Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Governments and World Politics

• Many in Europe had expected that the Treaty of Versailles would strengthen their
country after the First World War.
• The reality was the treaty caused as many of the ongoing problems solved.
• The losers of the war felt unfairly treated, while the winners felt as if they gained
nothing.
• At the conference many of the leaders believed that every national group should have
their own country.
• As a result land that had belonged to Germany was given back to France (Alsace and
Lorraine) and Poland.
• The Turkish and Austrian Empire were both divided into a number of independent
countries.
• The problems that this posed, was the impossibility at drawing a neat line that would
put Germans on one side and Slavs on the other.
• Many resented being part of these countries.
• And the majority of the groups feared the smaller nationalities would cause trouble.
• The rise of new governments: Fascist Dictatorship,
• Prior to the First World War most European countries had elected assemblies that
rarely had much power.
• Princes, Kings, Emperors and their advisors made most of the important decisions.
• After the war most of Europe lost faith in their old leaders.
• They felt that it was this system that led to the war in the first place.
• During the Treaty of Versailles Woodrow Wilson the American President tried to
assist the new countries in setting up democratic governments.
• The problem that occurred was that few people knew how to run a country as a
democracy. Plus voters had difficulty judging the new politicians.
• The Depression made things even worst and people wanted a way out.
• They founded themselves ready to follow any leader who promised better things.
• They wanted to be told that their problems were the results of somebody else’s action.

Fascism in Italy
• Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist Party in an attempt to fight communism and
democratic socialism in Italy.
• Groups that followed Mussolini wore Black Shirts and were known as “Black Shirts”.
• There was widespread unemployment in Italy after the war.
• Workers would form unions and called general strikes.
• Mussolini said that if the government did not stop the strikes then the Fascist Party
would.
• The Black shirts took it upon themselves to break up any trade union meetings or
communist rallies with clubs or their fists.
• They conducted a campaign of terror against any of their opponents.
• Fascists from all over Italy marched on Rome which caused the King to panic.
• He asked Mussolini to form a new government. Under this new government
Mussolini rose to power and became the dictator of Italy.
• Under his rule no opponents could run and only Fascists could run for office.