he compromised by letting Mussolini become the de facto emperor in order to maintain his prestige. This moment in time illustrates how vulnerable political and business leaders can be when they fall under pressure from the masses. Therefore, it’s in the best interest of the political and business leaders to keep a majority of the population docile, when having a small group of productive individuals that sympathize with their views.
After being appointed Prime Minister, Mussolini was effectively the ruler of Italy and had created a persona of a strict totalitarian leader. He instituted laws that would give him a majority representation in parliament, assassinated Socialist political leaders after saying the election was rigged, implemented secret police to punish his opposition, and pushed propaganda to his various supporters through newspapers, speeches, radio, and other means.
The entire time Mussolini was in power, he was planning for a large war where he could extend Italian territory to cover large land in Europe and restart the once forgotten Roman Empire. He implemented specific laws that would increase the population of Italians which was currently at 40,000,000 to his goal of 60,000,000 that was capable of fighting in a great war. He outlawed contraceptives and advocated for Italian women to birth twice as many children as they did previously (Strang, Bruce On the Fiery March, New York: Praeger, 2003 p. 26). Once again illustrates how Money Changers and politicians view us as numbers and tools. In addition, he was increasing his imperialistic capabilities by taking over territory in Africa that could serve to his benefit when conflict occurred around the Mediterranean Sea.
(Mussolini called himself and was dubbed ‘II Duce’ or ‘the leader’)
When Mussolini took over the Italian economy the civilians were hungry, jobs were hard to come by and the living conditions were extremely poor. For a brief period, Mussolini was able to distract the population from these tragedies by focusing on politics and Italian Nationalism. However, when the Great Depression occurred, there was no hiding from the large amount of economic turmoil that would spill to Italian factories, government, citizens, and families. To make matters worse, Mussolini took the stance of having the government control production of goods and services while boasting that 75% of the economy in Italy was in the hands of the government, which would normally be seen as a communist strategy that he so desperately despised (Piero, Bini 2017). Business Cycles in Economic Thought: A history). Mussolini’s story continues into World War II, but first, we’ll have to take a deeper look into the League of Nations and the causes of the Great Depression that caused death, panic, poverty, homelessness, and starvation around the globe when we look at the United States after World War I.
League of Nations
The League of Nations was the first ever intergovernmental, international, and largescale organization that was created for the purpose of maintaining peace on Earth (Christian, Tomuschat (1995). Officially recognized with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the same year United States President Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his involvement in the creation of the organization, the organization has large goals that at the time seemed unattainable. Built in Geneva, Switzerland, the League had its first meeting in November 1920 and attempted to work together through translation, comprise, and understanding to achieve global peace, but their efforts would quickly be realized as a failure.
The most powerful forces in the League were Britain, France, Italy, and Japan and at its peak had 58 nations as members. However, the largest power, the United States was unwilling to join and the League was unwilling to act militarily and decided to solve the conflict with arbitration and negotiation ("Covenant of the League of Nations"). As a result, the League was exceedingly ineffective and had little to no success in carrying out its goal. When Mussolini began the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, where Italian soldiers invaded, murdered, and imprisoned innocent civilians trying to protect their way of life, he was accused by the League of focusing military efforts on medical facilities maintained by the Red Cross. The league took no response and Mussolini answered by stating “The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out”. Mussolini was trying to say that when negotiations were happening the League could be effective and act as if they were doing good, but they are all talkers. However, when the first shots were fired in battle the League had no power and nobody with the ambition to intervene.
(The first meeting of the Assembly took place on 15 November 1920 at the Salle de la Reformation in Geneva)
Another important factor was the unwillingness of the United States to join the league, that President Wilson had helped create, leaving the organization without the most important country in the world at the time. The Soviet Union was also late to joining the League only after fear of German and Italian military forces in Europe. Nevertheless, the USSR invaded Finland in 1921 and was quickly removed for going against the oath. This lack of global superpowers led to the decline of the League and other countries realized the organization's lack of power and continued on their war path.
Once World War II Broke out in 1939, it was clear the League had failed its mission and did not meet again until its dissolving in 1946, highlighting the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of attempting global cooperation that would be mutually beneficial. When reflecting on the organization and creation of the League of Nations, a shift in focus was occurring in the global society from being entrenched in conflict to attempting negotiations with their enemies which shows the progression being made during the 20th century. Hundreds of millions of people across the globe believed in the illusion of peace the League was portraying, but when all was said and done the league merely represented a false sense of security that wasn’t strong enough to create real change and the entire globe would be at within 20 years of its creation.
I’ll leave you with a quote from a former Nobel Prize winner who had seen the rise and fall of the League of Nations and the birth of the United Nations and will give us an insight into what we can expect in future sections when we discuss World War II “Those who said more armaments would make their nation safe only led their nations to disasters never dreamed of in human history before. Aggressive wars in Manchuria and Chaco in Abyssinia in Spain. The league's collapse, Munich, The second war. The second war; which 17,000,000 killed in battle, 6,000,000 Jews gassed to death, 6,000,000 Pols massacred by firing squads. More than 50,000,000 human beings who lost their lives. The burning of Hamburg of Dresden, of Tokyo. Scores of thousands of little children ran around like human torches in those hellish conflagrations till they died. The oldest fallacy in any language if you want peace prepare for war” (United Nations. The League of Nations: Decline and Fall. Youtube).
(On 25 October 1936, an alliance was declared between Italy and Germany, which came to be known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.)
