SGQ #4

9-29-09

QW's:

1. “The aims and policies of single-party state rulers rarely followed their declared ideology.” To what extent do you agree with this assertion?
2. Compare and contrast the rise to power of two rulers of single-party states, each chosen from a different region.

MWH 309-318

1. What did National Socialism (actually Hitler's Nazism) stand for?
A. What were the movement's four general principles?
i. "national community" formed by all classes and parties united
ii. the ruthlessly efficient organization of all aspects of the lives of the masses (interests of state came before peoples interests)
iii. the entire state must be organized on a military footing, since it was likely that greatness could only be achieved by war
iv. "the race theory" - Aryan race, free of Jews, Slavs, homosexuals, etc

B. What evidence suggests Nazism was a "natural development of German history"?
i. British and American historians it was "a natural extension of earlier Prussian militarism and German traditions"
ii. Marxists historians believed National Socialism and fascism in general were the final stage of Western capitalism
iii. Sir Lewis Namier (Polish Jew historian) said that individual Germans are "useful, decent citizens, but in groups... are apt to develop tendencies that make them a menace to their fellow-men".

C . What evidence suggests Nazism was a "distortion of normal development" of German history?
Historians like Gerhard Ritter and K. D. Bracher argued that Hitler was striving to break away from the past and introduce something completely new.

D . What evidence suggests Nazism was a bit of both?
As said by Ian Kershaw, "the mentalities... of the elites and the masses which made Hitler's rise possible, were products of strands of German political culture" and "without the unique conditions in which he came to prominence, Hitler would have been nothing... he exploited the conditions brilliantly."

2. How did Hitler consolidate his power?
A. Actions leading up to the March election of 1933
i. Tried to whip up a majority using "all apparatus of state" including press and radio
ii. senior police officers were replaced with reliable nazis and 50,000 auxiliary policemen were called up
iii. meetings of all parties except nazis and nationalists were wrecked and speakers beat up
B. The Reichstag fire
i. what happened?
February 27 PM, Reichstag burned down apparently by a young Dutch anarchist called van der Lubbe (who the SA probably knew about and actually helped to start fires, so they could blame it on the communists)
ii. what did it mean?
That Hitler could use the fire to stir up fear of communism and ban the party. However, the Nazis still did not win enough seats to be the majority, so they were still dependent on the support of the nationalists (led by Papen and Hugenburg)

3. How was Hitler able to stay in power?
A. What was the Enabling Law?
It stated that the gov't could introduce laws without the approval of the Reichstag (laws would be drafted by the chancellor and put into effect the day they were published) for the next 4 years, could ignore the constitution and could sign agreements with foreign countries
B. How did the Enabling Law pass?
Such a major law needed a 2/3 majority, but Hitler surrounded the Reichstag meeting place (The Kroll Opera House) with his SS and SA, chanting "We want the bill, or fire and murder", and when the Catholic Centre Party voted for it... It passed by 441 to 94 votes.
C. What was gleichschaltung?
Hitler's policy of forcible co-ordination which turned germany into a totalitarian or fascist state. the gov't tried to control as many aspects of life as possible, using a huge police force and the Gestapo.

D. What were the characteristics of gleichschaltung?
i. ONE PARTY STATE; All political parties other than National Socialists banned
ii. Separate state parliaments lose all power, most functions taken over by a Nazi Special Commissioner. No more state, provincial, or municipal elections
iii. "The civil service was purged" (Jews and enemies of the state gotten rid of)
iv. Trade unions, a likely source of resistance, were abolished, their funds confiscated and leaders arrested. Replaced by german Labour Front, to which all workers had to belong and no strikes were allowed.
v. Education system closely controlled (distorted textbooks, professors closely monitored). Also, Hitler Youth (broke family bonds, taught children first duty to Hitler)
vi. Bans placed on contraceptives to help Aryan women have children; all "unfit" members of society were forcibly sterilized
vii. All communications and the media were controlled by the Minister of Propaganda (e.g. books considered "un-german" were banned
viii. How was the economic life of the country organized?
a. telling industrials what or what not to produce
b. moving workers to where labor was needed
c. encouraging farmers to increase agricultural yields
d. controlling food prices and rents
e. manipulating foreign exchange rates to avoid inflation
f. introducing vast schemes of public works (slum clearance, land drainage, and motorway building
g. forcing other countries to buy german goods (either refusing to pay cash for imports to germany, or by refusing permission to foreigners w/ german bank accounts to withdraw cash, so they had to spend it on german goods)
h. reduce dependence on foreign countries: manufacture synthetic rubber and wool + experiment to produce petrol from coal
i. increasing expenditure on armaments (1938-9 [in "peacetime"]: military budget was 52% of gov't spending)
ix. How was religion handled? : brought under state control
a. Catholics
1933 Hitler's Concordat with the Pope (would not interfere with church in any way), but then gov't broke that, dissolved catholic youth league, closed catholic schools down, and sent thousands of nuns and priests to concentration camps
b. Protestants
Hitler tried to organize protestant groups into a 'Reich Church'; when pastors protested, they were sent to concentration camps. But they continued to be the only constant quietly resistant group.

x. Above all, germany was a police state (police helped by Gestapo and SS to try and control all opposition to the state and send people to concentration camps etc. However, police were actually understaffed and relied heavily on common people coming forward with information.

xi. Anti-Semitism
a. how was it legalized?
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 deprived jews of their german citizenship, forbade them to marry non-Jews...
b. examples of the law being carried out
1. Kristallnacht November 1938
2. Hollocaust
3. ?

E. How popular were Hitler's policies?
i. personal appeal - Hitler's use of huge military parades, displays, etc. appealed to the masses because it seemed he was offering action and a great new Germany.

ii. unemployment - Very successful and hence popular: huge public schemes, expanding party and administrative posts, and elimination of Jews etc. holding jobs provided jobs for many germans

iii. working people - the abolition of trade unions was made up for through the benefits from the Strength through Joy Organization: subsidized holidays in germany and abroad, cruises... holidays with pay, control of rents.

iv. upper class - wealthy industrialists and businessmen now felt safe from a communist revolution, were rid of trade unions, and felt promises about profit from public work schemes and rearmament

v. farmers - nazi aim of self-sufficiency in food production -> fixed prices on food assured profit. Also, farms were made hereditary and had to be passed on to next of kin, so farmers could not be forced to pay off debts by having their farms taken away

vi. the Army -
a. officers - liked Hitler because of his much publicized aim of setting aside the restrictions of the versailles Treaty by rearmament and expansion of army to full size

b. lower ranks - steady infiltration of National Socialists

c. Night of Long Knives - impressing to army leaders (how Hitler had "handled" the troublesome SA ["gangsters" led by a homosexual who wanted to be made a general] on June 30, 1934 by having the SS murder them)

vii. foreign policy - (see section 5.3) brilliant success! : breach of versailles, March 1938 Anschluss with Austria (Germany takes over Austria and gains good position for Italy and France, etc.

IRL #2

Link: http://books.google.com/books?id=ebL637EJW7QC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=ideology+examples+hitler+and+stalin/lenin&source=bl&ots=JVDjQUOIJj&sig=Q2oVTyzQpdLo5eJ1AJaknkyCcXE&hl=en&ei=oDS6StKpEdaw8Qan1OiMCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9#v=onepage&q=&f=false

This is a section from a Googlebook called "Political Ideologies: a Comparative Approach" By Mostafa Rejai, "Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Miami University, Ohio" who has written/co-authored many books about history, so I think this can be taken as pretty reliable. It connects to what we're studying in class because it's about the ideologies of totalitarianism, communism, fascism, and nazism, and refers specifically to Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, etc. It enhances our definitions that we made in class of said ideologies by clearly and simply explaining, with some details and examples: the components that comprise each ideology, the organization of authority, and how the ideologies were enforced. A limitation faced when using this source is that much of the information is given in vague or general terms such as "let us return to the two principal features of totalitarianism: ideology and organization"; some of it could be better supported with more specific details and examples to further back up his claims and provide more understanding for readers.

IRL#1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/39528.stm

This is an online BBC news article, obviously produced by the British Broadcasting Company, although the reporter/journalist or whoever wrote the article specifically is not listed.
It connects to what we're studying in class because, while this is not current news (the article is from 1997), it gives an example of another nation that became a single-party state, and by studying how Cuba came to that place of being controlled by the Communists, we would be able to farther verify our views on whether or not there is a specific set of circumstances which lead to single-party states (if Cuba shared similar or different circumstances compared to Germany, Russia, and China that led to it becoming a single-party state).
Something that could be considered a limitation for learning about single-party states from this source is that Britain is a capitalist, non-single-party state and therefore could present Cuba's situation and the response of the Communist Cuban government in a negative light, or their BBC "correspondent in Havana" could be sending them information that speaks badly about the actions of the government.
The greatest limitation of using this source is that it does not really, in itself, help to answer our questions about the RISE of single party states, it simply gives us another nation's example, but then I used that to do a little research about the circumstances Cuba was in before becoming a single-party state...

This site is a Wikidot for IB history, which is probably maintained by people like the people who maintain Wikipedia, so... I would want to do more research definitely (perhaps from a few of the sites listed on this page: http://www.casahistoria.net/cuba.htm#Background to Castro´s revolution: ) before I entrusted my life based on this information (especially since there are typos on the page which doesn't speak great things about its professionalism), but for now I'm willing to trust the basic ideas of what it says since they sound pretty familiar and I don't have time right now to go looking up every detail... This "enhances" our learning by providing a new example and details about single party states.

link: http://ibhistory.wikidot.com/the-rise-and-rule-of-single-party-states

Information from site that relates to what we're studying in class:
factors/circumstances in Cuba: (common with Germany, Russia, and China: -foreign influence (USA) -sucky economy -sort of lost war [Cuban missile crisis of 1962]), (unique to Cuba: lack of reliable democratic system)

SGQ#3

MWH p. 405-412

1. Revolution and the warlord era
a. Explain the three major crises of this era?
i. Europeans started to force their way into China to take advantage of trading opportunities (i.e. British and the Opium Wars)
ii. Taiping Rebellion (1850-64)
iii. China was defeated in a war with Japan (1894-5) and lost territory (led to Boxer Uprising against foreign influences)
b. What was the immediate cause of the 1911 revolution?
The revolution began among soldiers in Wuchang in October 1911, and most provinces quickly declared themselves independent of Beijing (this led to the govt asking yuan shih-kai to help them, but he ended up taking over and naming himself emperor before losing the army's support and dieing.
c. What were the two important positive developments that took place during the Warlord Era?
i. The May Fourth Movement (1919): anti-warlords, anti-traditional chinese culture, anti-japanese
ii. The Kuomintang or Nationalist Party gradually grew stronger and succeeded in bringing the warlords under control by 1928.

2. The Kuomintang, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and Chiang Kai-shek
a. What were Sun Yat-sen's three goals for China?
i. nationalism (rid china of foreign influence and build her into a strong, united, respected power
ii. democracy (china shouldn't be ruled by warlords but by people-once educated)
iii. land reform (long-term policy of economic development and redistribution of land to the peasants, but without confiscation of the landlords' property)
b. What three steps did Chiang take to consolidate power?
i. 1926 set out on the Northern March to destroy warlords
ii. 1927 decided communists were becoming too powerful (communists expelled from the KMT and thousands massacred)
iii. ? the Kuomintang govt proved to be a great disappointment to most of the chinese people...

3. Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party
a. How did the Communists survive the extermination campaigns?
Led by Mao Zedong,They took to the mountains and concentrated on building up the red army, then when surrounded by KMT army, they moved base elsewhere and were able to control the provinces of Shensi and Kansu.
b. Why did Mao and the Communists gain support?
i. inefficiency and corruption of the KMT in gov't (only interested in landowners bankers and industrialists, no mass support)
ii. little improvement of factory conditions (widespread bribery of inspectors etc)
iii. no improvement in peasant poverty (high taxes, forced labor), whereas communists offered restricted rents and seized landowners property and gave it to peasants
iv. KMT put up no effective resistance to the japanese, then when japanese started beating KMT, communists presented themselves as nationalists and won support

4. Briefly summarize how the CCP won their struggle with the KMT, and give 2 reasons
Incensed about the japanese invasion, some of his own troops captured him and he was forced to agree to a fresh alliance with the CCP... then when japanese defeated, KMT and CCP locked in power struggle. Despite american help to the KMT, communist army was still really strong and big, and the KMT fell apart under direct attack. CCP took Beijing, then Chiang fled to taiwan and CCP took over with Mao as chairman.
Why: 1. Communists' land policy was popular, and gov't was honest and fair, compared to KMT who printed extra $ and caused inflation...
2. CCP leaders were shrewd enough to take advantage of KMT weaknesses and their armies were carefully prepared and competent.

SGQ#2

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
To what extent is there a set of circumstances that will predict the rise of a single party state?

RUSSIA: Modern World History p. 339-343

Were the revolutions of 1917 inevitable?

A. Reforms under Nicholas II
1. How was Nicholas able to survive the 1905 revolution?

i. his opponents were not united

ii. there was no central leadership (the whole thing having flared up spontaneously)

iii. He compromised with the October Manifesto, promising concessions

iv. most of the army remained loyal


2. What reforms did Nicholas institute?
i. improvements in industrial working conditions and pay

ii. cancellation of peasants' redemption payments

iii. more freedom for the press

iv. genuine democracy in which the Duma would play an important part in running the country

3. What happened to the Dumas?
The first one was rigged to elect select people, but still imposed reforms too drastic for Nicholas, so he had them dispersed by troops after only 10 weeks. The second suffered the same fate, so Nicholas changed the voting system to deprive peasants and urban workers of the vote. The third and fourth Dumas lasted longer because they had no actual power (Nicholas had control of the secret police and the ministers).



B. Strengths of the regime
1. how did Stolypin gain support of some peasants?

i. Redemption payments abolished

ii. Peasants were encouraged to buy their own land

iii. what is a kulak? a comfortably-off peasant on whom the government could rely for support against revolution (so stolypin hoped)

2. how did the regime gain support among industrial workers?
Factories came under the control of inspectors, improving working conditions, insurance scheme introduced


3. other positive signs for the regime

i. A 1914 program for "universal education within 10 yrs", extra 50,000 primary schools opened

ii. the revolutionary parties seemed to have lost heart (leaders in exile etc.)



C. Weaknesses of the regime
1. why were Stolypin's land reforms failing?

i. Peasant population growing too rapidly

ii. Farming methods too inefficient to support growing populations adequately

2. what was the trend with industrial strikes in the years leading to WWI?
2000 separate strikes in 1912, 2400 in 1913, and over 4000 in the 1st 7 months (more and more, things maybe getting better but not good enough)


3. what three groups did the government especially target for repression?

i. peasants

ii. industrial workers

iii. intelligentsia (educated classes)



4. revolutionary parties - what did each hope for?

i. Bolsheviks - a small disciplined party of professional revolutionaries who would work full-time to bring about a revolution

ii. Mensheviks - stuck with Marxism and a proletarian revolution, industrial workers needed to be in majority over peasants

iii. Social Revolutionaries - a mainly agrarian society based on peasant communities operating collectively (did not approve of increasing industrialization or proletarian revolution)



5. How was the royal family tainted by scandal?

i. Stolypin's death - Nicholas was suspected to have taken part in the murder

ii. Rasputin - his drunkenness and numerous affairs with court ladies and the Duma requested he be sent away from the court



D. World War I
What were considered failures in Russia's effort in WWI?

i. Incompetent and corrupt organization

ii. Shortage of equipment

iii. Poor transport organization and distribution meant arms and ammunition were slow to reach the front.

iv. Trains were monopolized by the military.

v. Nicholas made the fatal mistake of appointing himself supreme commander; his tactical blunders threw away all the advantages won by Brusilov's offensive, and drew on himself the blame for later defeats, and for the high death rate

SGQ #1

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
To what extent is there a set of circumstances that will predict the rise of a single party state?

GERMANY: Modern World History p. 301-309

Why did the Weimar Republic fail?

A. Disadvantages
1. why was Versailles "humiliating" and "unpopular"?
i. treaty's acceptance of arms limitations, reparations, and war guilt clause
ii. always associated with defeat and dishonor
iii. German nationalists hated this
2. who did people generally believe should run the country?
i. the army and the "officer class"
were the German people justified in the view? why/why not?
ii. no because they didn't realize it was General Ludendorff who has asked for an armistice while the Kaiser was in power
3. what weaknesses existed in the Weimar parliamentary system?
i. it was based on a system of proportional representation, but there were so many different groups that no party could ever win an overall majority
ii. a succession of coalition governments was inevitable; no party was able to carry out its program
4. why did the political parties have no experience?
i. before 1919, it had really been the Chancellor with all the authority
how did the political parties deal with their bitter rivalries?
ii. by organizing their own private armies, which led to more threat of civil war, outbreaks of violence, and attempts to overthrow the republic

B. Outbreaks of Violence
1. Sparticists
i. who was behind it?
The communists, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
ii. how bad was it?
kind of bad, considering the communists were in every major city, President Ebert was beseiged in the chancellory in Berlin, the government had to ask for the help of anti-communist ex-army officers (Freikorps) and it ended in the 2 communist leaders being clubbed to death
iii. how was it defeated?
The Freikorps helped the govt fight off the communists

2. Kapp Putsch
i. who was behind it?
the Freikorps, who refused the govt's order to disband and declared Dr Wolfgang Kapp as Chancellor
ii. how bad was it?
maybe not so bloody, but the german army refused to do anything because the generals were in agreement with Freikorps, and then after the strike of the Berlin workers which froze the capital, the government still ended up really weak
iii. how was it defeated?
The strike of berlin workers forced Kapp to resign and the gov't regained control, but it was really weak and could barely disband the Freikorps

3. assassinations
i. who was behind it?
Mainly ex-Freikorps members (victims: the Jewish foreign minister and the leader of the armistice delegation)
ii. how bad was it?
Not bad in one respect because the government was not allowed to punish the criminals severely because of right-wing resistance, so there wasn't horrible violence or anything. But it was bad for the government!!

4. Beer Hall Putsch
i. who was behind it?
Hitler, helped by General Ludendorff
ii. how bad was it?
easily broken up, so not so bad
iii. how was it defeated?
The police easily broke up Hitler's march ("national revolution") from Munich to overthrow the gov't in Berlin. Hitler was sentenced to 5 yrs in jail but only served 9 months because Bavarian authorities "has some sympathy with his aims"

5. private armies expand
i. who was behind it?
Every party, especially the Nazis and communists who had regular street fights
ii. how bad was it?
No major battles, only minor fights, but really decreased people's confidence in government; they wanted to return to a strong, authoritarian govt which would maintain strict public order
iii. how was it defeated?
All parties had their meetings broken up by rival armies, but the police seemed powerless to prevent it happening (it wasn't really defeated)

C. Economic problems
1. why was Germany facing bankruptcy?
The enormous expense of the war, which had lasted much longer than most people expected.
2. what was the problem with the reparations payments?
Germany didn't have the money... in 1921 they payed the 50mill due, then requested permission to suspend payments till her economy recovered, but france refused
3. how did France attempt to deal with the reparations issue?
Since germany couldn't make her annual payments, France occupied the Ruhr in an attempt to seize goods from factories and mines. -> German workers stop working, so Ruhr is paralyzed and value of mark falls

E. Nazi popularity

1. how did the Nazis propose to fulfill their promises?
i. by ridding Germany of all the people who were the "real problem" (Marxists, Jews, etc)
ii. They promised to overthrow the Versailles settlement and then bring all Germans into the Reich
2. i.What was the SA?
"Storm Troopers", the Nazi private army
ii. Why was the SA so popular?
Because it gave a small wage and a uniform to jobless people
3. Where did the fear of communism come from?
Wealthy landowners and industrialists (capitalists)
4. What were Hitler's political abilities?
i. energy
ii. willpower
iii. gift for public speaking
iv. use of latest modern communication techniques (mass rallies, parades, film, radio, travelling all over Germany in a plane)
5. What kinds of people supported the Nazis?
Working class, lower middle classes (office-workers, shop-keepers, civil servants, teachers and small-scale farmers)