INTERWAR YEARS
AND THE RISE OF NAZI GERMANY

History does not easily lend itself to tight, terse time and category compartments. Few events begin or developments end on the day a decade begins or ends. All time divisions and groupings are arbitrary.  This observation particularly applies to the so-call Interwar Years.  Thus I do not break this section into categories.  This listing has some chronological significance and probably would be most helpful read, surfed in the order of appearance.

THE DECADES

Between the World Wars    A  SPECIAL SITE

Grolier's essays by leading historians on the 20 years with the Breakdown of the Versailles System and problems with the treaties and the League; the Manchurian Incident of 1931; Economic Issues such as war debts, depression, reparations; the Rise of Hitler; the Stresa Front; the Anglo-German Naval Agreement; the Italo-Ethiopian War; the Hoare-Laval Plan; the Rhineland Coup.  And then the End of the Long Armistice with the Spanish Civil War, the Sino-Japanese War, the Axis and the Anschluss, the Czech Crisis and Munich, the End of Appeasement, the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and the Attack on Poland.

Between the World Wars - Superpowers Divide the Ottaman Empire
Interwar Years

"Some historians regard World War I as only the first part of a "European Civil War" during the first half of the 20th century while others see the world wars as two completely separate events. Either way, one cannot deny that the second war's origins began with the end of the first war: a resounding German defeat. Because the surrender was on the part of the government, the German soldiers didn't know their military force had been ruined and were told that they were forced to stop by liberal political forces, which began the bitter resentment towards certain people. The war ended with Germany signing five treaties with hundreds of articles, which blamed them for the entire war and gave them severe punishments for their actions. In addition to substantial monetary compensation to Europe, their military was reduced to a skeleton force (approximately 100,000 men in 7 infantry divisions and 3 cavalry divisions), their air force was dismantled, their frontier fortification was eradicated and their high seas fleet eliminated."

WWII Timeline:  PBS Interactive Allmost Indispensable Site - A SPECIAL SITE

Read for 1919 to 1945.  Arranged as time lines with explanations and brief history of each major event along the way.  Excellent way to get an overview of these years.

Britannia History Focus: SLOW to load, but the waiting is worth it.

Disorder:  Europe in the 1920s, The Swastika and the Nazis, Era of Despair in Europe,   Precarious Peace

VERSAILLES AND THE TREATIES

The Paris Peace Conference

"In January 1919, world diplomats gathered at the famed château of Versailles near Paris to negotiate a peace treaty to end the Great War. By the time they set to work, it was clear that the pre-war map required drastic revision. The high cost of the war, both in terms of human life and money, made the work of the conference difficult, and it is not surprising that the resulting treaties have long since been the subject of contentious analysis, opinion and debate. "  A range of information and categories.

The Treaty of Versailles: Mirror of Europe's Postwar Agony

Excellent paper.  "This paper seeks to make one point: The Treaty of Versailles was in no fundamental sense a success or failure. The accord was merely another chapter in the long history of multilateral peace conferences summoned to terminate multilateral wars, a history which extends from 1648 to the annual summits of the dominant industrial powers of our day and conveys an impression of extensive efforts succeeded by major failures. The large cast and the large agenda, rather than ill will or outright incompetence, may account for the shortcomings of these grand affairs."

The Press and the Paris Peace Conference

Article.  "This paper examines how the press influenced decisions made at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Using the sociological theory of a society shaped by the media and exploring the ways in which journalistic bias defined the events surrounding the end of the Great War, the paper concludes that newspaper accounts, and the perspectives that journalists created to support the necessity of war, helped to define the viewpoints and attitudes of American, French and British societies at the conclusion of hostilities. The presence of the press, and the secretive influence offered by the participating politicians, doomed the Conference to operate within the realm of censorship, with the resulting secret negotiations determining the context of the final peace treaties."

The Avalon Project - From Yale University - The Versailles Treaty June 28, 1919 - The Documents
Pictures of the Documents
The Plain Truth About the Treaty

Justification from the French article. "Great and unprecedented in its scope: for the first time in history entire nations had fought. Seventy million men had been mobilized, thirty million had been wounded and nearly ten million had died. Nothing in the past could compare with it. The dead alone outnumbered all the Armies of Napoleon. Great and unprecedented in its complexity: nation having fought nation, there had been brought into play the sum total of all national forces: agricultural, industrial, commercial and financial. All these potent factors of international life had to be taken into account in making the Treaty. 
       The map of the world had to be remade, and under what conditions Germany's persistent savagery had left more ruins in the victorious countries than the invasions of the barbarians had ever made in the lands they overran and conquered. The resources of all the belligerents had been equally exhausted by the duration of the struggle, and as the damages rightly demanded by the creditors rose, the capacity for payment of the debtors fell. . . .The execution of the peace terms thus became not a matter of months but of years. It implied a lasting union of the forces which had won the war. Not the victors alone but the whole world had to be given the certainty that Germany would not repeat her offense.....
       "Thus in the very hour when every national entity wrought up by suffering and by victory aspired to the full satisfaction of their every hope, the Treaty could be but a compromise not only between conflicting claims but a compromise too between principles which are plain and facts which are complex---a compromise between glories and miseries, between memories and hopes, between strength and weakness---an average of security, of justice, and of solidarity which doubtless did not realize and could not realize complete security, full justice nor absolute solidarity but which nevertheless contained enough of security, enough of justice, enough of solidarity to make it the power towards which turn all, in their search for peace, both those who have most severely criticized it and those who have most inadequately enforced it."

The Treaty of Versailles and its Consequences

Interesting Article.

League of Nations Fight Versailles Treaty

Complete documents, chronology, maps and charts

WWI Casualty Lists - Awesome

Russian Revolution

Covers every area of interest, with information and analysis.

THE BITS/PIECES ABOUT THE 1930'S

Fall of the Weimar Republic Why the German Republic Fell

Article by an Austrian Journalist

Das Lied Der Deutschen

Background to the controversial German anthem.

How was Hitler able to become Chancellor in January 1933?

"Hitler's rise to power was based upon long-term factors - resentment in the German people, the weakness of the Weimar system - which he exploited through propaganda (paid for by his rich, Communist-fearing backers), the terror of his stormtroopers, and the brilliance of his speeches.  

During the 'roaring twenties' Germans ignored this vicious little man with his programme of hatred. But when the Great Depression ruined their lives, they voted for him in increasing numbers. Needing support, and thinking he could control Hitler,  President Hindenburg made the mistake in January 1933 of giving Hitler the post of Chancellor."

Reichstag Fire

Who did it and why.

Art of Adolf Hitler

"Before amassing his fortune with the enormous royalties from the publication of his hugely popular Mein Kampf, Hitler earned a living by using his artistic skills to produce paintings that were sold to the public or used for postcards. Hitler was a great student of the fine arts and studied music, opera, painting, sculpture, and architecture. While living in Vienna under conditions of poverty, he read voraciously and still managed to spend whatever meager income he had to attend lectures, concerts, opera, and the theater. Even when he barely had enough money to survive he refused to compromise and always purchased the best paints, brushes, paper, and canvas. As a remarkably prolific artist, he is estimated to have created between 2000 and 3000 drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings." ALERT - this is an organization that presents a "neutral" picture of Hitler, and possibly very positive.  It should not surprise you that it contains a "fine" collection of Hitler's artistic endeavers.

Eugenics and the Third Reich

Without a doubt, the link with atrocities committed during the Third Reich is the greatest cross which contemporary eugenics has to bear. Is this association fully or partially justified, or is it a case of guilt by association? Historical data can put this question into proper prospective.  A thorough analysis of the purported relationship between National Socialist policies and eugenics evinces four basic elements:  I. The attempted extermination of European Jewry  II. Euthanasia  III. Attempts to breed a biological elite through (a) Lebensborn, and (b) SS selection and marriage criteria IV. Negative eugenics, which is claimed to have been quantitatively and not just quantitatively different from similar policies elsewhere in the world.

Nuremberg Documents:  German Jewish Response - to the Nuremberg Laws (September 24, 1935)

And Hitler's Speech in the Reichstag on the Nuremberg Laws .  Go HERE for The Nuremberg Laws Documents.  Click from there to the major documents.

Nazi Olympics, Berlin, 1936

Site presents an online version of an exhibition created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC that was exhibited at the Museum from July 1996 - June 1997.
Outstanding site.  Covers the range of issues and information.
G E R M A N Y, and Nationalism, Police State, Racism, Antisemitism.
S P O R T S, and Race Hygiene, Regimentation, Sport as Military Training, Indoctrination of Youth, Nazi Control of Olympics, Exclusion of Jews, Persecution of Athletes.  B OY C O T T and The Debate, American Antisemitism, American Jewish Boycotters, World Responses.  THE OLYMPICS and Preparations, Winter Games, Remilitarization, Nazi Propaganda, Facade of Hospitality, Opening of the Games, Athletic Competition, African American Athletes, Jewish Athletes.
THE AFTERMATH and Persecution, War, The Holocaust.

Leni Riefenstahl "Olympiad" (1936) - Go here for good UTubes on Lena and the Film

The Riefenstahl Propaganda Films:  Pictures from

And her brief biography here.

Nazi & Soviet Art

Presents works of art that can expose some of the best and worst that art can achieve. Stark contrasts of good and evil.

AGGRESSION AND APPEASEMENT

Mussolini and Ethiopia
WW2 Timeline

By date, topic, maps, documents. Begins 1917, and then year by year to 1945.

Austria and the Anschluss:  An Outline

Anschluss of 1938

Outline, timeline, context.

Infamous Munich Pact

"Treaty concluded at the four-power Munich conference of Sept. 29-30, 1938, by Neville CHAMBERLAIN and Edouard Daladier, prime ministers of Britain and France, and Adolf HITLER and Benito MUSSOLINI, dictators of Germany and Italy. The pact represented the high point of the policy of appeasement by Britain and France of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy before WORLD WAR II. Its immediate result was the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia."

Munich Pact, September 19, 1938

Text, declaration, annex to the pact.  Vital from the Yale Law School Avalon Project.

The Munich Crisis

A brief outline of this event in history are soundbites from the period which provide actual events as they occurred - from radio. Exceptional site.

Neville Chamberlain  - Architect of Appeasement

British prime minister, whose policies failed to avert the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939.

Webcorp -- Neville Chamberlain Kisses Butt

What did appeasement sound like? The image and sound of Prime Minister Chamberlain pathetically waving the worthless treaty with Hitler in the air, "Peace in our time." Then go HERE.  Finally, Chamberlain's radio statements in GermanyHERE.

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The Spanish Civil War and Revolution-

 Excellent, helpful, photop montage, writings by poets and a range of interesting insights. Some see this war as "the most important social revolution of the 20th Century. Even Leon Trotsky noted that it surpassed the Russian Revolution as a truly "proletarian revolution".  Today unfortunately it is seen as a historical blip, if it is even considered at all, coming prior to WWII. To some who would downplay the social revolution, it was simply a percursor to World War II and an idealistic anti-fascist struggle. But to those on the Left,  it is an important social revolution that saw workers organize self managed factories, and indeed whole cities, and peasants mobilize the 'voluntary' collectivization of villages and farms."

The Spanish Civil War  - HELPFUL UTubes

Also,  "In a longer historical perspective the Spanish Civil War amounts to the opening battle of World War II, perhaps the only time in living memory when the world confronted—in fascism and Nazism—something like unqualified evil. The men and women who understood this early on and who chose of their own free will to stand against fascism have thus earned a special status in history. Viewed internally, on the other hand, the Spanish Civil War was the culmination of a prolonged period of national political unrest—unrest in a country that was increasingly polarized and repeatedly unable to ameliorate the conditions of terrible poverty in which millions of its citizens lived. Spain was a country in which landless peasants cobbled together a bare subsistence living by following the harvests on vast, wealthy agricultural estates. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church, identifying more with wealthy landowners than with the Spanish people, was in full control of secondary education; education for women seemed to them unnecessary and universal literacy a danger rather than a goal. Divorce was illegal. The military, meanwhile, had come to see itself, rather melodramatically, as the only bulwark against civil disorder and as the ultimate guarantor of the core values of Spanish society."

Posters on the Spanish Civil War

International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War

The Abe Lincoln Brigade.

Spanish Revolution of 1936

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Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1939-1941

Yale Avalon Project with all the major documents.

THE COUNTRY STUDIES:  Interwar Years and a Few Third Reich or Stalin Years

People generalize.  Historians generalize.  We have to. We have a realistic need to talk about Europe as a whole.  These needs and habits, however, do not contribute to accuracy or understanding.  At the very least the history of the INTERWAR YEARS in Europe is the composite of the individual histories of each country and region.  Understanding demands some knowledge of what happened in the differing situations in each country.  A good beginning place to use is the Library of Congress Country Studies .  Scroll down from 1919-1945.  You will find a great deal of assistance for any country listed. Albania - LC Country Study
Austria - LC Country Study
Bulgaria - LC Country Study
Czechoslovkia - LC Country Study
East Germany - LC Country Study
A Forgotten Chapter:  Holland Under the Third Reich "The German Occupation was to have many lasting effects both in Holland and how the Dutch were to see the world."  Outstanding lecture.
Hungary - LC Country Study
Poland - LC Country Study
Romania - LC Country Study
World War II in Ukraine The Ukrainian Experience in World War II With a Brief Survey of Ukraine's Population Loss of 10 Million.  Long and detailed article.  Needs to be read with care. 
Yugoslavia - LC Country Study

WWII:
SAVING DEMOCRACY FOR THE WORLD
"War is eternal, war is universal.
There is no begining and there is no peace.
War is life...War is the origin of all things." - Hitler

STARTING POINTS

Nazis "Seizure" of Power

"For the following hours,  Hitler talked to Oskar von Hindenburg on his own. His arguments were the old ones: he alone would be able to rescue Germany from the threat of Communism. No government would be able to survive without his support. Were he to become Chancellor, he would strictly ob serve the prerogatives of the Reich President under Article 49 and his supreme command of the armed forces. He would also adhere to the constitution. Supported by his own party which commanded one third of the Reichstag seats and by other "patriotic" forces on the Right and in the Center, he, through the passage of a parliamentary enabling act, would be able to achieve a constitutional prorogation of the Reichstag, etc. etc. However, it appears that Hitler blended such arguments, which were designed to win Oskar von Hindenburg over to his side, with open threats: if, he added, he were not made Chancellor, a criminal investigation might have to be reckoned with against the President concerning his role in the Osthilfe transactions."  Detail by days as to how Hitler managed to become Chancellor. 

How was Hitler able to become Chancellor in January 1933?

"Hitler's rise to power was based upon long-term factors - resentment in the German people, the weakness of the Weimar system - which he exploited through propaganda (paid for by his rich, Communist-fearing backers), the terror of his stormtroopers, and the brilliance of his speeches.  

During the 'roaring twenties' Germans ignored this vicious little man with his programme of hatred. But when the Great Depression ruined their lives, they voted for him in increasing numbers. Needing support, and thinking he could control Hitler, President Hindenburg made the mistake in January 1933 of giving Hitler the post of Chancellor."

Reichstag Fire

Who did it and why.

The Best - The BBC Site on Britain and WWII

Covers soooooooo much.  Probably the best on WWII for a range of issues.

Neville Chamberlain's Radio Address Finally Declaring War

Listen to him.  Most believe "he was blind and foolhardy in trying to deal with Nazi Germany. Through the

takeover of Austria, the Munich crisis and eventually the invasion of Poland, England's prime minister, Neville Chamberlain attempted to negotiate with the obsessed and erratic Adolf Hitler."   His was a policy of appeasement. When he had taken office in May, 1937, his focus was on a European solution to German expansionism. . . .Chamberlain also felt that Hitler would set his sites on the East, an opinion that helped him in his decision to abandon Czechoslovakia during the Munich Crisis. But ultimately, Hitler would have none of it. And so, with the invasion of Poland, a sadly reluctant Chamberlain announced that England was at war with Germany."

Brief History of the Last 200 Years

Four major chapters on the war.

Past Men of the Year: The Time Men of the Year

For 20th Century Europe, these in-depth articles are invaluable. From 1931. If I wanted to begin or to brush up on the history of the world from 1931 to today, I would read every one of these (I have). Few realize that most of the annual article is about the issues in the world for that year, not about the man or (the woman?-Wallace Simpson). Time writers are not always right, but it is fascinating to watch their predictions. Hitler was Man of the Year and Stalin was twice, for example. To understand the Balkans today, read about the oil crisis, another for example. The traiter Laval in 31, Hitler in 38, Stalin in 39 and 42, Adenauer in 53, the Hungarian Freedom Fighters in 56, Khrushchev in 57, Willy Brandt in 70, Gorbechev in 87, Churchill in 49.graphics, links.

THE DICTATORS AND THE NASTIES

A FEW GOOD HITLER UTUBES:  How Hitler Came to Power and Why did Hitler become Chancellor and Hitler: Chancellor to Dictator  and Adolf Hitler - Who voted for the Nazis and Why so little opposition to the Nazis?

Adolph Hitler:  Biography, the Nazi Years, Road to Power, WWII

"A gifted, charismatic orator possessed of a profound personal presence, Hitler is regarded as one of the most significant leaders of world history. The military-industrial complex he fostered pulled Germany out of the post-World War I economic crisis and, at its height, controlled the greater part of Europe."  Good beginning of the full subject.  Clicks to information on a range of issues and events.  Perhaps a good start here.

Grolier's Hitler

From Early Years, Military Service, Rise to Political Leadership, Rebuilding the Nazi Party, Attaining Power, Consolidation of Power, Preparation for War to Early Successes, Military Reversals, Last Days.

Hitler, Discovery of Antisemitism in Vienna: Original Source

Adolph Hitler:  Perverse Genius

Listen to him speak, read his quotes, scan his history.

The Rise of Adolf Hitler - Great Site

Hitler's Obituary - NYT, May 2, 1945

Excellent biography.

Grolier's Mussolini

Good, brief biography.  "He centralized all power in himself as the leader (il duce) of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with HITLER's Germany. The defeat of Italian arms in WWII brought an end to his imperial dream and led to his downfall." Socialism, birth of Italian Facism, dictatorship, military aggression, defeat.  Ethiopian War.

Benito Mussolini in Pictures - Extensive Mussolini site.

Stalin Grolier Brief Biography

"The undisputed leader of the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953. Helped to convert communism in the USSR from an egalitarian, revolutionary movement into an authoritarian, bureaucratic governmental system. Helped to turn Russia into a great industrial nation, to defeat HITLER in WORLD WAR II, and, after the war, to establish Communist regimes throughout eastern Europe. However, he institutionalized terror and was responsible for the death and deprivation of millions of people."

The Josef Stalin Archive

"Who was Stalin? What kind of a man are we talking about? Was he a good man, a bad man, an evil man, or somewhere in between? Did he serve his society well, or did he practically destroy it? Did Stalin save the world single-handedly from the scourge of Nazism, only to replace it with something similar, or perhaps even worse? Private life? Was he an outcast, a loner? Were his companions truly loyal, or just looking for an excuse to remove him and assume leadership of the Soviet Union in his stead?" Extensive year-by year biography, Stalin quotes, sources, links, news.

Problems of Organizational Leadership

A lecture on Leadership by Joseph Stalin, 1934!

Joseph Stalin, Soviet Premier

Himmler Brief Biography

"German Nazi leader, who was head of the dreaded SS (Schutzstaffel, also called the Blackshirts). Although he was pedantic, dogmatic, and dull, Himmler emerged under HITLER as second in actual power. His strength lay in a combination of unusual shrewdness, burning ambition, and servile loyalty to Hitler."

Heinrich Himmler - The Chicken Farmer

Josef Mengele:  The Angel of Death

Adolph Eichmann:  A Biography

Rudolph Hess - Deputy Fuhrer

Reinhard Heydrich - The Blond Beast

Hermann Goering
Judgement:  Goering

The Nuremburg Indictment

Josef Goebbels - Master Propogandist

Principal Functionaires of the Third Reich - If you want to know what happened to all of them, the Nuremberg Decisions are here </>

THE PLAYERS

Churchill Biography

Good summary of deeds, accomplishments, and importance.   "A career that had no parallel in British history for richness, range, length, and achievement." "The leader of the united British nation and Commonwealth who resistedthe German domination of Europe, inspirer of the resistance among free peoples, and architect of victory. In this, and in the struggle against communism afterward, he made himself an indispensable link between the British and American peoples.  He foresaw that the best defense for the free world was the coming together of the English-speaking peoples." and Here.

Sir Winston Churchill, 1874-1965

Winston Churchill  One of the major contributions made by Churchill to eventual victory was his ability to inspire the British people to greater effort by making public broadcasts on significant occasions. A brilliant orator he was a tireless source of strength to people experiencing the sufferings of the Blitz . After earl Harbor Churchill worked closely with Franklin D. Roosevelt to ensure victory over Germany and Japan. He was also a loyal ally of the Soviet Union after Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in June, 1941.  Churchill held important meetings with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at Teheran (November, 1943) and Yalta (February, 1945). Although Churchill's relationship with Stalin was always difficult he managed to successfully develop a united strategy against the Axis powers.< /font>Despite intense pressure from Stalin to open a second-front by landing Allied troops in France in 1943, Churchill continued to argue that this should not happen until the defeat of Nazi Germany was guaranteed. The D-Day landings did not take place until June, 1944 and this delay enabled the Red Army to capture territory from Germany in Eastern Europe."

Speeches of Winston Churchill Sound Page

Complete WWII Broadcasts,   Pre and Post-WWII & Iron Curtain Speeches. Listen in!

Charles DeGaulle:  Biography

Charles de Gaulle

President of France, leader of the Free French movement during WWII and the chief architect of the Fifth Republic.

General Dwight Eisenhower

American general who was the principal architect of the successful Allied invasion of Europe during WWII and of the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany.

General George Marshall

(1880-1959), American general of the army, chief of staff, secretary of state, and secretary of defense. "As a global soldier-statesman, he was a leader in the victory over the Axis powers in WWII . Marshall was the only professional soldier ever awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace."

General George Smith Patton, Jr.

General Bernard Law Montgomery

British field marshal, one of the leading Allied commanders of WWII.

General Henri Petain, 1856-1951 Biography

The French General hero during WWI but who was convicted after World War II of dealings with the enemy while head of the collaborationist Vichy regime.

General Erwin Rommel - Brief Biography

Franklin Roosevelt - and WWII

General Karl von Rundstedt

(1875-1953), German army officer who became one of HITLER's ablest generals.. Known as "a high priest of strategy. At the time of the Allied D-Day invasions of June 1944, Rundstedt was German supreme commander in western Europe.

DIPLOMACY, ALLIANCES, STRATEGY

Vital American/British War Alliance  (Sorry, only real sound list is from Wikipedia)  

Major Conferences of World War II

Crisp chart with all of them - place, code name, main participants, major decisions. Great help for students and faculty.

Diplomacy of WWII :  A Vital Site for Everyone

Critical to the "real" understanding of WWII.  Three major divisions: "the story of the expansion of the war from 1939 through 1941; the period of transition from 1941 through 1943, when the Axis powers exploited their conquests but also suffered reverses; and the Allied search for agreement on postwar policies, producing rising tension within the coalition as it approached victory, 1943-1945. EXPANSION OF THE WAR - 1939-1941. Poland, the Baltic States, Scandanavia.  German Mastery over Western Europe. Intervention of Italy. Diplomatic Reverses for the Axis Powers.   Nazi-Soviet Friction. German Attack on the Soviet Union. United States Abandonment of Strict Neutrality. Japanese Steps Toward War. FROM AXIS MASTERY TO ALLIED RECOVERY: 1941-1943. Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere.   Hitler's Europe.   Search for Solidarity in the Western Hemisphere. Consolidation of the Allied Coalition.   First Crack in the Axis: Surrender in Italy.   False Approaches to Peace. ALLIED WAR AIMS AND POLICIES FOR PEACE: 1943-1945.   Basic Problems. Creation of the United Nations.   Poland and Central-Eastern Europe. Dilemma over Germany. Soviet Aid Against Japan and Far Eastern Policy.

CAMPAIGNS, MILITARY AND MILITARY PLANNING