CHAPTER 29
The World between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and
Authoritarian Response
Chapter Outline Summary
I. The Roaring Twenties
A. Bouncing Back?
Enormous challenges
Optimism, creativity
Cubism
Women
lost place in workforce
gained voting rights
B. Other Industrial Centers
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
independence
British Commonwealth of Nations
United States
economic boom
isolationism
“Red Scare”
Japan
strong economy
C. New Authoritarianism: The Rise of Fascism
Rise, late 1800s
Benito Mussolini
government, 1922
suspended elections, 1926
D. The New Nations of East Central Europe
Authoritarian governments dominated
E. A Balance Sheet
Representative governments
e.g. Germany, Canada, Japan
Social change, economic prosperity
Democracy challenged
Italy, central Europe
American, Japanese powerful
II. Revolution: The First Waves
A. Mexico’s Upheaval
Porfirio Díaz
ruler since 1876
Economy
foreign control
Francisco Madero
1910, arrested
Díaz won election
Rebellion
Madero, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata
Díaz removed
1913, Madero assassinated
Victoriano Huerta
returned to Díaz’ style of rule
forced from power, 1914
General Alvaro Obregón
Civil war over by 1920
Obregón first elected president
1917, new constitution
Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940)
land redistributed
ejidos
education expanded
B. Culture and Politics in Postrevolutionary Mexico
Indian culture influential
Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco
Cristeros
conservative peasant movement
PRI (Party of the Institutionalized Revolution)
origins in 1920s
C. Revolution in Russia: Liberalism to Communism
Revolution, 1917
Alexander Kerensky
provisional government
November, 1917
Bolsheviks (Communist Party)
Lenin
closed parliament
Congress of Soviets
1918–1921
reaction against communism
D. Stabilization of Russia’s Communist Regime
Leon Trotsky
Red Army
Lenin’s New Economic Policy, 1921
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1923
E. Soviet Experimentation
Gains for workers, women
Lenin
death, 1924
succeeded by Stalin
F. Toward Revolution in China
Last Qing emperor abdicated, 1912
Yuan Shikai
headed coalition
Japan invaded
G. China’s May Fourth Movement and the Rise of the Marxist Alternative
Sun Yatsen
Revolutionary Alliance
elected president, 1911
parliament
resigned, 1912
Yuan became president
created new regime
Japan
Twenty-one demands to Yuan
Yuan refused
control confirmed by Versailles
May 4, 1919
mass demonstrations
call for Western political reform
Li Dazhou
Marxism adopted to Chinese situation
Mao Zedong influenced by Dazhou
Communist Party of China, 1921
H. The Seizure of Power by China’s Guomindang
Guomindang (Nationalist Party of China)
Sun Yatsen
allied with Communists
supported by Soviet Union
Whampoa Military Academy, 1924
Chiang Kai-shek, first leader
I. Mao and the Peasant Option
Chiang Kai-shek
succeeded as head of Guomindang, 1925
began civil war, to 1949
Mao Zedong
Long March to Shanxi, 1934
III. The Global Great Depression
A. Causation
Recession, 1920–1921
B. The Debacle
October, 1929
New York Stock Market crash
Depression deepens, 1929–1933
Soviet Union
immune
West
welfare programs
C. Responses to the Depression in Western Europe
Governments had little impact
radicalism attractive
Popular Front, 1936
Liberals, Socialists, Communists
D. The New Deal
Franklin Roosevelt
III. The Authoritarian Response
A. The Rise of Nazism
Fascism, 1920s
Adolf Hitler
National Socialist party
1932 elections
anti-Semitism
1933, took power
totalitarian
Rhineland
occupied, 1936
no response
Anschlutz, 1938
Sudetan Land, 1938-1939
Invasion of Poland, 1939
B. The Spread of Fascism and the Spanish Civil War
Mussolini
Ethiopia, 1935
Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939
Germany, Italy support right
Russia, Western volunteers support left
Japan invaded China, 1937
Axis, 1940
Germany, Italy, Japan
C. Economic and Political Changes in Latin America
Economic expansion
Reaction to liberalism
D. The Great Crash and Latin American Responses
Conservatives
corporatism
Fascism
Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940)
reform
Cuba
revolution, 1933
E. The Vargas Regime in Brazil
1929 Election
civil war
Gétulio Vargas, president
Vargas
reform
new constitution, 1937
influenced by Mussolini
suicide, 1954
F. Argentina: Populism, Perón, and the Military
Economic collapse, 1929
Nationalists
took control, 1943
Juan d. Perón
wife, Eva Duarte
coalition government
driven from power, 1955
maintains influence
Death of Perón, 1974
return of military rule
G. The Militarization of Japan
Nationalists
Revolts, 1932, 1936
military gained power
Tojo Hideki
influence over prime ministers
War with China, 1937
military ascendant
by 1938
control of Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan
H. Industrialization and Recovery
Industrialization from 1931
I. Stalinism in the Soviet Union
From1927
Industrialization
J. Economic Policies
Collectivization, 1928
mechanization
kulaks resist
suppression
Five-year plans
factories
K. Toward an Industrial Society
L. Totalitarian Rule
Harsh suppression of criticism
1939, ally with Hitler
KEY TERMS
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928): a multination treaty, sponsored by American and French leaders, that
outlawed war.
Cubist movement: headed by Pablo Picasso; rendered familiar objects as geometrical shapes.
Fascism: political ideology that became predominant in Italy under Benito Mussolini during the 1920s;
attacked the weakness of democracy and the corruption and class conflict of capitalism; promised
vigorous foreign and military programs.
Benito Mussolini: Fascist premier of Italy (r. 1922–1943); formed the fascio di combattimento in 1919.
Syndicalism: organization of industrial workers to control the means of production and distribution.
British Commonwealth of Nations: free association of former British dominions states on equal terms
formed in 1926.
Henry Ford: introduced the assembly line in 1913; allowed semiskilled workers to put products together
through repetitive operations.
Mexican Revolution, 1910–1920: civil war; challenged Porfio Díaz in 1910 and initiated a revolution
after losing fraudulent elections.
Francisco Madero: moderate democratic Mexican reformer; assassinated in 1913.
Pancho Villa: Mexican revolutionary leader in northern Mexico after 1910.
Emiliano Zapata: Mexican revolutionary commander of a guerrilla movement centered at Morelos;
demanded sweeping land reform.
Victoriano Herta: came to power in Mexico, 1913; forced from power 1914; tried to install Díaz-style
government.
Alvaro Obregón: Mexican general; emerged as leader of government in 1915; later elected president.
Mexican Constitution of 1917: promised land and educational reform, limited foreign ownership,
guaranteed rights for workers, and restricted clerical education and property ownership; never fully
implemented.
Lázaro Cárdenas: Mexican president (1934–1940); responsible for large land redistribution to create
communal farms; also began program of primary and rural education.
Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco: Mexican artists working after the Mexican Revolution;
famous for wall murals on public buildings that mixed images of the Indian past with Christian and
communist themes.
Corridos: popular ballads written to celebrate heroes of the Mexican Revolution.
Cristeros: conservative peasant movement in Mexico during the 1920s; a reaction against secularism.
Party of Institutionalized Revolution (PRI): inclusive Mexican political party developing from the
1920s; ruled for the rest of the 20th century.
Soviet: council of workers; seized the government of St. Petersburg in 1917 to precipitate the Russian
Revolution.
Aleksander Kerensky: liberal revolutionary leader during the early stages of the Russian Revolution of
1917; attempted development of parliamentary rule, but supported continuance of the war against
Germany.
Russian Communist Party: Bolshevik wing of the Russian socialists; came to power under Lenin in the
November 1917 revolution.
Council of People’s Commissars: government council composed of representatives from Russian
soviets and headed by Lenin; came to power after November 1917.
Social Revolutionary Party: majority vote winners in first elections after November 1917; removed
from office by Bolsheviks.
Congress of Soviets: Lenin’s parliamentary institution based on Soviets under Bolshevik domination;
replaced the Social Revolutionary Party.
Red Army: built up under the leadership of Leon Trotsky; its victories secured communist power after
the early years of turmoil following the Russian Revolution.
New Economic Policy (NEP): initiated in 1921 by Lenin; combined the state establishing basic
economic policies with individual initiative; allowed food production to recover.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.): Russian federal system controlled by the Communist
Party established in 1923.
Supreme Soviet: communist-controlled parliament of the U.S.S.R.
Comintern: Communist International, an organization under dominance of the U.S.S.R.; designed to
encourage the spread of communism in the rest of the world.
Joseph Stalin: Lenin’s successor as leader of the U.S.S.R.; strong nationalist view of communism;
crushed opposition to his predominance; ruled U.S.S.R. until his death in 1953.
Collectivization: creation of large state-run farms replacing individual holdings; allowed mechanization
of agriculture and more efficient control over peasants.
Yuan Shikai: warlord in northern China after the fall of the Qing dynasty; president of China in 1912;
hoped to become emperor, but blocked in 1916 by Japanese intervention in China.
Sun Yatsen: head of the Revolutionary Alliance that led the 1911 revolt against the Qing; president of
China in 1911, but yielded to Yuan Shikai in 1912; created the Guomindang in 1919; died in 1925.
May Fourth Movement: acceptance at Versailles of Japanese gains in China during World War I led to
demonstrations and the beginning of a movement to create a liberal democracy.
Li Dazhao: Chinese Marxist intellectual; rejected traditional views and instead saw peasants as the
vanguard of socialist revolution; influenced Mao Zedong.
Guomindang (National Party): founded by Sun Yatsen in 1919; main support from urban
businesspeople and merchants; dominated by Chiang Kai-shek after 1925.
Whampoa Military Academy: Guomindang military academy founded in 1924 with Soviet support; its
first director was Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek: leader of the Guomindang from 1925; contested with the communists for control of
China until defeated in 1949.
Mao Zedong: Communist leader who advocated the role of the peasantry in revolution; led the
Communists to victory and ruled China from 1949 to 1976.
Long March: Communist retreat under Guomindang pressure in 1934; shifted center of communist
power to Shanxi province.
Popular Front: alliance of French Socialist, Liberal, and Communist parties; won election in 1936;
blocked from reform efforts by conservative opposition; fell in 1938.
New Deal: President Franklin Roosevelt’s program to combat economic depression.
Totalitarian state: a 20th century form of government that exercised direct control over all aspects of its
subjects; existed in Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, and other Communist states.
Popular Front: alliance of French socialist, liberal, and communist parties; won election in 1936;
blocked from reform efforts by conservative opposition; fell in 1938.
New Deal: President Franklin Roosevelt’s program to combat economic depression.
Totalitarian state: a 20th-century form of government that exercised direct control over all aspects of its
subjects; existed in Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, and other Communist states.
Gestapo: German secret police under Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Spanish Civil War: civil war between republican and autocratic supporters; with support from Germany
and Italy, the autocratic regime of Francisco Franco triumphed.
Import substitution economies: Latin American and other nations’ effort to produce what had formerly
been imported.
Corporatism: conservative political movement emphasizing the organic nature of society, with the state
as mediator between different groups.
Getúlio Vargas: became president of Brazil following a contested election of 1929; led an authoritarian
state; died in 1954.
Juan Perón: dominant authoritarian and populist leader in Argentina from the mid-1940s; driven into
exile in 1955; returned and elected president in 1973; died in 1974.
Eva Duarte (Evita): wife of Juan Perón; the regime’s spokesperson for the lower social classes; died in
1952.
Tojo Hideki: Japanese general who dominated internal politics from the mid-1930s; gave the military
dominance over civilian cabinets.
Spanish Civil War: civil war between republican and autocratic supporters; with support from Germany
and Italy, the autocratic regime of Francisco Franco triumphed.
Import substitution economies: Latin American and other nations’ effort to produce what had formerly
been imported.