World War I Aftermath, Russian Revolution, and 1929 Crisis
The Aftermath of World War I
The Peace:
- Daily suffering and destruction: 8-10 million casualties and 600,000 wounded.
- Bankruptcy: only Japan and the US profited (gold stock and creditors).
Conference of Paris (1919-20)
- USA: Wilson, Fourteen Points: A new world based on democracy and nation.
- France: Clemenceau: Destroy Germany, reclaim Alsace and Lorraine, create a buffer state in Renania.
- UK: Lloyd: Balance.
- Italy: Orlando: Territories in the Dalmatian coast.
- Japan: Makino Nabouaki: Territories.
Treaties of Peace
- Versailles: Germany
- Saint Germain: Austria
- Trianon: Hungary
- Sèvres: Turkey
- Neuilly: Bulgaria
Consequences
- Dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and German Empires.
- 9 new states: Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Hungary.
- Germany: Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Humiliation:
- Ceded territories to Belgium, Poland, France, Denmark.
- Occupation of Renania (15 years).
- France: did not get a security system; aggressive attitude.
- Italy and Japan: dissatisfaction.
- Birth of the first socialist country: Soviet Union.
- Turkey guaranteed its independence and integrity under the control of President Ataturk after defeating the Greeks (1919-1922).
League of Nations (1st January 1920)
International institution whose main task was to avoid future conflicts and bring stability to the world:
- Based in Geneva (Switzerland).
- Assembly: all the members.
- Council: presided over the Assembly. Only the allies.
- US Senate rejected US participation.
- Germany and Russia were not allowed to join.
The New Deal
Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal: political programs based on the ideas of the economist Keynes, advocating state intervention in the economy.
Key Aspects of the New Deal:
- Creation of public companies in sectors without private investments.
- The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933: subsidies to the industry with the aim of stimulating its recovery. Gigantic public works projects (roads, marshes, etc.): 13 million unemployed.
- Control over banks: Banking Act of 1933: increase of reserves to guarantee solvency.
- Reduction of working week to 40 hours.
- The National Labor Relations Act: regulated the relations between employers and workers. Minimum wage and the maximum working day. The first federal unemployment and pension insurance system was created.
- Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA of 1933): Decrease of the production. This reduction was achieved in exchange for compensation received by farmers. The result was the rise of the prices on the harvests.
The Russian Revolution of 1917
The February Revolution
The fall of tsarism:
- 23rd February: large demonstration in Petrograd (St Petersburg); general strike; riot in the barracks.
- Deposement of Tsar Nicholas: provisional government (Liberal) promised reforms and the distribution of lands.
- There was a duality of powers:
- Soviets: workers. Kerensky. They wanted peace with Germany and wanted Nicholas’ abdication.
- Duma: aristocracy. Lvov. For the participation in WWI.
- Amnesty: Lenin came back from exile and wrote with Trotsky April Thesis: all the power to the soviets. Their objective was to erase the provisional government and to create a Marxist-socialist system.
We believe the war has changed, from the point of view of Russia (…) into an imperialist war of pillage (…)
What is particular to the Russian Revolution is the transition of the first phase of the revolution, which has given power to the middle class (…) to the second phase, which should give power to the proletariat and the poor peasantry.
We do not support the Provisional Government.
(…) explain to the masses that the Soviet of workers’ Deputies is the only form of revolutionary government.
- Uprisings:
- Bolsheviks: failure. Lenin fled to Finland. Trotsky was arrested.
- Counter-revolutionaries: Cossack Kornilov. Stopped by Bolsheviks.
The October Revolution
The October Revolution brings the Bolsheviks to power:
- The Bolsheviks had created their own army: the Red Guards.
- Kerensky did not have the army’s support.
- Rebels took the Winter Palace (Petrograd) and overthrew the Provisional government.
- The revolution spread out to Moscow and other industrial regions.
- The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets proclaimed a worker’s government.
- The Communism had begun:
- Totalitarianism
- Terrorism
- Elimination of all opposition
- Concentration of power in one party: Bolsheviks
- Concentration of party in one person: Lenin
- Soviet decrees (Decretos de octubre)
- Retirement of WWI T. of Brest-Litovsk with Germany
- Expropriation of lands and distribution among peasants
- Creation of workers’ committees to control the factories
- Nationalisation of banks and transports
- Recognition of the nationalities
With these measures they tried to win the elections held for the Constituent Assembly. But they only got the 25% of the seats. Lenin dissolved the assembly and put an end to political pluralism.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929
Many people started to invest in the stock market. There was a huge stock market boom, and citizens invested their savings to buy shares. However, these shares were overestimated, and the possibility of a financial disaster was real.
The 24th October 1929 (Black Thursday) mistrust spread among the investors and they sold their shares but nobody bought them…
Share’s value plummeted and triggered the Wall Street Crash.
People went to banks to retire their money, but these couldn’t provide it because most of the money was lent to particular and businesses which had ruined with the Crash of the Stock Market. The situation got worse when on 29 October (Black Tuesday) a massive selling of shares provoked panic again.
There was no money inside the United States, so the American government ordered to withdraw all the loans given to Europeans to rebuild the continent. When this money was withdrawn the crisis reached Europe.