Developement Of Europe Essay Research Paper Development

Interwar Britain and France were politically the most stable. This is so because they had parliamentary institutions that were well established and the influential best circles were not plotting to restore an authoritarian monarchy. However, these two countries did have their share of political problems. In Britain, for example, Lloyd George was replaced as prime minister by the Labour Party candidate Ramsey MacDonald. Postwar boom and burst and continuing strife in Ireland weakened George while the belief that Labour could better promote international understanding strengthened MacDonald, the first Labour prime minister, who also lost to Conservative Stanley Baldwin a few months later. In France, the conservative Right and moderate Left formed coalition governments to try to rebuild war-torn regions and collect reparations from Germany. France was able to maintain slightly more political stability than Britain.

Germany, on the other hand, was politically very unstable. The Weimar Republic attempted to make Germany democratic. Unfortunately, hard economic times make it harder for political changes to take hold. Weimar s political system, a bicameral parliament and a chancellor responsible to the lower house, appear similar to that of Britain. However, many people felt nostalgia for imperial glory and a contempt for parliamentary politics. The far Right had the support of the wealthy landowners and businessmen, white-collar workers, and members of the middle class hurt by inflation. This gave the Right more power than the Left to commit acts of violence and attempt coups. For example between 1919 and 1921 thirteen murders were allegedly committed by leftist which resulted in eight executions and 176 years in prison. Whereas, the 314 murders attributed to the Right during the same years resulted in one life sentence and 31 years in prison. This lopsided system kept the political system in Germany very unstable. Violence toward and contempt of democratic leaders eventually lead to the collapse of the Weimar Republic.

Finally, World War I led to many cultural changes throughout Europe. First of all, class distinction were changed. The massive casualties generated social mobility by allowing commoners to up to the rank of officer, which was a position dominated by the aristocracy. This class unification was also aided by wartime propaganda trying to unite the classes against a common enemy. Furthermore, people paid more attention to bodily improvement. Men and women spent more time grooming with toothbrushes and combs. For women, a multibillion dollar cosmetics industry sprang up almost overnight. Finally, things like film making went from experimental to an international industry. The piano became a part of the silent films and a star system was set up. After the World War I many of the experimental industries and cultural concepts became concrete and widely used by the public all over the world.

An examination of interwar Europe gives excellent insight into the impacts of World War I. First, an analysis of postwar Europe shows the economic changes and continuities throughout Europe, but in particular England, France, and Germany. Furthermore, it also gives insight to the political strife caused by World War I which leads to changes in Britain and France and the collapse of the Weimar Republic. Finally, the interwar period allows many cultural changes and advancements to take hold. An examination of interwar Europe is an invaluable tool in comprehending the short and long term impacts of World War I.

Auschwitz was a Nazi work and extermination camp during World War II. It was one of six in Poland during the war. The work portion of the camp produced synthetic rubber and fuel for the chemical firm I. G. Farben. This was one of the Nazi s largest camps. By 1943, Auschwitz had the capacity to burn 1.7 million bodies per year. This was necessary because a high percentage of new arrivals, about sixty percent, were sent directly to the gas chambers. This sixty percent consisted mostly of women, children, and old people. The rest were put to work under conditions of brutality, malnutrition, disease, and exhaustion. To be put to work was a fate almost worst than death.

Georges Clemenceau became French premier in 1917. He was born in 1841 and died in 1929. He called for World War I to be a war to the death so that all the loss of human life and property would not be in vain. When World War I finally ended he was unhappy with Wilson s Fourteen Points and Wilson himself. The French people wanted revenge on Germany for the loss of property and especially the 1.3 million dead. Clemenceau was therefore responsible for compromising with Wilson and his people s lust for revenge. The solution was the Treaty of Versailles which punished Germany, but did not completely destroy the country.

Tomas Masaryk was a Czech statesman. He worked out of Paris in the early twentieth century. Along with Edward Benes, he formed the Czechoslovak National Council. This council lobbied the Western powers for recognition of their rights. Masaryk s Czechoslovak National Council was a major part of the Czech s anti-Habsburg campaign .

The Dreyfus Affair was when Alfred Dreyfus, a French army captain and a Jew, was charged with spying for Germany in 1894. He was the only Jew in the military general staff and was singled out when evidence that documents were being passed to Germany were discovered. He was quickly found guilty and exiled to Devil s Island without much notice. However, eventually several French newspapers received proof that the army had used perjury ad fabricated documents to convict Dreyfus. This scandal led to man socialist winning the local elections. It also mad anti-Semitism a standard tool of politics. Afterwards, politicians repeatedly blamed Jews for various dissatisfactions, whether social, economic, or political.

Emmeline Pankhurst was a British women s suffragist. Along with her daughters she founded the Women s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Pankhurst and her group brought a new militant political style to the movement. They felt that women would accomplish nothing unless they threaten the prosperity of men. The WSPU used violence to get their message across. They would blow up railroad stations, slash art work, or chain themselves to the gates of parliament. Their violence and public acts made the suffrage issue a very public spectacle.

The New Economic Policy or NEP was created by Lenin when Kronstadt pushed him to create economic reform. The NEP substituted a fixed tax on production for requisitions of grain. This policy encouraged people to produce, sell, and make money. People did get rich, but many more stayed impoverished. This belied the Bolshevik credo of a classless utopia. Furthermore, it was basically only a compromise with capitalist methods. It also lead to opposition from within the party. The Worker Opposition protested Bolshevik usurpation of economic control. They pointed out that the NEP was an agrarian program and not a proletarian one.

Zero Hour is a term that came into being at the end of World War II. It originated in Germany and was used as a way of saying that the slate was wiped clean. The Germans that survived the war did not want to be associated with the Holocaust and a war the took millions of lives. Zero hour was their way of saying they wanted to start over. Eventually, however, zero hour became a term for all of Europe. After the destruction of World War II many Europeans and the nations wanted a new start. Not only were most of the major cities flattened, but the people themselves did not want to be associated with the death and fascism of the war.