Case Studies: Dictatorship and Democracy 1920–1945 (2022) by Edco Ireland

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Later Modern History of Europe and the Wider World: Topic 3

LEAVING CERTIFICATE 2024 AND 2025

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Case Studies: Dictatorship and Democracy 1920–1945

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Stephen Tonge

The Educational Company of Ireland

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Published 2022 The Educational Company of Ireland Ballymount Road Walkinstown

www.edco.ie

Dublin 12

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A member of the Smurfit Kappa Group plc

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior permission of the Publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in Ireland issued by the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency,

25 Denzille Lane, Dublin 2.

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ISBN 978-1-80230-005-5

Layout and cover design: Graftrónaic

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Indexer and Proofreader: Geraldine Begley Maps: Michael Philips and Design Image

Photography: Alamy, Topfoto, Getty, AKG Images

Cover photos: Alamy 2, Getty 2

While every care has been taken to trace and acknowledge copyright, the publishers tender their apologies for any accidental infringement where copyright has proved untraceable. They would be pleased to come to a suitable arrangement

with the rightful owner in each case.

Web references in this book are intended as a guide for teachers. At the time of going to press, all web addresses were active

and contained information relevant to the topics in this book. However, The Educational Company of Ireland and the author

do not accept responsibility for the views or information contained on these websites. Content and addresses may change beyond our control and pupils should be supervised when investigating websites.

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Contents The Impact of World War I

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FOREWORD

CASE STUDY A Stalin’s Show Trials

Lenin’s Russia, 1917–1924

Stalin and the USSR, 1924–1939

Case Study: Stalin’s Show Trials, 1936 –1938

Documents-based questions CASE STUDY B

Hitler’s Germany, 1933–1939

Propaganda in Nazi Germany

Case Study: The Nuremberg Rallies

28 38

42 43 59 63 74

Britain between the Wars, 1919–1939

Case Study: The Jarrow March, October 1936

CASE STUDY C

The Jarrow March

Documents-based questions

100

KEY PERSONALITIES

108

KEY CONCEPTS AND IMPORTANT TERMS

119

USEFUL BOOKS AND WEBSITES

128

THE DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTIONS EXAMINED

131

INDEX

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Documents-based questions

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The Nuremberg Rallies

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FOREWORD

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This book is designed to prepare students for the compulsory topic in the Leaving Certificate exam – the Documents-Based Question. This question requires students to have an in-depth knowledge of three case studies and their wider historical context. For 2024 and 2025 the compulsory topic that pupils are required to study is Later Modern History of Europe and the Wider World: Topic 3 – Dictatorship and Democracy, 1920 –1945. For this topic the three case studies are: Stalin’s Show Trials

The Nuremberg Rallies

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The Jarrow March.

Each case study is dealt with in a separate section in the book. It is important that students know the wider context of each of the case studies to increase understanding and to better prepare them for possible exam questions. For this reason the wider historical background is covered for each of the three case studies. For example, Stalin’s Show Trials will be very difficult to understand if students are not aware of the wider changes that were happening in Stalin’s Russia at the time.

In the book each chapter is divided into a number of key questions that break down the topic into the main areas of study. Key terms are explained as well.

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Within each section the case study has its own separate chapter. This chapter examines the causes, course and consequences of the case study.

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An important aim of this book is to give students the ability to tackle the Documents-Based Question in the Leaving Certificate. Students need also to be able to extract relevant information, compare how two sources deal with a topic, detect bias, recognise propaganda, assess reliability and put the case study in its historical context.

With this in mind there are a number of sources with questions throughout the chapters. Importantly, each case study chapter has two Leaving Certificate-style Documents-Based Questions to familiarise students with the different question types to expect in June.

To aid the students in their study and to allow them to investigate the different topics in more detail, a reading list of relevant books and websites is included. There is also a section focusing on the relevant key personalities and a detailed glossary that will aid understanding of some of the main terms and concepts that are involved in the different topics. As a further aid to students, a series of podcasts on the case studies can be downloaded at www.edco.ie/lchistory and summary presentations can be accessed at www.edcolearning.ie

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The Impact of World War 1

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on Europe. Borders changed dramatically

World War I (1914–1918) had a major impact with the creation of many new countries.

Emperors and kings lost their thrones and political revolutions broke out in many

countries. We’ll look briefly at the war and

Soldiers returning home from the war found a muchchanged world.

World War I

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the peace treaties that followed it.

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The war was sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austrian empire, in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. He was shot by a Serb who hoped to see the Austrian province become part of the Kingdom of Serbia. Austria attacked Serbia and this triggered a crisis between Europe’s main powers that plunged Europe into war by the start of August 1914. During the war, the main European powers were divided into two alliances:

The Central Powers of Germany, Austria–Hungary and Turkey.

The Allies, led by Britain, France and Russia. Italy joined them in 1915.

The Germans advanced into France but were stopped at the first Battle of the Marne. Trenches were then constructed by both sides. Conditions in these trenches were very poor. For the next four years, generals found it difficult to make a decisive breakthrough and battles usually resulted in heavy casualties. In 1916, two of the worst battles occurred at Verdun and the Somme. It is estimated that one million men lost their lives during the Battle of the Somme. On the Eastern Front, the Germans defeated the initial Russian invasion and advanced into the Russian Empire. The Russians had more success against the Austrians, but any gains they made were lost when the Germans sent men to help their Austrian ally. There was fighting in the Alps between the Italians and the Austrians. In Turkey, an attempted landing by British troops was defeated at Gallipoli. The Balkans was also the scene of bloody struggles between the Allies and the Central Powers.

THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR 1 ❘ 1

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In 1917, two major events occurred that were to have a major impact on the course of the war: The United States entered the war on the side of the Allies in April. US troops didn’t start arriving in France until 1918, but they made a decisive contribution to the Allied victory.

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Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was overthrown by a popular revolution in February. The new government made the mistake of continuing the war. The revolutionary Lenin saw his opportunity and seized power in October. This was the world’s first successful Communist revolution (see Chapter 2). His government immediately took Russia out of the war.

The End Of The War

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Helped by fresh American troops, the British and the French advanced towards the German border. As their allies surrendered and the Austrian Empire collapsed, the Germans realised they were defeated. The German Emperor, Wilhelm II, was forced to abdicate (give up his throne) and the new democratic government surrendered to the Allies. At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918, the bloodiest war in human history ended.

In the spring of 1918, the Germans launched a massive offensive on the Western Front that was very successful at first. However, in August the Germans were defeated and forced to retreat.

A soldier in a trench in World War I. Conditions were harsh for the ordinary soldier throughout the war.

The Negotiations in Paris

In January 1919, the delegates from the victorious Allied powers met in Paris to negotiate a peace treaty. They faced a host of problems:

Over 10 million people had died in the war and large parts of Europe were destroyed. There were millions of refugees and food was in short supply. It was estimated that famine threatened over 200 million people. To make matters worse, the deadly Spanish flu epidemic was raging in both the victorious and defeated countries. Another serious problem was the threat of the communist revolution spreading throughout Europe, helped by the chaotic conditions. The new communist government in Russia was encouraging revolution in other countries, especially Germany. The delegates were determined to stop this.

2 ❘ CASE STUDIES FOR TOPIC 3: DICTATORSHIP & DEMOCRACY

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The most powerful countries at the conference were France, Britain, the US and Italy. They had different views about how to treat the defeated powers, especially Germany.

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France had suffered terribly in the war and a quarter of all Frenchmen between the ages of 18 and 30 had died. The French delegation was led by premier Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929), who wanted a harsh peace treaty that would protect France from a future German attack. He aimed to take as much German land as possible, weaken their army and force Germany to pay compensation for the damage caused by the war.

The British delegation was led by Prime Minister David Lloyd George (1863–1945). He took a more moderate view, but was under a lot of political pressure at home to be harsh on the Germans. The main British aims were the destruction of the German navy, acquiring German colonies in Africa and getting compensation for the cost of the war.

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President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) represented the US. He wanted a just and fair peace based on his Fourteen Points. This was his peace programme that he had set out in a speech to the American Congress in January 1918. He felt that frontiers of countries should be decided on the principle of self-determination. This meant that transfer of territory should be on the grounds of nationality and should take account of the wishes of the people who lived there. This is why he strongly opposed the secret Treaty of London (1915), as it had promised large territorial gains for Italy in return for them entering the war on the side of the Allies. His major aim was to see an international body called the League of Nations set up to settle future disputes between countries. Wilson was very popular among ordinary people throughout Europe, who were inspired by his vision for post-war Europe. Unfortunately for Wilson, he faced a lot of political opposition at home from the Republican Party and from those who felt the US should stay out of European affairs.

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The Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando (1860–1952), hoped to gain the land promised to Italy by the secret Treaty of London. Italy had suffered over 500,000 dead and was heavily in debt as a result of the war. Italy felt they deserved what was promised.

The Treaty of Versailles

By June, the treaty with Germany was ready and the Germans were given no choice but to agree to what was put in front of them. On 28 June 1919, the treaty was signed by the Germans at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles outside Paris. The main points of the treaty were as follows.

From left to right: David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson.

THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR 1 ❘ 3

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FINLAND

Former Austro-Hungarian Empire

NORWAY SWEDEN

IRELAND

LITHUANIA

RUSSIA

GREAT BRITAIN

CZECH

Paris

Vienna

AUSTRIA

SWITZ

OSLOV

AKIA

HUNGARY

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FRANCE

POLAND

GERMANY

TUG

POR

BELGIUM

Ocean

Berlin

NETH.

London

Atlantic

DENMARK

Sea

LATVIA

Baltic Sea

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North

ESTONIA

ROMANIA

SLA

VIA

ITALY

SPAIN

BULGARIA

ALBANIA

GREECE

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Mediter ra

a n Sea

Territory

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Europe in 1920. The borders of the old Austrian empire are shown in red.

Germany lost one-eighth of its pre-war territory to Belgium, Denmark, France, Lithuania and Poland.

East Prussia was separated from the rest of Germany by Polish territory. This became known as the Polish Corridor. It included the German-speaking port of Danzig, which was controlled by the League of Nations but through which the Polish state had access to the sea.

The small Saar region was placed under international control for 15 years while the French exploited its coal mines.

The Germans were forbidden to station troops on the west bank of the River Rhine or within 30 miles of the east bank of the river. This was known as the demilitarised zone. Allied troops were to occupy this area for 15 years. Germany and Austria were forbidden to unite as one country (this was known as the Anschluss in German). New countries were formed from the old Austrian, German and Russian empires. These included Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Yugoslavia.

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Military The German army was reduced to 100,000 men. Conscription was forbidden. Germany’s navy was limited to six battleships and they were not allowed to have an air force, tanks or submarines.

Reparations

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Under Article 231, or the War Guilt Clause, Germany and its allies were blamed for causing the war and Germany was ordered to pay reparations, or compensation, to the Allies. In 1921, the figure was fixed at £6.6 billion.

Colonies

The League of Nations

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German colonies were taken over by the League of Nations and called Mandates. They were to be administered by one of the victorious countries. In reality, they passed from one colonial master to another, e.g. German East Africa became British East Africa.

The aim of The League of Nations was to preserve peace, but before it got off the ground, it was seriously weakened when the US Senate voted against joining this new international organisation. It also possessed no army with which to enforce its decisions. Thus, it could do little to stop a determined aggressor such as Japan or Italy in the 1930s.

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The main decisions affecting the other defeated Central Powers were also agreed during the Paris negotiations: The peace treaty signed with Austria was called the Treaty of St Germain (1919).

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The Treaty of Trianon (1920) dealt with Hungary, and the Treaty of Neuilly (1919) with Bulgaria. The Treaty of Sevres (1920) was signed with Turkey, but after a war with Greece this agreement was replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

The Impact of the Treaty

Popular opinion in two countries, Germany and Italy, was outraged by the agreements reached in Paris. Resentment to the treaty was very strong in Germany. Political leaders attacked the territorial losses to the new Polish state. They also pointed to how they believed Germany had been treated unfairly:

The ban on union with Austria and the incorporation of large numbers of Germans into the new state of Czechoslovakia were seen as violations of Wilson’s promise of self-determination. They did not believe Germany had started the war.

Many Germans hoped that one day the treaty would be torn up and Germany would become a great power again. Many extreme nationalists, such as Adolf Hitler, associated the new democratic government with the shame of the Treaty of Versailles. Reparations caused a series of economic problems that led to massive hyperinflation in 1923.

THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR 1 ❘ 5

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Feeling in Italy was also very hostile. The Italians were furious that the Allies had gone back on promises made to them during the war. They were most annoyed about the town of Fiume. Italy was also heavily in debt, which caused economic problems after the war.

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In Italy these factors led to the growth of a new political idea called fascism. It was founded by Benito Mussolini and in 1922 he came to power. As we shall read in Chapter 5, fascism also became popular in Germany, where opposition to the treaty was strongest.

REVIEW QUESTIONS What were the main events on the Western Front during World War I?

Why was 1917 an important year in World War I?

What were conditions like in Europe after the war?

What were the aims of the main Allied powers at the Paris Peace Conference?

What were the main points of the Treaty of Versailles?

Read what the historian Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau wrote about the German reaction to the treaty and answer the question that follows:

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‘First, a part of the country was occupied by Allied Troops and especially by African French Troops on the left bank of the Rhine ... despite the fact that it had been impossible to enter into German territory during the war itself (that was the first humiliation).

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‘The second humiliation, of course, was the restriction of the German army and the limitation of its army for the future. And, the third was the Treaty itself. The fact that German leaders were not invited to the conference, and they only had to sign the Treaty with no objection, and that they had to sign a treaty which declared clearly that Germany was responsible for the disaster in Europe and in the world. And that was, I think, going too far with Germany and that had huge consequences on German nationalism in the 20s and 30s.’ Source: www.pbs.org

The historian Ruth Henig wrote the following about the German reaction to the Treaty:

According to Audoin-Rouzeau, what humiliations did the Germans feel they had suffered? Is there any evidence that he sympathises with the German view?

‘It was the acknowledgement of defeat, as much as the treaty terms themselves which they found so hard to accept.’

Source: Versailles & After 1919–1933. Lancaster Pamphlets, Second Edition, Routledge 1995, page 30

Do you agree with Henig’s verdict? Argue your case.

6 ❘ CASE STUDIES FOR TOPIC 3: DICTATORSHIP & DEMOCRACY

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Stalin’s Show Trials

CASE STUDY A:

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Lenin’s X Russia, 1917–1924 As we saw in the last chapter, in October 1917

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the leader of the Bolshevik Party, Vladimir

Lenin, came to power in Russia. This event

became known as the October Revolution. This saw the creation of the world’s first communist society – an alternative to capitalism. In the

rest of Europe, many were inspired by this new experiment, but to others communism was like

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a disease that threatened civilisation. They felt it had to be stopped by any means. This view led to the growth of fascism.

Caption

In this chapter we will look at how this communist revolution occurred and the policies pursued by the leader of the revolution, Lenin.

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Useful terms

Lenin addressing a crowd.

? KEY QUESTION How did Lenin come to power?

Bolshevik Party: Russian socialists who believed in using revolution to achieve political change; later known as the Communist Party.

Bourgeoisie: Marxist term for the middle class.

Capitalism: An economic system where goods and services are supplied by private business people in order to make a profit.

Cheka: Police force set up to combat counter-revolution.

Commissar: A minister in the Communist government.

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Constituent Assembly: A parliament elected to introduce a new constitution.

Counter-revolutionary: Anyone who held different political views to the Communists.

Kremlin: The headquarters of the Soviet government in Moscow.

New Economic Policy (NEP): Revision of Communist economic policies allowing limited capitalism.

Proletariat: Marxist term for the working class.

Provisional government: The government formed after the abdication of the tsar in March that ran the country until elections were held.

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Soviet: Soldiers’ and workers’ councils that ran the cities in Russia in 1917.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: The peace treaty the Bolsheviks signed with Germany in March 1918.

USSR: Russia was renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. Sometimes it was called the Soviet Union, though many contemporaries still referred to it as Russia.

War Communism: An economic policy that involved the introduction of communism during the Civil War.

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Russia had entered World War I in 1914 on the side of Britain and France against Germany and its allies. The country was ruled by Tsar Nicholas II and had seen a lot of economic development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was especially the case in the capital St Petersburg (renamed Petrograd in 1914) and the largest city, Moscow. Nonetheless, the vast majority of Russians were peasants who farmed the land.

What Was The Impact Of World War I?

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The war went badly for Russia, which suffered huge casualties fighting the Germans and the economy collapsed at home. Inflation rose quickly and conditions for workers were poor. Although there was a parliament, or Duma, it was very weak and most power rested with the tsar and his ministers.

By the start of 1917 there was widespread dissatisfaction with the Tsar Nicholas II (1868–1918) tsar and his government. Strikes broke out in the capital in February and the tsar’s troops refused to fire on the protestors. The tsar had no option but to give up his throne (abdicate). He was replaced by a provisional government, whose most important members were Prince Lvov and Alexander Kerensky.

This new government was popular at first, but it made two crucial mistakes: it continued the war and postponed land reform.

How Did Lenin Seize Power In Russia? The provisional government existed side by side with the Petrograd Soviet. It had been set up during the February Revolution and was a council made up of workers and soldiers. It controlled day-to-day life in the capital. At first it was dominated by moderate Socialists and co-operated with the provisional government, but this was to change. German agents approached the leader of the Bolshevik Party, Lenin, who was living in exile in Switzerland. They knew that if he came to power he would take Russia out of the war. In April 1917 LENIN’S RUSSIA, 1917–1924 ❘ 9

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Lenin returned from exile. He was determined to exploit the mistakes of the provisional government to seize power. Lenin used two simple but effective propaganda slogans to gain support: ‘Peace, Bread, Land’ and ‘All power to the Soviets’.

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Lenin’s slogans were simple but effective: Peace, Bread, Land: Peace for the soldiers, bread for the workers and land for the peasants.

All power to the Soviets: Towns in Russia should be controlled by councils elected by workers and soldiers, not by the provisional government.

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Lenin’s support grew after a failed offensive against the Austrians and the Germans in the summer of 1917. Morale collapsed and mutinies spread throughout the army. The country was descending into chaos. Support for the Bolsheviks increased and they formed an armed workers’ militia, called the Red Guards.

KEY CONCEPT EXPLAINED: Communism

Communism is based on the theories of the German economist Karl Marx (1818– 1883). He put forward his ideas in two books: The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.

Karl Marx (1818–1883)

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Marx argued that history is a series of class struggles between different economic groups in society.

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The final class struggle would happen between the workers (who he called the proletariat, or the working class) and the factory owners (who he called the bourgeoisie, or the middle class).

He predicted that the working class would win and that this would transform society from capitalism to socialism.

This would be a classless, equal society where all property was owned by the community as a whole. He believed that private property, private business, etc. should be abolished. He argued that international co-operation between workers would help to achieve these aims.

His supporters saw his ideas almost like a new religion, but they disagreed on how this change in society should happen:

Some argued for a revolution and were called Communists (e.g. Lenin). They believed that all means were justified in achieving a communist state, including terror. Those who believed this change could occur through peaceful means (i.e. through elections) were known as Democratic Socialists.

Lenin hoped that the revolution in Russia would act as a spark for further revolutions in Europe, especially in Germany. The communist revolution in Russia and the growth of communist parties throughout Europe frightened many people and this contributed to the growth of fascism.

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Lenin (1870–1924) was widely regarded as one of the greatest revolutionary leaders in history. After his death his body was preserved and he was revered like a saint in Russia.

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? KEY QUESTION

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During the night of 24–25 October, the Red Guards, helped by soldiers and sailors, seized Petrograd. By early November Moscow and most of the larger cities had recognised the new government.

As the unpopularity of the provisional government increased, Lenin recognised that the time was now right for a revolution. On 10 October a meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee decided to stage an immediate revolution by a 10 to 2 majority.

The Bolsheviks now dominated the Petrograd Soviet and Lenin’s leading supporter, Leon Trotsky, was chairman. This placed the Bolsheviks in effective control of the capital. For example, most of the army in Petrograd was now under Trotsky’s command.

How did Lenin establish Commmunist control in Russia?

What were the actions of the first communist government?

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The new government, or the Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom), was set up. Lenin was the president and there were 15 ministers. Leon Trotsky was Commissar for Foreign Affairs and Joseph Stalin was Commissar for Nationalities.

The government acted quickly to establish its popularity and authority: It agreed a ceasefire with Germany (the Peace Decree).

Private ownership of land was abolished and land was distributed among the peasants (the Land Decree).

Banks and factories were taken over by the state. This is called nationalisation.

Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) was the man who organised the October Revolution and led the Communists to victory in the Civil War. A determined opponent of Stalin, he was forced into exile and later assassinated in Mexico. His name was to play a very important role in the show trials (1936–1938).

However, when elections were held for a Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks received only one-quarter of the vote. It soon became clear that Lenin was no democrat and he closed the assembly at gunpoint. He was not going to share power! It was very important to Lenin to negotiate a treaty with the Germans to end Russian involvement in the war. Peace was necessary if the Bolsheviks were to establish control of Russia. In March 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with the Germans. The treaty was harsh and Russia gave up one-third of its land. With the new border dangerously close to Petrograd, the government moved to Moscow. LENIN’S RUSSIA, 1917–1924 ❘ 11

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How did the communists win the civil war?

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The treaty was hugely unpopular, and discontent with it contributed to the outbreak of civil war in June 1918. The supporters of the government were called the Reds and their opponents the Whites. In July 1918, as White armies advanced, the tsar and his family were shot at Yekaterinburg. Foreign powers such as the UK, the US and France sent troops to Russia to help the Whites.

Lenin appointed Leon Trotsky as Commissar of War and he proved to be an outstanding military commander. He introduced conscription and imposed savage discipline on the Red Army. Short of officers, Lenin and Trotsky appointed former tsarist officers to provide the leadership that the Red Army forces so badly lacked.

What was the Red Terror?

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Control of the main railway lines allowed the Reds to move forces quickly around Russia to defeat the different White generals. By 1920, resistance was crushed and the foreign troops were withdrawn.

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In order to win the Civil War, the Communist regime took increasingly cruel measures against its opponents.

Russia during the Civil War

To combat political opposition to the regime – or counter-revolution, as the Bolsheviks called it – a special police force called the Cheka was established in 1918. In August of that year a failed assassination attempt on Lenin was the beginning of what became known as the Red Terror. This involved mass executions of anyone suspected of opposition to the regime, based not upon their actions, but their class origins and beliefs (rich peasants, White officers, former nobles, priests, moderate socialists, etc.). Guilt or innocence was completely irrelevant.

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Execution was not the Cheka’s only method; it also developed the first modern slave labour (or concentration) camps. As we shall see, during his rule, Stalin was to expand both the number and scale of these camps. The exact number of people executed during the Red Terror between 1918 and 1922 is difficult to estimate, but the figure is somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000. In comparison, between 1825 and 1917 the tsarist regime that the Communists had replaced executed just under 4,000 people for political crimes.

Why was the comintern important?

KEY CONCEPT EXPLAINED

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During their struggle for survival, the Communists believed that revolution would spread to other industrialised countries in Europe. To co-ordinate the international socialist movement under Soviet control, Lenin founded the Communist International, or the Comintern, in March 1919. Grigory Zinoviev was its head. Although no other successful socialist revolutions occurred after the October Revolution (there were failed attempts in Germany and Hungary), the Comintern controlled foreign communist parties. From then on, communist parties took Totalitarian regime: A one-party state characterised by an absence their orders from Moscow. These parties played a very of democracy, a secret police and a important role in spreading propaganda promoting the government that has total control over policies of Lenin and, later, Stalin. the lives of its people.

1 WAR COMMUNISM

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Lenin’s economic changes

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When the Bolsheviks came to power, they began to introduce a wide range of new economic policies. As many of the measures were introduced during the Civil War, they called it War Communism. The main features of War Communism were:

Private enterprise (that is, privately run businesses) became illegal.

Worker control of factories ended and all large factories passed into the hands of the government, which planned and organised what they produced. Workers were subject to strict discipline and strikers could be shot.

Food and most commodities were rationed.

Peasants were expected to sell their produce to the government and keep only what they needed to survive. Their food was needed to feed the workers in the cities.

Although this policy helped to win the war by keeping the troops supplied with food, it destroyed the economy. Industrial output had fallen to 20% of that produced in 1913. Workers could buy little with their wages, as prices rose out of control.

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Peasants refused to sell their grain, as prices were too low, and this led to food shortages in the cities. The Cheka and the Red Army were sent into the countryside to seize grain. This policy of seizing grain, along with bad weather and the effects of the Civil War, led to famine. About five million people died and there were reports of cannibalism.

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What economic changes did Lenin introduce?

? KEY QUESTION

2 THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP)

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As a result of the failed economic policies, opposition to the Communists grew. In 1921 a revolt of sailors at the Kronstadt naval base caused Lenin to change his economic polices. He was shaken by the revolt, as sailors were traditionally loyal Bolshevik supporters. He realised that War Communism had failed and he decided to change policy. He introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP). Central to the new measure was a realisation that if the regime was to survive, it would need to win support among the peasants. The policy signalled a return to a limited capitalist system, with some private business ownership and greater freedom for peasants to make money from their crops. The government took a far smaller proportion of the peasants’ crops and the peasants could sell the rest for profit. Small privately owned companies such as shops were allowed. Large-scale businesses such as steel, banking, railways and electricity as well as foreign trade remained under state control.

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Over the course of five years, the NEP saw industrial and agricultural output rise to pre-war levels. International trade grew and inflation was brought under control.

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The NEP was bitterly disliked by some Communists, who saw it as a reversal of everything they believed in. Lenin defended the policy as necessary for the regime’s survival.

Lenin’s death

In May 1922 Lenin suffered the first of four strokes. These greatly weakened his control over the party and a power struggle developed between Stalin and Trotsky to succeed him. In January 1924 he died at the village of Gorky, near Moscow. His body was preserved in Red Square in Moscow, and Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honour. After his death his cult of personality (see page 17) grew and he became a God-like figure who could do no wrong.

Lenin: an assessment

By the time of his death, Lenin had established communism in Russia. His pragmatism and his ability to seize an opportunity were two of his major political skills. Against the advice of many of his supporters, he led a successful revolution in October 1917. He pulled Russia out of the war with Germany, which helped to consolidate his regime. Victory in the Civil War that followed ensured the effective establishment of the Communist state.

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However, his government had a darker side: He had set up a brutal totalitarian regime. Democracy was banned and a one-party police state was established. Only one party – the Communist Party – was allowed to exist.

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The biggest criticism of Lenin was his use of terror as state policy. This policy was directed against those who were seen as enemies of the people. He set up the apparatus of terror (secret police, show trials, concentration camps, etc.) that became a central feature of Stalin’s rule. The Russian historian Dmitri Volkogonov wrote the following about Lenin’s rule of Russia:

The movement for a just and classless society in Russia began with unbridled [uncontrolled] violence,denying millions of people all rights except the right to support Bolshevik policy.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

om pa ny

Give two reasons why the tsar was unpopular by 1917.

Is it fair to say that the provisional government helped to bring about its own downfall?

Explain why the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was unpopular in Russia.

Account for the success of the Bolsheviks during the Civil War.

What actions did the Cheka take to ensure Communist control in Russia?

Why was there a famine in Russia in 1921?

Why did Lenin introduce the New Economic Policy? Was it successful?

‘Lenin’s achievements are overshadowed by the brutality of his government.’ Do you agree? Argue your case.

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LENIN’S RUSSIA, 1917–1924 ❘ 15

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After a power struggle among Lenin’s

followers, Stalin became the ruler of Russia. In

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Stalin and the USSR, 1924–1939 this chapter we will see how he transformed

the society and economy of the USSR. We will

also read how the use of terror played a central role in Stalin’s policies. Chapter 4 we will focus

on the case study – the show trials that saw leading members of the Communist Party

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Useful terms

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Stalin (right) was always careful to portray himself as a loyal supporter of Lenin (left) and his ideas.

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accused of incredulous crimes.

Enemies of the people: Term used by the Soviet government to describe anyone who opposed Stalin’s policies.

Gulag: Prison camp system in the USSR.

Industrialisation: The transformation of Russia from an agricultural country to a modern industrial power.

Kulak: Wealthy peasants regarded as enemies of his policies by Stalin.

NKVD: The organisation responsible for state security, including the police and the secret police.

Old Bolsheviks: Members of the Communist Party who had joined before 1917.

Purges: Removing opponents, real or imagined, of Stalin from the Communist Party.

Show Trials: Propaganda trials of those accused of plotting against Stalin.

Socialism in One Country: Stalin’s policy of establishing socialism in the Soviet Union to ensure the success of the revolution. It involved rapid industrialisation using Five Year Plans.

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? KEY QUESTION

Rise in the Party

How did Stalin become the ruler of the USSR?

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Born in Georgia in 1879, Stalin was a loyal supporter of Lenin and the Bolshevik Party. In 1912 he was elected onto the Central Committee of the party and he adopted the name Stalin: ‘the man of steel’. After the February Revolution in 1917 he returned from exile in Siberia and became editor of Pravda, the newspaper of the Bolshevik Party.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

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After the revolution he was appointed Commissar for Nationalities. During the Civil War he served as a commander on a number of fronts, where he frequently came into conflict with Trotsky, his main rival in the party. Stalin was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1922. He used this position to build up his power base within the organisation, appointing his supporters to posts throughout the country.

Collectivisation: Policy of abolishing private farms and replacing them with state-controlled collective farms.

Power struggle

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Cult of personality: Propaganda mechanism that portrayed Lenin as the father of his people and Stalin as a superman guiding the USSR to the promised land of communism.

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Between 1924 and 1928, a power struggle involving Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev, Grigory Zinoviev and Stalin developed over who would succeed Lenin.

The other leaders underestimated Stalin’s political ability and he was able to defeat his rivals. Posing as a moderate between different factions in the party, he was never isolated politically within the party. First he allied with Kamenev and Zinoviev against Trotsky. In a party where theory was all-important, these power struggles were cloaked in debates about the future direction of the revolution. Trotsky argued for encouraging worldwide revolution in order to preserve the revolution in Russia. He called this policy Permanent Revolution. Stalin, on the other hand, argued that it was necessary to build socialism in Russia before exporting the revolution to other countries. He called it Socialism in One Country. Stalin’s policy was adopted as party policy at the 14th Party Congress in 1925 – he had won. In 1927 Trotsky was expelled from the party and two years later he was exiled from Russia. Stalin then turned on Kamenev and Zinoviev. He allied with another prominent figure, Nikolai Bukharin, and succeeded in removing Zinoviev and Kamenev from the leadership of the party. They were then expelled from the party, although they were later readmitted. Bukharin was also demoted by Stalin when he started to question Stalin’s policies. As we shall see in the next chapter, these men were to pay a high price for their opposition to Stalin. By 1928 Stalin was the dominant figure in the country and ready to implement his transformation of the USSR.

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General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party – Gensek (Stalin) The General Secretary was chosen by the Politburo and approved by the Central Committee. Stalin was the chairman of the Politburo. He was unchallenged in this role after 1928.

Structure of the Communist Party in Stalin’s Russia

Politburo Similar to a cabinet in Western Europe. It consisted of 10 members chosen by the Central Committee for day-to-day running of the country – in reality, though, it was picked by Stalin.

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Central Committee of the Party Elected at each party congress (in reality, chosen by Stalin), it had a membership of 139 in 1934. It met twice yearly and was charged with running the different party and government branches in the country. It was important under Lenin, but had little role in major decision-making under Stalin.

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Party Congress Met three times in the 1930s and was made up of delegates from party branches throughout the country. Stalin made sure the delegates chosen were loyal to him. There were about 2,000 delegates at the 1934 Congress.

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What was Socialism in One Country?

As we have read, Stalin felt that Russia could no longer rely on world revolution in order to preserve the revolution in the USSR. He believed that priority had to be given to the industrialisation of Russia or it could be defeated by the hostile powers that surrounded it. Industrialisation would also see the creation of a large working class that the Communists believed would support their policies. His policy was called Socialism in One Country. He said:

We are 50 or 100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this lag in ten years or be crushed.

His strategy involved building an industrial nation with a heavy emphasis on coal, iron and vast public works such as canals. He proposed an end to the New Economic Policy (NEP). This meant that there would be no more privately run businesses or farms in the USSR. State control over agricultural production was to be achieved through How did Stalin transform the society and collectivisation. economy of the Soviet Union?

KEY QUESTION

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The policy was implemented through a series of Five-Year Plans that began in 1928. In all, there were three plans: 1928–1932, 1933–1937 and 1938–1941 (cut short due to the German invasion).

om pa ny

The Soviet Union became a command economy, where all decisions on what goods to produce were made by the government. Both terror and propaganda were essential to achieve such a rapid change in the USSR in such a short period of time.

Lenin speaking, with Trotsky beside the podium. Under Stalin, Trotsky would be removed from this photograph.

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What role did propaganda play in Stalin’s Russia?

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Newspapers, radio and cinema were all controlled by the party and were used to put forward propaganda for the regime. Writers and artists were expected to do the same. For example, any targets set by the Five-Year Plans were declared over-fulfilled. Any failure of the new policies was the fault of saboteurs or spies. A cult of personality was developed, where Stalin became a superman or God-like figure who could do no wrong.

Many towns were named after him, e.g. Stalingrad, Stalinsk, Stalinogorsk. Statues were erected throughout Russia and poems, plays and novels were written in his honour.

Stalin was known as the vozhd, or leader. He was given pompous titles such as ‘Father of Nations’, ‘Brilliant Genius of Humanity’, ‘Great Architect of Communism’ and ‘Gardener of Human Happiness’. Soviet history was rewritten to give Stalin a more significant role in the October Revolution, especially at the expense of Trotsky.

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d Ire la n of om pa ny

In Magnitogorsk the conditions for the workers were very primitive and very dangerous.

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What did the industrialisation of Russia involve?

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Stalin’s first Five-Year Plan aimed for rapid industrialisation of the economy. There was an emphasis on heavy industry such as coal, iron, steel and building massive public works schemes. It set goals that were unrealistic – a 250% increase in overall industrial development and a 330% expansion in heavy industry. Managers were given output targets that set how much was to be produced. Many new industrial centres were built, particularly east of the Ural Mountains: Iron and steel works at Magnitogorsk

Tractor factories at Stalingrad and Kharkov A vast plant for agricultural machinery at Sverdlovsk (the new name for Yekateninburg)

Car factories at Moscow and Gorki

Oil refineries at Baku.

The model for Stalinist industrialisation was the new industrial city of Magnitogorsk, on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains. It was hundreds of miles east of Moscow. The town was designed around a single steelworks capable of producing more than the pre-1917 tsarist empire: 5 million tons of steel and 4.5 million tons of iron. The city was designed by German architects, and the factory was built with the help of American engineers. By the outbreak of the war, the complex employed 45,000 people.

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The construction of massive public works schemes was also a central part of the plan. Some of the schemes included were:

The White Sea–Baltic Canal

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The Moscow–Donets railway The Dnieper hydroelectric dam The Moscow–Volga Canal

The Moscow Underground (seen by many as the greatest achievement of the period).

Propaganda hailed the public works schemes as great successes for the new state but failed to mention that, as we shall see later in the chapter, they were mainly built by slave labour.

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What were the results of industrialisation?

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With the emphasis placed on heavy industry, there were widespread shortages of everyday consumer goods and food was rationed. Living standards and wages for workers fell. Targets were not met and terror was often used. Show trials were held for managers who failed to reach the production targets set for them where they were accused of sabotage, e.g. deliberately destroying machinery. Workers would be severely disciplined for minor offences. If absent without just cause for even a single day, they could automatically be dismissed from work, have their ration cards confiscated and be evicted from housing.

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The regime did not rely solely on terror; other measures, including propaganda, were used. Rewards such as higher wages were given to the best workers. Examples of hard work were praised and the most famous example of this was the Stakhanovite movement. This was named after a miner, Aleksei Stakhanov, who mined a record 102 tons of coal during his six-hour shift.

Life was made bearable for many by the provision of work, a flat, schooling and free, if basic, health care. Many diseases, such as typhus, cholera, and malaria, were tackled. There was far greater equality in society and this meant that careers such as medicine, teaching and engineering were opened to men from poor families and to women. As there was a labour shortage, women were attracted into the workforce by new crèches and daycare centres so that mothers could work.

Between 1928 and 1939 the country was transformed from a backwards, predominantly agricultural society to a major industrial power. There had been a massive population transfer from the countryside to the cities, with the size of the urban workforce trebling. By 1939, Russia was industrially self-sufficient and could supply its own needs. It was now one of the most powerful countries in the world and Stalin’s policies helped to defeat the Nazi invasion in World War II. It is important to remember that these advances came at a terrible cost, as Niall Ferguson pointed out: For every nineteen tons of steel produced in the Stalinist period, approximately one Soviet citizen was killed.

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Ire la n

Nonetheless, many in the West looked to the USSR as an inspiration, especially given the mass unemployment caused by the Great Depression of the 1930s. Prominent figures such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells visited Russia and praised what they saw. They chose to believe, or were fooled into believing, Soviet propaganda about the great new society that Stalin was building in Russia. Communist parties throughout Europe also promoted the benefits of Stalin’s policies. They attacked any criticism as anti-Soviet propaganda.

What was collectivisation?

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Propaganda poster praising the achievements of Stalin and industrialisation. It says: Under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, under the guidance of the Leninist Central Committee and the sacred leader of the proletariat Comrade Stalin – Onward to the heights of joy and happiness of mankind.

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Central to Stalin’s polices was the need to make agriculture more efficient. In 1928 the vast majority of the population were peasants who worked small plots of land. Production methods were backwards and few farms had modern machinery such as tractors.

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The first Five-Year Plan called for transforming Soviet agriculture from individual farms into a system of large state collective farms. This was called collectivisation. Each collective farm, called a kolkhoz, would have between 50 and 100 families working on it.

Stalin believed that collectivisation would make farming more efficient and thereby feed the growing urban labour force. It would also free many peasants for work in factories in the cities. Stalin did not trust the peasants and believed collectivisation would enable the party to extend its political dominance over the remaining peasantry.

What tactics did Stalin use to enforce collectivisation?

Stalin’s policies were deeply unpopular with the peasants. They resisted his policies and the state responded with its usual tactic: terror. Stalin focused particular hostility on the wealthier peasants, or kulaks. Seen as class enemies, they were blamed for the opposition to Stalin’s policies. About five million people – men, women and children – were deported to the Gulag (see page 25) or transported to unsettled territories in Siberia. This often happened in winter, when most died. Despite these actions, forced collectivisation was still fiercely resisted. Livestock was killed and there were revolts throughout the country. Troops were used to defeat the peasants. In an astonishing action, Stalin resorted to famine as government policy to break peasant opposition. His particular target was the Ukraine, the main source of wheat for the USSR.

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In 1932 Stalin raised Ukraine’s grain quota by 44%. This meant that there would not be enough grain to feed the peasants, since Soviet law required that no grain from a collective farm could be given to the members of the farm until the government’s quota was met.

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Party officials, with the aid of soldiers and police units, waged a merciless war against peasants who refused to give up their grain. Any man, woman or child caught taking even a handful of grain from a collective farm could be, and often was, executed or deported.

Stalin’s decision and the methods used to implement it condemned millions of peasants to death by starvation. The famine broke the peasants’ will to resist collectivisation. The death toll from the famine (called the Holodomor in the Ukraine today) has been estimated at between six and seven million, although some historians think the figure is far lower at about 2.5 million.

om pa ny

In his memoirs, Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, wrote about the death toll:

I can’t give an exact figure because no one was keeping count. All we knew was that people were dying in enormous numbers. Source: Krushchev Remembers, 1970, Little, Brown & Company

What were the results of collectivisation?

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A good harvest in 1933 helped agriculture to revive. Rationing of bread and other food products was ended in 1935. By 1940 livestock levels had reached pre-1928 levels and grain, cotton and sugar production increased.

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There was also increased mechanisation as tractors and combine harvesters were supplied by many of the new factories that had been built. By 1939 well over 90% of the 25 million farms that had existed in 1928 had been turned into about 400,000 collectives.

However, the human cost was truly staggering. It is difficult to calculate the numbers who perished during collectivisation, but some historians estimate it to be about 10 million.

REVIEW QUESTIONS Explain the term ‘Socialism in One Country’.

How was a cult of personality of Stalin promoted in the USSR?

What public works schemes were built in the 1930s?

What were the results of the policy of industrialisation?

At the time, why did many people in Western Europe admire Stalin’s policies?

What was the aim of the policy of collectivisation? Describe the actions taken by Stalin to deal with opposition to collectivisation.

Describe the actions taken by Stalin to deal with opposition to collectivisation.

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What was the Great Terror?

KEY QUESTION

What role did terror play in Stalin’s Russia?

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As we have read, terror had always been an essential element of policy in Communist Russia. From 1934 to 1939, Russia was to suffer another period of unprecedented cruelty that became known as the Great Terror. This terror was directed at all sections of Soviet society. One group that was a particular target was the Communist Party itself in an event that became known as the Purges. Stalin was increasingly worried about opposition to his policies and his control of the party. He wanted to remove any threat to his power.

This terror also served another useful purpose: it laid the blame for all the failures of Stalin’s polices at the hands of ‘wreckers’, ‘traitors’ or ‘spies’.

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The event that triggered the purges was the murder of Sergei Kirov in December 1934. He was the popular party boss of Leningrad. On the surface, Stalin and Kirov were friends, but Stalin probably saw him as a rival. He was almost certainly assassinated on Stalin’s orders. Stalin used this event as evidence that there were many plots against his rule. So began a witch hunt against any potential enemies within or outside the Communist Party.

What was everyday life like during the great terror?

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Stalin’s police, the NKVD, arrested millions of Russians, the vast majority of whom were innocent of any crimes. The NKVD worked with great determination, as they knew they could themselves fall victim to the Great Terror.

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There was a climate of fear throughout the country. Everyone was afraid that they would be the next to be arrested by the NKVD. Arrests were made in the middle of the night. A careless remark or the smallest criticism of Stalin could get a person arrested. Informers were everywhere. Children were encouraged to report their parents to the authorities.

During the Purges, propaganda meetings such as the one above were held to show ‘popular’ support for Stalin.

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The process fed upon itself, as the accused, under torture from their interrogators, named names, leading to more arrests. Most of those arrested were shot or sent to the Gulag.

The list of potential victims was endless:

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Party members who had been associated with Trotsky Members of the national minorities, e.g. Ukrainians, who were suspected of nationalism Managers of factories who failed to reach their targets Workers who complained about pay or conditions

Class enemies such as the former nobility, the former middle classes, priests and other religious figures

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Anyone who had visited countries abroad, who were viewed with particular suspicion

‘Old Bolsheviks’ – people who had been members of the party before 1917 (see the section on the show trials, pages 28–36) were an important target. In 1936, unhappy with progress, Stalin had the head of the secret police, Genrikh Yagoda, replaced by Nikolai Yezhov. Under Yezhov the pace of terror intensified. Many Russians called this period of the Great Terror the Yezhovschina, or the rule of Yezhov.

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The NKVD, or People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, was a vast organisation that was responsible for state security. It was the successor of the Cheka and rooted out enemies of the people. It comprised the police, secret police, border police and the fire brigade. It also ran the Gulag and was responsible for controlling foreign communist parties and Soviet agents abroad. It used brutal interrogation methods and carried out mass executions of countless numbers of Soviet citizens.

When Stalin wanted to end the Great Terror, he had Yezhov removed. He was blamed for killing too many people and was later shot. Yezhov was replaced by Stalin’s old friend and fellow Georgian, Lavrentiy Beria.

What was the Gulag?

Most of the people who were arrested were not shot, but sent to the Gulag. This was the name for the system of camps found throughout the USSR. They were designed to provide slave labour to help with the process of industrialisation. There were 476 camp complexes, each with numerous individual camps. Conditions in these camps were extremely harsh. Known as zeks, the prisoners worked 14-hour days, received very poor food rations and unsuitable clothing. This made it difficult to endure the severe weather in many of the camps (below 0°C for half the year) and the long working hours. To make matters worse, the inmates were beaten, tortured or murdered by camp guards and other inmates. One of the best-known of the camp complexes was Kolyma. This was an area of Siberia about six times the size of France that contained more than 100 camps. Over one million people died there STALIN AND THE USSR, 1924–1939 ❘ 25

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A gulag work camp in Komi Republic, which borders Siberia.

from 1931 to 1953, the year of Stalin’s death. Other large camp complexes were at Vorkuta and Solovetsky Island. Gulag prisoners constructed the White Sea–Baltic Canal, the Moscow–Volga Canal, the Baikal–Amur railroad line, the Moscow Underground, hydroelectric stations and important roads. Gulag manpower was also used for the mining of coal, copper and gold. For example, over 100,000 prisoners helped to build the White Sea–Baltic Canal between 1931 and 1933 and over 20,000 of them died. When the canal was opened it was found to be too shallow to be used by large ships. The historian Anne Applebaum has written:

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The total number of prisoners in the camps generally hovered around two million, but the total number of Soviet citizens who had some experience of the camps, as political or criminal prisoners, is far higher. From 1929, when the Gulag began its major expansion, until 1953, when Stalin died, the best estimates indicate that some eighteen million people passed through this massive system. Source: Anne Applebaum, Gulag – A History, Anchor, 2004, page 2

The death toll

It is very difficult to estimate the numbers of Stalin’s victims. The Kremlin went to great lengths to cover up the magnitude of Soviet population losses. It concealed the results of the 1937 census when it revealed a massive drop in population. The entire census board staff were shot as spies. A ‘revised’ census was published in 1939, but even this revealed that roughly 10% of the Soviet population was statistically missing – some 15 million victims of Stalin’s reign of terror.

Other historians put the figure as high as 20 or 30 million. Left-wing historians dispute this figure and say that the number of Stalin’s victims was far less. All agree that Stalin’s policies were carried out at a terrible human cost. Here is what the Russian historian Dmitri Volkogonov wrote about Stalin’s crimes: Between 1929 and 1953 the state created by Lenin and set in motion by Stalin deprived 21.5 million Soviet citizens of their lives. No one in history has ever waged such war on his own people.

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REVIEW QUESTIONS What was the Great Terror?

What role did the NKVD play during the Terror?

What groups in Russian society were victims of the Terror?

What was the Gulag? Describe its purpose and what conditions were like.

How many Soviet citizens died during the Great Terror?

Ukrainian Terror Famine

The Great Terror

EXAMINE THE SOURCE

The Purges

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Liquidation of the kulaks

TERROR IN THE USSR

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Gulags and slave labour

This is an excerpt from the book Hope Against Hope (1971) by the Russian poet Nadezhda Khazina, where she describes what life was like during the Purges.

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In the period of the Yezhov terror – the mass arrests came in waves of varying amount – there must sometimes have been no more room in the jails, and to those of us still free it looked as though the highest wave had passed and the terror was reducing. After each show trial, people sighed, ‘Well, it’s all over at last.’ What they meant was: ‘Thank God, it looks as though I’ve escaped.’ But then there would be a new wave, and the same people would rush to heap abuse on the ‘enemies of the people’.

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The principles and aims of mass terror have nothing in common with ordinary police work or with security. The only purpose of terror is intimidation. To plunge the whole country into a state of constant fear, the number of victims must be raised to astronomical levels, and on every floor of every building, there must always be several apartments from which the tenants have suddenly been taken away. The remaining inhabitants will be model citizens for the rest of their lives – this was true for every street and every city through which the broom has swept. Source: From Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Khazina, published by Vintage, reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd.

QUESTIONS

(a)

Why did Nadezhda Khazina believe that there was sometimes ‘no more room in the jails’?

(b)

Why do you think people rushed to ‘heap abuse on the “enemies of the people”’?

(c)

How did the secret police ‘plunge the whole country into a state of constant fear’?

(d)

What do you think the author believes was the result of the use of terror on citizens in the Soviet Union?

(e)

Who was Yezhov, whom the author refers to at the start of the account?

(f)

Do you think this is an objective account? Support your answer with evidence from the source.

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Case X Study: Stalin’s Show Trials, 1936–1938

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This chapter examines Stalin's show trials,

also known as the Moscow trials. Their aim

was to instill fear, and hence, loyalty, in the

people of Russia. We look at Stalin's motives

for staging these trials and their significance. The format of the trials is examined and how

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evidence against defendants was gathered. We also explore why the defendants willingly confessed to crimes of which they could not have possibly been guilty.

? KEY QUESTION What role did the show trials play in Stalin’s Russia?

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Stalin promoted a cult of personality through Caption propaganda in the Soviet Union. The caption reads 'Long live Stalin, leader of the Soviet People!'

What was the purpose of the show trials?

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The centrepiece of the Great Terror that we read about in the last chapter was three show trials of former high-ranking Communists, or ‘Old Bolsheviks’, as they were known. Also named the Moscow Trials, they were propaganda trials designed to portray the accused men as enemies of the people. Show trials were not new in the Soviet Union under Stalin. A series of trials had also been staged against Soviet and foreign industrial experts between 1928 and 1933. The defendants had been accused of sabotage, treason and spying for foreign powers. In reality they were scapegoats for the failures of industrialisation.

Stalin’s aim in organising the new trials was to establish complete control over the new Communist Party and to eliminate any potential threats. Many of the accused were members of the party prior to the revolution. They had been appointed by Lenin and most had been opponents of Stalin in the 1920s. Many had been allied to Stalin’s fiercest rival in the party, Leon Trotsky. As Martin Sixsmith points out, the main aim of the trials was: the elimination of all those who had played key roles in the events of 1917, leaving Stalin as the sole link and successor to Lenin. All remaining party members would owe their positions and their careers to him alone.

Source: Martin Sixsmith, Russia: A Thousand Year Chronicle of the Wild East, BBC Books, 2011, page 307

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A further purpose of the trials was to find scapegoats to blame for failures during the Five-Year Plans. Some of the defendants had opposed the pace of industrialisation and this had annoyed Stalin. If it could be proved that spies and traitors were to be found in the highest reaches of the party, then it would justify the terror that was happening throughout Russia at the same time. The trials helped to create an atmosphere of fear and paranoia in the country. Many genuinely believed that spies, wreckers and saboteurs were in their midst. People were constantly on the lookout for enemy agents.

Stalin (left) pictured with Rykov, Kamenev and Zinoviev in 1925. Stalin was to have the three men in the picture shot during the Show Trials.

What was the format of the trials?

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In all, there were three trials, and like a puppet master Stalin completely controlled what happened. They were essentially a piece of political theatre. Holding public trials was risky for Stalin. It would have been easier to hold the trials behind closed doors. However, Stalin was determined to crush his rivals, both physically and in the court of public opinion. The defendants’ confessions were crucial to the success of the trials. The assassination of Sergei Kirov provided the proof of plots against Stalin and his supporters. The NKVD collected this ‘evidence’ while the arch villain and leader of the plots, Trotsky, was conveniently in exile. Each trial followed the same format:

The defendants were accused of incredible crimes, e.g. plotting to assassinate Stalin or working as spies for foreign countries such as Germany.

The defendants were accused then confessed their guilt and were found guilty – the verdicts had been decided before the trial.

The proceedings were widely publicized both at home and abroad.

The vast majority were then shot.

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The first show trial: the trial of the sixteen

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The star of the show was the 53-year-old state prosecutor, Andrei Vyshinsky. He had been a moderate socialist prior to the revolution and this made him absolutely obedient, as he himself could find himself arrested at any moment. He had conducted a number of previous show trials and he understood that the aim of show trials was to incite the Soviet people’s hatred of the defendants. As we shall see, he achieved this with speeches full of anger, scorn and disgust directed at the defendants.

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Between 19 and 24 August 1936, Lev Kamenev, Grigory Zinoviev and 14 other leading Bolsheviks were put on trial in the first of the show trials. Kamenev and Zinoviev were two of Andrei Vyshinsky (1883–1954) the most prominent figures in the party in the 1920s. Both had been rivals to Stalin for leadership of the party and had later allied with Trotsky. These actions had effectively ruined their careers and they had subsequently been expelled twice from the party.

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Before the trial the defendants were interrogated by the NKVD to obtain the required confessions. Accused of being members of the United Trotskyite-Zinovievite Centre, the charge against the defendants was that, acting on Trotsky’s orders, they had organised a terrorist group for the purpose of assassinating the leaders of the party. They had succeeded in murdering Kirov and had plotted to kill Stalin and other party leaders.

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Carefully planned and stage-managed, the trial opened on 19 August in the October Hall in the House of Unions in Moscow. The 350 spectators were mainly NKVD in plain clothes, foreign journalists and diplomats. The three judges sat on a raised platform in the centre. To increase their humiliation, the 16 defendants were dressed in old and ill-fitting clothes. The impression of their guilt seemed to be confirmed as they were guarded by NKVD troops with fixed bayonets. Stalin was said to be present in a gallery with darkened windows at the back of the room.

The defendants freely admitted their guilt. For example, Kamenev admitted that ‘for ten years … I waged a struggle against the party … and against Stalin personally’. Some of the evidence was very weak. One defendant confessed to being involved in the murder of Kirov when he was already in prison!

The accused implicated others in their evidence and this raised the prospect of other Bolshevik leaders appearing in later trials.

In his closing speech, Vyshinsky demanded the death penalty, saying: I remind you, comrade judges, that it is your duty, once you find these people, all sixteen of them, guilty of crimes against the state, to apply to them in full measure those articles of the law that the prosecution has demanded. I demand that these rabid dogs be shot – every one of them – until the last of them is wiped out!

Source: Soviet Russia Today, April 1938, vol. 7, no. 2

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Before the verdict was announced, Kamenev said, ‘No matter what my sentence will be, I in advance consider it just.’ When the judges brought in their pre-decided verdict of death, one of the defendants shouted, ‘Long live the cause of Marx … Lenin and Stalin.’

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The condemned leaders appealed for mercy, but this was rejected and all 16 were shot the next morning. The propaganda machine worked overtime to support the trials. Soviet newspapers as well as messages from factories and collectives throughout the country applauded the executions. They demanded more purges of counter-revolutionaries. One telegram from the workers of a region near Moscow read:

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The workers of the Meshchvsky Region demand merciless retribution against the terrorists and antiparty vermin of the Trotskyite opposition groups … Death to the enemies of the working class! ... Long live the Communist Party and its mighty leader, Comrade Stalin! Source: Martin Sixsmith, Russia: A Thousand Year Chronicle of the Wild East, BBC Books, 2011, page 308

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Here is an explanation of some of the language that was used during the show trials: Assassins/terrorists: Opponents of Stalin. Bloc/Unified Centre: Co-operation between different factions opposed to Stalin. Conspiracy: More than two terrorists. Counter-revolutionary: A person working to overthrow the communist revolution and restore capitalism. Terrorism: Opposition to the policies of Stalin.

Andrei Vyshinsky, the state prosecutor, reading the charges.

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The second show trial: the trial of the seventeen

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The second show trial lasted from 23 to 30 January 1937. The defendants were accused of being members of the Parallel Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Centre. In all, 17 men were charged. The most prominent were Yuri Pyatakov and Karl Radek. Both were former supporters of Trotsky, while Radek had also been one of Lenin’s closest allies. The rest were leading figures in the industrialisation drive.

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In court Vyshinsky called the defendants ‘liars and clowns, insignificant pygmies’. The accused fell over each other to prove their own guilt. They confessed to conspiring with anti-Soviet ‘Trotskyites’ and having spied for Nazi Germany and Japan. This was all the more remarkable as many of the defendants were Jewish! Some of the evidence was comical – it was alleged that Trotsky’s son ordered assassinations at a meeting in the Hotel Bristol in Copenhagen even though this hotel had been demolished in 1917!

Stalin wrote the contents of Vyshinsky’s summing up at the end of the trial. Radek avoided the death penalty as he had agreed to implicate other leaders in his confession – paving the way for yet another show trial. He was sentenced to a prison camp, where he was later murdered by an NKVD agent. Most of the rest of the defendants were shot.

The purge of the Red Army

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In between the second and third trials there was a widespread purge of the army. Historians are unsure of Stalin’s motives in purging the military. Along with the Communist Party, they provided a potential threat to his rule. He may have believed that to prevent a military takeover it was necessary to remove any officers whose loyalty was in doubt – many had been appointed by Trotsky during the Civil War.

These trials were conducted in secret, unlike the show trials. The Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Tukhachevsky, and other senior officers were tried for plotting with Germany and executed. Tukhachevsky’s name had been mentioned in evidence during the second show trial.

According to figures published in Soviet newspapers in 1987, the purge accounted for most of the leadership of the army. In all, about 50% of all officers, or 35,000 men, were shot. This action seriously weakened the leadership of the Red Army. This absence of leadership was to have a disastrous impact on the ability of the Red Army to resist the German invasion of 1941.

Many foreign Communists who had fled to Russia were also victims of the purges. For example, 10,000 Polish Communists were executed at the time of the third show trial in 1938.

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The last of the show trials was staged from 2 to 13 March 1938 and is the most famous. It was known officially as the Case of the Anti-Soviet ‘Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites’ or the Trial of the Twenty-One. In all, 21 men stood in the dock. They included well-known figures such as Nikolai Bukharin, Nikolai Krestinsky and Alexei Rykov – all former members of the Politburo. Bukharin was a very popular figure in the party and the most prominent defendant. As we have read, he was involved in the power struggle that happened in the party after Lenin’s death. Another person in the dock was the former chief of the NKVD, Genrikh Yagoda. In a similar vein to the earlier trials, the defendants faced a wide range of allegations, including:

The third show trial: the trial of the twenty-one

Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938) was an early member of the party and a loyal follower of Lenin. He was editor of Pravda – the party newspaper – from 1918 to 1929. He had been expelled from the party for opposing Stalin in 1929 but had been readmitted in 1934.

Murdering Kirov and the famous writer Maxim Gorky

Unsuccessfully trying to assassinate Lenin two decades before and plotting to assassinate Stalin as well as other Bolshevik leaders

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Conspiring to wreck the economy and the country’s military power Spying for Britain, France, Japan and Germany

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An ex-commissar for agriculture was blamed for ‘mistakes’ in collectivisation, while another defendant was accused of selling butter containing glass. These men were handy scapegoats for the failure of collectivisation. The Russian historian Edvard Radzinsky explained the importance of this trial:

Then came the trial – in March 1938 – the last in the series of trials of famous Bolshevik leaders. The work of exterminating Ilyich’s [Lenin’s] comrade-in-arms was nearing completion. This trial was the climax of the Boss’s [Stalin’s] thriller. It now emerged that Bukharin and Rykov had collaborated simultaneously with the Trotskyist-Zinovievites, with Tukhachevsky and the other German spies in the high command … and with wreckers in the NKVD represented by Yagoda and his associates. The main organizer of the previous trials, Yagoda, thus became one of the stars of the Bukharin trial. Murdering doctors who had allegedly helped him to carry out his ‘perfidious [evil] schemes’ were tried with him.

Source: Edvard Radzinsky, Stalin, Hodder & Stoughton, 1996, page 369

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When the trial started, Krestinsky actually pleaded not guilty:

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Krestinsky: In the face of world public opinion, I had not the strength to admit the truth that I had been conducting a Trotskyite struggle all along. I request the Court to register my statement that I fully and completely admit that I am guilty of all the gravest charges brought against me personally, and that I admit my complete responsibility for the treason and treachery I have committed.

The next day, after a night with the NKVD, he changed his mind:

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The President: Accused Krestinsky, do you plead guilty to the charges brought against you? Krestinsky: I plead not guilty. I am not a Trotskyite. I was never a member of the Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites, of whose existence I was not aware. Nor have I committed any of the crimes with which I personally am charged, in particular I plead not guilty to the charge of having had connections with the German intelligence service.

Source: Gudrun Persson, And They All Confessed, http://art-bin.com/art/amosc_preeng.html

Nikolai Krestinsky, a former member of the Politburo. He was a defendant during the Trail of the Twenty-One.

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After this minor, if unexpected, setback, the trial followed the normal format, with most of the defendants admitting responsibility for incredulous crimes and all were shot bar three minor figures. In his final speech, Bukharin made a strong defence of his actions. He confessed his guilt in general but denied many of the specific allegations against him, e.g. plotting to murder Lenin (see document B on page 39).

Vyshinsky’s speech at the end of the trial shows the hatred directed at the accused men and the almost religious adoration of Stalin:

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The weed and thistle will grow on the graves of these execrable traitors. But on us and on our happy country, our Glorious Sun will continue to shed His serene light. Guided by our beloved Leader and Master, the Great Stalin, we will go forward to Communism along a path that has been cleansed of the remnants of the last scum and filth of the past.

After the trial, Rykov wrote a letter to Stalin asking for clemency: My guilt before the party and the country is great, but I have a passionate desire and, I think, enough strength to expiate it.

I ask you to believe that I am not a completely corrupt person. In my life there were many years of noble, honest work for the revolution. I can still prove that even after having committed so many crimes, it is possible to become an honest person and to die with honor. I ask that you spare my life.

Source: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/ a2rykov.html

The letter made no difference and he was shot on 15 March. Yagoda’s execution was particularly brutal. He was stripped naked, beaten and then shot. His replacement as head of the NKVD, Nikolai Yezhov, kept the bullet. Yezhov was to suffer exactly the same fate when he was executed in 1940. 34 ❘ CASE STUDIES FOR TOPIC 3: DICTATORSHIP & DEMOCRACY

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What was the reaction in the west?

During the Show Trials the defendants had willingly confessed to their crimes. This amazed and confused Western spectators, both in Russia and abroad.

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Some believed in the defendants’ guilt. Despite the weaknesses in the evidence, the US ambassador, Joseph E. Davis, was convinced that the allegations were true. He wrote:

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In view of the character of the accused, their long terms of service, their recognized distinction in their profession, their long-continued loyalty to the Communist cause, it is scarcely credible that their brother officers ... should have acquiesced [agreed] in their execution, unless they were convinced that these men had been guilty of some offense. It is generally accepted by members of the Diplomatic Corps that the accused must have been guilty of an offense which in the Soviet Union would merit the death penalty. Source: Joseph E. Davies, Mission to Moscow, Garden City: Garden City Press, 1941

Many socialists who had visited the USSR in the 1930s were also convinced that the trials were fair. For example, leading British socialist Beatrice Webb ‘was pleased that Stalin had cut out the dead wood’.

Communist parties throughout Europe (these were controlled by Stalin) attacked any criticism of the trials. The leader of the British Communist Party called the trials ‘a new triumph in the history of progress’.

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Why did the defendants confess to crimes they were not guilty of?

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As we have read, foreign observers were baffled by the sight of hardened revolutionaries willingly confessing their guilt. Why did they do it? To this day, historians are not sure – a number of factors may have played a part.

Torture and the fear of torture played a role. ‘All means’ were to be used to get confessions. The methods that were used broke the resistance of even the strongest person. When one official told Stalin that Kamenev would not confess, an angry Stalin told the official not to come back until he had a confession from Kamenev.

They may have thought that if they co-operated, their lives and those of their families would be spared. Stalin had promised Kamenev and Zinoviev that if they confessed publicly to their crimes, they and their families would not be shot. Up until the last minute, Zinoviev believed that he would be spared. Stalin did not honour this promise. Both men were executed and Kamenev’s wife and son were killed, while Zinoviev’s son, three brothers and one of his sisters were later shot. After a long interrogation, Bukharin confessed after threats to his wife and young son (he had been imprisoned for nearly a year before his trial).

The accused men were loyal Communists and some may have believed that the good of the party came first, even over their own lives. This reasoning may have influenced Bukharin’s actions during the trial.

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Assessment

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Ten of the original 15-man Bolshevik government in 1917 perished in the show trials. Only two were still alive: Stalin and Trotsky. In 1940 Trotsky was murdered by one of Stalin’s agents in Mexico. The trials had made Stalin the absolute master of the Communist Party.

They also served as a warning to all party members that no one was safe from arrest. They reinforced the atmosphere of terror throughout the USSR. To the ordinary citizens, it sent the clear message that there were traitors everywhere working against their interests, even at the top of the party. This justified the Great Terror, as these traitors allied to hostile foreign powers such as Germany could end communism in the USSR. It is difficult to disagree with the assessment of the show trials given by the historian Joe Lee:

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Although the Show Trials of 1936–8 involved only a handful, they were the crowning glories of the entire process. They included the big three of the old guard, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin, a warning that treachery could infiltrate the highest ranks – and that any disagreement with Stalin could be seen as treachery.

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Source: Joe Lee, The Shifting Balance of Power: Exploring the 20th Century

As a result of the Show trials, Stalin was the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union.

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SUMMARY: STALIN’S SHOW TRIALS 1936–1938

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Purpose: To establish Stalin’s total control of the party by removing those who had opposed his rise to power or owed their careers to Lenin. These men were called Old Bolsheviks, as they had been members of the party before the October Revolution. To justify the wider terror happening in the country at the same time. Format: Defendants willingly confessed to crimes such as plotting to kill Stalin, the murder of Kirov, spying for foreign countries, etc. Verdicts were decided before the trial – most were shot. Propaganda was used to inform both the Soviet people and the wider world of the trials. Main prosecutor: Andrei Vyshinsky. Trial One – August 1936: United Trotskyite-Zinovievite Centre 16 on trial – main defendants: Grigory Zinoviev Lev Kamenev Trial Two – January 1937: Parallel Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Centre 17 on trial – main defendants: Yuri Pyatakov Karl Radek (mentioned Bukharin in his evidence) Trial Three – March 1938: Case of the Anti-Soviet Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites 21 on trial – main defendants: Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Krestinsky Alexei Rykov Genrikh Yagoda (former head of the NKVD)

Stalin’s Russia – a timeline Stalin born in Georgia

1917

Played little role in the October Revolution

1922

Appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party

1924

Death of Lenin

1879

Stalin undisputed leader of the USSR Introduction of the first Five-Year Plan

1928

Power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin who wins

1929

Collectivisation policy introduced

1932–3 Famine in the Ukraine kills millions 1934

Murder of Sergei Kirov led to the beginning of the Great Terror

1936

First of the major show trials

1937

Second show trial Purge of the armed forces

1938

Third show trial CASE STUDY: STALIN’S SHOW TRIALS, 1936–1938 ❘ 37

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 1

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Document A

(Higher and Ordinary Levels) Read the two sources and answer the questions that follow. Document B is on page 39.

This is an extract from the final speech by prosecutor Andrei Vyshinsky on ‘The criminal activities of Bukharin and his fellow traitors’ before the Supreme Court of the USSR, 11 March 1938.

Bukharin’s participation in such a monstrous crime as the attempt on Lenin’s life by Kaplan, the Socialist-Revolutionary terrorist, on August 13, 1918, has now been fully revealed...

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The court investigation established, with exhaustive thoroughness, that the Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites, as agents of the intelligence services of certain states, worked to undermine the military power of the USSR; aimed for the overthrow of Soviet power and the restoration of capitalism...

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The crimes of the accused are proved by their own testimonies, by the evidence of witnesses, by the findings of expert witnesses, and by material evidence. The entire Soviet people and all the honest men throughout the world are awaiting your sentence. Let your sentence, Comrade Judges, resound as a bell calling for new victories. The entire country demands one thing: shoot the plotters as foul dogs, crush the accursed vipers.

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The years will pass and graves of traitors will be overgrown with wild weeds and thistles, while bright rays of our sun will shine over our Fatherland as brightly as ever. Along the road cleaned of this filth, our people will march onward; headed by our great teacher and leader, Stalin, they will march towards Communism.

Source: Soviet Russia Today, April 1938, Vol. 7, No. 2 Note: Fanya Kaplan had attempted to assassinate Lenin in 1918.

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Document B This is an extract from Nikolai Bukharin’s last plea before the Supreme Court of the USSR, Moscow, on 12 March 1938.

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I once more repeat that I admit that I am guilty of treason to the socialist fatherland, the most wicked of possible crimes, of the organization of kulak uprisings, of preparations for terrorist acts and of belonging to an underground, anti-Soviet organization.

I categorically deny that I was connected with foreign intelligence services, that they were my masters and that I acted in accordance with their wishes.

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I categorically deny my involvement in the assassination of Kirov ... According to Yagoda’s testimony, Kirov was assassinated in accordance with a decision of the ‘bloc of Rights and Trotskyites’. I knew nothing about it. We came out against the joy of the new life with the most criminal methods of struggle. I reject the accusation of having plotted against the life of Vladimir Ilyich [Lenin], but my counter-revolutionary allies, and I at their head, endeavoured to murder Lenin’s cause, which is being carried on with such tremendous success by Stalin. I await the verdict. What matters is not the personal feelings of a repentant enemy, but the flourishing progress of the USSR and its international importance.

Comprehension (a) According to document A, what verdict does Andrei Vyshinsky demand? (b) Give two examples from document A to show that Vyshinsky strongly disapproves of the actions of the accused men. (c) In document B, what crimes did Bukharin admit to being guilty of? (d) In document B, how does Bukharin try to show his support of communism?

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Source: http://art-bin.com/art/obukharin.html Note: Kirov was the leader of the party in Leningrad – his assassination started the Great Terror. Yagoda was the former head of the NKVD.

Comparision (a) From document B, did Bukharin agree with all of the allegations made against him in document A? (b) Which of the two sources do you think is more reliable? Explain your answer with reference to both sources.

Criticism (a) Would you agree that document A is a clear example of propaganda? (b) What are the strengths and weaknesses of document B as a historical source?

Contextualisation Ordinary Level (1 A4 page): What role did the show trials play in Stalin’s Russia? Higher Level (1.5 A4 pages): How important was terror in Stalin’s Russia?

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 2 (Higher and Ordinary Levels)

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Read the two sources and answer the questions that follow.

Document A

This is an edited extract from the verdict of the Trial of the Sixteen (The First Show Trial), August 23 1936.

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Thus it is established that 1) G. E. Zinoviev; 2) L. B. Kamenev; 3) G. E. Evdokimov; 4) I.P. Bakayev; 5) S. V. Mrachkovsky; 6) V. A. Ter-Vaganyan and 7) I. N. Smirnov are guilty of: a) Having organized the united Trotskyite-Zinovievite terrorist centre for the purpose of assassinating the leaders of the Soviet Government [and the Communist Party]. b) Having prepared, and on December 1, 1934, perpetrated the foul murder of Comrade S. M. Kirov… c) Having organized a number of terrorist groups who made preparations to assassinate Comrades Stalin [and other named leaders]

8) E. A. Dreitzer; 9) I. I. Reingold; 10) R. V. Pickel; 11) E. S. Holtzman; 12) Fritz David; 13) V. P. Olberg; 14) K. B. Berman-Yurin; 15) M. I. Lurye (Emel, Alexander) and 16) N. L. Lurye are guilty of having been, while members of the underground counter-revolutionary terrorist TrotskyiteZinovievite organization, active participants in the preparations fo the assassination of the leaders of the Party and the Government…

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Sentences: All to the supreme penalty – to be shot, and all property personally belonging to them to be confiscated.

Document B

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Source: Report of the Court Proceedings: The Case of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre

This is an extract from a pamphlet written by the Communist Party of Great Britain about the Trial of the

Sixteen in August 1936.

On August 24th, 1936, a trial concluded in Moscow. A Soviet Court, acting in conformity with the established Criminal Code of the country, gave its verdict. Zinoviev, Kamenev and fourteen others, charged with plotting the murder of Stalin… and other leaders of the Communist Party and the Government of the Soviet Union, were found guilty. The death sentence was pronounced. It was carried out thirty hours later.

The Court also pronounced that the main instigator of the intended murders was Leon Trotsky... No one will gainsay [deny] the importance of this trial. It has aroused much controversy. Sensational reports are of daily occurrence in the British Press. They tell of a “new Stalin purge”, “the end of Bolshevism”, of “risings by the Red Army”... In short, an anti-Soviet campaign is in full swing.

These sensational reports are coupled with attacks on the trial of Kamenev, Zinoviev and their associates, in the hope of discrediting the Soviet Union and its responsible leaders. It is hardly necessary to say that the reports of “a new wave of terror” in the Soviet Union are completely untrue, and that the main source of these reports is the German Nazi propaganda machine. Source: Marxist Internet Archive

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QUESTIONS Comprehension (a) From document A mention two offences of which the first set of defendants (numbered 1 to 7) were found guilty. (b) According to document A, what sentences were passed on the defendants? (c) According to document B, what does the author accuse the British press of being involved in? (d) From document B who does the author say is the source of the reports of ‘a new wave of terror’?

Comparision (a) Do you agree that document B is a useful source for historians to check the accuracy of document A? Refer to both sources in your answer. (b) Comment on the portrayal of Trotsky in both documents A and B. Refer to both documents in your answer.

Criticism (a) Do you think that document A is an objective source? Give evidence from the document to support your answer. (b) What is the motive of the author of document B in writing the pamphlet? Give evidence from the document to support your answer.

Contextualisation Ordinary Level (1 A4 page): Why did Stalin set up show trials?

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Higher Level (1.5 A4 pages): How did Stalin use the show trials to consolidate his power in the USSR?

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CASE CASE STUDY STUDY B:A:

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The X Nuremberg Rallies

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In this chapter we will look at the economic problems faced by Weimar Germany that led to the Nazi Party coming to power, led by Adolf Hitler, and the destruction of democracy in Germany. We will also examine the main characteristics of the state.

Adolf Hitler delivering a speech at the Reichstag as the Chancellor of Germany. He addresses the 'Jewish question'.

Useful terms

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Hitler’s Germany, 1933–1939

Anti-Semitism: Hatred of the Jewish people.

Democracy: A political system where governments seek re-election on a regular basis.

The Depression: A period of economic problems characterised by high unemployment and falling industrial production that started with the Wall Street Crash in 1929.

Dictatorship: A state where power rests with one person.

Der Führer: Hitler’s title, which means ‘the leader’.

Fascism: A political system strongly opposed to socialism and communism. Its characteristics include a dictatorship, an end to democracy and very strong nationalism.

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Inflation: A period of rising prices. Hyperinflation is when prices rise out of control.

How was the Weimar Republic established? In 1918, as World War I drew to a close, it was clear that Germany was on the verge of defeat. In early November the Kaiser (emperor), Wilhelm II, abdicated and went into exile in Holland. A republic was proclaimed with the socialist leader Friederich Ebert as chancellor (prime minster). The first act of the new government was to surrender to the Allies on 11 November 1918.

? KEY QUESTION

Why did the Nazis come to power in Germany?

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The new republic faced a host of problems: Over 2.5 million Germans had died in the war and 4 million were wounded.

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On the left there were many who hoped to see a communist revolution similar to Russia.

There were serious economic problems, including rising prices, unemployment and a shortage of food caused by an Allied naval blockade of German ports.

On the right, many powerful groups in society, such as army officers and the civil service, were very unhappy that Germany had surrendered. Some were completely hostile and saw the surrender as an act of treason. They called the politicians who had surrendered the November Criminals.

To make matters worse, Germany faced the prospect of a harsh treaty that was being negotiated in Paris at the time.

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In January 1919, the communist Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg began a revolt in Berlin. It seemed as if the worldwide revolution that Lenin had predicted had begun. The new Weimar government crushed the revolt ruthlessly. Despite the Spartacus revolt, the election of January 1919 saw the majority of Germans vote for parties that favoured the new democratic republic. In February 1919 the German parliament met at Weimar to draw up a new constitution.

The new republic became known as Weimar Germany because the new constitution was drawn up in the town. The electoral system was very fair but meant that it was impossible for one single party to gain an overall majority. This led to many coalition governments.

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Broadly speaking, there were two main groups of parties.

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The ‘Weimar parties’ that supported the new republic included: The Social Democrats (SPD), who were moderate socialists and until 1932 the most popular party in Germany.

The Centre Party, which represented the interests of Catholics in Germany. The parties that were opposed to the new republic:

The Communist Party (KPD), which was formed from the Spartacus League and wanted to see the establishment of a soviet republic similar to the USSR.

The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), which was an extreme nationalist and racist party, nicknamed the Nazis by their political enemies.

The terms of the Treaty of Versailles came as a complete shock to the Germans and it was condemned by all political parties. Many blamed the new republic’s leaders for the humiliation of the treaty.

President Hindenburg (1847–1934) was a WWI general who was elected president in 1925. He disliked Hitler and the Nazis but was persuaded to appoint Hitler as chancellor in 1933.

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The War Guilt Clause that blamed Germany for the war. As a result, Germany had to pay reparations (compensation) to the Allies.

The main terms of the Treaty of Versailles that the German resented were: The loss of territory to the newly founded state of Poland.

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The military clauses that restricted the size of the German army to 100,000 men. Germany was also not allowed to have tanks or an air force. The banning of German troops from a region of Germany known as the Rhineland. The ban on Austria joining with Germany.

One of the reasons for Hitler’s popularity was the constant attacks that he made on the treaty.

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Why did Germany suffer hyperinflation in 1923? Even the strongest opponent of the republic might have grown to accept it if it had provided a decent income for its citizens. However, it suffered two economic failures without equal in German history. The first of these was the hyperinflation of 1923.

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In 1921 the German government had been presented with a bill for reparations of £6.6 billion. It could not afford these payments and at the end of 1922 Germany stopped paying the Allies.

A 100 million mark note. Money became worthless during the hyperinflation.

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The French government reacted quickly and 70,000 French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial heartland of Germany, the Ruhr. They intended to seize the coal and use the goods produced by the factories as compensation for the money owed.

The economic effects of the occupation were catastrophic:

The loss of production in the Ruhr caused a fall in production elsewhere in Germany and unemployment rose from 2% to 23%.

The amount of money collected in tax collapsed and the government financed its activities through the printing of money – this is the major cause of inflation. Paying the workers in the Ruhr who went on strike further fuelled this inflation.

Hyperinflation followed as prices rose completely out of control. By November they were a staggering one billion times their pre-war levels. The number of noughts on banknotes grew and grew. The highest-value note printed during the inflation was a 500 trillion mark note (500,000,000,000,000). This was the greatest recorded rise in prices in the 20th century. The rise in prices hit everyone very hard, especially those on fixed incomes such as teachers. People with savings found that their money in the bank was now worthless. Employees collected their wages in shopping baskets or wheelbarrows, as so many banknotes were needed to make up their wages.

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In late 1923, the policies of the new chancellor, Gustav Stresemann, helped to transform the fortunes of Weimar. He introduced a new and stable currency, the Rentenmark (soon renamed the Reichsmark), which restored confidence. This ended the hyperinflation and a stable exchange rate was established with the dollar. The French also agreed to end the occupation of the Ruhr. In America, a loan of $800 million was raised to help German economic recovery.

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Historians usually see three periods during Weimar Germany:

For the next five years, American loans poured into Germany and the economy prospered. In the late 1920s Germany was seen by many as the rival of the US. It was home to some of the biggest companies in Europe, such as the huge electrical company Siemens, the financial giant Deutsche Bank and the car maker Mercedes Benz. Culturally it was famous for its writers, architects and composers, and it had the largest film industry in Europe.

1919–1923: Post-war chaos characterised by revolts, political assassinations and economic crisis. 1924–1929: The era of Stresemann, or the Golden Years of Weimar, when unemployment fell and the German economy boomed due to US loans. There was little electoral support for extremist parties like the Nazis. 1930–1933: The collapse of Weimar brought on by the impact of the Great Depression, which hit Germany harder than any other developed economy. Unemployment rose to six million and confidence in democracy collapsed. The Nazis grew to be the largest party in Germany. In the election of July 1932, over 50% of Germans voted for the Nazis or the equally anti-democratic Communists.

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What was the economic and political impact of the Great Depression on Germany?

For all the outward signs of prosperity, the German economic recovery was based on shaky foundations, as it had largely been financed by loans from the United States. In late October 1929 there was panic selling on the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street reacting to a business crisis in America. This event became known as the Wall Street Crash and had severe economic effects for both the US and Europe, especially Germany.

In the US, unemployment rose quickly and American demand for imports collapsed. American banks saw their losses mount. Loans to Germany ended and the banks started calling in their loans, which had been financing the German economy. In response, German industrial production fell quickly and by 1932 it was 40% less in value than its 1929 level. To make matters worse, a number of banks went out of business in 1931.

By the start of 1933, over six million people, or roughly one worker in three, was unemployed.

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Soon many of the unemployed were not receiving unemployment benefits as state governments did not have the money to pay them.

People deserted the democratic parties in droves and turned to either the Communists or the Nazis.

His party promised to:

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Tear up the Treaty of Versailles and make Germany great again

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The party that benefited most was the National Socialist German Workers Party, nicknamed the Nazi Party by its enemies. It was led by Adolf Hitler (for more detail on his early career, see page 112). Hitler was strongly influenced by fascism in Italy. Like the Italian ruler Mussolini (the Duce), he took the title of Der Führer – the leader.

Unite all German speakers together in one country Destroy communism and socialism

Set up a dictatorship and replace democracy, which they saw as weak

Smash the ‘power’ of Jews in Germany, since they considered Germans to be the master race, and Jews and Slavs to be racial enemies.

Nazi election poster. The text reads ‘We the workers are awake. We vote for National Socialists.’

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Hitler attempted a revolt in Munich in November 1923 (the Beer Hall Putsch), but it was crushed easily. After a brief spell in prison he found that his party had little support. In the 1928 election the Nazis gained only 2.5% of the vote and 12 seats in the Reichstag. The Nazis would have remained a small extreme group but for the Great Depression. The Nazis made their electoral breakthrough in the election of 1930. They increased their seats in the Reichstag to 107 deputies, while the Communists won 77. The chancellor, Heinrich Brüning, failed completely to tackle the dire economic situation.

Given the lack of popular support for his policies, Brüning found it very difficult to get a majority in the Reichstag. He relied on the support of President Hindenburg to get laws passed. The president’s role was important, as he appointed the chancellor and he had emergency powers to approve laws without the support of the Reichstag (Article 48).

The Nazis continued to grow and Hitler’s private army, the Brownshirts, now numbered 400,000 men. Political violence intensified and 155 people were killed in clashes in the largest state, Prussia.

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Brüning was replaced by Franz von Papen, who promptly called an election. The July election of 1932 was a resounding victory for the National Socialists, who became the largest party in the Reichstag. They won 37.6% of the vote and 230 seats. Their Communist enemies got 89 seats. A majority of Germans had voted for non-democratic parties. Political chaos intensified.

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Brownshirts marching in 1932. They were viewed as thugs by many Germans, even by some

Another election in November of Hitler’s own supporters. saw the Nazi vote fall by two million and their number of seats to 196. The party was also in serious financial difficulties and it seemed that its march towards power had been halted.

Von Papen had little popular support and he had lost the backing of the army. In December, General Kurt von Schleicher replaced von Papen as chancellor.

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Von Papen wanted to return to power and began to plot with other leading politicians. In January they decided to get rid of von Schleicher and to try to get the Nazis into government. Hitler agreed the terms of a coalition government in which he would hold the post of chancellor. Von Papen was able to persuade a reluctant President Hindenburg to agree. On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor by the president. Von Papen was his vice-chancellor. Nazi propaganda called this event the Seizure of Power and it marked the beginning of their rule of Germany.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Explain the impact of the Wall Street Crash on Germany.

What were the main aims of the Nazi Party?

How did the Great Depression benefit the Nazi Party?

Give two reasons why the results of the July 1932 election were very significant.

Why was President Hindenburg such an important figure after 1930?

How was Hitler appointed chancellor?

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What were the main characteristics of the Nazi state?

Most of Hitler’s first cabinet consisted of non-Nazis. Von Papen and his allies thought that they could control Hitler. They believed that the responsibility that power brought would moderate the Nazi movement. They were wrong. Hitler was not going to allow anyone to place limits on his control of Germany.

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At first there were only two Nazi ministers in the cabinet, Wilhelm Frick and Herman Göring. However, through their posts they controlled the police throughout Germany. Göring brought the police in Prussia, Germany’s largest state, under his control. He enrolled the SA (brownshirts) as part-time policeman. The SA unleashed a reign of terror and attacked their political enemies, especially the Communists and Social Democrats. Their newspapers were closed down, their offices raided, their meetings attacked and their members beaten.

KEY QUESTION

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How did the Nazis establish a totalitarian state in Germany?

Herman Göring (1893–1946) was a leading member of the Nazi Party. A WWI fighter ace, he was seen as a moderate by many – the acceptable face of Nazism. But as historian Richard Evans wrote, ‘the appearance was deceptive; he was as ruthless, as violent and as extreme as any of the leading Nazis.’

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Useful terms

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On 27 February 1933, a young Dutch Communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, set fire to the Reichstag building. Hitler claimed that the fire was the signal for a Communist revolt. An emergency law, The Decree of the President for the Protection of People and State, was passed. Commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree, it suspended basic human rights and gave the police increased powers to arrest suspects. This law formed the basis of police power in Germany and helped to create a totalitarian state. Waves of arrests followed and over 10,000 Communists were detained. As the prisons were filled to bursting point, cellars and disused warehouses were used to hold suspects. In March the first concentration camp was set up at Dachau near Munich.

Enabling Act: This law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree.

Gestapo: The secret police established in 1933.

Gleichschaltung: Policy of bringing all areas of German society under the control of the party.

Holocaust: The systematic destruction of the Jewish race.

Kristallnacht: Attacks on German Jews in November 1938.

Night of the Long Knives: A purge against the SA (Brownshirts) and other enemies of the regime.

Protective custody: Arrest and imprisonment, usually in a concentration camp of political opponents of the Nazis.

SA – Sturmabteilung (Storm Detachment): Known as the Brownshirts, they were established in 1920. They were Hitler’s uniformed followers who fought with political opponents during his rise to power. Its leadership was killed by Hitler in 1934 in an event known as the Night of the Long Knives. After this event, the organisation had little political influence in Nazi Germany.

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SS – Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron): This infamous organisation was established as an elite bodyguard for Hitler in 1925. After the Nazis came to power, its role expanded greatly. It controlled the police, the secret police (Gestapo) and the concentration camps. During World War II its armed wing, the Waffen SS, fought alongside the regular German army. The organisation was responsible for carrying out the Holocaust and for other war crimes.

Third Reich: The name the Nazis gave to their state. It means the Third Empire.

Totalitarianism: A system where the government has total control over the lives of citizens. There are no elections and the population is controlled by terror, including a secret police.

Volk: The German people.

Volksgemeinschaft: Nazi ideology that wanted to break down class barriers between Germans and promote a common pride in being members of the German race.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

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Herrenvolk: The master race or Germanic people – often called the Aryan race by the Nazis. Lebensraum: Living space for Germans in Eastern Europe. Reichskirche: Unified Protestant Church that replaced the different regional churches in Germany. The aim was to bring the different protestant churches under Nazi control. It was set up in 1933.

The Reichstag on fire. The Nazis falsely claimed that this was the signal for a Communist revolt.

Elections were held in March 1933 and these saw the Nazis receive 44% of the vote. Hitler then passed a further emergency law called the Enabling Act. This allowed the government (in effect, Hitler) to pass laws without seeking the approval of parliament or the president. Given the background of political and economic chaos, most democratic parties supported the bill. The Act formed the legal basis of the Nazi dictatorship. It was renewed in 1937 and made permanent in 1943.

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The Nazis were now free to carry out their policy of bringing all aspects of German political and social life under the control of the party. The Nazis used the term Gleichschaltung to describe this process. Nazi terror increased, with all political parties targeted, even those that had voted for the Enabling Act. One by one, political parties were banned or dissolved themselves. The Communists were banned on 7 March, the Social Democrats on 21 June. In May, all the trade unions were disbanded, their leaders arrested and their members forced to join the Nazi-controlled German Labour Front. On 14 July 1933, the NSDAP became the sole legal party in Germany. Goebbels noted in his diary, ‘We are the masters of Germany.’

What were the concentration camps?

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As we have seen, as soon as the Nazis came to power, they brought the police under their control. A secret police, the Gestapo, was established. It soon acquired a fearsome reputation. Its task was to watch enemies of the regime, such as communists, socialists and Jews. Criticism of the regime could result in arrest or protective custody followed by torture and detention in a concentration camp.

These camps were first set up in 1933 to house political prisoners and ordinary criminals. They were run by the SS. As well as Dachau, other camps included Buchenwald (near Weimar), Flossenburg (in northern Bavaria) and Sachenhausen (near Berlin). Conditions were harsh, with arbitrary and unpredictable violence a feature of everyday life. Prisoners were totally at the mercy of the whims of their SS guards. When World War II broke out, the camp population exploded and a new type of camp, an extermination camp, was set up to eliminate the Jews and other racial enemies of the Nazis.

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What was the night of the Long Knives?

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The brutality of the regime was reflected in the action Hitler took against his own supporters, the SA (known as the Brownshirts). By the summer of 1934, the SA’s numbers had swollen to two million men. Containing many violent thugs, they were disliked by most Germans and seen as the unacceptable face of the regime.

They were led by Ernst Röhm, a loyal follower of Hitler since the early days of the party. Röhm had many enemies within the Nazi Party. Himmler, Göring Ernst Röhm (1887–1934), who is beside Hitler in the centre of this picture, was and Goebbels were jealous of the power the leader of the SA. He was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives. he had and his close relationship with Hitler. They plotted against Röhm, working to convince Hitler that Röhm was planning a revolt against him.

The army was also worried about Röhm. The SA greatly outnumbered the army and Röhm had openly spoken about making the SA the new army of Germany. Such talk alarmed army generals.

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KEY QUESTION

What was life like in Nazi Germany?

Economic success

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Hitler’s action was popular with Germans. The SA was permanently weakened and the SS, led by Heinrich Himmler, became a far more important organisation. In August, Hindenburg died and Hitler combined the offices of president and chancellor. Hitler was now der Führer, or the leader, with absolute control of Germany.

Hitler was persuaded to take action against the Brownshirt threat. On the night of 29–30 June, units of the SS arrested the leaders of the SA. They were quickly executed. The Nazis took the opportunity to remove other political opponents, such as the former chancellor, Kurt von Schleicher, who was murdered along with his wife. Vice-chancellor von Papen was lucky to survive the purge, but he was removed from his post and appointed ambassador to Austria.

Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) was the leader of the SS. Originally set up as Hitler’s bodyguard, the SS soon came to dominate many aspects of German life and in the process acquired an infamous reputation.

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One major factor that contributed to Hitler’s popularity among Germans was the economic prosperity Germany enjoyed in the 1930s. Hitler was aided by the policies of his economics minister, Hjalmar Schacht, who was an internationally respected financial expert. Unemployment, which stood at six million in 1932, had fallen to under one million by 1937. Public work schemes were introduced that saw the construction of dams, autobahns (motorways) and railroads. These projects employed large numbers of people. The Nazis also embarked on a programme of rearmament, leading to a large increase in the production of steel, tanks and planes.

An improving world economy helped, but no other country in the world could boast such an impressive economic performance in the 1930s. The confidence of this new Germany was reflected in the Berlin Olympics of 1936, which were billed as a showpiece of German excellence.

The workers

As we have seen, all trade unions in Germany were banned and replaced by the Nazi-controlled German Labour Front. Working hours were increased and factory workers lost the right to strike. Despite these actions, most workers were grateful to Hitler and the Nazis for ending the economic hardship of the Weimar years. The Nazis knew that the working class had traditionally supported the Social Democrats or the Communists and they worked to gain their support. Nazi propaganda reached out to workers by praising their role in the People’s Community, or Volksgemeinschaft, that they claimed they were creating.

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A leisure arm of the German Labour Front was created, called Strength through Joy. It was designed to control how workers spent their spare time and their holidays. For example, it organised affordable holidays for workers in Germany and abroad. Many of them had never taken a holiday outside of their local area. They could now go skiing in the Bavarian Alps or on cruises to the Azores, Canaries or the Norwegian fjords. This organisation was very popular even among opponents of the regime.

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Young people

Schools were instructed to educate their pupils ‘in the spirit of National Socialism’. Teachers were expected to be members of the National Socialist Teachers’ League and by 1936 over 97% were members.

Hitler meets members of the Hitler Youth.

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Hitler was aware of the importance of indoctrinating the young people of Germany with the Nazi message. Emphasis was placed on the role of boys as the future soldiers of the Reich, while girls were taught the virtues of motherhood.

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Children were taught to be loyal to Hitler from an early age. After-school activities were also tightly controlled. Boys joined the German Young People at 10 and progressed on to the Hitler Youth at 14. Girls joined the League of Young Girls at 10 and the League of German Maidens at 14. The Hitler Youth quickly became the largest youth organisation in the world. It was similar to a militarised version of the Boy Scouts. There was an emphasis on clean living, competition, teamwork, hiking, sport and so on. There was also training in the use of weapons.

Women After World War I, women had enjoyed much greater freedoms and many pursued professional careers. The Nazis sought to reverse this new trend. The Nazis had a very traditional view of the role of women. This was summed up in the phrase ‘Kinder, Kirche, Kuche’ (children, church, cooking).

Nazi poster showing a contented and happy Nazi family. The poster was for a yearly charity campaign. The text reads 'Winter relief aid – A People Helps Itself' What does the poster say about the Nazi view of the role of the father and the mother in a family?

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Propaganda stressed that it was a woman’s duty to support her husband and rear children. Large families were encouraged, with medals awarded to women with four children or more. The propaganda poster on the previous page shows this idealised Nazi version of the role of women.

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Women were encouraged to leave the workforce and stay at home. University entrance was restricted and promotion became difficult. By 1939 few women were to be found in professional jobs such as medicine. Despite these restrictions, Hitler was a very popular figure among women in Germany. During World War II the Nazis had to reverse their policies, and by 1944 over half of the industrial workers in Germany were women.

REVIEW QUESTIONS How did the Nazis exploit the Reichstag fire?

Why was the Enabling Act so important in establishing a dictatorship in Germany?

Describe what conditions were like in concentration camps.

What was the significance of the Night of the Long Knives?

‘The Nazis placed great stress on controlling the young.’ Do you agree? Support your answer with evidence.

What measures were taken in Germany to introduce Nazis’ views on the role of women?

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The Churches

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About two-thirds of Germans were Protestant, while the rest were Catholic, with a small Jewish minority. Overall church attendance tended to be higher among Catholics than Protestants.

The churches were prepared to work with the new regime and shared the anti-Communist views of the Nazis. Most failed to realise the vast gulf that existed between Nazi policies and Christianity until it was too late.

Hitler knew that for the Nazi Party to fully control German life, he needed to remove the hold the churches had on their flocks. Their role in education and their influence over the young were particular targets.

At the time the Nazis came to power, each region of Germany had its own independent self-governing Protestant church. There were 28 in total. The Nazis wanted to create one unified Protestant church that would be easier to control. In July 1933 the 28 regional Protestant churches were replaced by a single church, or Reichskirche. It was known officially as the German Evangelical Church. The German Christian Movement became influential within the church. Hitler supported this movement, as he saw it as a means for the Nazis to gain control of the Reichskirche. It called for the removal of the ‘Jewish’ Old Testament from the Bible. Pastors of Jewish origin were removed from the church.

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Many pastors within the church were worried about this spread of Nazi influence. The Confessing Church, under the leadership of Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was set up to oppose Nazi policies. This group was banned in 1937 and over 700 pastors were arrested, including Niemöller, who was sent to a concentration camp. Hitler himself lost interest in the German Christian Movement when it became clear that it had failed to replace traditional Christianity.

The Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer

However, the Nazis soon broke the concordat:

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Given the greater loyalty of Catholics to their church, the Nazis (1906–1945) paid with his life for his opposition to the Nazis. He was executed at the decided to proceed slowly. In 1933 the Catholic Church was willing Flossenberg concentration camp in April 1945. to work with the new regime and a concordat, or agreement, was signed in July. Freedom of worship and Catholic education in schools were guaranteed and Catholic organisations were to be protected. In exchange, the church promised to withdraw from politics and the Centre Party was disbanded.

The Gestapo kept a close eye on former Catholic politicians and monitored the content of sermons. They persecuted the Jesuits, Catholic Action (a religious and social movement) and various other Catholic organisations. Some church property, such as land owned by monasteries, was seized.

Particular pressure was put on Catholic youth groups, which were viewed as rivals to the Hitler Youth. By 1938 the majority had been banned.

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A number of different methods, including intimidation, were used to get parents to stop sending their children to schools run by the church. By 1939 over 10,000 Catholic schools had been closed.

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Pope Pius XI was very worried by the Nazi violations of the concordat. In 1937 he condemned the Nazi regime in a papal encyclical (letter) called Mit Brennender Sorge (With Burning Anxiety). The encyclical was smuggled throughout Germany under the eyes of Gestapo agents.

Despite the policies of the Nazis, Hitler’s popularity among Catholics was largely unaffected. He was not personally blamed for many of the measures, which were seen largely to be the work of local Nazi officials.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Why did the Nazis want to reduce the power of the churches? Why did Hitler proceed cautiously when taking action against them?

What was the purpose of setting up the Reichskirche?

What was agreed in the concordat of 1933?

Explain some of the measures taken against the Catholic Church.

How did the Pope react to Nazi policies?

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KEY QUESTION

What were conditions like for Jews in Germany in the 1930s?

NAZI ANTI-SEMITISM – THREE PHASES

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Gradual exclusion from German life – to encourage emigration

Persecution more violent as Jews lose the protection of the law, e.g. Kristallnacht

The destruction of the Jews of Europe – the Holocaust

Why did the Nazis persecute Jewish people in Germany?

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While most Germans felt they were better off under the Nazis, there was one group that was definitely not – the Jewish community. In 1933 the Jewish population of Germany numbered over 500,000 out of a total population of 67 million. They were very successful in business and the professions, especially medicine and law. Many of the best professors in German universities were Jewish. They tended to live in the larger towns, with the majority of Jews found in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg or Breslau. On the other hand, 95% of towns and villages had no Jewish population at all.

In Germany, anti-Semitism was traditionally based on three factors: Jealousy at the economic success of the Jewish community.

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The fact that they were not Christian – some held the Jews responsible for the death of Christ.

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They were not seen as being true Germans – their loyalty was questioned. Some blamed Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I, while others saw communism as controlled by Jews.

The Nazis added a new factor – racial theory. Central to Nazi ideology was the belief in the superiority of the Aryan race, or master race. In German, the term is the Herrenvolk. The Nazi ideal was the tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed Nordic race. The Nazis wanted to purify the German race to achieve this ideal appearance. The main obstacle to this aim was the subhumans, or Untermenschen, who threatened to pollute the Aryan race. They included the Slav races, like the Poles and the Russians, but the main category of subhuman was the Jews. To the Nazis, the Jews were the enemies of the Aryan race. The aim of Nazi policy was to rid Germany of Jews through emigration, but when that failed, the policy changed to mass murder.

How did the Nazis exclude the Jews from German life?

When the Nazis came to power, they passed a series of measures that targeted the Jewish community in Germany: In April 1933, a boycott of Jewish-owned shops was organised. The same month, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was passed. This law was aimed at all political opponents and all Jews who worked for the government. This law also affected teachers, judges and professors.

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In 1933 alone this persecution led to an exodus of over 40,000 Jews from Germany. Many Jewish academics were among this number, including 20 Nobel Prize winners.

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The persecution continued across the country. Signs reading ‘Jews not wanted here’ were strung across streets or displayed in the windows of bars, cafés and shops. Jews were banned from swimming pools and public baths. The names of dead Jewish soldiers were removed from war memorials.

At the Nuremberg rally of 1935 a new set of laws were introduced that further worsened matters for Jews. Called the Nuremberg Laws, they made Jews second-class citizens in Germany (see page 69 for more detail). A brief break from persecution came during the 1936 Olympics. All anti-Jewish notices were removed from Berlin in order to create a good impression for foreign visitors, but the persecution resumed afterwards.

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On the night of 9–10 November 1938, a violent outburst of anti-Semitism was organised by the propaganda minister, Dr Josef Goebbels. This was in response to the murder of a German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, in Paris. He had been shot by a Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan.

While the police stood by, the SA, SS and Hitler Youth burned down synagogues and Jewish-owned shops. Nearly every synagogue in Germany was attacked and over 7,500 Jewish businesses were damaged. Ninety-one Jews were murdered and many committed suicide. Over 30,000 were arrested and taken to concentration camps, although they were soon released.

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Because of the amount of shattered glass, this event became known as Kristallnacht, or ‘the night of broken glass’.

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To add insult to injury, the Nazis decided to collectively fine the Jewish community one billion marks for the murder of vom Rath. Göring commented, ‘I must confess I would not like to be a Jew in Germany.’

After Kristallnacht, a number of laws were passed that made Passersby in Berlin observe smashed windows of a Jewish shop after Kristallnacht. it practically impossible for Jews to operate in business. They were banned from owning shops and the transfer of ownership of Jewish businesses to ‘Aryans’ (Germans) increased. The persecution of the Jews was to get much worse during World War II, culminating in the mass murder of the Jews of Europe – an event that became known as the Holocaust.

What happened during the Holocaust? During World War II the Nazis were unsure what to do with the large Jewish population in areas they had conquered. Hitler decided to kill the Jews under German control. This was known as ‘the final solution to the Jewish question’ (Die Endlosung der Judenfrage). In January 1942 at the Wannsee Conference near Berlin, Nazi officials led by Himmler’s deputy Reinhard Heydrich planned the details of the Final Solution. The Nuremberg Laws served as a basis for determining who was a Jew. Other “racial inferiors” such as Roman gypsies, Poles and Soviet prisoners of war were also to be killed.

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Jews were confined to easily controlled ghettos. The most famous was in Warsaw. They were then moved to extermination camps in Eastern Europe such as Auschwitz, Chelmno, Belzec, Treblinka and Majdanek.

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On arrival at the camps the old and the young were mainly killed in gas chambers using Zyklon B or carbon monoxide. The gas chambers were disguised as fake shower units so as not to cause mass panic.

The whole process was conducted with industrial efficiency:

The bodies were then burnt in crematoria (ovens) or in open air pits.

The able bodied were worked until they were murdered or died of disease. Some prisoners were also subjected to medical experiments.

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It is estimated that up to six million Jews perished during the Holocaust. In all about 60% of the pre-war Jewish population of Europe were killed, including nearly three million Polish Jews. The programme was carried out in great secrecy and was not brought to light until the Russians began to capture the camps in early 1945.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, or the Holocaust Memorial, located in Berlin, Germany.

REVIEW QUESTIONS Describe the Jewish community in Germany in 1933.

Explain Nazi racial theories and how they affected the Jews.

Explain why so many Jews left Germany in 1933.

How was everyday life for Jews affected by anti-Semitic measures?

‘Kristallnacht showed the brutality of the Nazi regime.’ Do you agree? Support your answer with evidence.

What happened during the Holocaust?

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XPropaganda in Nazi Germany

German propaganda poster encouraging German Caption students to join the NSD Student Union to fight for the Fuhrer and the people.

Useful terms

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In this chapter we will look at the importance of propaganda in Nazi Germany, especially the role of Dr Josef Goebbels. We will read how the Nazis took control of the different forms of media to spread their message and to promote the cult of personality around Adolf Hitler.

? KEY QUESTION

What steps did the Nazis take to establish state control over the mass media?

Führer principle: The cult of personality that glorified Hitler.

Hitler Youth: An organisation for boys from the age of 14 until 18. All young boys were expected to join. Its female counterpart was the League of German Maidens.

Volksempfänger: The Peoples’ Radio – cheap radio sets built to spread the Nazi message.

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What was the importance of Josef Goebbels?

Josef Goebbels was appointed Reich Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda in March 1933. This newly created ministry was responsible for controlling the media and arts during the Nazi regime. Its establishment showed the importance Hitler attached to controlling what the German people heard, saw and read. As its head, Goebbels was to play a central role in influencing and controlling the opinions of the German people. In the words of historian Niall Ferguson, he was ‘the evil genius of twentieth-century marketing’.

Dr Josef Goebbels (1897–1945) was one of Hitler’s most loyal followers. A good public speaker, he proved to be a very talented propaganda minister. Very strongly anti-Semitic, he played a large role in creating the climate of hatred towards the Jews of Germany.

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Goebbels’s main aims were to: Promote a sense of community among the German people, where the individual’s role was to serve the German nation (the Nazis called this the Volksgemeinschaft, or People’s Community).

Develop hatred of the Jews (anti-Semitism) and rid the nation of all Jewish influences in areas such as literature. Encourage German nationalism, criticise the Treaty of Versailles and justify Hitler’s foreign policy.

Inspire pride in the Aryan master race and promote Nazi racial teaching.

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Develop the Führer principle – this was the promotion of the cult of personality of Hitler as the leader who could do no wrong.

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Maintain public morale and incite hatred of the enemy during World War II.

Many of these themes will be seen in the case study on the Nuremberg Rallies which we will examine in Chapter 7.

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Goebbels knew that for propaganda to be effective, he had to gain control of the media to promote the Nazi message. There was no TV, so newspapers, cinema and the radio were his main targets. This control would allow the Nazis to present events as it suited them. No criticism of the Nazis would be tolerated and news that portrayed them in an unfavourable light would not be published.

Poster of Hitler with the caption ‘Ein Volk (One People), Ein Reich (One Country), Ein Führer (One Leader). The cult of personality around Hitler was carefully developed during the Third Reich.

How did Goebbels establish control of radio?

Radio had become very popular during the 1920s and Goebbels realised the importance of what he called this ‘most modern instrument for influencing the masses’. He noted, ‘We must not allow technology to run ahead of the Reich, but rather the Reich must keep pace with technology.’

Goebbels felt that the radio could be used to the advantage of the Nazis. Goebbels encouraged everyone to own a radio so that people could hear the Nazi message. Cheap sets called Volksempfänger (the People’s Radio) were built. By 1939, over 70% of households owned a radio – the highest percentage in the world.

The Reich Radio Chamber was established to give the propaganda ministry complete control of content. Everyone working in radio had to be a member of the new organisation. All stations were controlled by the newly founded Reich Radio Company. The propaganda ministry provided news bulletins directly to stations.

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Goebbels knew that most people listened to the radio for entertainment. He directed that little of the output was to be propaganda and popular music dominated most playlists. Goebbels believed propaganda was most effective when it was indirect. He said:

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That is the secret of propaganda: to permeate the person it aims to grasp without his even noticing that he is being permeated. Of course propaganda has a purpose, but the purpose must be concealed with such cleverness and virtuosity that the person on whom the purpose is being carried out doesn’t notice it at all.

How did the Nazis control literature?

Source: Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power, Penguin Books, 2006, page 127

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Controlling what people read was also important. The Nazis monitored the content of books to make sure that they reflected Nazi ideology. They were suspicious of modern literature, most of which they saw as undermining the traditional values of German society. They labelled it Jewish even if the authors were not. In May and June 1933, throughout Germany university students and members of the SA removed books from libraries that were termed ‘un-German’ literature. This campaign led to a wave of public book burnings, the most notable of which took place in Berlin in May 1933. Works by world-famous authors such as Heinrich and Thomas Mann, Ernest Hemingway and Sigmund Freud were among those destroyed.

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Founded in September 1933, the Reich Chamber of Culture was responsible for the control of literature. It censored texts and barred certain individuals from writing. In total, about 250 writers left Germany and over 4,000 books were banned.

Book burning in Berlin in 1933.

How did the Nazis control newspapers and film?

As a former journalist, Goebbels believed that the objective of the press was to get people to ‘think uniformly, react uniformly, and place themselves body and soul at the disposal of the government’. In 1933 many opposition newspapers were shut down, especially socialist and communist papers. Jewish or left-wing journalists were sacked. Instructions were then given to the remaining newspapers on the size of headlines and photographs that should or should not appear in their papers. The Nazi publishing company, Eher Verlag, slowly took control of most of the press in Germany. Publishing houses owned by Jews, such as Ullstein, were forced to sell their newspapers at a fraction of their real value to Eher Verlag. The company ended up owning over 80% of the newspapers in Germany.

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The main Nazi Party newspaper was the Volkischer Beobachter (The People’s Observer). This became the most important newspaper in Germany. It was printed in four regional editions and was distributed to all civil servants. It was one of the first newspapers in the world to use colour.

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Germany had the largest film industry in Europe and technically it was the equal of Hollywood. After the Nazis came to power, many leading actors and directors left Germany. Nonetheless, most remained and going to the cinema continued to be a popular leisure activity in Germany. Control of the industry was established by the creation of a new body, the Reich Film Chamber. Anyone who worked in the industry had to be a member of this organisation. The Reich Cinema Law of 1934 introduced strict censorship of films.

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Goebbels was interested in films and believed that they provided the German people with an important form of entertainment and escapism from everyday life. He did not want to turn them off by too much propaganda. As a result, the vast majority of films made were non-political. Nonetheless, all films were expected to follow themes set down by the Reich Film Chamber, such as praising leadership, glorifying war, depicting Jews as villains, etc. Films such as The Eternal Jew and The Jew Suss played an important role in spreading anti-Semitism.

During the war, films were used (as in all countries) to boost morale and German cinemas continued to operate until the very end of the war. One of the last films released was a colour historical drama called Kolberg. It was produced by Goebbels and was designed to increase Germans’ determination to fight.

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How did the Nazis control what Germans heard and read? All stations controlled by the Nazis. Cheap radios to spread the message.

Newspapers

Opposition journalists fired and criticism was not permitted. Nazi Party newspapers such as the Volkischer Beobachter.

Film

Tight control over actors and directors. Censorship introduced.

‘Un-German’ books burned and removed from libraries. Books censored. Authors forced to leave Germany.

Literature

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Radio

REVIEW QUESTIONS What were Goebbels’s main aims?

What was the Volksempfänger?

Why was there a series of book burnings throughout Germany in 1933?

What was the role of the Reich Chamber of Culture?

Outline some of the major developments in cinema in Nazi Germany.

Give evidence to support the view that Goebbels was very effective at his job as propaganda minister.

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XCase Study: The Nuremberg Rallies

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Poster for the 1933 rally in Nuremberg. The official name of the Nazi Party was the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).

Caption

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In this chapter we will examine the famous Nuremberg Rallies. Held yearly, they were one of the most important events in Nazi Germany, where propaganda played a central role.

KEY QUESTION

What role did the Nuremberg Rallies play in Nazi Germany?

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What was the purpose of the Nuremberg rallies?

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In Nazi Germany, rallies and parades were very common and played a very important role. They combined popular festival, glorification of military values, political meeting and sacred occasion. They were designed to emphasise the importance of the People’s Community (the Volksgemeinschaft) and the contribution of each individual to the national will. They also gave a sense of order and discipline and made for an excellent propaganda spectacle.

The annual Nazi Party rally held at Nuremberg was the most important of all. Staged over a number of days in early September, it involved hundreds of thousands of participants, with representatives of all party organisations, including the SS, the SA, the army and the Hitler Youth and its female counterpart, the League of German Maidens. Goebbels described the rallies at Nuremberg as ‘the High Mass of the party’.

The Nuremberg Rallies served a number of propaganda purposes: Their primary purpose was to strengthen the personality cult of Adolf Hitler. All events during the rallies were designed to portray Hitler as Germany’s saviour.

They were designed to promote the concept of the Volksgemeinschaft. They demonstrated the dynamism and energy of National Socialism. They created the impression both at home and abroad that the regime was popular, commanding the unlimited enthusiasm and loyalty of the general population. CASE STUDY: THE NUREMBERG RALLIES ❘ 63

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Why was Nuremberg chosen?

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The national party rally of the Nazi Party, or to give it its title, the Reichsparteitag (National Party Convention), was first held in Munich in 1923. Weimar was the second venue in 1926. In 1927 Nuremberg was selected, as it was situated in the centre of Germany and the local stadium was an ideal venue. The Nazis could also count on a well-organised local party, led by Julius Streicher, and the sympathy of the local police. The Nazis would later claim that Nuremberg had been chosen because of the city’s historical association with the medieval Holy Roman Empire. This was an attempt to link the Nazi Party with the glories of Germany’s past.

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From 1933 the size and scale of the rallies increased dramatically. Nuremberg became known as the ‘City of the Party Rallies’. The number of participants grew to well over 500,000 people. The 1934 rally lasted a week, with over 500 trains bringing people from all over Germany. The rallies were now renamed the Reichsparteitage des deutschen Volkes, or the National Congress of the Party of the German People. This name was chosen to represent the unity that the Nazis claimed existed between the German people and the Nazi Party.

What were the themes of the rallies?

Each year the rally had a different title, which usually related to a recent foreign policy success:

The 1933 Rally of Victory was a celebration of the Nazis coming to power.

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In 1934 it was called the Rally of Unity and Strength or the Rally of Power. It is famous for the film made about the rally by Leni Riefenstahl, called Triumph of the Will.

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The 1935 Rally of Freedom celebrated the reintroduction of conscription and in Nazi eyes breaking free from the Treaty of Versailles. The 1936 Rally of Honour was named because of the successful German reoccupation of the demilitarised Rhineland, which the Nazis saw as restoring German honour.

In 1937 the Rally of Labour celebrated the reduction of unemployment in Germany since the Nazis came to power.

The Anschluss with Austria saw the 1938 rally being called the Rally of Greater Germany.

The 1939 Rally of Peace was supposed to show Germany’s commitment to peace, but it had to be cancelled when Germany invaded Poland.

There were no rallies held during World War II.

What were the main events during the rallies?

As we have read, the most important purpose of the Nuremberg Rallies was the almost religious focus on Adolf Hitler. Throughout the days of the party congress, there were numerous parades that usually followed the same format: Members of a party organisation such as the SA marched in front of Hitler at the rally grounds just outside the city or through the centre of the old town.

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Once a parade was over, the participants then listened to a speech from Hitler.

Some of the events from the 1938 party congress:

September 8: Day of fellowship Torchlight parade of political leaders

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September 7: Day of the reich labour service Review of the Labour Service on the Zeppelin Field Parade of the Reich Labour Service through Nuremberg city

September 6: Day of the opening of the party congress Official opening of the Party Congress and reading of Hitler’s proclamation

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Hitler would have played a central role in nearly all of the events listed below. On the following page, you can read one of the types of speeches Hitler gave at the rallies.

September 9: Day of the political leaders Meeting of the National Socialist Women’s Association September 10: Day of the Hitler youth Review of the Hitler Youth on the Zeppelin Field

September 11: Day of the SA and SS Mass meeting on the Zeppelin Field Parade through Nuremberg

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September 12: Day of the armed forces Review and mass meeting of the army Closing ceremony of the Party Congress

Nuremberg Castle circa 1885. The city's historical importance was favoured by the Nazis.

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EXAMINE THE SOURCE

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Here is an edited transcript of a speech by Hitler at the 1934 rally. Read it closely and answer the questions that follow.

Closing Address to the Nazi Party Congress Nuremberg, Germany, 14 September 1934 by Adolf Hitler

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The Sixth Party Rally is coming to an end. What millions of Germans outside our ranks may simply have rated as an imposing display of political power was infinitely more for hundreds of thousands of fighters; the great personal, political and spiritual meeting of the old fighters and battle comrades. And perhaps, in spite of the spectacular forcefulness of this imposing review of the armies of the Party, many among them were wistfully thinking back to the days when it was difficult to be a National Socialist. For when our Party comprised just seven people, it already formulated two principles: it wanted to be a truly ideological party; it wanted, uncompromisingly, sole and absolute power in Germany.

We, as a party, had to remain a minority, because we mobilised the most valuable elements of fight and sacrifice in the nation, and they are never a majority but always a minority. And since the best racial component of the German nation, proudly self-assured, courageously, and daringly, demanded leadership of the Reich and the people, the people followed its leadership in ever greater numbers and subordinated themselves to it...

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Formerly, our opponents saw to it that through prohibition and persecution our movement was periodically purged of the light chaff that began to settle in it. Now we must practice selectiveness ourselves and expel what has proved to be rotten and therefore not of our kind. It is our wish and intent that this state and this Reich shall endure through the millennia ahead. We can rejoice in the knowledge that the future belongs totally to us.

Where the older generations might still waver, the youth is sworn to us and given to us, body and soul. Only if we realize in the Party the ultimate essence and idea of National Socialism, through the joint effort of all of us, will it forever and indestructibly be a possession of the German people and the German nation. Then the splendid and glorious army of the old and proud armed services of our nation will be joined by the no less tradition-bound leadership of the Party and together these two establishments will form and firm the German people and carry on their shoulders the German state and German Reich.

At this hour, tens of thousands of party comrades are beginning to leave town. While some are till reminiscing, others are getting ready for the next roll call, and always people will come and go, and always they will be gripped anew, gladdened, and inspired, for the idea and the Movement are expressions of the life of our people and therefore, symbols of eternity. Long live the National Socialist Movement. Long live Germany!

Source: http://www.speeches-usa.com/Transcripts/051_hitler.html

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QUESTIONS According to Hitler, what does the rally mean for ‘hundreds of thousands of fighters’?

(b)

What were the two principles of the Nazi party?

(c)

According to Hitler, why did the party have to remain a minority?

(d)

What is Hitler’s wish for the future of the party?

(e)

What role does Hitler see for the armed services of the nation?

(f)

How would you describe the tone of this speech? Give evidence to support your answer.

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The Nazi party rally grounds Most of the events at Nuremberg happened at the rally grounds that were located just outside Nuremberg. You can see them on the map on page 69. Before 1933, only the municipal stadium in the complex had been used for the rallies, but once the party was in power the rally grounds were greatly extended to incorporate a number of venues. In 1934 architect Albert Speer was given the task of creating an overall plan for an area of 11 square kilometres. Hitler planned for the buildings at the party rally grounds to stand for thousands of years. When World War II began the construction work was abandoned and some of the projects remained unfinished.

(a)

Hitler speaking at Nuremberg.

The most important venues in the rally grounds were the following:

The Zeppelin Field: The Zeppelin Field was named after the site of the landing of one of Count Zeppelin’s airships in 1909. It was the central venue for staging the party parades. Speer redeveloped the site building, a large grandstand with a width of 360 metres. The field provided space for up to 200,000 people. At night the ‘Cathedral of Light’ was created, when over 150 strong floodlights beamed up into the sky, providing spectacular effects.

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Below are some of the main actions that Hitler took in the 1930s:

1938

1939

1936

Germany left the League of Nations. Germany broke the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles and introduced conscription. Germany also announced that they had an air force and started to build tanks – all of which had been forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I. German troops entered the demilitarised Rhineland that bordered France, which was forbidden under the Treaty of Versailles. France and Britain took no action. March: Austria became part of Germany in an event known as the Anschluss. September: After the Munich Conference, the German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia was given to Germany. March: Germany occupied the rest of the Czech lands. September: Germany demanded the return of the port of Danzig to German control. When the Poles refused, Germany attacked Poland. Britain and France declared war – World War II had started.

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1933 1935

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Remove the restrictions placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles Unite German speakers together into one country (a Greater Germany or Gross Deutschland) Conquer territory in Eastern Europe (Lebensraum, or living space).

One of the reasons for Hitler’s popularity was his foreign policy. His aims were to:

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The Luitpold Hall: Originally built in 1906, the Nazis rebuilt it to be used exclusively for their party congress. Albert Speer had the front of the building remodelled and the interior modernised. The hall could hold 16,000 people.

The SS Guard on Parade at the Nuremburg Rally.

The Luitpold Arena: Originally designed as a park, it was enlarged to hold over 150,000 people. At one end was the Ehrenhalle, a World War I memorial built in 1929. The Nazis remodelled the park, incorporating the Ehrenhalle. Thousands of SS and SA men gathered at the Luitpold Arena to participate in a ceremony honouring the Nazi dead of the 1923 Bear Hall Putsch at the Ehrenhalle. The other end of the Luitpold Arena was a grandstand with a speaker’s platform and three tall swastika banners.

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2 4

Lake

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Municipal Stadium: This had been built in the 1920s as part of a sports and leisure complex and held 50,000 spectators. This was the scene of march-pasts by the Hitler Youth. The stadium is still in use and was one of the venues for soccer’s 2006 World Cup.

Lake 10

A new railway station was built and there was also a camp zone to house participants during the rally. During World War II it was used as a prisoner of war camp.

Train Station

Train Station 12

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As we have read, because of the outbreak of the war a number of buildings planned by Speer were not completed. These included a 50,000-seat Congress Hall, modelled on the Colosseum in Ancient Rome, and the German Stadium, with a capacity for 400,000 people. The historic centre of Nuremburg was also used for parades. These were reviewed by Hitler in the central marketplace, which was renamed Adolf Hitler Platz in 1933.

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7 Municipal Stadium /

1 Luitpold Arena

Stadium of the Hitler Youth

2 War Memorial

8 Zeppelin Field

4 Congress Hall

9 Zeppelin Field Grandstand

(unfinished by 1939)

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3 Luitpold Hall

10 Swimming Baths

5 German Stadium

11 SS Barracks

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(planned but not built by 1939)

12 Camp for the Army, the SS, the SA,

Hitler Youth and other participants

6 March Field (unfinished by 1939)

What were the Nuremberg laws?

Sometimes important policy was announced at the rallies. The 1935 rally is remembered for the infamous Nuremberg Laws that made Jews second-class citizens in Germany. Hitler had summoned the Reichstag (German parliament) to meet at Nuremberg during this rally. The parliament now had only Nazi members and was completely obedient to Hitler’s commands. He wanted it to pass a new law making the swastika flag of the Nazi Party the new flag of Germany. Hitler also decided that a new set of laws dealing with the position of Jews in Germany would also be approved by the Reichstag. These laws were hastily drafted during the Nuremberg Rally and then presented to the parliament. Two laws were passed:

The Protection of German Blood and German Honour The Reich Citizenship Laws.

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As a result of the first law, marriage and extramarital sexual relations between Jews and Germans were banned, with strict punishments. Between 1936 and 1939 over 1,500 Jews were convicted and imprisoned for violating the ban on sexual contact between Germans and Jews. Jews were also forbidden to employ German women under the age of 45. Under the second law, Jews were stripped of their German citizenship and were now called state citizens.

The front of the Luitpold Hall.

As the historian Ian Kershaw wrote:

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Given that the laws were drafted in a hurry, they were quite vague. Nazi officials were to spend the next few months working out their definition of what a Jew actually was.

Under the new laws three-quarter Jews were counted as Jewish. Half-Jews (with two Jewish grandparents) were reckoned as Jewish only if practising the Jewish faith, married to a Jew, the child of a marriage with a Jewish partner, or the illegitimate child of a Jew and an Aryan.

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These laws marked a significant step in the removal of Jews from German society. One impact of the laws was to reinforce the impression created by Nazi propaganda among the German population that the Jews were different and not German.

Source: Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889–1936, Hubris Penguin Books, 1999

At the 1937 rally Hitler met the brother of the Japanese emperor, symbolising closer relations between both countries. During the 1938 rally Hitler used his speeches to put pressure on the Czechs over the Sudetenland (a Germanspeaking region of Czechoslovakia). He made wild allegations claiming Hitler salutes marchers in the centre of Nuremberg. widespread mistreatment by the Czechs of the Germans who lived there. The crisis over this region nearly led to a European war in the autumn of 1938. However, the dispute was settled at the Munich Conference when the British and the French agreed to Hitler’s demand that the region be given to Germany.

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One of Hitler’s aims was to convey to the world the images of the new German unity as seen at Nuremberg. With this in mind he arranged for the young actress and director Leni Riefenstahl to make a record of the 1934 rally. She had made a film of the 1933 rally called Triumph of Faith, but it had not been successful. Riefenstahl was at first reluctant, given the failure of her first film, but Hitler persuaded her to accept the task. Goebbels opposed her appointment, as Riefenstahl was not a party member (she never joined), and because Hitler had directly appointed her, bypassing the propaganda ministry. Furthermore, as we have read, Goebbels favoured more indirect methods of propaganda in films and opposed what he saw as a crude propaganda film about Hitler.

Why is the film Triumph of The Will controversial?

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Leni Riefenstahl shooting Triumph of the Will. Nonetheless, Hitler issued orders that Riefenstahl be provided with all the resources that she required. A crew of 120 worked on the film with 30 cameras. The most advanced film techniques of the time, such as telephoto lenses and wide-angled photography, were used. The resulting film, Triumph of the Will, was in the words of the historian Richard Evans ‘a documentary like none before’. The film had no commentary and it portrayed the unity and determination of the German people under Hitler’s leadership. The film was noted for its presentation of vast disciplined masses moving in perfect co-ordination. It was the only film made about Hitler during the Third Reich.

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It was released in 1935 to widespread praise not only in Germany, but also abroad. The film won the German National Film Prize, which was presented to Riefenstahl by Goebbels who had changed his mind about the film. He described it as ‘a magnificent cinematic version of the Führer’. It was awarded the Gold Medal at the Venice Film Festival in 1935 and the Grand Prize at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937. She was the first female director to receive such international recognition for her work.

Controversy rages to this day as to whether it is a piece of propaganda or a brilliant example of cinema. In an interview in 1964, Riefenstahl defended the film:

Everything in it is true. And it contains no commentary at all. It is history. A pure historical film. It reflects the truth that was then in 1934, history. It is therefore a documentary. Not a propaganda film.

Source: www.kamera.co.uk

Many commentators disagree and accuse the director of using spectacular filmmaking to promote a system that became a by-word for evil. Richard Evans wrote about the film: Presented as a documentary, it was a propaganda film designed to convince Germany and the world of the power, strength and determination of the German people under Hitler’s leadership. Source: Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power, Penguin Books, 2006, page 126

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Today in Germany the movie is classified as National Socialist propaganda and is banned except for educational purposes.

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After the success of this film, Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned by the International Olympics Committee to produce a documentary about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Her film, called Olympia, received widespread international praise and is considered by many to be the greatest sports documentary ever made. As with her earlier work, Triumph of the Will, there is still controversy about the film as to whether it is a documentary or Nazi propaganda.

Because of her association with the Nazis, Riefenstahl was imprisoned by the victorious Allies for four years after the war. She unsuccessfully tried to return to film making and turned to photography instead. She died in 2003 at the age of 101.

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Still shot from Triumph of the Will. Hitler, Himmler and the SA leader Victor Lutze are at the memorial to the Nazi dead of the Beer Hall Putsch in the Luitpold Arena. They are flanked on either side by gigantic formations of Nazis in perfectly aligned columns. It is images such as these that cause many people to view Triumph of the Will as propaganda. What do you think?

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Why was Nuremberg chosen as a site for Nazi party rallies?

Why were the rallies useful propaganda spectacles for the Nazis? Explain why the rally had a different title each year. What basic format did events follow during the rally?

Describe some of the important venues at the rally grounds outside Nuremberg.

‘Triumph of the Will is a work of Nazi propaganda.’ Do you agree? Outline two reasons to support your answer.

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EXAMINE THE SOURCE

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The Nuremberg Laws, September 15, 1935 Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, September 15, 1935 Entirely convinced that the purity of German blood is essential to the further existence of the German people, and inspired by the uncompromising determination to safeguard the future of the German nation, the Reichstag has unanimously adopted the following law, which is promulgated herewith:

1. Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad. 2. Proceedings for annulment may be initiated only by the Public Prosecutor. II. Sexual relations outside marriage between Jews and nationals of German or kindred blood are forbidden. III. Jews will not be permitted to employ female citizens of German or kindred blood under 45 years of age as domestic servants. IV. IV. 1. Jews are forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colours. 2. On the other hand they are permitted to display the Jewish colours. The exercise of this right is protected by the State. V. 1. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Section I will be punished with hard labour. 2. A person who acts contrary to the prohibition of Section II will be punished with imprisonment or with hard labour. 3. A person who acts contrary to the provisions of Sections III or IV will be punished with imprisonment up to a year and with a fine, or with one of these penalties. VI. The Reich Minister of the Interior in agreement with the Deputy Führer and the Reich Minister of Justice will issue the legal and administrative regulations required for the enforcement and supplementing of this law. VII. The law will become effective on the day after its promulgation; Section III, however, not until January 1, 1936.

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Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935 I. 1. A subject of the State is a person who belongs to the protective union of the German Reich, and who therefore has particular obligations towards the Reich. 2. The status of subject is acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Reich and State Law of Citizenship. II. 1. A citizen of the Reich is that subject only who is of German or kindred blood and who, through his conduct, shows that he is both desirous and fit to serve the German people and Reich faithfully.

Source: The History Place: The Triumph of Hitler (www.historyplace.com)

QUESTIONS (a)

What did the laws say about marriage and sexual relations between Jews and Germans?

(b)

What did the laws say about the use of flags by Jews?

(c)

What were the punishments for breaking the new laws?

(d)

Why do you think that Section III did not come into force until January 1936?

(e)

What two classes of citizen are set out in the Reich citizenship law?

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 1 (Higher and Ordinary Levels)

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Study the two sources and answer the questions that follow.

Leaving Certificate HL 2016 Document A 1933 Nuremberg Rally. He wrote this account in the 1960s.

In this edited extract Charles Bewley, the Irish representative in Germany from 1933 to 1939, reflects on the

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It is possible that, in later years, participation at Nuremberg became routine; but, in 1933, it cannot be doubted that the average SA man could imagine no higher honour than to be selected to represent his comrades at the party rally. It was no bed of roses. They came, often by forced marches, from all parts of Germany. The nights on their straw couches were short. The days of parading or standing guard were long. But every privation was accepted as a sacrifice for the Fatherland.

There was little enthusiasm for, or comprehension of, the doctrines of National Socialism. But there was a fanatical devotion to Adolf Hitler as the man who would give the Fatherland its place in the sun and the German workman freedom from the nightmare of unemployment.

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At a night meeting, surrounded by banners and searchlights, we non-Germans present could see only a commonplace figure. But there was not one of us who did not recognise that – for all his banality and lack of charm – Hitler possessed some quality that appealed to the German soul. A glance at the faces around us was enough to show that, for Germans, he was the Messiah sent to redeem his people.

Source: W.J. McCormack (ed.) Charles Bewley, Memoirs of a Wild Goose (Dublin, 1989)

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Document B In this edited extract Virginia Cowles, an American journalist, comments on a Nuremberg Rally.

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A far more powerful factor than the appeal of Hitler’s doctrine was the appeal of Hitler himself. Many Germans believed that he was endowed with superhuman qualities. Certainly the idea of a superman was encouraged by the vast displays in Nuremberg.

At night the mystic quality of the ritual was exaggerated by huge burning urns at the top of the stadium, while flood-lighting by hundreds of powerful searchlights played eerily against the sky. The music had an almost religious solemnity timed by the steady beat of drums.

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As the time for the Führer’s arrival drew near, I noticed that the crowd grew restless. Suddenly the beat of drums increased. A fleet of black cars rolled swiftly into the arena. In one of them, standing in the front seat, his hand outstretched in the Nazi salute, was Hitler. When he began to speak the multitude broke into a roar of cheers. Some of them began swaying back and forth in a frenzy. I looked around and saw tears streaming down people’s cheeks. But later, when he left the stand and climbed back into his car, Hitler’s small figure suddenly became drab and unimpressive.

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QUESTIONS

Source: Virgina Cowles, Looking for Trouble (London, 1941)

(a) (b) (c) (d)

According to document A, what did the average SA man think about attendance at Nuremberg? What has document B to say about the music at Nuremberg? How is it shown in document A that attendance at Nuremberg ‘was no bed of roses’? According to document B, what lighting technique was used within the stadium and what was its effect? (20)

(a) Do both documents agree that the appeal of Hitler’s personality was greater than the appeal of his ideas? Explain your answer, referring to both documents. (b) Do the writers of both documents wonder why a person like Hitler can command such admiration? Explain your answer, referring to both documents. (20)

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(a) Do you consider document A to be an objective source? Give reasons for your answer, referring to the document. (b) Which document gives the clearer idea of what happened at a Nuremberg Rally? Give reasons for your answer, referring to both documents. (20)

What did the Nuremberg Rallies and/or Joseph Goebbels contribute to Nazi propaganda?

(40)

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 2 (Higher and Ordinary Levels)

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Study the two sources and answer the questions that follow.

Document A

This is an extract from the diary of American journalist William Shirer describing the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.

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I am beginning to comprehend some of the reasons for Hitler’s astounding success. Borrowing a chapter from the Roman [Catholic] church, he is restoring spectacle and colour and mysticism to the dull lives of 20th Century Germans. This morning’s opening meeting ... was more than a gorgeous show, it also had something of the mysticism and religious fervour of an Easter or Christmas Mass in a great Gothic cathedral. The hall was a sea of brightly coloured flags. Even Hitler’s arrival was made dramatic. The band stopped playing. There was a hush over the thirty thousand people packed in the hall. Then the band struck up the Badenweiler March ... Hitler appeared in the back of the auditorium and followed by his aides, Göring, Goebbels, Hess, Himmler and the others, he slowly strode down the long centre aisle while thirty thousand hands were raised in salute.

Source: www.historyplace.com

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Document B

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This is a still picture from the film Triumph of the Will about the 1934 Rally

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QUESTIONS 1

Comprehension

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(a) According to document A, what does the author say that Hitler brought into the lives of Germans? (b) According to document A, in what ways was Hitler’s arrival made more dramatic? (c) In your opinion, what impression of Nazi Germany does document B attempt to create? Support your answer with evidence from the picture. Comparision (a) ‘Both documents A and B support the view that Hitler was a popular figure in Germany.’ Do you agree? Use evidence to support your answer. (b) Which document do you think is the more effective source on the Nuremberg Rallies? Explain your answer.

Criticism (a) What are the strengths and weaknesses of diaries as sources of information for historians? (b) In your opinion, how reliable are pictures as evidence about events from the past?

Contextualisation Ordinary Level (1 A4 page): What were the main events that were held during the Nuremberg Rallies?

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Higher Level (1.5–2 A4 pages) How was the cult of personality around Hitler promoted at the Nuremburg Rallies?

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 3

Document A

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A photograph of the Cathedral of Light at the 1936 Nuremberg Rally.

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(Higher and Ordinary Levels)

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Document B This is an edited extract from the official account of the Political Leaders Meeting at the 1936 Nuremberg Rally,

which describes the event shown in document A.

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The Nuremberg Party Rally continued Friday evening with the powerful roll call of political leaders... Just before 7:30 when it was nearly dark, a floodlight shoots heavenward. The small spotlight’s beam reveals more than 200 enormous swastika flags that fly from 12 meter flagpoles in the evening breeze... More lights illuminate the flawless white marble platform, an unforgettably beautiful sight... More lights shoot across the field, revealing the endless brown columns, showing their movements, until suddenly, at a command, the 90,000 are in place...

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The voice of Dr. Ley comes over the loudspeaker: ‘Attention! The Führer is here!’ The shouts that always accompany the Führer resound from the Dutzendteich train station … 180,000 people look to the heavens. 150 blue spotlights surge upward hundreds of meters, forming overhead the most powerful cathedral that mortals have ever seen. There, at the entrance, we see the Führer. He too stands for several moments looking upward, then turns and walks, followed by his aides, past the long, long columns, 20 deep, of the fighters for his idea. An ocean of Heil-shouts and jubilation surrounds him.

Comprehension

Comparision (a) Do you think that the description of events in document B is as effective as document A in describing the Cathedral of Light? Refer to both sources in your answer. (b) Are both sources examples of propaganda? Support your answer with evidence from both sources.

From studying document A, how did the Nazis create the Cathedral of Light? What do you think was the aim of the spectacle created in document A? From document B, who announced the arrival of the Führer? From document B, describe the reaction to the arrival of the Führer.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

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QUESTIONS

Source: www.calvin.edu. Used with permission of Randall Bytwerk.

Criticism (a) Should historians accept document A as a reliable source about the Nuremberg Rallies? (b) How would you describe the tone of document B? Give evidence to support your answer.

Contextualisation Ordinary Level (1 A4 page) Why were the Nuremberg Rallies such an important event in Nazi Germany? Higher Level (1.5–2 A4 pages) What were the main themes promoted by the Nazis at the Nuremberg Rallies?

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The Jarrow March

CASE STUDY C:

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XBritain between the Wars, 1919–1939

A British newspaper from 1926 reporting on the General Strike. Caption

Useful terms

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In this chapter we will examine the economic and social problems faced by successive governments in Britain in the inter war period. The most important of these were industrial unrest, the decline in traditional industries such as coal mining and the impact of the Great Depression.

Conservative Party: Political party that strongly supported the empire and favoured little role for the government in the economy. Strongly supported by wealthier people.

Exports: Goods and services sold to other countries.

Free trade: No taxes placed on imported goods – traditional British trade policy.

General strike: When trade unions join together to stage a nationwide strike, as happened in 1926 in Britain.

Gold standard: Traditional British policy whereby money issued was backed by gold.

Imports: Goods or services bought from other countries.

Labour Party: Moderate socialist party in favour of a fairer society, greater government spending and government control of major industries, such as coal mining.

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Liberal Party: Until 1918, one of the ‘big two’ in British politics. Favoured moderate reform and free trade. It went into decline after World War I as it lost votes to the Labour Party.

Introduction

In the 19th century Britain had been the world’s leading economic and political power, with a vast empire spanning the globe. By the turn of the 20th century, Britain had been overtaken economically by both the US and Germany. Nonetheless, Britain was still a major force in the world economy and London was a major financial and banking centre. Many in Britain believed that the reasons for their economic success were based on a number of factors. One was sound financial management of the nation’s finances.

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The economic problems Britain faced in the 1920s and 1930s were to challenge these traditional views. British politics had usually been dominated by the Liberal and the Conservative parties. From 1900 the Labour Party grew in popularity and after World War I it replaced the Liberals as the main rival of the Conservatives.

This meant that government spending was funded by taxes raised and not by borrowing. Other factors included a strong currency backed by gold (called the Gold standard) and free trade.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

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Within the country there was a large difference in wealth between the richer south and poorer north. The north was the centre of traditional industries such as mining and shipbuilding, but these went into decline after World War I. Meanwhile, new industries were established in the south of the country, such as car manufacturing. As a result, unemployment and poverty were much greater in the north of the country. This difference will be reflected in the events surrounding the case study on the Jarrow March in October 1936 (see Chapter 9). There were also serious class divisions between the upper, middle and working classes. This division was reflected in the vast gulf in wealth between the rich and the poor.

The Depression: A period of prolonged decline in economic growth, resulting in mass unemployment. It was caused by the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

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Inflation: An annual rise in prices. Rising prices can see workers looking for higher wages, which can lead to strikes.

? KEY QUESTION

What were the economic and social problems facing Britain in the inter-war years?

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Protectionism: The introduction of taxes (tariffs) on imports to make them more expensive. It is hoped that this will encourage domestic industry by reducing competition from imported goods. The British government imposed tariffs on goods from outside its empire in 1932, but left trade free with countries in the empire. This policy was called Imperial Preference.

What were economic conditions like in Britain after World War I?

World War I, or the Great War, as it was known, had left over 750,000 British men killed and millions injured. The war had cost a lot of money, which the British government had borrowed, mainly from America. Repaying the loans reduced the amount of money the government had to spend on improving services and helping the poor. The post-war election of December 1918 resulted in a large majority for the wartime coalition made up of Conservatives and Liberals led by David Lloyd George. The government immediately began the process of

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returning soldiers to civilian life. This was called demobilisation. By the summer of 1919, over four million men had left the army and most found jobs. Women who had replaced the men in the factories during the war lost their jobs to the returning soldiers.

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Industries that the government had taken control of during World War I, such as mining and the railways, were returned to their owners.

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At first there was an economic boom in the immediate aftermath of war, but soon a number of serious economic problems developed. Controls that limited price and wage increases and the size of profits during the war were removed. This caused inflation, which reduced what workers could buy with their wages. As a result there were many strikes as workers looked for higher wages. These strikes were organised by trade unions made up of workers such as miners. The unions had grown considerably in size and importance since the early 1900s. In 1919 and 1920 there were over 2,000 strikes, including a national strike of railway workers.

In the mining industry there were particularly poor relations between the miners and the mine owners, going back to before the war. Demand for British coal was falling both at home and abroad. Matters were made worse by the end of the post-war boom in 1921, with unemployment rising to two million. The mine owners looked to cut wages, leading to a bitter industrial dispute. The owners won when the other unions would not back the miners.

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Lloyd George’s government did try to improve conditions for workers. The amount of money paid in sickness and unemployment benefits was increased, as was the number of those who were eligible for these payments. However, the payments were still small and workers who lost their jobs suffered real hardship.

How did Labour come to power in 1924?

In 1922 Lloyd George was replaced by the Conservative Andrew Bonar Law, who had to resign soon after due to ill health. He was succeeded by fellow Conservative, Stanley Baldwin.

David Lloyd George (1863–1945), credited by many as being the architect of the British victory in World War I.

The Conservatives did badly in the election of December 1923, partly because of economic problems and industrial unrest in the country. The Labour Party, led by Ramsay MacDonald, formed its first ever government with Liberal support. The new government introduced a number of moderate reforms. The most important of these was the Housing Act, which helped to overcome a severe post-war shortage. In 1923 it was estimated that over 800,000 new houses were needed for lower-paid workers to rent at an affordable rate. The new Act gave financial help to local authorities to build these houses. As a result, over 500,000 new houses were built.

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The moderation of the government did little to lessen the fear of socialism, especially in the Conservative Party. Many people looked to the USSR. They equated socialism with communism, revolution, bloodshed and chaos. These suspicions seemed to be confirmed when the government decided to establish diplomatic relations with the USSR. A proposed trade agreement between both countries was bitterly attacked by both the Conservatives and many newspapers.

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In the autumn of 1924, matters came to a head when the government was accused of interfering in the course of justice after a charge against a left wing newspaper editor was dropped. The Liberals withdrew support from the government and a new election was called. The election was famous for the publication of the Zinoviev Letter in The Daily Mail. Almost certainly Ramsay MacDonald (1866–1937) was the first Labour prime minister of a forgery, the newspaper claimed the letter was from the leading Russian Britain. Communist Grigory Zinoviev. It set out plans for a communist revolution in Britain. It created a ‘red scare’ and helped to ensure the victory of Baldwin and the Conservatives.

Why was there a general strike in Britain in 1926?

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In 1925 the new Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance), Winston Churchill, announced a return to the Gold Standard, which had been dropped during World War I. It was hoped that this would increase confidence in the British currency (sterling). This proved to be a disastrous decision and was strongly criticized by the leading British economist, John Maynard Keynes.

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While it made the British currency stronger, it made the price of British exports more expensive in other countries. As a result, demand for British exports fell and British industry suffered, especially coal mining. In response, mine owners wanted to reduce wages and increase working hours. The unions refused to agree. In response the mine owners threatened to lock out the miners if they did not agree to their terms.

Military vehicles on the streets of London during the general strike. This picture reflects how seriously the government took the threat of the strike.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), which represented unions from different sectors of the British economy, decided to back the miners. It threatened to call a nationwide strike of workers across all industries, known as a general strike, to support the miners. The government demanded that the TUC call off the general strike. The TUC refused and the strike began on 4 May 1926. For the only time in British history, most of the workforce went on strike in support of one particular group of workers. Throughout the country, many feared that the strike was the beginning of a communist takeover of Britain.

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The government was determined not to back down. With the help of volunteers and emergency powers, food supplies and a reduced train service were maintained throughout the country. A very effective propaganda campaign was waged against the strike, including the use of the recently founded BBC radio station. The government portrayed itself as a force for moderation while the strikers were labelled as extremists. Baldwin claimed, ‘The general strike is a challenge to Parliament, and is the road to anarchy and ruin.’

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It soon became clear that the strike lacked public support and the leadership of the TUC was divided. Contrary to the claims of the government, most were moderate socialists who had not intended to take on the government politically. They had also completely Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) was one underestimated the determination of the government to defeat the of the most important political figures of the inter-war period. strike. The Labour Party was unhappy about the strike, as it damaged their attempt to portray themselves as a moderate party. To make matters worse, there was also a strong possibility that the strike was illegal and the TUC could be sued for damages by the employers.

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On 12 May, the TUC accepted defeat and called off the strike. In a gesture of goodwill, Baldwin called on employers to take back their employees without any reprisals, although this did not always happen. The miners were left to fight on without support. They held out until December, when they were forced to accept reduced wages and increased hours.

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In 1927 the government passed the Trades Disputes Act, which made a general strike illegal. Unions suffered a loss of membership, but the moderates now dominated the leadership of the TUC. Industrial relations improved as both employees and employers increasingly looked for compromise in disputes.

The Conservatives were not totally opposed to social reform. The government improved old age pensions and in 1928 finally gave the vote to women on equal terms to men. Nonetheless, the Conservatives lost the 1929 election and the Labour Party under MacDonald returned to power. One of the reasons the Labour government had been elected was its promise to tackle unemployment, which had stood at one million. The new government was soon to face a far greater economic crisis – the Great Depression.

REVIEW QUESTIONS Why were there so many strikes in the years immediately after World War I?

Why did the Labour government of 1924 last only a year?

Explain why there was a general strike in 1926.

How would you describe the government’s reaction to the strike?

List two effects of the general strike.

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How did the British government deal with the economic problems caused by the great depression?

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In 1929 the Wall Street Crash occurred in the USA and the economic effects spread worldwide. The British government soon found the economic situation worsening rapidly as exports decreased. Unemployment spread to all of the major industries. As the table below shows, unemployment rose sharply to 2.6 million by 1931.

This presented the government with a severe problem. Rising unemployment – 25% of the workforce was unemployed by 1933 – meant that the government would have to increase spending to pay unemployment benefit. This threatened the stability of the nation’s finances, as the government would spend more money than it collected in taxes, forcing it to borrow. This placed the Labour government in a dilemma.

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On the one hand it was the party of the working class, who were suffering the most in the economic downturn. On the other hand, it wanted to demonstrate that it could manage the country responsibly, and the test of this was maintaining the nation’s finances.

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MacDonald and his government were unsure how to tackle the economic difficulties. In 1931 a financial crash throughout Europe made matters worse and as a result the value of the pound fell considerably. In

Poverty in the 1920s.

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July 1931 the May Commission set up by the government predicted economic disaster unless there were severe tax rises, cuts in public sector pay and a 20% reduction in unemployment benefit.

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When MacDonald made it clear that he supported the recommendations of the report, he found that he was opposed by most of his cabinet colleagues. The report was not an acceptable solution for the Labour Party. On the advice of King George V, MacDonald then transformed his government into a national government made up of his few supporters in the Labour Party, the Conservatives and the Liberals. As a result, MacDonald was expelled from his own party but he remained as PM.

Britain: Unemployment 1929–1933 Number

1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1,200,000

1,900,000

2,600,000

2,700,000

2,500,000

Source: Stephen Lee, British Political History 1914–1995.

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Year

The cutbacks were implemented a month later. The election of the same year resulted in massive victory for the National government, with over 500 MPs elected – the vast majority of whom were Conservatives.

Unlike Weimar Germany, why did the economic crisis not pose a threat to democracy In Britain?

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As we have read, at the height of the crisis, nearly 25% of the British working population was unemployed. In contrast to Weimar Germany, where the Great Depression had led to the collapse of democracy, this did not happen in Britain. A number of factors explain this:

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The ease with which a National government had been formed to deal with Britain’s economic crisis pointed to the deep political stability of the British political system. There was very little support for the political extremes of fascism or communism.

The British Union of Fascists, led by the former Labour Party minister Sir Oswald Mosley, failed to make any significant impact.

The Communist Party also attracted little support, even in an era of high unemployment. It followed instructions from Moscow and annoyed many of its supporters when it cut connections with the British Labour Party and the TUC. Though influential in a few areas, it remained outside the mainstream of British political life, which had a tradition of peaceful and non-revolutionary politics.

A further factor was the success of the government policies in dealing with the crisis: The government abandoned the Gold Standard, which caused the value of the pound to fall. This made it easier for exporters to sell their goods in other countries. It replaced the traditional British policy of free trade with protectionism. It placed tariffs (taxes) on imports from outside the empire to encourage industry at home. This new government policy was called Imperial Preference. Interest rates were cut, which made it cheaper for businesses and individuals to borrow money.

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These measures helped to deal with the worst of the Depression and Britain recovered quite quickly from its economic problems. This was helped by the fact that the British economy had not performed as well as Germany or the US in the late 1920s, so it was not as severely affected as those countries were by the economic downturn.

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During 1933 unemployment fell by ½ million and by 1934 the economy had recovered. The tough measures implemented in 1931 were reversed. Income tax was reduced, unemployment benefit was increased and the salaries of public servants returned to their pre-1931 levels. In 1935 Ramsay MacDonald resigned as prime minister and was replaced by Baldwin.

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By now domestic issues were being overshadowed by events in Europe, with Hitler’s actions posing a threat to the peace of Europe. The prime minister from 1937, Neville Chamberlain, felt he could prevent war in Europe by negotiating with Hitler and giving in to ‘reasonable’ German demands. By 1939 it was clear that this policy, called appeasement, had failed. Britain guaranteed Poland their support in the event of a German attack. On 1 September 1939 Hitler attacked Poland, and Britain declared war on Germany two days later – World War II had begun.

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Chamberlain and Hitler in 1938 in Bad Godesberg, Germany.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

What effect did the Great Depression have on Britain?

Explain how a National government was formed in 1931.

Give two reasons why Britain did not suffer the same political difficulties as Germany in the 1930s. What measures did the government introduce to tackle the economic crisis?

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XCase Study: The Jarrow March, October 1936

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In this chapter we will examine the Jarrow March. This event has been seen to symbolise the unemployment and poverty of the Great Depression. We will look at the background to the march, the main events during the march and assess its impact. We will also explore how reflective the march was of conditions in Britain in the 1930s.

Caption The Jarrow marchers stop off to eat on their walk to London.

? KEY QUESTION

What was the background to the Jarrow march?

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What were special areas?

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The improved economic picture we read about at the end of Chapter 8 was not universal. While declining in the rest of the country, the problem of mass unemployment still affected traditional industrial heartlands such as the north-east, Cumberland, central Scotland and south Wales. These were areas that had been dependent on industries such as coal mining, steelmaking and shipbuilding. These industries had been hardest hit by the Great Depression.

In 1934 they were declared Special Areas and money was provided to help improve the local economy and attract new industries. Unfortunately, the financial aid was quite limited and did little to improve the position of these regions. Unemployment, especially long-term unemployment, remained stubbornly high. Matters were made worse by the system of unemployment benefit for the long-term unemployed.

At this time, unemployment benefit was paid for 26 weeks before it was subject to a means test. This could lead to non-payment of further benefit if other people in the house were working or if there were any savings. The Unemployment Assistance Board was established in 1934. It made matters a little better and increased the number of people who received payments. However, it kept the means test and the payment was totally inadequate to maintain a decent standard of living. Many moved to the more prosperous south in search of work. The worst affected areas were those dependent on a single industry, for example shipbuilding in Jarrow or coal mining in the Rhondda in south Wales. It was the people of Jarrow that were to bring conditions in these areas to national attention.

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Conditions in Jarrow

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Jarrow was a small town of 30,000 people near Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east of England. On 5 October 1936 it became a household name throughout Britain when a group of 200 men from the town set out to march the 300 miles to London. They wanted to bring to the nation’s and to parliament’s attention the fact that there was 70% unemployment in their town. They hoped to get help to tackle poverty in the town. The main demand was for a steelworks to be built to ease unemployment in Jarrow.

om pa ny

The town’s main employer, Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, had closed down the previous year with the loss of 400 jobs. Its closure reflected the decline in shipbuilding that was occurring throughout Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. Opened in 1852, the shipyard had once so dominated Jarrow that it was unofficially known as Palmersville. At the turn of the century, over half of the world’s ships were built in British shipyards, which were located mainly in the north of the country. At the time, Palmers employed over 10,000 people in Jarrow. The industry went into decline after World War I in the face of foreign competition and this was made worse by the Great Depression.

By 1933 Britain built only 7% of world shipping and Palmers was one of many shipyards badly hit by this downturn. In 1930 the government set up the National Shipbuilders Securities to tackle the problem of too many shipbuilding companies in Britain. It bought up shipyards in financial difficulties and then closed most of them. It was hoped that those left open would be better able to compete internationally. Palmers was one of the 28 shipyards that it closed in the 1930s. As a result, no other industry had a higher rate of unemployment than shipbuilding in the 1930s.

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This closure increased the problems of poverty, poor housing, overcrowding and high mortality (death) rates that already plagued Jarrow. The town had the highest unemployment and infant mortality rates in the country. The table below shows how poor health conditions were in Jarrow compared to the rest of the country.

TB mortality rate (per million deaths)

National average

1,273

702

Infant mortality measures the number of children who die in their first year. TB (tuberculosis) is an infectious disease associated with poverty.

Of the 8,000 skilled workers in Jarrow, only 100 had jobs. Half of the shops in the town were forced to close due to the absence of customers.

Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 births)

Jarrow

The local Labour MP, Ellen Wilkinson, nicknamed Red Ellen because of her former membership of the Communist Party, wrote about conditions in Jarrow at the time: There was no work. No one had a job except a few railwaymen, officials, the workers in the cooperative stores, and a few workmen who went out of the town … the plain fact [is] that if people have to live and bear and bring up their children in bad houses on too little food, their resistance to disease is lowered and they die before they should.

Source: The Town That Was Murdered, 1939.

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Background to the march

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Protest marches against the poverty caused by the Great Depression began in 1932. ‘Hunger marches’ were organised by the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement (NUWM). These included a march of 2,000 people in 1932, two further national marches in 1934 and 1936 and also in 1936 a march of 200 blind people to London.

After a proposal to open a steelworks employing 2,000 people in Jarrow fell through in the summer of 1936, Jarrow Borough Council decided to act. They would stage their own march and present a petition to parliament in faraway London. It would be delivered by men who would march the 300 miles to London in 22 stages.

om pa ny

The mayor of Jarrow, Billy Thompson, said:

In every town and village on our way to London we are going to put to the people of this country the plight of our depressed town, so that public opinion which is the greatest factor in this country … may make itself felt. Jarrow had been termed the most depressed town in the country, but we are here on behalf of all towns in a similar position to our own.

na l

They called their march a ‘crusade’. The name was chosen to emphasise the seriousness of their situation and to distinguish their march from those of the NUWM, whose connection with the Communist Party raised the fear of revolution among many people. The Labour Party had refused to support the NUWM as a result of this connection. In contrast, the Jarrow Crusade attracted broad political support in the town, including that of local Conservatives.

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As historian Juliet Gardiner wrote:

The Hunger Marches had been organised by the communist dominated NUWM, but the Jarrow Crusade was intended to be non-political, and the Conservative party in Jarrow, conscious that unemployment impacted on its members too … supported it.

Source: Juliet Gardiner, The Thirties: An Intimate History, Harper Press, 2010, page 446

What were the main preparations for the march?

? KEY QUESTION

What impact did the march have?

The marchers were carefully chosen. After a medical examination, 200 men were selected to participate. Many men were disappointed they were not chosen. Women were not invited. Numbers had to be kept low, as the men would need food and accommodation en route to London. A second-hand bus was bought to carry cooking equipment and ground sheets were provided for outside rests. An advance guard was sent out to arrange overnight stops and public meetings. Finally, a religious service was held on the eve of departure and the marchers were blessed by the Bishop of Jarrow.

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Ire la n

The shaded areas are the Special Areas that received extra financial help from the government from 1934. They included southern Scotland (marked 1 on the map), Cumberland (2), South Wales (3), and Tyneside (4) where Jarrow was located.

Glasgow

1 4 Jarrow

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Birmingham

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London

Map of the march showing the main places along the route: Jarrow, Leeds, Sheffield, Leicester, Northampton, London

Jarrow

Chester-le-Street Ferryhill Darlington

Northallerton

Ripon

Harrogate Wakefield Chesterfield

Leeds Barnsley Sheffield Mansfield Nottingham

Loughborough

Leicester

Market Harborough Northampton

Bedford Luton

St Albans

Edgware

Marble Arch (London)

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The marchers covered 280.5 miles in 22 stages. They rested on Sundays. 12 Chesterfield to Mansfield (12 miles)

2 Chester-le-Street to Ferryhill (12 miles)

13 Mansfield to Nottingham (14½ miles)

3 Ferryhill to Darlington (16 miles)

14 Nottingham to Loughborough (15 miles)

4 Darlington to Northallerton (16 miles)

15 Loughborough to Leicester (14¼ miles)

5 Northallerton to Ripon (8½ miles)

16 Leicester to Market Harborough (17 miles)

6 Ripon to Harrogate (10½ miles)

17 Market Harborough to Northampton (21 miles)

7 Harrogate to Leeds (15½ miles)

18 Northampton to Bedford (19 miles)

8 Leeds to Wakefield (9 miles)

19 Bedford to Luton (10½ miles)

9 Wakefield to Barnsley (9¾ miles)

20 Luton to St Albans (11 miles)

Ire la n

1 Jarrow to Chester-le-Street (12 miles)

21 St Albans to Edgware (11 miles)

11 Sheffield to Chesterfield (11¾ miles)

22 Edgware to Marble Arch, London (8½ miles)

10 Barnsley to Sheffield (13½ miles)

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Source: British National Archives

What happened on the march?

Carrying blue-and-white banners and led by the only woman to participate on the march, MP Ellen Wilkinson, they set off to London. The petition, signed by 11,000 people from Jarrow, was carried in an oak box with gold lettering. Further signatures were collected along the way.

According to a police report on the march, the petition said:

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During the last fifteen years Jarrow has passed through a period of depression without parallel in the town’s history. Its shipyard is closed. Its steelworks have been denied the right to reopen. Where formerly 8,000 people were employed, only 100 men are now employed on a temporary scheme. The town cannot be derelict, and therefore your petitioners humbly pray that His Majesty’s government ... should realise the urgent need that work should be found without further delay.

Every day the men assembled at 8.45 in the morning. They marched army style: 50 minutes’ marching every hour with 10 minutes’ rest. On average the men walked between 10 and 15 miles a day. As they marched they sang and a mouth organ band played music; ‘keeping the men swinging along all the time’, according to a report in the Shields Gazette (a local newspaper from the north of England).

A public meeting was held at every town along the way, at which Ellen Wilkinson and the mayor of Jarrow usually spoke about conditions in their town. They received an enthusiastic Ellen Wilkinson (1891–1947) was nicknamed Red reception in most towns, although the crowds greeting the Ellen. A former Communist, she was the local Labour marchers declined the further south they travelled. In Leeds MP and a strong supporter of the march. the Jarrow men received a donation to pay for their return trip by train. In Barnsley, the men were able to relax in the specially heated public baths. In Bedford they were given gifts of cigarettes and meat. From time to time some of the marchers needed medical aid and this care was provided by student doctors from the Inter Hospital Socialist Society. CASE STUDY: THE JARROW MARCH, OCTOBER 1936 ❘ 93

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Ire la n

What happened when they arrived in London?

News coverage of the Jarrow March was extensive. It received a lot of publicity, unlike the NUWM hunger marches. Pathé newsreel filmed the march, while BBC Radio broadcast nightly reports. National and local newspapers ran stories – most, though not all, were sympathetic to the march.

The march eventually reached London on 31 October. On 4 November the petition was presented to parliament. The prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, refused to see the marchers or their representatives, claiming he was too busy. Delegates from the protest, including Ellen Wilkinson and Mayor Thompson, addressed a group of MPs from all parties in the largest committee room in the House of Commons. Raising his chain of office in front of them, Thompson said:

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Its links form a cable, its badge is an anchor … symbols in gold of the cables and anchors of the thousand ships we built at Jarrow. If you are not going to help us then this means nothing. A small delegation of the marchers later met the Minister of Labour.

What were the effects of the march?

There were few immediate effects of the march for Jarrow. While the march had attracted much public sympathy, it made little impact. There had been no government action on the marchers’ demands. To add insult to injury, when the marchers returned home they found that their unemployment assistance had been cut for the period they had been away. This was on the grounds that they had been unavailable for work.

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One marcher said,

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Our march didn’t do us a bit of good – we were out of work at the end.’ Fifty years later the oldest survivor gave his verdict: ‘It was a waste of time. It had no effect on unemployment. The only thing that saved Jarrow was the war when the shipyards were needed again.

Source: Juliet Gardiner, The Thirties: An Intimate History, Harper Press, 2010, pages 452–3

Andrew Marr commented on the immediate effect of the march:

At the end of the nearly 300 miles of tramping and singing, the nation pretty much ignored the marchers. They were met with sympathy but only small crowds and in London achieved nothing at all.

Source: Andrew Marr, The Making of Modern Britain: From Queen Victoria to VE Day, Pan Books 2009, page 310

Despite its lack of response to the plight of Jarrow, the government’s policies had improved the British economy overall. A ship-breaking yard and engineering works were established in Jarrow in 1938 and a steelworks in 1939 that provided some employment. However, unemployment remained high until World War II, when the town’s fortunes improved as a result of the country’s need for weapons.

The march represented the determination of one community to deal with the social and economic problems it faced. It helped to raise awareness of the poverty that existed in the north of the country. To later historians, it came to symbolise the human consequences of mass unemployment and the poverty of the 1930s – a decade some historians refer to as the ‘Hungry 30s’.

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In protest, 200 men from Jarrow, near Newcastle, marched 300 miles to London.

The Jarrow march: summary Poverty and mass unemployment (as high as 70%) caused by the Great Depression. Tyneside, West Cumberland, Scotland and south Wales most affected.

Ire la n

The march had cross-party support and the marchers carried a petition containing 11,000 names. The march was widely covered in the press. There was a lot of public support along the route.

The crusade ultimately made little real impact. In London they delivered the petition to parliament asking for a steelworks. Prime Minister Baldwin refused to meet them.

EXAMINE THE SOURCES Source 1

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In areas of traditional industry, the Depression continued until the rearmament boom of World War II.

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A description of Jarrow by the English writer J. B. Priestley in 1934 My guidebook devotes one short sentence to Jarrow: ‘A busy town (35,590 inhabitants), has large ironworks and shipbuilding yards.’ It is time this was amended into ‘an idle and ruined town (35,590 inhabitants, wondering what is to become of them), had large ironworks and can still show what is left of shipbuilding yards.’

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There is no escape anywhere in Jarrow from its prevailing misery, for it is entirely a working-class town. One little street may be rather more wretched than another, but to the outsider they all look alike. One out of every two shops appeared to be permanently closed. Wherever we went there were men hanging about, not scores of them but hundreds and thousands of them.

The whole town looked as if it had entered a perpetual penniless bleak Sabbath. The men wore the drawn masks of prisoners of war. A stranger from a distant civilisation, observing the condition of the place and its people, would have arrived at once at the conclusion that Jarrow had deeply offended some celestial emperor of the island and was now being punished. The only cheerful sight I saw there was a game of follow-my-leader that was being played by seven small children. But what leader can the rest of them follow?

Excerpt from The English Journey by J. B. Priestley. Reprinted by permission of United Agents on behalf of the late J. B. Priestley.

QUESTIONS (a)

According to Priestley why should his guidebook be amended?

(b)

How does Priestley describe the streets of Jarrow?

(c)

According to Priestley what would a visitor from a distant civilisation conclude on visiting Jarrow?

(d)

What was the only cheerful sight Priestley saw?

(e)

Do you think this account is an objective source? Give evidence from the extract to support your answer.

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EXAMINE THE SOURCES

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An edited article from the Western Morning News on Friday 23 October 1936

Source 2

The Jarrow marchers spent last night in Leicester. Miss Ellen Wilkinson MP said at a tea provided by the Co-Operative Society that members of the boot-repairing staff had volunteered to work overtime without pay that night to make all repairs necessary to the marchers’ boots.

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The marchers were accorded a welcome by the Lord Mayor of Leicester and the casket containing the petition was handed to him and remained last night in the council safe. “I have marched from Loughborough today and shall march to London,” Miss Wilkinson told a reporter. Source: Western Morning News

QUESTIONS

According to the article, what had the boot-repairing staff volunteered to do?

(b)

Where had the marchers come from and where was their destination?

(c)

What evidence is there from the source to show that the march attracted a lot of support in Leicester?

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(a)

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EXAMINE THE SOURCES

Source 3

County

1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

Glamorganshire

23.8

20.0

31.4

38.2

40.0

38.8

Monmouthshire

24.8

21.7

32.8

39.6

43.0

39.0

Pembrokeshire

23.1

24.9

27.0

28.4

34.5

34.4

22.8

17.8

33.6

36.9

41.2

35.8

19.0

19.2

29.6

33.3

36.4

32.1

Carmarthenshire

19.7

18.5

30.1

29.1

23.9

1935

21.5

1936

37.6

35.9

33.9

33.3

34.3

36.4

35.7

33.3

30.8

33.6

24.9

25.6

Durham Cumberland

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Edited table showing percentage unemployment by county in the UK 1929–1936

11.4

15.3

20.4

23.8

29.9

28.4

30.9

31.5

19.9

17.2

24.7

29.6

31.7

26.8

26.9

25.1

Lancashire

13.8

15.9

31.0

25.2

22.4

22.5

12.1

Worcestershire

13.3

13.5

25.8

25.7

26.9

15.9

13.9

13.6

Somersetshire

10.7

10.2

Essex

10.6

11.5

6.4

6.6

London

7.0

7.5

9.0

9.7

Sussex

6.2

6.0

15.4

15.5

18.9

15.9

14.6

12.5

17.7

21.2

17.0

14.4

13.2

11.7

10.7

12.2

14.2

11.9

11.1

9.8

14.1

11.3

14.8

11.1

12.3

10.3

14.9

17.4

17.3

13.0

12.4

11.5

10.2

13.2

13.4

10.0

9.5

8.9

Leicestershire Kent

om pa ny

Denbighshire Northumberland

4.9

5.2

10.4

14.0

12.6

9.1

8.7

8.6

6.4

7.1

11.5

13.5

13.6

8.6

10.9

11.6

6.1

6.6

13.3

17.8

14.3

8.2

7.7

7.2

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Surrey Oxfordshire Middlesex

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Source: Report from the Pilgrim Trust on Unemployment Enquiry, March 1937-October 1937 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/topics/thirties-britain.htm

On examining the data in the table, which year has the highest rate of unemployment for most counties?

(a)

QUESTIONS

Give evidence from the table to show that the Great Depression had a major impact on the United Kingdom.

(c)

Identify two other conclusions a historian could draw from examining the figures for the different counties.

(b)

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? KEY QUESTION

Did the Jarrow march reflect conditions in Britain in the 1930s?

Ire la n

The 1930s have traditionally been portrayed as a decade of grinding poverty and economic hardship. This was highlighted by the Jarrow Crusade and in books such as George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier. While this was true for some of the country, it does not reflect the experience of all of Britain. As historian A.J.P. Taylor has pointed out, in the 1930s most of Britain was enjoying a richer life than ever before. There were a number of reasons for this:

The nature of the British economy had been changing in the inter-war years. While traditional industries such as shipbuilding and coalmining were in decline, industries based on new technologies, such as car manufacturing, light engineering, chemicals and electricity, were growing. The traditional industries were mainly located in the north of the country, while the new industries were to be found in the south and the midlands, e.g. Birmingham.

om pa ny

The traditional industries were the ones that had been hardest hit by the economic downturn, while the number of jobs in the new industries grew. For example, the numbers employed in the motor industry grew from 227,000 in 1920 to 516,000 in 1938. This was more than those employed in steelmaking and shipbuilding put together. Over 500,000 cars a year were being manufactured. The number of workers in electrical engineering almost doubled between the wars. There was also growth in professional, retailing and clerical employment – so-called ‘white collar’ jobs.

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Between 1932 and 1937, national income rose by 20%, industrial production by 40% and income per head of the population by 18%. Average weekly earnings were twice as high in 1938 as they had been in 1913. In addition, there had been a significant fall in the price of goods, especially of food. Real wages rose steeply in the 1930s, meaning that workers could buy more goods and services with their pay.

at io

Other factors contributing to prosperity included smaller families, cheap mortgages and the wider availability of consumer goods, such as cars, music records and radios. A small family car was half the price it had been 10 years earlier. It was also a period in which mass culture developed, such as listening to the BBC radio and popular music. By the end of the 1930s, two-thirds of houses had electricity, rising from one in 17 in 1920.

Large numbers of Britons could now afford new pastimes, such as visiting the cinema once a week or going on holiday every year.

A car plant in the Midlands. New industries such as car manufacturing grew in the 1930s.

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REVIEW QUESTIONS What were conditions like in the town of Jarrow in 1936?

Was the march a non-political event?

‘The march was well-organised.’ Do you agree? Support your answer with evidence.

What sort of reception did the marchers get on the route to London?

What impact did the Jarrow march have?

Why was the south of England not affected as badly by the Great Depression?

1918

End of World War I

of om pa ny

Britain, 1918–1945 – a timeline

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1919–1920 Wave of strikes and labour unrest

Formation of the first Labour government under Ramsay MacDonald

1926

The general strike

1929

Wall Street Crash and the start of the Great Depression

1931

Formation of the National government led by Ramsay MacDonald

1924

Britain abandoned the Gold Standard

Unemployment rose to over 2.5 million

1935

Worst of the Great Depression over, although some regions still heavily affected

1936

Jarrow March

1938

Munich Conference – the high point of appeasement

1939

Britain declared war on Germany

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1932

The effects of the Wall Street Crash were felt globally, causing an economic depression in Great Britain. These conditions led to the Jarrow March.

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 1 (Higher and Ordinary Levels)

Ire la n

Study the two sources and answer the questions that follow.

Leaving Certificate OL 2016 Study the documents below and answer the questions opposite.

Document A

In this edited extract Ellen Wilkinson, MP for Jarrow, who took part in the Jarrow March, October 1936, writes of a typical day on the march.

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One day’s tramp was much like another. The one thing that mattered was the weather. The men were up at 6.30 a.m., the cooks having got up earlier to prepare the breakfast. They had all slept together on the bare boards of a school or drill hall or, if lucky, on straw-filled mattresses. When men sleep in their clothes, it is difficult to keep spruce; but they manage it. Daily shaves were the order. Parade was at 8.45 a.m., with everything packed for the road. I joined them then, having taken whatever hospitality was offered the night before, usually in the home of the secretary of the local Labour party.

Document B

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Source: Ellen Wilkinson, The Town That Was Murdered: the Life Story of Jarrow (London: Victor Gollancz, 1939).

This edited extract discusses conditions leading to the Jarrow March in October 1936, together

at io

with the government response.

Since the mid-nineteenth century shipbuilding in Jarrow had provided work for about 10,000 men.

As a result of the depression, orders for ships came to an end and in 1934 the National Shipbuilding Security Ltd closed down the shipyard. This left 67.8% of the workforce unemployed.

In October 1936, the Labour MP for Jarrow, Ellen Wilkinson, with some others, organised the Jarrow March. Two hundred of the town’s unemployed walked to London, a distance of 291 miles, to present a petition to parliament, hoping that the government would do something to improve the situation in Jarrow. As the marchers neared London, they noticed the prosperity of the area compared with the town of Jarrow. The march was widely reported, particularly in the Daily Herald newspaper, and gained a good deal of public sympathy. However, the marchers drew a very poor response from the government. They were informed that they should return to Jarrow and seek work for themselves. Source: David Taylor, Mastering Economic and Social History (London: Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1988).

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(a) Do both documents agree that Ellen Wilkinson took part in the march to London? Refer to both documents in your answer. (b) Which document, A or B, deals with the reasons for the Jarrow march? Explain your answer, referring to both documents.

(40)

(20)

(a) From document A, did Ellen Wilkinson share the workers’ accommodation? Give a reason for your answer. (b) Why is document B a secondary source?

(20)

Why were there many social and economic problems in Britain during the 1930s?

(20)

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From document A, where did the men sleep if they were lucky? According to document A, what took place at 8.45 a.m.? From document B, what was the level of unemployment in Jarrow in 1934? From document B, what did the marchers notice as they came near to London? According to document B, how did the government respond to the Jarrow marchers?

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

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QUESTIONS

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 2 (Higher and Ordinary Levels)

Study the documents below and answer the questions opposite.

Document A

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Leaving Certificate HL 2017

Study the two sources below and answer the questions that follow.

J.B. Priestley was an English writer who travelled around England in 1933. The following is an edited extract from his book, English Journey (London, 1934).

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Jarrow is dead. As a real town, it can never have been alive. Even at its best, when everybody was working, it must obviously have been a mean little conglomeration of narrow monotonous streets of stunted and ugly houses, a barracks cynically put together so that shipbuilding workers could get some food and sleep between shifts. Now Jarrow is a derelict town. There is no escape from its prevailing misery, for it is entirely a working-class town.

Why has nothing been done about decaying towns and their workless people? I know that doles have been given out, means tests applied, training places opened, socks and shirts and old books distributed by the Personal Service League and the like; but I am not thinking of feeble gestures of that kind. I mean something constructive and creative.

Document B

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Why has there been no plan for these areas, these people? The dole is part of no plan. The Labour Exchanges stink of defeated humanity. The whole thing is unworthy of a great country that has given the world some nobly creative ideas. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves.

Ellen Wilkinson, MP for Jarrow, helped lead the Jarrow March in 1936. The following is an edited extract from her book, The Town That Was Murdered (London, 1939).

The poverty of Jarrow is not an accident, a temporary difficulty, a personal fault. It is the permanent state in which the vast majority of the citizens of any capitalist country have to live. This is the basic fact of the class struggle which not all the well-meant efforts of the Personal Service League can gloss over. Class antagonism cuts as deeply to the roots of capitalist society as it ever did.

Men are regarded as mere instruments of production, their labour a commodity to be bought and sold. In capitalist society, vast changes can be made which sweep away the livelihood of a whole town overnight, in the interest of some powerful group, who need take no account of the social consequences of their decisions. Jarrow’s plight is not a local problem. It is the symptom of a national evil. It is time that the workers took control of this country. It is time that they planned it, organised it, and developed it so that all might enjoy the wealth which we can produce. In the interest of this land we love, that is the next job which must be done.

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(a) Does the writer of document A propose a solution to the problems to which he refers? Give reasons for your answer, referring to the document. (b) What are the strengths of document B as a historical source? Support your answer by reference to the document.

(20)

What were the aims of the Jarrow March and to what extent were they achieved?

(40)

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(a) Do both documents mention social and economic problems of the inter‐war years? Give reasons for your answer, referring to both documents. (b) Do the documents agree that efforts to resolve the problems have been ineffective? Give reasons for your answer, referring to both documents.

(20)

(a) What workers are mentioned in document A? (b) How is the misery of life in Jarrow shown in document A? (c) According to document B, what is the permanent state of the majority of citizens in a capitalist country? (d) What is the next job to be done, according to document B?

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QUESTIONS

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 3

(Higher and Ordinary Levels)

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Study the two sources below and answer the questions that follow.

Document A

This is an extract from a Guardian newspaper article about the Jarrow march, dated 13 October 1936.

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This is not a hunger march but a protest march. The unanimity of the protest that Jarrow is making to the rest of the country is indicated in the fact that the political parties represented on the Jarrow Town Council have agreed to bury the political hatchet to the extent of holding no elections this November. There is no political aspect to this march. It is simply the town of Jarrow saying ‘Send us work’. In the ranks of the marchers are Labour men, Liberals, Tories, and one or two Communists, but you cannot tell who’s who. It has the Church’s blessing; in fact, it took the blessing of the Bishop of Ripon (Dr. Lunt) and a subscription of £5 from him when it set out today. It also had the blessing of the Bishop of Jarrow (Dr. Gordon). With the marchers goes, prominently carried, the Jarrow petition for work, a huge book with about 12,000 signatures, which Miss Ellen Wilkinson, MP for Jarrow, is to present at the bar of the House of Commons on November 4.

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Source: http://century.guardian.co.uk/

Document B

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This an edited extract from the records of a cabinet meeting about the Jarrow march and other unemployment protests in October 1936.

The Cabinet had before them a Memorandum [report] by the Home Secretary calling attention to the arrangements made ... for contingents of unemployed persons to march on London, the marchers being due to arrive on the 8th November. Two other demonstration marches had been organised, both of which were timed to reach London on the 31st October, one consisting of 200 unemployed men from Jarrow, and the other comprising about 250 blind persons, accompanied by some 50 attendants. The existing law contained no provisions by which orderly bands of demonstrators could be prevented from marching to London or elsewhere. The only course open, therefore, was to take every precaution to minimise the risk of disorder on the routes of the contingents and in London... The Home Secretary thought that the best method of informing the public on the present occasion, in order to discourage them from furnishing [giving] assistance to the marchers would be to arrange, ... for selected journalists to be interviewed and given material for exposing the origin, motive and uselessness of the hunger march.

Source: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

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QUESTIONS Comprehension

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(a) From document A, what evidence is there to show that the march had widespread support in the town of Jarrow? (b) According to document A, what was ‘prominently carried’? (c) From document B, what groups of marchers were due to arrive in London? (d) According to document B, how did the government hope to discourage public support for the marches? Comparision (a) How do the documents differ in their interpretations of the marches? (b) Which of the two sources do you think is more accurate? Explain your answer, with reference to both sources.

Criticism (a) Comment on the strengths and weaknesses of document A as a source for historians. (b) How useful are the records of a government cabinet meeting for historians?

Contextualisation Ordinary Level (1 A4 page): Why was the Jarrow march an important event in Britain in the 1930s?

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Higher Level (1.5 A4 pages): What were the causes and consequences of the Jarrow march, October 1936.

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DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION 4 Document A

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Photograph of Jarrow marchers, 26 October 1936

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Document B

In its edition of 13 October 1936, the Guardian newspaper described the reception the marchers received along the route of the march.

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Harrogate welcomed the Jarrow marches today as cheerfully as if they were a relief column raising a siege... The police were in attendance and there was a big banner raised saying, ‘Harrogate workers welcome the Jarrow marchers’... It was the same today all along the road from Ripon. The villagers of Ripley and Killinghall rushed to their doors to see the marchers pass; motorists waved as they went by; one shouted, ‘How are you sticking it?’...

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There can be no doubt that as a gesture the march is a bounding success. I fell in with it this morning on the Ripon road. Under its two banners (‘Jarrow Crusade’), with its harmonicas, its kettledrum, and its four hundred feet, it was going strong. The marchers have with them two doctors, a barber, a group of pressmen, a Labrador dog mascot, and for a great deal of the time so far the Mayor of Jarrow (Alderman J. W. Thompson), who keeps travelling back to Jarrow to maintain touch with his civic duties and then south again to maintain touch with the marchers. Source: Reprinted by permission of The Guardian. http://centuryguardian.co.uk

QUESTIONS

Comprehension (a) From document A, how would you describe the conditions in which the men are marching? (b) According to document B, how did the town of Harrogate welcome the march? (c) From document B, what evidence is there that the march is a success? (d) From document B, who is accompanying the march?

Comparision (a) Would you agree with the view that document A strongly supports the evidence presented in document B? Refer to both documents in your answer. (b) Which document is a more effective source for historians? Use evidence from both sources in your answer.

Criticism (a) How does document A illustrate strengths and weaknesses of photographs as sources for historical evidence? (b) Do you think document B presents an objective view of the march? Explain your answer, using evidence from the document.

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Contextualisation Ordinary Level (1 A4 page): Why did men from Jarrow march to London in 1936?

Higher Level (1.5 A4 pages): Were conditions in Jarrow reflective of the whole of the UK in the mid-1930s?

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Key personalities

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Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924): Revolutionary and Political Leader

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Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was born in Simbirsk, a town on the Volga River in Russia, in 1870. His father was the local schools’ inspector and he came from a well-off background. He was an excellent student who later attended university. In 1887 his brother, Alexander, was executed for involvement in a plot to kill the tsar. This event changed Lenin. He became a follower of the ideas of Karl Marx and a revolutionary. He was arrested for his political activities and sent into exile to Siberia. On his return he married Nadezhda Krupskaya and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In 1901 he was forced to live in exile abroad. It was at this time that he adopted his revolutionary name, Lenin, after the River Lena in Siberia.

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The Social Democratic Party was divided on the best method to achieve a socialist state in Russia. In 1903 it split into two factions. The majority, led by Lenin, were called the Bolsheviks – from the Russian word meaning majority. He wanted a small party with a membership of dedicated revolutionaries working to overthrow the tsarist state and bring communism to Russia. On the other hand, his opponents were called the Mensheviks – from the Russian word for minority. They believed the party should be modelled on the German Socialist Party and use peaceful means to bring socialism to Russia.

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Lenin played little role in the unsuccessful 1905 revolution in Russia and spent most of the next 12 years in exile in Switzerland. He was caught by surprise when the tsar was overthrown in February 1917. With the help of German agents he returned home to Russia in April 1917. His aim was to overthrow the provisional government that had replaced the tsar. The Germans hoped that his actions would weaken the Russian war effort and that if he succeeded he would pull Russia out of the war.

He opposed any Bolshevik co-operation with the new Provisional Government. Making constant use of slogans and propaganda, he attacked the government for continuing the war and postponing land reform. A combination of severe economic problems and collapsing morale in the army saw support for the Bolsheviks grow, especially in the cities. As a result, Bolshevik support of the Soviets in the cities increased.

Seizing his opportunity, Lenin ordered a revolution, and aided by Leon Trotsky’s organisational skills the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917. Lenin ordered an immediate ceasefire with the Germans. He agreed to the very harsh Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. However, he felt that peace was necessary to keep his government in power. He also started land reform. The election results for the Constituent Assembly proved disappointing for the Bolsheviks and he ordered the assembly closed. This marked the end of democratic government in Russia.

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Lenin’s government was opposed by many Russians and a civil war broke out. Lenin ordered the use of terror to defeat his enemies. This became known as the Red Terror. The Cheka, or security police, was set up to deal with political enemies. Thousands were shot, including the tsar and his family in 1918. In the same year Lenin narrowly survived an assassination attempt. By 1920 Lenin’s supporters, the Reds, had defeated the Whites in the Civil War. He also established the Comintern to bring the newly established communist parties throughout Europe under Russian control. Russia was renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The same year, the death of his mistress, Inessa Armand, left him grief-stricken.

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During the Civil War Lenin ordered the introduction of War Communism, under which private enterprise was banned. Although it helped to feed the workers it led to a terrible famine in the countryside and was a disastrous failure. In 1921, as conditions worsened, the sailors at the Kronstadt naval base outside St Petersburg revolted. Although crushed quickly, the revolt worried Lenin, as the sailors were traditionally his loyal supporters. He abandoned War Communism and introduced the New Economic Policy. This allowed for a return to limited private business activity and was successful.

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Lenin’s health was always poor and in 1922 he suffered two strokes that left him paralysed. He could do little to stop the growing power struggle to succeed him in the party between Stalin and Trotsky. A further stroke followed in 1923 and in January 1924 he died of a fourth stroke. He was greatly mourned by the Communist Party. His body was preserved in a mausoleum in Red Square in Moscow (where it still is today) and St Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in his honour. In Soviet propaganda he became a God-like figure who could do no wrong.

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Joseph Stalin (1879–1953): Political Leader and Dictator of the USSR

Stalin was born to a very poor family in Gori, Georgia, in 1879. His real name was Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili. His father was a cobbler and his mother was a washerwoman. In 1894 he attended a seminary at Tiflis, where he studied to become an Orthodox priest. However, he was later expelled in circumstances that have remained unclear. Stalin later claimed it was because he became involved in socialist activity. (Stalin changed a lot of details about his early life after he came to power.) He became a professional revolutionary and encouraged strikes. He also was involved in bank robberies to fund socialist activities. He was sent to Siberia seven times but he escaped on six occasions. Stalin married his first wife, Yekaterina Svanidze, in 1904. She died in 1907.

Stalin was a loyal supporter of Lenin and in 1912 he was elected to the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party – the decision-making body within the party. He adopted the revolutionary name Stalin: the man of steel. After the February Revolution in 1917 he returned from exile in Siberia and became editor of Pravda, the party newspaper. He played little part in the October Revolution, although his role would be greatly exaggerated after he took control of Russia.

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In the new government he was appointed Commissar for Nationalities. In 1919 he married his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva (she committed suicide in 1932). During the Civil War he served as a commander on a number of fronts, where he frequently came into conflict with Trotsky, his main rival in the party. Stalin was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1922. He used this position to build up his power base within the organisation, appointing his supporters to posts throughout the country.

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After Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin gradually outmanoeuvred his rivals in the party, especially Trotsky, who was forced into exile. Officially the power struggles were over the future development of communism in Russia. Stalin believed that socialism must be built in Russia first, before exporting world revolution. He called his policy Socialism in One Country. By 1928 Stalin was effectively the dictator of the Soviet Union. He introduced his policies through a series of three Five-Year Plans. The key aim was the industrialisation of Russia through the development of heavy industry and the building of massive public work schemes.

Collectivisation of agriculture was also implemented, resulting in a huge transfer of population from the countryside to the cities. These changes were supported by a massive propaganda campaign. Stalin was portrayed as the rightful heir to Lenin, a living God who could do no wrong. Statues were erected in his honour and towns renamed, e.g. Stalingrad.

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Terror was used on a scale rarely witnessed in human history. The police, the NKVD, kept a close eye on the population. Giant concentration camps known as the Gulag were to be found throughout the country. Many were located in mining or logging areas and were designed to provide slave labour for the process of industrialising the USSR. Many of the great public work schemes were also built using slave labour from the Gulag.

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Stalin forced collectivisation of agriculture cost millions of lives, especially in the Ukraine. The policy of industrialisation made his country militarily strong and helped defeat Nazi Germany. On the other hand, it provided little material benefit for its citizens and rationing and shortages were commonplace.

In 1934 the assassination of Sergei Kirov led to the worst period of political violence, which became known as the Great Terror. One element of this was the arrest of hundreds of thousands of Communist Party members, which became known as the Purges. Stalin acted against any real or imagined threats to his control of the Communist Party and Soviet society. Many prominent figures in the party were tried in three widely publicised show trials between 1936 and 1938 and later shot. Thousands of army officers were also killed. These executions weakened the fighting ability of the Red Army and partly explained the massive German victories of 1941. Deeply suspicious of the aims of the Western powers, Stalin agreed to an alliance with Hitler in 1939, called the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. He refused to believe warnings of a German invasion and was caught by surprise when the Germans attacked in June 1941. However, he recovered and provided decisive, if at times cruel, leadership during the war. Soviet industry was dedicated totally and successfully to the war effort – the production of tanks and planes was far greater than that of Nazi Germany. Stalin did not interfere as much as Hitler in his generals’ decisions.

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Adolf Hitler (1889–1945): Dictator and War Leader

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After World War II Stalin extended Soviet control over Eastern Europe and helped to start the Cold War with the US. In 1949 the USSR gained superpower status when they tested their first atomic bomb. Increasingly distrustful of everyone, Stalin started a new round of purges. In March 1953 he died after a brain haemorrhage and was buried next to Lenin. In 1956 the excesses of his regime were condemned by his successor, Nikita Khrushchev. Towns named in his honour were renamed, e.g. Stalingrad became Volgograd.

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Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria in 1889. His father was a senior customs official. In 1905 he went to Vienna hoping to study at the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, but was rejected. After the death of his mother in 1907 his money ran out and he was forced to live in homeless hostels in the city. Vienna was home to a large Jewish and Slavic population and Hitler came into contact with German racist and anti-Semitic ideas. In 1913 he moved to Munich to avoid serving in the Austrian army. He welcomed the outbreak of World War I and joined the German army. He served as a regimental runner, passing messages. He was promoted to corporal and was awarded the Iron Cross First Class for bravery. Hitler was shocked by the German surrender in 1918.

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After the war he remained in the army and was ordered to spy on the small German Workers Party. He joined the party, and displaying his talent for oratory, he rapidly became the party’s leader. In 1920 the party was renamed the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). The uniformed Sturmabteilung, or SA (Brownshirts), was set up under the command of Ernst Röhm. The Schutzstaffel (SS) was also established, which acted as Hitler’s personal bodyguard.

He was strongly opposed to the Treaty of Versailles, communism and the influence of Jews in German life. In November 1923, at the height of the hyperinflation gripping Germany, he tried to stage a rebellion, or putsch, in Munich. This action was an imitation of Mussolini’s successful March on Rome the previous year. However, the rebellion failed and he received the lenient sentence of five years in jail, of which he served only nine months. While in prison he wrote Mein Kampf, where he set out his political views. The years between 1924 and 1929 were lean ones for Hitler and the Nazi Party, as they had little popular support. Weimar Germany was prospering and there was little appetite for his extremist politics. This was to change with the onset of the Great Depression. As economic conditions worsened, more and more Germans supported Hitler. With the aid of an effective propaganda campaign in the election of July 1932, his party became the largest in Germany. In January 1933 he was appointed chancellor, or prime minister, by President Hindenburg.

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He quickly established complete control over Germany. Taking advantage of a mysterious fire in the Reichstag, he banned the Communists and gave the police wide powers to detain suspects without trial. In March 1933 the Enabling Act was passed, giving Hitler the power to pass laws without getting the approval of parliament. Hitler was now the Führer, or dictator, of Germany. The following year he ordered the execution of the leadership of the Brownshirts, including his friend Ernst Röhm, in an event that became known as the Night of the Long Knives. The death of President Hindenburg in August 1934 allowed Hitler to merge the offices of chancellor and president.

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Aided by a very effective propaganda machine directed by Dr Josef Goebbels, Hitler was a popular figure for most Germans. He was portrayed as a man of destiny leading Germany to greatness. The German economy recovered dramatically from the Great Depression. His policies of dismantling the Treaty of Versailles and uniting German speakers in one country, e.g. the takeover of Austria, were welcomed by most Germans. On the other hand, political enemies were arrested and placed in newly established concentration camps. The secret police, the Gestapo, kept a close eye on the population. Jewish people suffered from severe discrimination, such as the Nuremberg Laws, and physical violence, e.g. Kristallnacht. These actions caused many of them to emigrate.

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Hitler’s aim of building a German empire in Eastern Europe led him to attack Poland in1939. This action started World War II. He took command of the army, which at first enjoyed spectacular successes, including the conquest of France in 1940. The following year he launched the invasion of Russia, and after the bombing at Pearl Harbor he declared war on the United States. The war started to go badly for the Germans. Hitler made matters worse by interfering in military decisions and refusing permission for troops to retreat. At Stalingrad his refusal to allow the German forces to break out contributed to the surrender of the Sixth Army in February 1943.

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During the war he ordered the destruction of the Jewish people of Europe. Called the Final Solution, this policy of mass extermination in camps such as Auschwitz resulted in the deaths of six million people. The Nazis also proved to be brutal occupiers of countries they conquered, such as Poland and Yugoslavia. As the war went from bad to worse, Hitler ordered his troops to fight to the last man. His health deteriorated and he was probably suffering from Parkinson’s disease and heart problems. On 29 April 1945, with Russian troops only a few hundred metres away from his headquarters, he married his mistress, Eva Braun, and the following day they both committed suicide. The movement that he had created died with him.

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Dr Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945): Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany

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Joseph Goebbels was born into a Catholic family in the town of Rheydt in the Rhineland in 1897. Goebbels was less than five feet tall with a bad limp caused by a childhood disease and a failed operation to correct it. Because of his disability he was exempted from military service during World War I. A very good student, he achieved a PhD (hence the title Doctor) in Philosophy from Heidelberg University.

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Goebbels joined the Nazi Party in 1924. Hitler admired Goebbels’ abilities as a writer and speaker. They shared an interest in propaganda. He was made Gauleiter, or party leader, of Berlin in 1926. This was a very tough job, as Berlin was a stronghold of left-wing parties opposed to the Nazis. A talented journalist, he became editor of the Nazi newspaper, Der Angriff (The Attack). He used the newspaper to promote German nationalism. In 1928 he was elected to the Reichstag and became the party’s propaganda chief. His skill as an organiser and propagandist contributed to Hitler’s rise to power.

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When Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, he appointed Goebbels as Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. This position gave him complete control over radio, press, cinema and theatre, although he interfered little in cinema, art or music. He was a skilled propagandist who was opposed to too much propaganda in the media. He largely succeeded in presenting a favourable image of the Nazi regime to the German people. He helped to develop the cult of personality around Hitler – the Führer Myth.

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However, as a former journalist he was very interested in the press. Most newspapers, especially Jewish-owned ones, were taken over by the Nazi publishing company, Eher Verlag. He promoted the distribution of inexpensive radio receivers (the Volksempfänger), ensuring that millions of people heard the output of the Reich’s propaganda ministry.

Strongly anti-Semitic, he used his position to attack Jews and their role in German society. In 1938 he played a central role in the attack on Jews in Germany that became known as Kristallnacht. He was an excellent orator, seen as second only to Hitler in the party. In the organising and staging of mass meetings and parades, he had no equal. Although married, he had an affair with a Czech actress that reduced his influence with Hitler in the late 1930s.

As the tide turned in World War II, Goebbels returned to prominence. He played an important role in maintaining morale in the face of Allied successes. He waged a constant propaganda campaign in public speeches, over the radio and in the press arguing for Total War – all the resources of Germany would be dedicated to achieving victory. His talk of miracle weapons that would win the war was widely believed by the German people. When the Russians advanced into Germany, he moved into the Führerbunker in Berlin. He was the only one of the main Nazi leaders to remain in the bunker when the Russians laid siege to the city. On 1 May 1945, after poisoning their six children, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide.

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Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003): Actress and Director

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The famous German film-maker was born to a wealthy family in Berlin in 1902. When she was 16 she started studying dancing and ballet. A talented dancer and actress, she soon appeared in a number of films. She then set up her own production company and began directing films. This was a brave move, as film directing was completely dominated by men. In 1932 she co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in The Blue Light. Hitler was impressed by her work and he believed Riefenstahl represented his idealised German woman. It was around this time that Riefenstahl first heard Hitler speak at a rally and was very impressed.

In 1933, with the support of the Nazi Party, she directed an hour-long propaganda film about the 1933 Nuremberg Party rally called Victory of Faith. This film was not a success. However, Hitler was impressed by this film and asked her to film the 1934 party rally. The resulting work was the famous and controversial documentary Triumph of the Will (1935). The film emphasised the unity of the party and introduced the German people to many of the party leaders. It used advanced techniques, such as moving cameras, telephoto lenses and unusual camera angles. This produced startling blackand-white footage with wide panoramas and striking close-ups.

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Ever since then, a debate has raged whether the film is a documentary or a piece of propaganda. The film did bring her widespread attention and international awards. Riefenstahl was the first female film director to achieve such international recognition. She was commissioned to film the 1936 Berlin Olympics (Olympia, 1938). This film was also hailed for its technique and won international awards, including Best Foreign Film honours at the Venice Film Festival and a special award from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The film has been cited as a major influence in modern sports photography. The two films are landmark documentaries, and Riefenstahl is considered to be one of the great innovators in moving pictures. Her films were praised for the studio-created music, sound effects and brilliant editing.

Although she never joined the party, Riefenstahl’s connections with the Nazis led to her imprisonment for four years directly after the war. She was later declared a Nazi sympathiser. Because of her association with Hitler, she was unable to direct films and turned to photography instead.

For over half a century she tried to shrug off her reputation as Hitler’s favourite film-maker and the Third Reich’s most gifted and glamorous female propagandist. ‘I had no political reasons for making these films,’ she said in 2002. ‘There was one Hitler and one government. Everyone shouted: “Heil Hitler”. It was normal at that time. You have to put yourself in the past to look at it from the right perspective.’

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Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965): Politician and War Leader

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Winston Churchill was the son of the prominent Conservative politician Lord Randolph Churchill. He was born into the English aristocracy and attended Harrow and the Military Academy at Sandhurst before joining the army. During the Boer War he was ambushed while reporting for a London paper, The Morning Post. He escaped from captivity and his exploits brought him widespread attention in Britain.

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His political career began in 1900 when he became Conservative MP for Oldham. He changed his views and joined the Liberals in 1906. In the House of Commons he gained a reputation as a powerful speaker. In 1911 he was appointed as the First Lord of the Admiralty in charge of the navy. During World War I he was forced to resign this position after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. In 1917 he was appointed Lloyd George’s Minister of Munitions. He encouraged the mass production of tanks, which is believed to have played a large part in Britain’s subsequent victory in World War I. He was a strong opponent of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, which he argued should have been ‘strangled at birth’.

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In 1924 he re-joined the Conservative Party and was made Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance) by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. As chancellor, he presided over the return to the Gold Standard. This decision helped to plunge the British economy into deep recession and led directly to the General Strike of 1926. A determined opponent of socialism, he was instrumental in helping to defeat the strike.

The fall of the Conservative government in 1929 saw his political fortunes decline. It was believed that his career was over. Sitting on the backbenches, he was one of the few voices warning against the rise of Hitler. He was strongly critical of the appeasement policy of Neville Chamberlain and called for rearmament. When war broke out he was reappointed to his old post in the Admiralty. In May 1940, after the defeat of British forces in Norway, Neville Chamberlain resigned. Churchill was appointed prime minister with the support of the Labour Party.

Even though he promised nothing more than ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’, he mobilised and inspired courage in an entire nation. His defiance of German might during the Battle of Britain came to symbolise the determination of a nation to remain undefeated.

Throughout the war he worked tirelessly to defeat the Germans. He built good relations with President Roosevelt and developed an alliance with the Soviet Union. His belief in air power and bringing the war to Germany through bombing helped to bring about eventual victory. However, his tendency to interfere in military matters brought him into periodic conflicts with some of his generals,

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including the Chief of Staff, Sir Alan Brooke. He dismissed generals and admirals he did not like. He frequently showed poor military judgement, especially over his belief that the Mediterranean theatre was the key to victory. By 1943 his influence on military decisions was reduced by the emergence of popular generals such as Bernard Montgomery. Even though he had led Britain to victory, the British people did not believe he would establish a better society in the country and he lost power in the 1945 post-war election. However, he remained a powerful international voice. He popularised the use of the term ‘the Iron Curtain’ and he encouraged European and Atlantic unity, which led to NATO.

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In 1951 he returned as prime minister at the age of 77. He was forced to resign due to ill health in 1955 but continued as a backbencher until 1964. His contribution to political life was rewarded with a string of decorations, including an honorary US citizenship. He died after a series of strokes in 1965 and was given a state funeral.

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As well as his many political achievements, he was a very talented writer whose works include a six volume, 5,000-page history of World War II. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. In a poll conducted by the BBC in 2002, he was voted the greatest Briton of all time.

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John Maynard Keynes, First Baron Keynes of Tilton (1883–1946): Civil Servant and Economist

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Keynes was arguably the most influential economist of the 20th century, with a school of economic thought named after him – Keynesian economics. He was also a financier, patron of the arts and a prominent civil servant. Keynes was born in Cambridge into a wealthy academic family. His father was an economist and his mother became the town’s first female mayor. He excelled academically at Eton as well as King’s College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics, history and philosophy.

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After graduating, Keynes entered the civil service. Following the outbreak of World War I, Keynes joined the Treasury. He attended the Paris Peace Conference, where he was opposed to the Versailles Treaty. He resigned his position and wrote The Economic Consequences of Peace. This book criticised the demands for war reparations from Germany and he prophetically predicted a desire among Germans for revenge. The book became a best-seller and had a major influence in developing the view in Britain that Germany had been treated unfairly at the Peace Conference and contributed to the policy of appeasement in the 1930s.

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During the inter-war years, Keynes became a wealthy man by investing in stocks and shares. He also taught at Cambridge. Keynes married the Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova. At the same time he developed the economic theories that were to establish him as the foremost thinker on the subject. He defended the policies being introduced in both the US and the UK to deal with the Great Depression.

His best-known work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, was published in 1936. He believed that in a time of economic depression (falling investment, declining production and rising unemployment) the government must play a major role in helping economic recovery. He argued it should boost demand for goods and services by increased spending funded through borrowing or by reducing taxation. The money should then be paid back when the economy recovered. His economic policies were to play a major role in the 1950s and 1960s.

When World War II broke out, he was reappointed to the Treasury. In 1944 he played an important role at the Bretton Woods Conference that saw the creation of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the excessive workload had taken its toll on his weak health and in 1946 he died of a heart attack.

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KEY CONCEPTS AND IMPORTANT TERMS *indicates a key concept

anti-Semitism*

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Hatred of the Jewish people. Traditionally this hatred had been based on religious or economic factors. For Hitler and the Nazis it was part of their racial policy and was central to their ideology: the Jews were subhumans who were the enemy of the master race. Originally Nazi policy was to exclude Jewish people from German life and to encourage emigration. Attacks on Jews and their property became commonplace (e.g. Kristallnacht) and they were made second-class citizens by the Nuremburg Laws. During the war this anti-Semitism led to the murderous policy known as the Final Solution, or the Holocaust, where an estimated six million Jews throughout Europe were killed.

Bolshevik Party

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From the Russian word meaning majority. They were socialists who believed in using revolution to achieve political change. They were later called the Communist Party. The name came from a split in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903. The majority, led by Lenin, favoured revolutionary tactics, while the minority (Mensheviks) favoured peaceful methods to achieve power.

bourgeoisie

Marxist term for the middle class (e.g. factory owners), who were seen as exploiting the working class.

capitalism

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Economic system where goods and services are supplied by private businesspeople in order to make a profit. The system is efficient but it can lead to great inequality in wealth. In post-World War I Europe, many regarded capitalism as a failure, especially after the Wall Street Crash, and turned to fascism or communism instead.

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Cheka

The name comes from the shortened form of its full title, The All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter Revolution and Sabotage. This was a police force set up by Lenin to deal with opponents of the regime. It had widespread powers and routinely used torture. It also carried out mass executions of suspected enemies of the people. The organisation went through a number of name changes during Soviet Russia, including the NKVD.

collectivisation*

Policy of abolishing private farms and replacing them with state-controlled collective farms. A key part of Stalin’s policy of Socialism in One Country, it was designed to increase food production from fewer farmers. It would establish Communist control in the countryside, where support for the party was weak. It would also result in a population transfer to the cities, creating a larger working class who were more likely to support the Communists. A further aim was to export the expected surpluses of grain to pay for the machinery needed for industrialisation. It was fiercely resisted by the peasants, leading to mass deportations and the use of famine as state policy. Historians believe that up to 10 million people died in the process of collectivisation.

commissar The name given to a minister in the Communist government. KEY CONCEPTS ❘ 119

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communism*

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A political philosophy founded by the German economist Karl Marx. He saw history as a series of class struggles between different groups in society based on the economic conditions of the period. He argued that because of the Industrial Revolution, the last struggle would be between the working class (the proletariat) and the factory owners (the bourgeoisie) who exploited them. This struggle would result in a revolution and the victory of the working class. This would see the introduction of a classless and equal society, where factories would be owned by workers.

Improved conditions in the late 19th century in terms of spreading democracy and better rights for workers led to a split in his followers about methods. Moderates, who became known as socialists, argued that this change could be achieved through peaceful means, while other argued that they should work for revolution and were known as communists. Lenin’s Bolshevik Party was an example of the latter.

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After the Russian revolution, most socialist parties in Europe split into communists and socialists, e.g. Germany, Italy. The fear of communism was strong in most European countries, especially after the brutality of the regime of Lenin and Stalin.

Conservative Party

A British party that strongly supported the empire and favoured little role for the government in the economy. Strongly backed by wealthier people, nonetheless it was prepared to engage in moderate reform. It dominated governments of the 1920s and 1930s.

Constituent Assembly

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A parliament elected to introduce a new constitution, usually after a war or revolution that has seen a major change in the type of government. There was a Constituent Assembly in Russia in December 1917 that Lenin closed at gunpoint. In 1919 one met in Germany at the town of Weimar after the abdication of the kaiser and the declaration of a republic.

counter-revolutionary

democracy*

Label used to describe anyone who held different political views to the Communists. It was a dangerous accusation if levelled at a person, as it could get them shot.

A political system where governments seek re-election on a regular basis. This form of government was under threat in the 1920s and 1930s. Many people saw it as too weak to tackle their countries’ economic problems or deal with the threat of communism, e.g. Germany.

Der Führer

Hitler’s title, which means ‘the leader’ or ‘guide’.

dictatorship* A state where power rests with one person or dictator. In the 1920s and 1930s there was a growth of this form of government throughout Europe, e.g. Germany and Italy. It was characterised by an absence of democracy, a one party state and the use of terror and propaganda.

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Enabling Act

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Law passed by the Reichstag in March 1933. It gave Hitler the power to rule by decree for four years, meaning he did not have to get the approval of the Reichstag for the laws he wanted to pass. It was the legal basis of the Nazi dictatorship and marked the end of democracy in Germany. It was renewed in 1937 and again in 1941.

enemies of the people

Term used by the Soviet government to describe anyone who was thought to oppose communist policies. The term was usually applied to sections of society such as wealthier farmers (kulaks), former nobility, supporters of the tsar, businessmen, priests, or anybody who was seen as a political opponent. Guilt or innocence did not matter, just whether or not you were a member of one of these suspected groups.

exports

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Goods and services sold to other countries. They are an important source of revenue for a country.

fascism*

A political system strongly opposed to socialism and communism. Its characteristics include a dictatorship, no democracy, terror, propaganda and very strong nationalism. It started in Italy under Benito Mussolini and was introduced into Germany by Adolf Hitler. The German version was also strongly racist.

free trade

Führer principle

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A policy where no taxes are placed on imported goods. This was the traditional policy of the British. Opposite policy to protectionism.

general strike

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The name for the cult of personality around Hitler. This was promoted extensively by propaganda in the Third Reich and was seen clearly at the Nuremberg Rallies.

Gestapo

A situation when trade unions join together to stage a nationwide strike, as happened in Britain in1926.

A term that comes from its title, the Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police). It was a secret police force established by Hermann Göring in 1933. It passed over to the control of the SS in 1934. A much-feared though quite small organisation, it operated first in Nazi Germany and then throughout occupied Europe to tackle enemies of the Nazis. Its job was to deal with treason, spying and sabotage. It had the power to detain people without trial and routinely resorted to torture to get information.

Gleichschaltung The Nazi policy of bringing all areas of German society under the control of the party. Implemented from 1933 onwards, it saw all non-Nazi political parties and trade unions banned. There was to be only one party – the Nazi Party – and one Nazi-controlled trade union.

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Gold Standard

Traditional policy where money issued by a country, such as Britain, was backed by gold. This policy was seen to be sensible as it kept prices low and made a country’s currency strong. However, it was bad for a country’s exports and could lead to unemployment.

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Great Depression*

A period of economic problems characterised by falling industrial production and a decrease in world trade. It led to high unemployment and serious social problems, especially in Germany. The event that triggered this downturn was the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. It was made worse by a banking crisis in 1931. The effects of the Great Depression led to the rise of the Nazis in Germany. It also led to widespread unemployment in Britain, especially in the north, contributing to the Jarrow march.

Gulag

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The name for the prison camp system in the USSR. It consisted of a vast collection of camps found in every part of Russia. The camps established by Lenin were greatly expanded by Stalin and were used to provide slave labour to speed up the process of industrialisation. Conditions in these camps were cruel and they were often located in some of the most inhospitable regions on Earth, such as the Kolyma region in Siberia. Historians estimate that between 1928 and 1953, 18 million people passed through the Gulag system – millions perished.

Herrenvolk*

Hitler Youth

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The master race, often called the Aryan race by the Nazis. Racism was central to the ideology of the Nazis. They claimed that the German people were part of the master race of Nordic peoples. They believed that there was a constant struggle with inferior races and subhumans, who were the enemies of the master race. The Jews were identified as the main enemies of the master race. This racial theory is drawn from the theory of evolution about animals.

An organisation for boys from the age of 14 until 18. Its female counterpart was the League of German Maidens. These organisations promoted Nazi ideals and the cult of personality around Hitler. They were very important in creating a new generation of Nazi supporters. Membership of both organisations was compulsory for all German youth by 1936.

Holocaust*

The systematic destruction of the Jewish race. The Nazis decided in 1942 on the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. This was a secret programme that involved rounding up Jews in ghettos and then transferring them to extermination camps such as Auschwitz or Treblinka. Here the able-bodied were literally worked to death while the young, sick and disabled were killed. For example, almost the entire Jewish population of Poland – some three million people – was killed in the Holocaust. This near destruction of an entire race is referred to as genocide. The SS was the organisation that had responsibility for carrying out this policy.

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imports Goods or services bought from other countries.

industrialisation

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Process of transforming Russia from an agricultural country to a modern industrial power. Central to Stalin’s policy of Socialism in One Country was a process of greatly increasing the USSR’S industrial output. This aimed to turn the USSR into a socialist country with the creation of a large working class. It would also make Russia a much more powerful country that would be better able to resist its enemies and allow it to export the revolution to other countries. This involved the implementation of Five-Year Plans that set targets for increased production of coal, iron, electricity, etc. It saw the creation of new towns such as Magnitogorsk in the Ural Mountains.

inflation*

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A situation when the average level of prices are rising, usually measured over a year. Governments feel it is very important to keep inflation under control. Inflation can be caused by a number of factors, including the printing of too much money, rising wages, low interest rates or increases in the cost of raw materials. Usually the main impact on ordinary people is when prices are rising faster than wages. This can lead to workers being able to buy fewer goods for their wages. In this situation strikes can occur as workers look for higher wages. In extreme cases, hyperinflation occurs, when prices are rising out of control. This form of inflation can lead to catastrophic effects on an economy, as happened in Germany in 1923.

Kremlin

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A Russian word for a fortress. The Kremlin in Moscow became the headquarters of the Soviet government in 1918. The word was also used to represent the government of the USSR.

Kulak

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A term that means tight-fisted. It was used to describe the wealthier peasants in the USSR. To Communists they were enemies of the people, as they saw them as exploiting the poorer peasants. They suffered brutal treatment under Lenin, while under Stalin there were mass deportations and executions. The term was extended to include any peasant, rich or poor, who opposed Stalin’s policies. It is impossible to accurately estimate the numbers who perished, but it could be around two million.

Labour Party

A moderate British socialist party in favour of a fairer society, greater government spending and government control of major industries, such as coal mining. It first formed a government in 1924, but many equated socialism with communism in Russia and the government lasted less than a year. The leadership was worried by accusations of extremism, so it pursued a very cautious approach, even when it returned to government in 1929. The leadership did not support the Jarrow march, as it was afraid of communist links to other protest marches at the same time.

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Lebensraum*

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Hitler’s aim of acquiring living space or land for Germans in Eastern Europe, e.g. Poland and the Ukraine. The Nazis argued that the German nation was overpopulated and did not have enough space to feed itself and needed this land. It related to Nazi racial theories, which saw it as a law of nature that the master race (the Aryans) would take land from inferior races such as the Poles. This policy was a major factor in the invasion of both Poland in 1939 and the USSR in 1941.

Liberal Party

Until 1918, one of the ‘big two’ in British politics. It favoured moderate social reform and free trade. It split in 1916 when David Lloyd George replaced his Liberal colleague, Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister. It went into decline after World War I as it lost votes to the Labour Party.

New Economic Policy (NEP)

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Revision of communist economic policies allowing limited capitalism after the failure of War Communism. Lenin introduced it to preserve his government after the failed sailors’ revolt at Kronstadt. Policy worked in raising industrial production but was unpopular among many communists. It was abandoned when Stalin introduced his policy of Socialism in One Country.

Night of the Long Knives

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A purge against the SA (Brownshirts) and other enemies of the Nazi regime. The Brownshirts and their leader, Ernst Röhm, had made powerful enemies within the Nazi Party and the army. They were also unpopular and widely seen as thugs. Hitler was persuaded that the leadership of the Brownshirts was plotting against him. He decided to act and most of the leadership was arrested and shot. The Nazis took the opportunity to kill other political enemies, such as the former chancellor, Kurt von Schleicher.

NKVD

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People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the organisation in charge of state security. It was the successor of the Cheka and was responsible for rooting out enemies of the people. It comprised the police, secret police, border police and the fire brigade. It also ran the Gulag and was responsible for controlling foreign communist parties and Soviet agents abroad. It used brutal interrogation methods and carried out mass executions of countless numbers of Soviet citizens.

Old Bolsheviks

Members of the Communist Party who had joined before 1917. They were the main targets of the purges and the show trials. Stalin distrusted their loyalty to him, as many had opposed him at some stage within the party. The vast majority were shot on Stalin’s orders. They included figures such as Trotsky, Bukharin, Radek, Zinoviev and Kamenev.

Permanent Revolution Trotsky’s policy of continuing to encourage worldwide revolution to preserve the revolution in Russia. This policy was rejected at the Party Congress of 1925, signalling the defeat of Trotsky in the power struggle to succeed Lenin.

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personality cult*

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A propaganda mechanism that idealised and promoted loyalty and obedience to the leader of the country, especially in a dictatorship. For example, in the USSR propaganda portrayed Lenin as the father of his people and Stalin as a superman guiding the USSR to the promised land of communism. In Nazi Germany, the Führer principle promoted a personality cult around Hitler. Often leaders were called by names such as Führer (Hitler) or Vozhd (Stalin) to emphasise the cult of personality.

proletariat

Marxist or communist term for the working class. Communists like Lenin claimed to represent the working class.

protectionism*

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The introduction of taxes (tariffs) on imports to make them more expensive. It is hoped that this will encourage domestic industry by reducing competition from imported goods. As a result of the Great Depression, the British government introduced protectionism on imports from outside the empire in 1932. This policy was called Imperial Preference.

protective custody

Under the Reichstag Fire Decree of February 1933, the concept of protective custody was introduced. This allowed the police to imprison suspects – political opponents of the Nazis – without trial, usually in a concentration camp. This policy was a basic denial of a person’s human rights.

Provisional Government

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Government formed after abdication of the tsar in March 1917. It was provisional (temporary) in that it was un-elected. It was to run the country until elections were held, but it was overthrown in the October Revolution that brought Lenin to power.

Purges

Removing opponents, real or imagined, of Stalin’s policies from the Communist Party. It was part of the Great Terror that began after the assassination of Sergei Kirov in 1934. Suspects were arrested by the NKVD, then interrogated and later shot or sent to the Gulag. The most prominent victims were the Old Bolsheviks who had been members of the party before 1934.

Reichskirche*

The unified Protestant church set up in Germany in 1933. The Nazis merged the 28 regional Protestant churches in Germany into one single church. This was to bring the Protestant Church more tightly under Nazi control. A German Christian movement that combined Christianity and Nazism was encouraged in the church, but it lacked support.

SA (Sturmabteilung; Storm Detachment)

Known as the Brownshirts, they were established in 1920. They were Hitler’s uniformed followers who protected Nazi Party meetings and fought with political opponents during his rise to power. Its leadership was killed by Hitler in 1934 in an event known as the Night of the Long Knives. After this event, the organisation had little political influence in Nazi Germany.

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show trials

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Propaganda trials held during the Great Terror of those accused of plotting against Stalin. Many of the accused were members of the party prior to 1917 and were known as Old Bolsheviks. The aim of the trials was to remove any potential enemies of Stalin from the party and to blame the failures of Stalin’s policies on the actions of the accused. The defendants willingly confessed their crimes and most were shot.

Socialism in One Country

Stalin’s policy of establishing socialism in the Soviet Union to ensure the success of the revolution. The aims were to create a socialist state with a large working class and to make the USSR strong enough to defeat its capitalist enemies. It involved rapid industrialisation and collectivisation using Five-Year Plans.

Soviet

SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadron)

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Soldiers’ and workers’ councils that ran the cities of Russia in 1917. Originally formed during the unsuccessful revolution of 1905, they were revived after the tsar was overthrown. They held the real power in the cities, and control of the Petrograd Soviet by the Bolsheviks made the October Revolution possible.

This infamous organisation was established as part of the SA in 1925. It was originally an elite bodyguard for Hitler. After the Nazis came to power, its role expanded greatly. It controlled the police, the secret police (Gestapo) and the concentration camps. During World War II its armed wing, the Waffen SS, fought alongside the regular German army. The SS was responsible for carrying out the Holocaust and other war crimes.

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Third Reich

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The third Empire – the name the Nazis gave to their state. The First Reich was in the Middle Ages and the second was the German kingdom unified in 1870. The Nazis used this term to claim that they were part of a long tradition of German history.

totalitarian regime*

This is a one-party state characterised by an absence of democracy, a secret police and the widespread use of terror and propaganda. The government had total control over the everyday lives of its citizens. This term is used to describe the USSR under both Lenin and Stalin and Germany under Hitler. Both communist and fascist regimes were totalitarian states.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

A peace treaty signed between Germany and Russia in March 1918. It resulted in large losses of territory for Russia and was deeply unpopular even among Lenin’s own supporters. However, Lenin believed the treaty was necessary in order to establish the new communist government.

USSR

Russia was renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. Sometimes it was called the Soviet Union, though many contemporaries still referred to it as Russia. ‘The Soviets’ was a term commonly used, which referred to the government or the people, similar to ‘the Germans’.

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Volk

A word that means the German people – a very important term for the Nazis. The Volk for the Nazis were those who were ethnically German and shared the same culture, traditions and history. The Volk included Germans living in other countries in Europe.

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Volksempfänger

The Peoples’ Radio – cheap radio sets built to spread the Nazi message. Goebbels believed that the Nazis needed to control the medium, or way, through which Nazi propaganda was spread. These radio sets ensured that most Germans owned a radio by 1939. Most Germans could then listen to Nazi propaganda. It was difficult, though not impossible, to pick up foreign radio stations on the sets.

Volksgemeinschaft

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Nazi ideology that wanted to break down class barriers between Germans and promote a common pride in being members of the German race. Under this policy, all Germans were members of the Volk (the German People) and were therefore equal. A popular policy that gained a lot of support for the regime.

War Communism

An economic policy that involved the introduction of communism during the Civil War in Russia. It involved state control over all factories and shops and forced requisition of grain from the peasants. Mass terror was used to enforce the policy. It was deeply unpopular and a complete economic failure, resulting in a terrible famine and hyperinflation. It was replaced by the New Economic Policy in 1921.

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* indicates a key concept

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USEFUL BOOKS AND WEBSITES Books

Germany 1920–1939, including the Nuremberg Rallies case study

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Martin Amis, Koba the Dread, Jonathan Cape, 2002. Anne Applebaum, Gulag: A History, Anchor, 2004. Simon Sebag Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Phoenix, 2007. Edvard Radznsky, Stalin, Anchor, 1997. Martin Sixsmith, Russia: A Thousand Year Chronicle of the Wild East, BBC Books, 2011. Dmitri Volkogonov, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire, Harper Collins, 1999.

The USSR 1917–1939, Including the Show Trials case study

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Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History, Pan, 2001. Richard J. Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, Penguin Books, 2003. Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power, Penguin Books, 2006. Niall Ferguson, The War of the World: History’s Age of Hatred, Penguin, 2009. Joachim C. Fest, Hitler, Mariner Books, 2002. Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889–1936, Hubris Penguin Books, 1999. Richard Overy, The Third Reich: A Chronicle, Quercus, 2011. Laurence Rees, The Nazis: A Warning from History (book or DVD), BBC, 2006.

Britain 1920–1939, including the Jarrow March case study

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Websites

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Stuart Maconie, Long Road from Jarrow: A journey through Britain then and now, Ebury Press, 2018. Juliet Gardiner, The Thirties: An Intimate History of Britain, Harper Press, 2011. Stephen Lee, Aspects of British Political History 1914–1995, Routledge, 1996. Andrew Marr, The Making of Modern Britain, Pan, 2010.

The USSR 1917–1939, including the Show Trials case study

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http://gulaghistory.org/ Feature on the Gulag from George Mason University in the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Trials Examination of the Show Trials from Wikipedia. http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch20.htm Good article about Stalin’s Russia called ‘Purges and Hysteria in the Soviet Union’. http://art-bin.com/art/amosc_preeng.html Interesting piece on the Show Trials called ‘And they all confessed...’ http://soviethistory.msu.edu/ One of the best sites on the internet with narrative and a wide host of sources – written, audio and visual – about many relevant events in history. Click a relevant date at the top of the page and then on the toolbar to find what articles there are about the year you have chosen. A simple registration process is required to access some of the material. https://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/Site-prior-to-Easyweb-migration/chrono3.html Chronology of Russian history from the Soviet period up to 1990.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOI8wKFCEIA A brief animated biography of Stalin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25JpnWlEfvE Youtube video about the Third Show Trial involving Bukharin as the star defendant in 1938. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNnK0LAoyMo An examination of the Purges from the TimeGhost History. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HwKl8VUZHA Profile of the NKVD from TimeGhost History. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jil4OCsxT_U Video from House of History called Stalin's Great Purge – The Great Terror.

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Germany 1920–1939, including the Nuremberg Rallies case study

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http://www.ushmm.org/ Website of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum – a vast resource for students about all aspects of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. http://www.ushmm.org/propaganda/ Excellent site from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum about propaganda in Nazi Germany, it includes many visual sources from the period. http://www.biography.com/people/adolf-hitler-9340144 Good biography of Hitler with five short videos – from the Biography Channel. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/ Series of articles about the rise of Adolf Hitler to power in Germany. http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/section.cfm?section_id=13 Very professional site from the German Historical Institute in Washington called ‘German History in Documents and Images’. This section of the site examines a number of topics from Nazi Germany with articles and primary documents. Go to the introduction and choose a topic – click on the topic to find an article about it, e.g. propaganda. There are links to the primary sources in each of the articles. http://www.thirdreichruins.com/ Good website that shows sites and images from Nazi Germany and what they look like today. http://www.tracesofevil.com A good site that examines the different parts of the Nuremburg Party Rally grounds. http://www.kubiss.de/reichsparteitagsgelaende/englisch/stationen.htm Detailed examination of the different buildings in the Nazi Party Rally grounds, includes some video excerpts. http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/ww2era.htm Collection of propaganda sources from Nazi Germany, 1933-1945. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6uajey Full-length video of Leni Riefenstahl’s movie Triumph of the Will. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7hJVaTW45M An examination of Triumph of the Will and the power of propaganda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYjHpC2u7ck A biography of Leni Reifenstahl from TimeGhost History.

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Britain 1920–1939, including the Jarrow march case study

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http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/learning_modules/history/04.TU.04/ Feature from the Science Museum in London about Britain between the wars – very studentfriendly and very relevant. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/alevelstudies/the-general-strike.htm An examination of the General Strike with the aid of the British Cabinet Papers – from the British National Archives. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/alevelstudies/1930-depression.htm An examination of the Depression in Britain in the 1930s using the primary sources of the British Cabinet Papers. www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/jarrow_01.shtml An excellent summary of the Jarrow Crusade from the BBC, including the background to the march and a brief biography of local MP, Ellen Wilkinson. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/3121722.stm BBC article about the death of the last surviving marcher in 2003. http://century.guardian.co.uk/1930-1939/Story/0,6051,127027,00.html An article from the Guardian newspaper written a week after the start of the march. It gives a reporter’s account of the march. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNt61S_4Clk Youtube video from BBC Four about the effects of the Great Depression; it includes Britain – 11 minutes in length. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqpNcHTG4uM Good video that examines poverty in 1930s’ Britain. http://www.britishpathe.com/video/jarrow-unemployed-march-to-london Very short British Pathé newsreel of the Jarrow marchers. http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/7483/economics/the-uk-economy-in-the-1930s/ An examination of the performance of the British economy in the 1920s and 1930s, with graphs to aid explanation. It could also be used by students who are studying economics. https://heritagecalling.com/2021/10/04/the-story-of-the-jarrow-march/ A profile of the Jarrow March called People and Protest: The Story of the Jarrow March from the Historic England Blog.

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THE DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTIONS EXAMINED What is the documents-based question?

Section I on your Leaving Certificate history paper is the documents-based question. This question is compulsory and is worth 100 marks, i.e. 20% of your overall mark.

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In the 2024 and 2025 papers the compulsory question will come from one of the three Case Studies in Dictatorship and Democracy in Europe, 1920-1945. They are: Stalin’s Show Trials The Jarrow March, October 1936 The Nuremberg Rallies

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In this section you will be given two sources drawn from one of the three Case Studies. They could be written sources like a newspaper article, a political speech or an extract from a book, or visual sources like a photograph or a political cartoon. Both sources will be about the same theme or event in the Case Study.

What types of question will you be asked? You will be asked to answer four types of question about these sources.

1 Comprehension

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Usually there are three or four parts to this question at Higher Level and five at Ordinary. They are designed to test your understanding of the sources. This is the most important question for Ordinary Level students, who can earn 40 out of 100 marks for it. For Higher Level students it is worth 20 marks. Some examples of the type of question: In Document A, what is meant by... ?

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What is the message of the cartoon (Document B)? According to Document A, what role does X play in events?

2 Comparison

How does the accouunt of the event in Document A differ from the account in Document B? Which document is more effective in communicating its message? Comment on the portrayal of X in Documents A and B. Which document is more sympathetic to ... ?

Usually there are two parts to this question. They ask you to compare or note differences between the way the two sources deal with the event. This question is worth 20 marks at both Higher and Ordinary Levels. Some examples of the type of question:

3 Criticism

There are usually two parts to this question. In it you may be asked to detect bias, propaganda, opinions or to make judgements about the reliability of the sources. This question is worth 20 marks at both Higher and Ordinary Levels. Some examples of the type of question:

Do you find bias in this document? How reliable is Document A? THE DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTIONS EXAMINED ❘ 131

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What are the strengths and weaknesses of Document B as a historical source? Is a political cartoon such as Document A a reliable source of historical evidence? Is Document B a primary or secondary source? Explain your choice. Do you agree that Document B is a good example of propaganda?

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It is really important that for the above three types of question you make use of evidence from the source(s) in your answer. Use words or phrases from the documents, name figures in cartoons or mention facts the sources refer to.

4 Contextualisation

This is the final question and it will ask about your background historical knowledge of the Case Study. For Higher Level students, answering it will involve knowing about the elements of the Topic (Dictatorship and Democracy in Europe) that are relevant to the Case Study.

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Higher Level students should write a short essay of about two pages while one page will be enough at Ordinary Level. This is the most important question for Higher Level students, as it is worth 40 marks out of 100. For Ordinary Level students it is worth 20 marks. It is probably best to do Section I first on your paper. But be very conscious of time.

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Remember, you have another three sections to deal with, so do not write too much for any of the four parts and do not spend more than 45 minutes.

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Question to Ask When Examining a Souirce

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SUMMARY: THE DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTION Number of parts

Marks – Higher Level

Marks – Ordinary Level

1 Comprehension

3 or 4 short questions – Higher 5 questions – Ordinary

2 Comparison

2 short questions

3 Criticism

2 short questions

4 Contextualisation

1.5 pages – Higher 1 page – Ordinary

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Is the source reliable?

Type of question

Who made the source?

Are there any weaknesses such as bias?

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What event is the source about?

Does it contain opinions?

How is this source useful?

How well does it get its message across?

Is it an eye-witness account?

When and why was it made?

Is it a primary or secondary source?

Was it made close to the event or many years later?

THE DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTIONS EXAMINED ❘ 133

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capitalism 8, 119 Catholic Action 55 Central Powers 1 Centre Party, Germany 44, 55 Chamberlain, Neville 88, 88, 116 Cheka 8, 12, 13, 14, 110, 119 Churchill, Winston 84, 116–117 Clemenceau, Georges 3, 3 collectivisation 17, 18, 22–23, 111, 119 Comintern (Communist International) 13, 110 command economy 19 Commissar 8, 11, 17, 111, 119 communism 8, 10, 14, 120 Communist Party (Britain) 87 Communist Party (KPD, Germany) 44 Communist Party (Russia) 8, 15, 16, 17, 18, 119

free trade 81, 121 Frick, Wilhelm 49 Führer principle 59, 60, 121, 125

General Strike 81, 84–85, 116, 121 George V, King 87 German Christian Movement 54–55, 125 German Labour Front 51, 52, 53 German Workers Party 112 German Young People 53 Germany 1, 5 1933–1939 43–58 churches in 54–55 hyperinflation in 5, 45–46 impact of the Great Depression on 46–48 Weimar Germany 43–45, 46, 87, 112 women in 53–54 young people in 53 Gestapo 49, 51, 55, 113, 121 Gleichschaltung 49, 51, 121 Goebbels, Joseph 51, 57, 59, 59–61, 62, 71, 113, 114 Gold Standard 81, 82, 84, 87, 116, 122 Göring, Herman 49, 49, 51, 121 Great Depression 22, 91, 112, 122 in Britain 86–88 in Germany 46–48 see also Depression Great Terror 24–25, 28, 111, 125, 126 Gulag 16, 22, 25–26, 111, 122

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Danzig 4, 68 Davis, Joseph E. 35 demobilisation 83 democracy 43, 120 Democratic Socialists 10 Depression 43, 82 see also Great Depression Der Führer 43, 47, 52, 120 dictatorship 43, 120 Duma (parliament) 9

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Baldwin, Stanley 83, 84, 85, 85, 88, 94, 116 Beria, Lavrentiy 25 Berlin Olympics (1936) 52, 57, 72, 115 Bolshevik Party 8, 9, 11, 17, 18, 119 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich 55, 55 Bourgeoisie 8, 10, 119 Britain 3, 81–88 British Union of Fascists 87 Brooke, Sir Alan 117 Brownshirts 47, 48, 49, 124, 125 Brüning, Heinrich 47, 48 Bukharin, Nikolai 17, 33, 33, 34, 35, 36

concentration camps 13, 49, 51, 111 Confessing Church 55 Conservative Party 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 91, 116, 120 Constituent Assembly 8, 11, 109, 120 Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom) 11 counter-revolution 12 counter-revolutionaries 8, 31, 120 cult of personality 14, 17, 19, 59, 60, 114, 121, 125 Czechoslovakia 4, 5

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Allies, the 1 Anschluss 4, 64, 68 anti-semitism 43, 56, 57, 119 Aryan race 50, 56, 122

Note: Page numbers in bold indicate photograph captions.

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Index

East Prussia 4 Ebert, Friederich 43 Enabling Act 49, 50, 113, 121 enemies of the people 15, 16, 25, 28, 121 Estonia 4 Europe, in 1920 4 exports 81, 121 fascism 6, 8, 10, 43, 121 February Revolution (1917) 2, 9 Ferdinand, Archduke Franz 1 Final Solution 57, 113, 119 Five-Year Plans 19, 20, 22, 29, 111 France 1, 3

Herrenvolk 50, 122 Himmler, Heinrich 52, 52 Hindenburg, President 44, 47, 48, 52, 112, 113 Hitler, Adolf 5, 43, 51, 60, 60, 68,

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Jarrow March 89–107 Jews 47, 51, 56–58, 69–70

National Shipbuilders Securities 90 National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) see Nazi Party National Unemployed Workers’ Movement (NUWM) 91 Nazi Party 44, 47, 48, 54, 62, 63, 64, 112 control of film 61–62 control of literature 61 control of newspapers 60, 61–62 control of radio by 60–61 Nuremberg Rallies 64, 67 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact 111 New Economic Policy (NEP) 8, 13, 14, 18, 110, 124, 127 newspapers control by the Nazis 60, 61–62 in Russia 19 Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia 2, 9, 9 Niemöller, Martin 55 Night of the Long Knives 49, 51–52, 113, 124, 125 NKVD 16, 24, 25, 29, 30, 33, 124 November Criminals 44 Nuremberg Laws 57, 69–70 Nuremberg Rallies 57, 63–79

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Kamenev, Lev 17, 29, 30, 31, 35 Kerensky, Alexander 9 Keynes, John Maynard 84, 118 Khrushchev, Nikita 23, 112 Kirov, Sergei 24, 29, 30, 111 Kolyma Gulag, Siberia 25–26 Kremlin, Moscow 8, 26, 123 Krestinsky, Nikolai 33, 34, 34 Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) 49, 57, 114 Kronstadt naval base 14, 110 kulaks 16, 22, 123

Labour Party 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 91, 123 Land Decree 11 Latvia 4 Law, Andrew Bonar 83 League of German Maidens 53, 59, 63, 122 League of Nations 3, 4, 5 League of Young Girls 53 Lebensraum 50, 124 Lenin, Vladimir 2, 8, 11, 16, 19, 109–110 cult of personality 17 and Russia (1917–1924) 8–15

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Paris Peace Conference 2–3 Peace Decree 11 People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs see NKVD Permanent Revolution 17, 124 personality cult see cult of personality Petrograd 9, 11, 14 Petrograd Soviet 9, 11, 126 Pius XI, Pope 55 Poland 4, 45, 88, 113 Pravda 17, 110 proletariat 8, 10, 125 propaganda in Nazi Germany 59–62 in Russia 19 protectionism 82, 87, 125 protective custody 49, 125 Purges 16, 24, 32, 111, 112, 125 Pyatakov, Yuri 32

MacDonald, Ramsay 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88 Magnitogorsk, Russia 20 Marx, Karl 10, 10, 120 May Commission 87 Mensheviks 109, 119 Moscow 9, 11, 14 Moscow Trials see Show Trials Mosley, Sir Oswald 87 Mussolini, Benito 6, 121

October Revolution 8, 19, 110 Old Bolsheviks 16, 25, 28, 124, 125, 126 Orlando, Vittorio 3, 3

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Imperial Preference 82, 87, 125 imports 81, 123 industrialisation, of Russia 16, 18, 20–22, 111, 123 inflation 9, 43, 45, 82, 83, 123 Italy 1, 3, 5, 6

Leningrad 14, 110 Liberal Party 81, 124 Liebknecht, Karl 44 Lithuania 4 Lloyd George, David 3, 3, 82, 83, 83, 124 Luxemburg, Rosa 44 Lvov, Prince 9

71, 88, 88, 112–113 and Germany (1933–1939) 43–58 and the Nuremberg laws 69 and the Nuremberg Rallies 64, 65, 67, 70 Hitler Youth 53, 57, 59, 63, 69, 122 Holocaust 49, 57–58, 122 Housing Act 83 Hungary 4 ‘Hunger marches’ 91 hyperinflation 5, 43, 45–46, 123

Radek, Karl 32 radio control by the Nazis 60–61 in Russia 19 Red Army 12, 14, 32 Red Guards 10, 11 Red Terror 12–13, 110 Reds 12, 110 Reichskirche 50, 54, 125 Reichsparteitag (National Party Convention) 64 Reichstag (German parliament) 47, 48, 50, 69 Reichstag Fire Decree 49, 125 Riefenstahl, Leni 64, 71, 71, 72, 115 Röhm, Ernst 51, 51, 112, 113, 124 Roosevelt, President 116 Ruhr, Germany 45, 46 Russia 1, 2 1917–1924 8–15 Civil War in 12, 14, 110, 111 famine in 14, 23 INDEX ❘ 135

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World War I 1–2, 9, 43, 82–83 World War II 21, 50, 51, 54, 57, 67, 113, 118

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Yagoda, Genrikh 25, 33, 34 Yezhov, Nikolai 25, 34 Yezhovschina (rule of Yezhov) 25 Yugoslavia 4

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Zinoviev, Grigory 13, 17, 29, 30, 35,

Ukraine 22–23 Unemployment Assistance Board 89 unemployment benefit 83, 89 United States of America 2, 46 USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) 9, 16–27, 110, 126 see also Russia

van der Lubbe, Marinus 49 Victory of Faith (film) 115 volk 50, 127 Volksempfänger 59, 60, 127 Volksgemeinschaft 50, 52, 63, 127 von Papen, Franz 48, 49, 52 von Schleicher, General Kurt 48, 52 vozhd (Stalin) 19 Vyshinsky, Andrei 30, 30, 31, 31, 34

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SA (Sturmabteilung/Brownshirts) 49, 51, 52, 112, 124, 125 St Petersburg 9, 110 Schacht, Hjalmar 52 self-determination principle 3 Shaw, George Bernard 22 shipbuilding 89, 90 show trials 16, 21, 36, 28–41, 126 assessment of 36 format of 29–30 purpose of 28–29 Trial of the Sixteen 30–31 Trial of the Seventeen 32 Trial of the Twenty-one 33–34 Social Democrats (SPD), Germany 44 socialism 16, 84, 126 Socialism in One Country 16, 17, 18, 126 Soviet 9, 126 Spartacus League 44 Speer, Albert 67, 68 SS (Schutzstaffel/Protection Squadron) 50, 51, 52, 112, 126 Stakhanov, Aleksei 21 Stakhanovite movement 21 Stalin, Joseph 11, 13, 16, 29, 110–112 Show Trials (1936–1938) 28–41 and the USSR (1924–1939) 16–27 Stalingrad 112, 113 Strength through Joy 53 Stresemann, Gustav 46

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) 9, 11, 109, 126 Treaty of Lausanne (1923) 5 Treaty of London (1915) 3 Treaty of Neuilly (1919) 5 Treaty of Sevres (1920) 5 Treaty of St Germain (1919) 5 Treaty of Trianon (1920) 5 Treaty of Versailles (1919) 3–5, 44–45, 112 Triumph of the Will (film) 71–72, 115 Trotsky, Leon 11, 11, 14, 17, 19, 28, 29, 30, 32, 111 and the Comintern 13 as Commissar of War 12 murder of 36 Tukhachevsky, Marshal 32

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industrialisation of 20–22 propaganda in 19 Provisional Government in 8, 9, 11, 109, 125 see also USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) Russian Social Democratic Labour Party 109 Rykov, Alexei 29, 33, 34

Third Reich 50, 126 totalitarian regime 13, 15, 126 totalitarianism 50 Trades Disputes Act 85 Trades Union Congress (TUC) 84

Wall Street Crash 46, 82, 86, 99 War Communism 9, 13–14, 110, 127 War Guilt Clause 5, 45 Wells, H.G. 22 White Sea–Baltic Canal 26 Whites 12, 110 Wilhelm II, German Emperor/ Kaiser 2, 43 Wilkinson, Ellen 90, 93, 93 Wilson, Woodrow 3, 3

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Case Studies: Dictatorship and Democracy 1920–1945 (2022)

Articles inside

KEY CONCEPTS AND IMPORTANT TERMS

USEFUL BOOKS AND WEBSITES

THE DOCUMENTS-BASED QUESTIONS EXAMINED

KEY PERSONALITIES

9 Case Study: The Jarrow March, October 1936

Documents-based questions

8 Britain between the Wars, 1919–1939

Documents-based questions

3 Stalin and the USSR, 1924 –1939

5 Hitler’s Germany, 1933 –1939

6 Propaganda in Nazi Germany

4 Case Study: Stalin’s Show Trials, 1936 –1938

7 Case Study: The Nuremberg Rallies

Documents-based questions

1 The Impact of World War I

2 Lenin’s Russia, 1917–1924