Round Table Discission Essay

Francisco Carmona

March 31st, 2011

World History II/Computers 9

The Interwar Period Essay

The Interwar Period

Comparing and Contrasting

The interwar period is a lapse in the history of the world that lasted since the end of World War I to the beginning of World War II, which was from November 1918 to September 1939. World War II officially started with the invasion of Poland by the Germans.

All of the major countries such as, United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, China and others had a rough time during the interwar periods. That’s way, during the war all countries were reinforced in government and economy, sectors that were really affected. For example, France and the United States suffered great financial crisis that started with the crash of the United States’ stock market. The great depression started almost immediately after the crash, and reached Europe a few years later in France and other European nations. Also, Germany who lost World War I suffered a huge financial crisis, due to the Treaty of Versailles. For example, in the 1920’s and 1930’s devaluation in Germany was so big, that four trillion franks equaled one American dollar. People used to use money to make a good fire in their stove so they could cook. Another example that we saw in our book, was that a German women left a basket full of money in the street. Instead of the money being stolen, they stole the basket.

During the interwar period, many precautions were taken to prevent another bloody war that had killed so many people. For example, the League of Nations was created; this organization was one the regulated military use, military personal and weapons and other things. It’s main objective was to try to maintain the peace between the nations. Major nations such as, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy joined. The United States wasn’t a member because the Congress wanted to prevent the country for engaging on foreign wars or affairs. Another effort to prevent war was the Washington Naval Treaty. This treaty had the objective of making its members reduce their stock in weapons, war vessels, and naval personal. Members included United States, Japan, Britain, France and other smaller and less powerful nations. In 1936, Japan left the member list to start its campaigns of territorial expansion. This treaty lasted 10 years; however it wasn’t renewed because major nations wished, once more, to have big navies.

During the interwar period, you could see a lot of political changes in the countries. In some unstable countries, such as Russia, Germany and Spain you saw bloody revolutions that changed the government completely. Lenin and Stalin were the leaders of the Bolsheviks, once victorious they founded the Soviet Union, a huge empire that was based in communism and absolutism. During the creation and time the Soviet Union existed, millions of people that protested or had different ideas were assassinated. General Francisco Franco led the insurgents during the Spanish Revolution. After the revolution ended, he eliminated the monarchy in Spain, and became dictator until his death. Hitler and his Nazi Party took control over Germany. Even though when Hitler took power was in a non violent way, due to the fact that he already had tried to seize power with violence and it didn’t work, which made Hitler go to jail. By winning elections and eventually making reforms to stay in power for as long he could. I mean it was bloody, because of all the Jews and other races he made work, suffer, and eventually killing them in inhuman ways.

By 1941, all these countries that had been mentioned where engage in World War II. They were separated in two major bands, the Allies and the Axis Powers. The Allies included France, Great Britain, United States, and China; whereas, the Axis included Germany, Japan, and Italy.

Dictator in Another Country

After analyzing all the dictators, their techniques used to seize power and their own countries I came to the conclusion that the only one of the five dictators that we studied could have the same or even a bigger success if he changed country. This dictator would be Adolf Hitler, and his new country would be the United States of America. Hitler could have solve the economical problems of the United States and still create a war for the benefit of the country.

Adolf Hitler is probably one of the cruelest men in the history of the world, and he will always be associated with evil. Despite of this, Hitler was bright man that got Germany “back on its feet”, after the great economical problems and the regulations of the Treaty of Versailles, which had Germany very restricted in many aspects. Hitler created a world leading country. I believe that he could have accomplished the same with the United States. The US was also in economical trouble, known as the Great Depression due to the crash of the Stock Market. Perhaps, his same tactics that he used in Germany could be use in the United States. A very important factor that helped Hitler to achieve power was his political party. Hitler and the Nazi Party target the working population for votes, which is always the greatest in every country. With the correct use of propaganda, which he did, they could easily win any election. The working population in the United States was ambitious to get any job, to have a simple meal. Hitler could have achieved power easily.

The nationalism of the United States currently is very big, it also existed on the interwar period. This factor would help Hitler a lot to accomplish his plans, as he did in Germany. Also, Social Darwinism and racism were huge in the US during the interwar period. Even thought slavery had been abolished in the Civil War, African-Americans were still saw as inferior human beings, even by the law of the country. Jews, Hitler’s primary target in Germany where also very rich in the United States, so for him, the same problem remained. With the correct use of propaganda, Hitler wouldn’t have a problem to make the country see the Jews as inferiors, making them look like animals. As we know, Hitler also wanted to eliminate other races like, Blacks, African-Americans, homosexuals, and many more. The United States was and still is full of this kind of people, so Hitler could had applied all of his reforms and decrees with no problem in the United States.

For all this reasons, and the fact that Hitler has been one of the best oral speakers that the world has ever seen, I strongly believe he could have been successful in the United States, as he was with Germany, or even more.