Europe, 1890-1945 is a new approach to teaching and learning early twentieth century European history at A level. It meets the needs of teachers and students studying for today's revised AS and A2 exams.
In a unique style, Europe, 1890-1945 focuses on the key topics within the period. Each topic is then comprehensively explored to provide background information, essay writing advice and examples, source work, and historical skills exercises.
From 1890 to 1945, the key topics featured include:
* the origins and impact of the First World War * the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalin * the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler * Mussolini and Fascist Italy * Stalin and the Soviet Union, 1928-41.
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Contrary to what some historians have argued, the twentieth century really did begin around 1900 and not in 1914. All the influences which affected the first half of the century were clearly emerging by 1900. The roots of twentieth-century ideologies are recognisable some years in advance of 1914, as are the strains experienced by structures of the older regimes. The war did, however, accelerate the process, compressing into a decade what might otherwise have taken half a century or, arguably, might not have happened at all. In this way, war and revolution were closely connected.
The main ideological development in the period covered by this book was the shift from autocracy to dictatorship. By 1900 Tsarist Russia was already being threatened by revolutionary movements on the left. Eventually one of these – communism – filled the gap, left by the collapse of autocracy, with a dictatorship of the far left. Alexander III and Nicholas II therefore gave way to Lenin and Stalin. France, meanwhile, had become a seedbed for a different type of ideology, which started as a merging of revolutionary socialism and extreme nationalism. This was transplanted into Italy where, by the time of the First World War, Mussolini and D’Annunzio were shaping it into fascism. This was also to influence post-war Germany, which had its own roots back into the nineteenth century – racism, anti-Semitism and struggle; the combination became known as national socialism, or Nazism. These new ideologies were similar to the older autocracies in having an authoritarian approach to political power but, unlike them, also sought to mobilise the masses behind them. However, despite their claim to a popular base, the dictatorships were as far removed from the liberal democratic regimes of France, Britain or the United States, as the autocracies had ever been.
It is appropriate to open this book with the First World War to show the strength of war as a catalyst, converting the trickle of earlier developments into a revolutionary torrent. A major theme is the initial confidence of the late nineteenth-century regimes giving way to fear and suspicion. Established powers like Russia sought additional strength in rapid industrialisation, while newly united countries like Germany and Italy aimed to become world powers. But diplomacy gradually became fearful and gave way to considerations of defence. The way to preserve the peace, as everyone knows, is to prepare for war. By 1914, however, such preparations had become so complex that they exerted their own influences and prevented the use of diplomacy to solve crises without conflict. The problem was that the outcome of the war was beyond everyone’s expectations.
In no country was the impact of war so dramatic as in Russia. Chapter 3 deals with the last years of the tsarist regime and its overthrow. To give this greater coherence, the starting point is taken back to 1855. The period as a whole saw swings between reform and reaction, between backwardness and economic growth. Gradually, two trends emerged to threaten autocracy – the demand for a constitutional system and the development of revolutionary movements. War made tsarism vulnerable to both: there was a close connection between the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5) and the Revolution of 1905, and even more so between the First World War and the Revolutions of 1917. The outcome was the emergence of the world’s first communist regime under the leadership of Lenin. In this case Trotsky was correct in his view that ‘war is the locomotive of history’.
Meanwhile the other great continental power had also been thrust into crisis by the First World War. Chapter 4 starts with Germany as a recently united country becoming increasingly confident in its military strength and assertive in its foreign policy. At the same time, it was beset by internal complications and international problems. Confident in its military preparations, it made no attempt to avoid war through diplomacy. The result, however, was totally unexpected, as success on the eastern front was followed by defeat in the west. In the process Germany experienced internal transformation from a semi-autocratic empire to a democratic republic. But the stability of this new democracy was undermined by a combination of internal and external problems and crises, which produced the ideal breeding ground for Nazism. By 1933 the situation had become so serious that Hitler was offered the chancellorship.
When this happened, Italy had already been under a dictatorship for just over ten years (Chapter 5). Again, the First World War was a crucial factor. Although theoretically one of the victors, Italy had been seriously destabilised by the experience of economic and political dislocation, while further fuel was added by popular resentment at Italy’s meagre territorial gains in 1919. Post-war governments lost their struggle to maintain Italy’s liberal institutions and eventually had to give way to Mussolini in 1922. The new regime was the first experience of fascist power anywhere in Europe. Mussolini claimed to have established the first truly totalitarian regime and he gave Italians the illusion of military prowess. In reality, however, Italy lacked the economic infrastructure to support a belligerent foreign policy and, in 1943, fascism was the first of the three systems to be overthrown.
Figure 1.1Map of Europe, 1914
Figure 1.2Map of Europe, 1919–39
Nazi Germany (Chapter 6) was much more powerful than Fascist Italy because Hitler was able to mobilise Germany’s huge economic and military potential. At first he aimed to consolidate his position through a strategy of ‘legal revolution’ but, from 1935 onwards, the regime became more radical as anti-Semitic policies were intensified, rearmament introduced and propaganda and coercion both extended. A second and more intensive radicalisation occurred during the Second World War, which saw the rapid spread of the power and influence of the SS and the introduction of a policy of genocide. From 1942 onwards the regime had to gear itself to total war but, by 1945, the overwhelming strength of its external enemies brought total defeat and collapse.
One of these opponents was the Soviet Union (Chapter 7). At first basic survival was the key issue as the Bolsheviks had to fight a civil war between 1918 and 1921 and consolidate their regime. The implementation of communism required the introduction of political dictatorship but there were still many economic issues left unsettled by 1924. Stalin’s regime placed the focus on rapid industrialisation and rearmament, reinforced by a huge apparatus of terror. The result was a new military power, which was cumbersome but sufficient to overwhelm Nazi Germany. After 1945 Stalin converted it into a world force, one of the two poles of the Cold War. In the longer term, however, the economic infrastructure created by Stalin was too inflexible to support the expanding aspirations of a superpower. Hitler’s Germany may have been brought down by war – but Stalin’s Soviet state eventually fell apart in the peace which followed.
The First World War had been the ‘war to end wars’. Actually, it brought in regimes and created problems which led rapidly to the Second. International relations between 1919 and 1939 (Chapter 8) reflected the tensions between the newly released ideologies of communism, fascism and Nazism, each of which aimed at domination and expansion. They were also complicated by unfinished business arising from the peace settlement of 1919–20, over which Britain and France were initially intransigent during the 1920s but increasingly accommodating in the 1930s. The outbreak of war in 1939 was more predictable than it had been in 1914 and eventually settled into a clash of ideologies.
Chapter 2
The Era of the First World War, 1890–1919
This chapter will consider the relationship between the powers between 1890 and 1914, the outbreak of the First World War, the effects of the conflict on the countries involved and the peace settlement which followed between 1919 and 1920.
Historical background
The European powers and the growth of the alliance systems, 1871–90
The policies of the powers
Irritants: imperialism and the Balkans
The outbreak of war in 1914
The impact of war
The end of the war and the peace settlement
Essays
The policies of the powers
Irritants: imperialism and the Balkans
The outbreak of war in 1914
The impact of war
The end of the war and the peace settlement
Sources
Germany and the outbreak of war
The impact of the First World War on Russia
Historical skills
Note-taking and filing
Chronology
Part 1: Historical background
The European powers and the growth of the alliance systems, 1871–90
The decade between 1861 and 1871 had seen major changes in Europe. Italy had been largely united in 1861, a process completed by the addition of Venetia in 1866 and Rome in 1870. The Austrian Empire, forcibly evicted from the German Confederation in 1866 by Prussia, had reconstituted itself as a dual state, Austria-Hungary. Meanwhile, under the leadership of Bismarck, Prussia had replaced the German Confederation with a much tighter North German Confederation. Between 1870 and 1871, Bismarck completed German unification by military victory in the Franco-Prussian War. Russia was a vast empire alternating between crisis, such as defeat in the Crimean War (1854–6) and the Russo-Japanese War 1904–5), and internal reform, such as the abolition of serfdom by Alexander II (1855–81) and the development of heavy industry under Alexander III (1881–94) and Nicholas II (1894–1917). Britain was, after its involvement in the Crimean War, the most detached of the powers, withdrawing into self-imposed isolation until after 1900.
The diplomacy of the period 1871–90 was dominated by Bismarck, now Chancellor. His main concern was to preserve the security of the newly formed German Reich by preventing the emergence of a coalition centred on France. During his chancellorship he managed to keep France in isolation while drawing up the Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879, which was expanded into the Triple Alliance (1882) with the inclusion of Italy. He also managed to maintain dipl...
