IB History - Authoritarian States (Hitler & Mao)

Impact of War:

• German loss in WWI

  • after years of fighting and severe loss of life

• Humiliation of signing the armistice

  • those who signed were known as the ‘November Criminals’

• Resentment from the Treaty of Versailles

  • was considered “a stab in the back” by Germans

  • described as a “diktat” or “dictated peace”

Outcome of TOV:

• Heavy reparations

• Acceptance of Article 231

  • war guilt clause where Germany took full responsibility for starting WWI

• Reduction in military forces

  • German army reduced to 100,000 men

  • no submarines

  • no airforce

• Overseas colonies in Africa and Asia were confiscated

• Loss of territory

  • Alsace-Lorraine was given to France

Social Division:

• Mistrust in the government led people to turn to extremist political groups

  • Communist ideas were popular due to Bolshevik success

• Civil unrest and worker strikes

  • Spartacist Uprising - Jan 1919

• Large socio-economic division between the wealthy aristocracy and poorer workers

Weakness of the Political System

• Germany was a new democratic state

  • have previously been ruled by a monarchy

• Presidents were elected every 7 years

  • they held emergency powers and control over the military

  • Article 48 could easily be abused

  • also had the role of appointing a chancellor

• Democratically elected Reichstag

  • the proportional representation system made it difficult for groups to collaborate, leading to more coalitions forming

Economic Factors

• Reparations of £6.6 billion

  • caused problems for an already weakened German economy

• French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr which was an important industrial area for Germany

  • loss of production

• Hyperinflation crisis - 1923

  • to pay reparations, the government printed more money causing the value of the currency to drop drastically

• Dawes Plan - 1924

  • Germany received a loan of £40 million from America in order to rebuild the German economy

• Wall Street Crash 1929

  • America asked for their loan to be repaid

  • German unemployment rate increased from 1.7m in 1929 to over 8m in 1933

Longterm Economic Problems

• China failed to modernise throughout the 19th century

• Large numbers of people were living in poverty

  • roughly 80% of the population at the start of the 20th century

• Several defeats in war during 19th century

  • First/Second Opium Wars

  • First Sino-Japanese War (which weakened China economically)

• European empires often took advantage of China and successfully imposed unequal treaties

20th Century Economic Problems

• After 1911 Revolution, the Chinese economic system did not improve significantly

• The Warlord Era saw the weakening of China

  • the country became fragmented and divided

• China’s economy was devastated by wars

  • War with Japan 1937-1945

  • Chinese Civil War 1946-1949

• Hyperinflation during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War

  • made conditions for people very difficult

Social Division

• High levels of social inequality leading up to the Chinese Civil War

• Majority of agricultural workers lived in poverty

• Wealth was often focused on urban areas

  • eg. Shanghai

• Increasingly, people were unhappy with Chiang Kai-Shek (Jiang Jieshi) and the GMD

  • saw the CCP as an alternative

Weakness of the Political System

• The early Republic of China under Yuan Shikai only lasted a few years

  • he used increasingly dictatorial methods

• Political systems weakened during the warlord era

• GMD ideology was based on Sun Yat-sen’s teachings (Three Principles of the People: democracy, nationalism and people’s livelihood)

  • Chiang had limited commitment to these principles

• GMD was unpopular with poorer sections of society

  • failed to consolidate control over the whole of China

• The political system introduced by Chiang was conservative and authoritarian

  • seen as ineffective

Impact of War

• First Sino-Japanese War -1895

  • caused tensions between the two countries

• Second Sino-Japanese War - 1937-1945

  • devastated China with intense loss of life (20m Chinese lost their lives) and economic damage

  • weakened GMD control

  • outrage at the many atrocities committed during the war (Nanjing Massacre 1937)

• Chinese Civil War - 1946

  • created conditions for the CCP to take control of the whole of CHina

  • GMD had been significantly weakened by years of fighting with the Japanese

  • Chiang’s authority and popularity declined as a result

Use of Force

• Nazis used violence to intimidate and get their views across

  • paramilitary group, the SA, was led by Ernst Röhm

  • the SA provided security to the party during rallies and also attacked German Communists

• Munich Putsch - Nov 1923

  • Hitler believed the current conditions such as hyperinflation were right for an uprising

  • also felt that the Nazi party had enough support

  • organised in alliance with Genera Ludendorff where around 2000 people marched into the city square supporting the Nazis

• Failure of the Putsch

  • police shot at marchers

  • led to Hitler being arrested and imprisoned

• Secret Police (SS)

  • led by Heinrich Himmler

Leaders

• Hitler quickly established himself as a leader

  • made numerous speeches with popular reception

  • discussed political views including German nationalism, anti-Semitism, anti-Communism and the anger surrounding the end of WWI and TOV

• He became an influential member of the party and often made demands for how Germany should change if they wanted political power

  • demands included unity of German people, abolition of TOV, expansionist foreign policy and no Jewish German citizens

• Hitler’s leadership was challenged by Otto and Gregor Strasser

  • they felt that the party needed to move towards socialism, advocating strikes and more state control of industries

• Left-wing factions came into conflict with Hitler

  • Strasser brothers were eventually defeated in 1930

Ideology

• Following the failure of the Munich Putsch, Hitler used his trial as an opportunity to promote his views

  • gained sympathy from the judge and received a lenient prison sentence

• Hitler wrote ‘Mein Kampf’ during his imprisonment

  • ‘Mein Kampf’ helped to define the Nazi’s ideologic position

  • included anti-Semitism, anti-Communism, racial superiority of Aryans, traditional gender roles within society

• Lebensraum

  • the idea promoted by Hitler that called for German expansion to create more ‘living space’

• Promoted the importance of German economic self-sufficiency or autarky

  • as an attempt to move away from foreign aid such as American loans

• Promoted the view of strong leadership and dismantling of democracy

Ideology

• CCP formed July 1921

• CCP initially followed Marxism-Leninism

• USSR set up the Comintern to spread communism worldwide

  • this had an influence on the early development of the CCP

• A change to the Soviet ideological position emerged

  • mainly through Mao’s teachings and ideas

• Mao spoke regularly about the revolutionary potential of the peasant class

  • they made up the majority of the population

  • reflected in the saying ‘The peasants are the sea; we are the fish. We live in the sea’

• Ideas about land reform and gender equality

• CCP was seen as being committed to nationalism

  • important at the time as Japan was at war with China

Role of Leaders

• Mao played an important role as he was also a military leader

  • led the Autumn Harvest Uprising in Sep 1927

• Used guerilla warfare tactics and used this approach throughout the 1930s to 1940s

• The Long March - 1934-1935

  • where around 100,000 CCP troops fled from the Jiangxi Soviet to Yanan

  • only 20,000 troops survived as they faced harsh weather conditions and had little to no resources

  • was later turned into a Communist folktale of CCP bravery and resilience

Persuasion & Coercion

• Increase in party membership due to its popular policies

  • peasant membership grew from 40,000 in 1937 to 1m in 1945

• CCP particularly appealed to the rural peasantry with

  • policies such as land reform, literacy campaigns, medical programmes, creation of local peasant associations

• Red Army

  • unlike the GMD, rules were taught to the Red Army, such as “be courteous and help out where you can” and “replace all damaged articles”

• Coercion was used and was the threat of force from the CCP

  • communists could veto the local peasant associations if they did not agree with their decisions

Use of Force

• Mao’s ideology indicated an acceptance and willingness for the use of force where necessary

• Land redistribution was often done by force

  • landlords had their land forcefully confiscated which led to violence and sometimes the loss of life

Propaganda

• The Long March - 1934-1935

  • used as propaganda

  • gave Mao and other leaders status

• Cult of Personality

  • increased as his writings and image were promoted by the CCP

• Red Army

  • conduct and rules of the army worked as self-promotion

• Leaders wrote literature to promote the movement

  • Liu Shaoqi wrote ‘How to be a Good Communist’ 1939

Chinese Civil War 1945-1949

• Japan defeated in 1945

  • GMD and CCP turned on each other

• US acted as a mediator but failed to deliver lasting peace between the two parties

• Despite early GMD success, they lost multiple campaigns and eventually retreated to Taiwan in 1949

Economic Factors: