Conditions Prior to WWII (to 1933)

Conditions Prior to WWII:

Italy:

-          Weak government

-          High national debt

-          High unemployment

-          High inflation

-          Political violence

-          Grievances over peace treaties (Paris Peace Conference, Treaty of London, Treaty of Versailles)

-          Strikes and riots by Bolsheviks

Mussolini:

-          Kills communist sympathizers from 1919 to 1922

-          Forms government in 1922, promises to make Italy “great, respected, and feared”

-          Clashes with Yugoslavia, Greece, France, and Britain over his attempts to dominate the Adriatic and Mediterranean

In the meantime, in the Weimar Republic (Germany)...

-          Germany, friendless since the war, signs the Treaty of Rappola with Russia, which means France’s attempts to isolate Germany are not working

-          In 1922, Germany suspends reparations payments, so France and Belgium move into the Ruhr Valley (western Germany).  Germany is very angry about this, and develops a policy of silent resistance to the French armies (as it has no army of its own to retaliate)

-          Hyper inflation, e.g., an egg costing .09 marks in 1914 costs 320 000 000 000 in 1923.

-          Germany’s economy begins to bounce back due to the Dawes Plan and American Investment in Germany.  The economy collapses, however, in 1929/30 because of the American stock market crash and the Great Depression.  U.S. short-term loans were withdrawn from Germany.

The USSR:

-          Is relatively weak and broke due to WWI and the Russian Civil War

-          Attempts to maintain national security through to 1933 by signing treaties of nonaggression with its neighbours

Japan:

-           Builds up its military and invades Manchuria for economic security (claiming retaliation to Manchurian aggression)

-          League does nothing because they couldn’t come to agreement, and the U.S. wouldn’t come to the table.