THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1936

The announcement of the death of King George V was broadcast by the British Pathe News on the 20th January 1936. George V was King of the United Kingdom, the British Dominions, and Emperor of India. He ascended the throne on the 6th May 1910. Born during the reign of his grandmother Queen Victoria, he served in the Royal Navy from 1887 to 1891. Following the death of his elder brother in 1892 George became the Prince of Wales. George V’s reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism and the Indian independence movement. The political landscape was radically changed and the Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. In 1917 King George renamed the Monarchy from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor as a result of anti-German public sentiment. He had smoking-related health problems throughout much of his later reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VIII.

The 1936 Winter Olympics was hosted by Germany and began on the 6th February 1936 and ended on the 26th February 1936. The Olympics were a winter multi-sport event and held in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, and officially opened by Adolf Hitler. Organised on behalf of the German League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (DRL) the Olympics consisted of 17 events in 8 disciplines over 4 sports. Of the twenty-eight nations participating, ten received medals. A total of fifty-one medals were available of which Norway was the highest with fifteen medals. Both France and Hungary received one medal each.

In Britain on the 5th March 1936, the Supermarine Spitfire flew for the first time from Eastleigh in Hampshire. Reginald J (RJ) Mitchell had developed the fighter from the racing seaplanes built by Supermarine to compete in the Schneider Trophy competitions. In 1931 Mitchell achieved his quest to “perfect the design of the racing seaplane” which culminated in the aircraft breaking the world speed record. But he was concerned about developments in German aviation and feared that British defences needed to be strengthened especially in the air. During this time the Air Ministry issued a specification for another fighter aircraft to replace the Gloster Gauntlet. Mitchell brought together many technical advances made by other manufacturers to produce the prototype. It was his experience of high speed flight and the combination of the various designs that allowed Mitchell to produce the Spitfire. He is reputed to say that the “Spitfire was just the sort of bloody silly name they would choose”. Sadly, Mitchell did not see just how significant his Spitfire would become because he died of cancer in January 1937. The Spitfire alongside the Hurricane were the two fighters to take on the might of the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

The Remilitarization of the Rhineland by the German army took place on the 7th March 1936 when the German Army entered the Rhineland. This was significant because it violated the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties, marking the first time since the end of the Great War that German troops had been in this region. The remilitarization changed the balance of power in Europe from France towards Germany, and made it possible for Germany to pursue a policy of aggression in Western Europe.

In Germany Adolf Hitler appointed Hermann Göring Commissar for Raw Materials and Foreign Currency on the 4th April 1936.

Italian troops entered Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on the 5th May 1936 following the invasion and occupation in October 1935. The war was a cruel affair. The Ethiopians used Dum-dum bullets, which had been banned by the Hague Convention of 1899. The Italians used poison gas which had been prohibited under the Geneva Protocol of 1922. When Addis Ababa had been occupied Emperor Haile Selassie pleaded with the League of Nations for aid in resisting the Italians but it was not forthcoming. The country was formally annexed on the 9th May 1936 and the Emperor went into exile. He remained Emperor of Ethiopia whilst in exile and reclaimed his throne in 1941 following the surrender of Italian East Africa. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaimed the abolition of slavery for the 9 million slaves in all Ethiopia. The Italians invested substantially in Ethiopian development. They created many “imperial roads” and constructed 900 km of railways as well as new dams, hydroelectric plants and airports.

In Germany the Messerschmitt Bf 110 aircraft flew for the first time on the 12th May 1936 as part of the Luftwaffe air development. Göring was in favour of the twin-engine heavy fighter although it had weaknesses. The biggest weakness was the lack of agility in which was exploited to full advantage by the RAF during the Battle of Britain in 1940. During this period the role of the ‘110’ was to escort German bombers on their raids on London. Later they were designated as night fighters during the subsequent British bombing raids on Germany.

On the 3rd June 1936, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe Walther Wever was killed when the Heinkel HE Blitz he was flying crashed. The aircraft had not been properly examined during pre-flight checks, and the aileron gust pins had not been removed. The gust pin on an aircraft is a mechanism that locks the control surfaces whilst the aircraft is parked on the ground. The aircraft was airborne when the wing dipped and the Heinkel stalled and went in a low level horizontal cartwheel. Wever was on a return flight from Dresden to Berlin. He had seen action in the Great War serving as a staff officer in the German Army High Command. He became the Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe shortly after its creation on the 26th February 1935. He was a supporter of strategic bombing but following his death smaller high speed medium bombers were developed. Some strategic bomber programmes were initiated but the development was too late in the war to have any meaningful effect.

The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined long range medium bomber which had its first flight on the 15th June 1936. It was designed during the 1930s at Vickers-Armstrong‘s Weybridge plant and led by chief designer Rex Pierson. The airframe fuselage structure was designed by Barnes Wallis which was built in a honeycomb like arrangement to allow the stresses of the airframe to equalise. The Air Ministry Specification called for a twin-engined day bomber capable of delivering a higher performance than any previous design. The Wellington was used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War and performed as one of the principal bombers used by Bomber Command. Later in the war larger four-engined “heavies” such as the Avro Lancaster began to replace the Wellington.

On the 17th July 1936 the Spanish Civil War began with a military uprising in Morocco triggered by events in Madrid. Within days Spain was divided. On the one side were the “Republican” or “Loyalist” faction who were revolutionary anarchist with Trotsky pockets of supporters. Opposing them were the “Nationalists” under the insurgent generals and eventually, under the leadership of Francisco Franco. By the summer there were atrocities on both sides. Through the diplomatic efforts of Britain and France, all European governments signed a non-intervention agreement not to supply arms to Spain. It did not deter Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany from openly supplying arms and men and committing support to the “Nationalists.” German dictator Adolf Hitler sought to establish a relationship with the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini as he had been impressed with Italy’s early military successes. Flattered by Hitler’s overtures, Mussolini interpreted the recent diplomatic and military victories as proof of his genius. The Soviet Union offered only intermittent help by sending war material and ’advisers’ to the “Republican” government.

The international multi-sport events in the 1936 Summer Olympics was held in Berlin, Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler saw the games as an opportunity to promote his government. The games were officially declared open by Hitler on the 1st August 1936 and ended on the 16th August 1936. Adolf Hitler had a huge sports complex constructed including a new 100,000 seat track and field stadium. He also had built a state-of-the-art Olympic village for housing the athletes. Olympic flags and swastikas bedecked the monuments and houses of crowded Berlin. The spectators were in a festive mood. Forty nine athletic teams from around the world competed in the Berlin Olympics, more than in any other Olympics. Germany fielded the largest team with 348 athletes, and as a gesture to placate international opinion the German authorities allowed the Jewish star fencer Helene Mayer to represent Germany. She won a silver medal in the women’s individual fencing. Helene had been stripped of her German citizenship in 1935 under the anti-Jewish laws. After the games she settled in America and returned to Germany in 1952, where she married. The couple settled in Heidelberg where she died of breast cancer in October 1953 aged 42. No other Jewish athlete competed for Germany in the Summer Games. The US team was the second largest with 312 members including 18 African Americans. Coloured American Jessie Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events and became the most successful athlete to compete in Berlin. The US came in second with 56 medals while Germany secured 89 medals to have the highest tally. Great Britain total number of medals won was 14. The Soviet Union was not invited to participate in the Olympics as they had not been involved in international sporting events since the 1920 Olympics. However, there were controversies. Many tourists were unaware that the Nazi regime had temporarily removed anti-Jewish signs. Hitler’s official Nazi party newspaper wrote that Jews and Black people should not be allowed to compete in the Games. When threatened with a boycott of the Games, Hitler relented and allowed Black people and one Jew to participate.

Hermann Göring became Commissioner for the Four Year Plan on the 18th October 1936. This appointment, as well as being Commissar for Raw Materials and Foreign Currency, gave him a great deal of influence over the German economy. He was entrusted with the task of mobilizing all sections of the economy for war. This assignment brought numerous government agencies under his control and helped to make him one of the wealthiest men in the country.

The Great Purge in Russia began during 1936. The Soviet government put Leon Trotsky on trial in his absence in October 1936 accusing him of conspiring against Josef Stalin. Along with sixteen of his supporters, who were called the ”Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre” they were all found guilty and sentenced to death. This show trial was the first of the Moscow Trials.

The Suiyuan Campaign was an attempt by the Inner Mongolian Army and Grand Han Righteous Army to take control of the Republic of China by launching the invasion of Suiyuan on the 14th November 1936. These two forces were founded and supported by Imperial Japan and occurred shortly before the Second Sino-Japanese War. Mongolia is on the northern borders of China. Inner Mongolia wished to use Mongolia as a buffer state between China and Russia. The Japanese government denied taking part in the operation, but the Inner Mongolian and the Grand Hans Righteous Army received air support from Japanese planes and were assisted by the Imperial Japanese Army and overseen by Japanese staff officers. The Japanese backed forces launched an attack against the Chinese defenders of Suiyuan but they were repulsed. Over the next few days they continued to launch assaults against the city’s walls but were beaten back sustaining considerable losses. On the 17th November 1936 the Chinese counter-attack surprised the invaders which led to a disorganised retreat to their headquarters in Bailingmiao. Due to the lack of training and the low morale among the Mongolians the campaign was unsuccessful. The defence of Suiyuan by China’s National Revolutionary Army was one of the first major successes over Japanese supported Inner Mongolian forces which greatly improved the Chinese morale.

German involvement in the Fighting during the Spanish Civil War, began on the 15th November 1936. They allied themselves to Francisco Franco’s “Nationalist” regime against “Republican” forces. Heavy air and artillery bombardment began and the German Condor Legion went into action together with Moors from Morocco. The Legionaries broke through to the University City of Madrid where they were confronted by stalemate. By the 23rd November 1936 frontal attacks on Madrid had ceased and individual lines had been stabilized. On the 17th November 1936 both Germany and Italy recognised Franco’s “Nationalist” regime. More importantly for Germany, their military forces gained valuable battle experience which was used to advantage in 1939.

The Anti-Comintern Pact was an anti-Communist pact concluded between Germany and Japan on the 25th November 1936. In case of an attack by the Soviet Union against Germany or Japan, the two countries agreed to consult on what measures to take to safeguard their common interests. They also agreed neither of them would make any political treaties with Soviet Union, and Germany also agreed to recognise Manchukuo. In 1932 the Imperial Japanese Army had established the Empire of Manchukuo as a puppet state in Manchuria, a region of north-eastern China.

By 1st December 1936 the Hitler Youth movement membership had reached over five million. From July 1933 until 1945 the Hitler Youth was the sole official Nazi Party youth organisation which was partly paramilitary and comprised of male youths aged 14 to 18. The League of German Girls was the female equivalent. One reason the Hitler Youth so easily came into existence stems from the fact that numerous youth movements existed across Germany after the Great War. Once Hitler came to power the transition from seemingly innocuous youth movements to political entities focussing on Hitler was swift.

A constitutional crisis in the British Empire arose when King Edward VIII proposed to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson. She was an American citizen who had divorced her first husband and was in process of divorcing her second. The governments of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth opposed the marriage on religious, legal, political and moral grounds. As British monarch, Edward was the nominal head of the Church of England, which did not then allow divorced people to remarry in church if their ex-spouses were still alive. For this reason, it was believed that Edward could not marry Wallis Simpson and remain on the throne. She was perceived to be politically and socially unsuitable as a prospective queen consort because of her two failed marriages. Edward declared that he loved Wallis Simpson and intended to marry her whether his government approved or not. Edward’s refusal to give her up, and the widespread unwillingness to accept her as the King’s consort led to his abdication on 12th December 1936. He was succeeded by his brother George VI. Edward was given the title His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor following his abdication and he married Wallis Simpson the following year and remained married until his death 35 years later. Wallis Simpson never received the title of Her Royal Highness.

In Spain on the 23th December 1936 Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie (Blackshirt ‘volunteer’ units) landed in Cadiz to fight alongside the Nationalist regime of Francisco Franco.

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The Inter-War Period 1933

The defence of the Great Wall of China was a campaign between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan which began on the 1st January 1933. During this campaign, Japan successfully captured the Inner Mongolian Province of Rehe from the Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang and annexed it to the new state of Manuchuo, whose southern frontier was thus extended to the Great Wall of China.

In Germany, on the 30th January 1933, the new cabinet was sworn in during a brief ceremony in President Paul von Hindenburg’s office. The Nazi Party (NSDAP) gained three posts, Adolf Hitler was named chancellor, Wilhelm Frick as Minister of the interior and Hermann Göring as Minister of the Interior for Prussia. Hitler had insisted on the ministerial positions as a way to gain control over the police in much of Germany. When Hitler came to power in January 1933, he inaugurated an aggressive power base designed to give Germany economic and political domination across central Europe. Hitler’s diplomatic strategy in the 1930s was to make seemingly reasonable demands, threatening war if they were not met. When opponents tried to appease him, he accepted the gains that were offered, then went on to the next target. As chancellor Hitler worked against attempts by the NSDAP’s opponents to build a majority government. Because of the political stalemate, he asked Hindenburg to again dissolve the Reichstag, and elections were scheduled for early March 1933.

Before any elections took place in Germany the Reichstag building was set on fire on the 27th February 1933. Hermann Göring blamed a communist plot, however, the consensus of opinion of most historians was that the fire was started by the Nazi Party. At Hitler’s urging President Hindenburg responded with the Reichstag Fire Decree on the 28th February 1933. The decree gave the president the power to take emergency measures to protect public safety and activities of the German Communist Party (KPD) were suppressed. Preceding the election Hitler’s private army, the S.A., roamed the streets terrorising political opponents and engaging in paramilitary violence and spreading anti-communist propaganda.

The First inauguration of Franklin D Roosevelt as the 32nd President of the United States of America was held on Saturday 4th March 1933. The inauguration took place in the wake of Democrat Roosevelt’s landslide victory over incumbent Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election. With the nation in the grip of the Great Depression, the new president’s inaugural speech was broadcast on several radio networks, which set the stage for Roosevelt’s radical economic proposals to lead the nation out of the Great Depression. He placed the blame squarely on the greed and short-sightedness of bankers and businessmen for the Great Depression, which created the 25% unemployment figure when he assumed office. His aim was to get people back to work and if faced correctly it could be achieved but it had to be done quickly and not merely by talking about it.

Election Day, in Germany on the 6th March 1933, the Nazi share of the vote increased to 43.9% and the party acquired the largest number of seats in the parliament. Even so, Hitler’s party failed to secure an absolute majority and had to invite the German National People’s Party (DNVP) to form a coalition government. Hitler systematically took control of all the state governments. On the 21st March 1933` the new government was constituted with an opening ceremony in Potsdam. This ”Day of Potsdam” was held to demonstrate unity between the Nazi movement and the Old Prussian military together with the elite citizens. Hitler attended the ceremony in a morning coat and humbly greeted Hindenburg. To gain a two-thirds majority, allowing him to pass any laws, Hitler formed an alliance with the Nationalist party and declared the communist party illegal. On the 23rd March 1933, the government passed the “Enabling Act”, giving Hitler the power to make decrees with the status of law, and ending elections. With the passing of the ”Enabling Act began the process of transforming the Weimer Republic into a Nazi Germany a one-party dictatorship based on the ideology of National Socialism. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as an injustice of the post-Great War international order dominated by Britain and France.

On the 20th March 1933, Germany’s first concentration camp, Dachau, was completed. It was located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau, located northwest of Munich in Bavaria. The camp was opened by Heinrich Himmler and was originally intended to hold political prisoners. The camp then was enlarged to include forced labour and eventually the imprisonment of Jews. German and Austrian criminals were also included as were foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded. Prisoners lived in constant fear of brutal treatment and terror detention including standing cells, floggings, the tree or pole hanging and standing for long periods. The Dachau camp system grew to include nearly 100 sub-camps which were mostly work camps.

The Enabling Act was a 1933 Weimar Constitution amendment that gave the German Cabinet, which in effect was Chancellor Adolf Hitler, the power to enact laws without the involvement of The Reichstag. The constitution was passed on the 23rd March 1933 and was signed by President Paul von Hindenburg. The Enabling Act gave Hitler enormous powers which abolished most civil liberties and transferred state powers to the Reich government.

On the 24th March 1933 the London newspaper The Daily Express printed an issue with the headline “Judea Declares War on Germany.” This resulted in the Anti-Nazi boycott of German products to foreign critics of the Nazi Party. This was in response to an organised campaign of violence and boycotting undertaken by Hitler’s Nazi Party against the Jews of Germany. Those in the United Kingdom, United States and other places worldwide who opposed Hitler’s anti-Semitic polices developed the boycott accompanying protests to encourage Nazi Germany to end the regimes often-expressed anti-Jewish attitude.

On the 27th March 1933 Japan left the League of Nations over the League of Nations’ Lytton Report. The five member commission headed by Victor Bulwer-Lytton announced its conclusion that Japan had been the aggressor in its invasion of Manchuria which should still belong to China. They argued that the puppet state of Manchukuo was not truly independent and should not be recognised. For many years before the World Wars the great colonial powers of Europe argued who would “own” the Far East. There were various agreements as to who would take which part in the divided Far East. The League of Nations was seen as nothing more than an Old Boy’s Club that existed to further the imperialist agendas of its members. They were biased in favour of the major powers and came down hard on smaller nations but ignored the excesses of the major powers. Japan came face to face with this hypocrisy when it invaded Manchuria and was reprimanded by the League of Nations and threatened with sanctions. Russia had done pretty much the same thing in 1904 which led to the first Russo-Japanese war.

The Nazi boycott of Jewish shops and businesses began on the 1s t April 1933, and was claimed to be a defensive reaction to the Jewish boycott of German goods, which had been initiated in March 1933. The boycotting of Jewish businesses were largely unsuccessful as the German people continued to use them. The Nazis were determined to undermine the viability of Jews in Germany which resulted in the early governmental actions that culminated in the “Final Solution”. It was a state-manged campaign of ever increasing harassment, arrests, systematic pillaging and forced transfer of business ownership to the Nazi Party. The owners of these businesses were classified as “Jews” and were ultimately murdered.

In Germany on the 26th April 1933 the Gestapo secret police was created by Herman Göring. Gestapo was the abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei and the official Secret State Police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The force was established by combining the various security police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. The Gestapo agency played a key role in the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe during the Second World War.

In Germany on the 2nd May 1933 Adolf Hitler’s Stormtroopers occupied all trade union headquarters. The unions represented a barrier against the Nazi effort to control the lives of the people and made it a priority of eliminating trade unions in Germany. Union leaders were arrested, union funds were confiscated and former union leaders were prevented from finding work. This was one of the first acts of Hitler and the Nazis, who had just come to power in Germany in January 1933.

The Tanggu Truce was signed between China and Japan on the 31st May 1933, setting the ceasefire conditions between the two states after the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. China acceded to all Japanese demands, creating a large demilitarized zone inside Chinese territory.

In Germany on the 21st June 1933 all non-Nazi parties were banned as only the Nazi Party were allowed to exist. Subsequently, on the 14th July 1933, the Nazi party became the official party of Germany.

In Rome on the 20th July 1933, the Vatican’ secretary of state, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli and Germany’s vice chancellor, Franz von Papen, formally signed a concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich. The Pope ratified the agreement two months later on the 10th September 1933 which specified the church’s rights in the Reich. The political significance of the signing of the concordat was ambiguous, as Hitler interpreted it to mean that he had won the church’s approval. He saw the approval as being proof of international recognition of his Nazi regime.

The Haavara Agreement was an agreement between Nazi Germany and Zionist German Jews signed on the 25th August 1933. The agreement was designed to help facilitate the emigration of approximately 60,000 German Jews to Palestine between the years 1933 to 1939.

Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-German-American physicist and inventor who conceived the idea of the nuclear chain reaction on the 12th September 1933. He patented the idea of a nuclear reactor in 1934 and in late 1939, he wrote the letter for Albert Einstein’s signature which resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. By the time America had developed the atomic bomb, Szilard had become an American citizen. In his later life he was treated for cancer using his design for the cobalt 60 treatment equipment. He needed further treatment which was later increased to give higher radiation levels. The cancer never returned and this treatment became standard for many cancers and is still used today.

In Geneva on the 19th October 1933, Chancellor Adolf Hitler ordered the German delegation to leave the Disarmament Conference. Germany withdrew from the League of Nations. The reasons being that Germany was already disarmed while other countries were refusing to disarm.

On the 24th November 1933, under the German ”Law against Dangerous Habitual Criminals” the police arrested anyone not classified as ”Aryan”. The Nazi party implemented their vision of a new Germany, one that placed ”Aryans” at the top of the hierarchy of races, namely blond hair and blue eyed. Jews, Gypsies and Negroes were ranked as social inferiors. The off-spring of any mixed-marriage were also included. The party also viewed prostitutes, beggars, chronic alcoholics, homeless, unemployed as vagrants and imprisoned them in concentration camps.

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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1932

The Soviet famine of 1932-33 was a catastrophe that killed millions of people in the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union. The main reasons for the famine were caused by several bad droughts, coupled with rapid industrialisation and a decreasing agricultural workforce. The famine has been seen by some historians as a deliberate act of genocide against class enemies of the Bolsheviks, after Josef Stalin had ordered they were to be liquidated as enemies of the state. The famine of 1932-33 was officially denied, so any discourse was classified as “anti-Soviet propaganda”.

The Stimson Doctrine was a policy note issued to the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China on the 7th January 1933. Named after Henry Stimpson, United States Secretary of State, the policy drew attention to the non-recognition of international territorial changes that were executed by force. Japan’s seizure of Manchuria in late 1931 contravened the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1929, and placed Stimson in a difficult position. President Herbert Hoover would not support economic sanctions as a means to bring peace in the Far East, which hindered Stimson even further. The declaration had few material effects on the Western world, which was burdened by the Great Depression. Japan went on to bomb Shanghai. The declaration was criticised on the grounds that it did no more than alienate Japan.

Japanese forces attacked Shanghai on the 28th January 1932, on the pretext of Chinese resistance in Manchuria. Finding stiff Chinese resistance in Shanghai, the Japanese waged an undeclared war before a truce was reached on the 1st March 1932. Several days later, Manchukuo was established. Manchukuo was a Japanese puppet state headed by the last Chinese emperor, Puyl. The civilian government in Tokyo was powerless to prevent these military adventures. However, instead of being condemned, the Japanese Army’s actions enjoyed popular support back home. Meanwhile, international reactions were extremely negative. The following year Japan withdrew from the League of Nations and the United States became increasingly hostile.

The 1932 German presidential elections were held on the 13th March 1932. They were the second and final direct elections to the office of President of the Reich (Reichspräsident), Germany’s head of state under the Weimar Republic. The incumbent President, Paul von Hindenburg, was first elected in 1925 and was re-elected to a second seven-year term of office. His major opponent in the election was Adolf Hitler of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Under the Weimar system the presidency was a powerful office. Hindenburg was 84 years old, in poor health, and not enthusiastic about another term in office. He deeply distrusted and personally detested Hitler, which motivated him to run for a second term primarily by a desire to stop Hitler from winning the presidency. Nevertheless, following his re-election, Hindenburg failed to prevent the Nazis from assuming power.

Heinrich Brüning resigned from the post of Chancellor of Germany on the 30th May 1932. He was a politician and academic who had entered politics in the 1920’s and was elected to the Reichstag in 1924. Brüning took office as Chancellor on the 30th March 1930 and shortly after he was confronted by an economic crisis caused by the Great Depression. He responded by tightening credit and wage increases which increased unemployment and making him unpopular with the Reichstag. Brüning tried to alleviate the burden of reparation payments and his successors reaped the benefit when the final payment was reduced to 3 billion marks. He vigorously campaigned for Hindenburg’s re-election as President but gradually lost Hindenburg’s support. There was conflict between Hindenburg and Brüning over economic policies and Brüning resigned on the 30th May 1932. Franz von Papen was appointed as the new Chancellor, and was greeted with astonishment in Germany, as he did not have any experience in government.

On the 30th August 1932, Hermann Göring (or Goering) was elected President of the German Reichstag. Göring was a German political and military leader, who became one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party. He had joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1922 after hearing a speech given by Adolf Hitler and was one of those wounded in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Göring was named as Minister without Portfolio in the new government. One of his first acts as a cabinet minister was to oversee the creation of the Gestapo.
President Hindenburg began talks with Hitler on the 21st November 1932, about forming a new government. After the July election Hitler was asked whether he would prepared to enter the government under the Chancellorship of von Papen. Hitler refused and demand that Hindenburg made him Chancellor instead. Hindenburg, who was a snob and disliked Hitler’s lowly social origins, was unwilling to agree. Hitler was angry at being snubbed and took revenge by ordering the Nazi members of the Reichstag to join other political parties in passing a vote of no-confidence in von Papen’s government. This resulted in another election. Following the elections in November 1932, the Nazi party lost almost two million votes from the previous elections of July 1932. With only 33% of the vote Hitler agreed to a coalition with the conservatives as it became clear the Nazi Party would not gain a majority in democratic elections.

On the 3rd December 1932 President Hindenburg named Kurt von Schleicher as the new Chancellor of Germany. Although Hindenburg favoured von Papen as Chancellor, Schleicher told him that the army wanted von Papen out of office.

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THE ROARING TWENTIES
The Roaring Twenties was the period of Western society that witnessed many Political, Economic and Social changes. It was a period of sustained economic prosperity especially in the United States and Western Europe, particularly in major cities such Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, London Paris, Sydney, Paris and Berlin. Jazz music blossomed, the flapper redefined the modern look for British and American women, and Art Deco peaked. This era saw the large-scale development and use of motor transport, telephones, motion pictures, radio and electrical appliances. Aviation became a business. Nations saw rapid industrial and economic growth, accelerated consumer demand and significant changes in lifestyle and culture. The media focussed on sporting and film star celebrities. The sports stadiums and cinemas were filled with enthusiastic fans. In most major democratic states women won the right to vote.
These social and cultural features known as the Roaring Twenties began in all the leading metropolitan centres, then spread widely in the aftermath of the Great War. The United States gained dominance in world finance. When Germany could no longer afford to pay the Great War reparations to the United Kingdom, France and the other Allied Powers, the United States came up with the Dawes Plan. Wall Street invested heavily in Germany, which paid its reparations to the relevant countries, who in turn used the dollars to pay off their war debts to Washington. By the middle of the decade, prosperity was widespread, with the second half of the decade known, especially in Germany, as the ”Golden Twenties”. The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a feeling of novelty associated with modernity and a break with traditions. Everything seemed possible through modern technology which brought “modernity” to a large part of the population.
However, in Britain especially, work was difficult to find for many discharged military personnel. They were dismayed that the country did not provide the “society fit for heroes” as promised. Many of the heroes who volunteered or were conscripted to fight for King and Country found their peacetime reward was unemployment, hunger and despair. It should have been so simple. The country had been able to spend millions of pounds a day to defeat the Germans, but only a fraction of that amount would be needed to fulfil Lloyd George’s promise that his coalition government would make Britain “a land fit for heroes to live in.” However, there was not any money forth-coming to put industry on its feet and many returning servicemen, willing to work, were forced to suffer poverty as no work was available.
The Roaring Twenties can be summed up by breaking down the various areas of “modernity” as follows :-
The Economy
The Roaring Twenties saw great economic growth and widespread prosperity which was driven by the recovery from the wartime devastation. The end of wartime production, at first, caused a brief but deep recession throughout the world. Quickly, however, the American and Canadian economies revived as returning soldiers re-entered the work force. Civilian spending during the war had been virtually non-existent other than for the essential commodities. The American Economy benefitted the most because they successfully made the transition from a wartime to a peacetime economy, which then allowed them to extend loans for a European boom. The United States became the richest nation in the world, its industry was based on mass production which then created a consumer society. The 1919-1920 post Great War ended when munitions factories were retooled to produce consumer goods. However, some sectors of industry remained stagnant, especially farming and coal mining. By contrast, European economies had a more difficult post-war readjustment and only began to flourish about 1924.
New Products and Technologies
Mass production made technology affordable to the middle class, but not necessarily to the working class.
Motor Transport
The automotive industry rapidly grew during the 1920s. Before the war, cars were a luxury affordable only to wealthy people with money. The automobile industry originated in Europe in the late 19th century but the United States completely dominated the world industry for the first half of the 20th century through the development of mass production techniques.
In Europe the main fore-runners of the automobile industry during the Roaring Twenties were Britain and France. In Britain, William R. Morris and his competitor Herbert Austin had resumed production of their low-priced cars which they had been developing before the Great War. The three British firms of Austin, Morris and Singer controlled 75% of the British Market in 1929. André-Gustave Citreon and Louis Renault had resumed production of their vehicles in France.
In America, The Ford Motor Company was one of the first automobile manufacturers to introduce the American innovation of full-scale mass production. The process combined precision, standardisation and interchangeability of components, synchronisation and continuity. The first of the “Big Three” motor manufacturers, the Ford Motor Company inspired rival companies to adopt their manufacturing procedures. General Motors Corporation (GM) was the second of the “Big Three”, who became the world’s largest automobile firm and the largest privately owned manufacturing enterprise in the world. It was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant. The third member of the ”Big Three” automobile manufacturers was created at the same time. When the Maxwell Motoring Company failed in the 1921 depression, Walter P. Chrysler, formally of General Motors, was called in to reorganise the company. In 1925 it became the Chrysler Corporation and grew to major proportions with the acquisition of the Dodge Brothers company in 1928. In America alone after the Wall Street crash, motor vehicle production declined from a peak of more than five million in 1929 to a low of just over one million in 1932. It rose again slowly but had not reached its 1929 figure at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Aviation
The 1920s saw milestones in aviation that seized the world’s attention. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh rose to fame with the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight. He took off from Roosevelt Field in New York and landed on the Paris-Le Bourget Airport. It took Lindbergh thirty three and a half hours to cross the Atlantic Ocean. His aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was a custom built, single engine, single seat monoplane, and was designed by aeronautical engineer Donald A. Hall. In Britain Amy Johnson was the heroine, as the first women to fly alone from Britain to Australia. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set numerous long distance records during the 1930s.
Biological Progress-Penicillin
For decades biologists had been at work on the medicine that became penicillin. In 1928, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovered a substance which killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. In 1929, he called the new substance penicillin. His publications were largely ignored at first but it became a significant antibiotic in the 1930s. In 1930 Cecil George Paine, a pathologist at the Royal Infirmary in Sheffield, attempted to use penicillin to treat eruptions in beard follicles but was unsuccessful. Moving on to a gonococcal infection in infants, he achieved the first recorded cure with penicillin on the 25th November 1930. He then cured four additional patients of eye infections but failed to cure a fifth
Radio and Television
The British Broadcasting Company, as the BBC was originally called, was formed on the 18th October 1922, by a leading group of wireless manufacturers including Marconi. Daily broadcasting by the BBC began in Marconi’s London studio in the Strand on the 14th November 1922. John Reith, a 33 year-old Scottish engineer, was appointed General Manager of the BBC at the end of 1922. There were no rules, standards or established guidelines to follow, but with the help of Peter Eckersley, they innovated and experimented and the service began to expand. It wasn’t long before radio could be heard across the nation.
In America, radio became the first broadcasting medium. Radios were expensive, but their mode of entertainment proved revolutionary. Radio advertising became the grandstand for mass marketing. Its economic importance led to the mass culture that has dominated society since this period. During the ”Golden Age of Radio”, radio programming was as varied as the later Television programming.
The 1920s saw numerous inventors continue the work on television, but programmes did not reach the public until the eve of the Second World War, and few saw any before the late 1940s. In July 1927, John Logie Baird transmitted a long-distance television signal over 438 miles (705 km) of telephone line between London and Glasgow. Baird transmitted the world’s first long-distance television pictures to the Central Hotel at Glasgow Central Station. He then set up the Baird Television Development Company Ltd, which in 1928 made the first transatlantic television transmission, from London to Hartsdale, New York, and the first television programme for the BBC.
Cinema Replaces American Vaudeville and British Music Hall
The cinema boomed in the 1920s, producing a new form of entertainment that virtually ended the old vaudeville theatrical shows. Watching a film was cheap and accessible. Since the early 1910s, lower-priced cinema successfully competed with vaudeville. Many vaudeville performers and other theatrical personalities were recruited by the film industry, lured by greater salaries and less arduous working conditions. In October 1927, the sound film The Jazz Singer turned out to be a smash box office success. It was innovative for its use of sound.
In 1928, the animated short film, Dinner Time was among the first animated sound films. It was followed a few months later by the animated short film Steamboat Willie, the first sound film by the Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was the first commercially successful animated short film and introduced the character Mickey Mouse. Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon to feature a fully post-production soundtrack, which distinguished it from earlier sound cartoons. It became the most popular cartoon of its day.
The introduction of the sound film eliminated vaudeville’s last major advantage. Vaudeville was in sharp financial decline and the prestigious Orpheum Circuit, a chain of vaudeville and movie theatres, was absorbed by a new film studio.
British music hall was similar American vaudeville, featuring rousing songs and comic acts. Music hall was a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era beginning around 1850 and lasting until 1960. It involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. While in the United Kingdom the term ”vaudeville” referred to more working-class types of entertainment that would have been termed “burlesque” in America.
New Infrastructure and Society Comprising:-
The new automobile dominance led to greater mobility. Cars and trucks needed road construction, new bridges and regular highway maintenance. New industries were introduced to make tyres, glass for windscreens and windows and refining fuel. Servicing and repair industries abounded for the millions of cars and trucks. Tourism gained an enormous boost with hotels, restaurants and curio shops benefitting.
Electricity, Telephones and Housing Facilities
In America and Europe, most industries switched from coal power to electricity. Most homes, especially in the towns and cities were lit by electricity. Telephone lines were being also being strung across both continents of America and Europe. Indoor plumbing and modern sewage systems were installed for the first time in many houses.
Art Deco
Art Deco was the style of design and architecture that marked the era. Originating in Europe, it spread to the rest of Western Europe and North America towards the mid-1920s. In America, the style of architecture featured strong geometric shapes. The most famous building featuring the Art Deco design was the Chrysler Building in New York. Architecture styles also reflected the age of the steel formed skyscrapers with exterior cladding and complete with lifts and escalators.
Suffrage
With some exceptions, many countries extended women’s voting rights. These democracies included the United States, Canada, Great Britain and most major European countries as well as India. This influenced many governments by increasing the number of voters. Politicians responded by spending more attention on issues of concern to women, especially peace, public health, education and the status of children. On the whole, women voted much like their menfolk, except they were more interested in peace.
Lost Generation
The Lost Generation was composed of young American people who came out of the Great War disillusioned and cynical about the world. Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein were some of the expatriates, living in Paris who wrote novels and short stories expressing their resentment towards the materialism and individualism rampant during this era. In England, the bright young things were young aristocrats and socialites whose actions were well covered by the gossip columns of the London tabloids.
Fashion and Clothing
In America, well dressed men wore well-tailored suits, silk shirts and handkerchiefs, trilby hats, bow ties, black leather patent shoes and spats. Women’s fashion included Fringed Beaded Flapper dresses with pleats and gathers, short fringed skirts with a hemline above the knees. They also included long strands of pearl beads, cigarette holders, feather headbands and boas. Silk, woollen or rayon stockings were held up by garters.

Flappers and Sexuality
Flappers were light-hearted, female nonconformists who were eager to try new styles of dress and challenged the traditional ideas of behaviour by wearing make-up, drinking and smoking in public and acting in an unladylike fashion. Flappers wore short bobbed hair, make-up such as lipstick and rouge, short fringed skirts, bright coloured sweaters and scarves.
Everything changed in the Roaring Twenties where sex was revolutionised on the Silver Screen with the characters acting out their parts using widespread use of the motorcar and performed by steamy actors and actresses. Everyone, it seemed was talking about sex, it was on the minds of young people and the older generation. In the colleges of America, they were full of young women and men who admitted freely that their weekends were full of “petting parties.”
Dance, Music and the Jazz Age
The new type of music called jazz developed in the United States and inspired new crazy moves. New dances evolved in the Roaring Twenties, or the Jazz Age, as it was known, included the Charleston, the Black Bottom, the Shimmy Turkey Trot, Cake Walk, Bunny Hop, the Lindy Hop and the American Tango. The old dances such as the waltz and the foxtrot were also popular. Jazz, ragtime and the music from Broadway musicals dominated the era. Louis Armstrong was one of most popular Jazz musicians of the era and played his famous solos in the nightclubs of Chicago. Louis ”Satchmo” Armstrong is credited with putting Jazz on the musical map. Other famous Jazz musicians and singers include Dizzie Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Duke Ellington.
American Prohibition and Gangsters
Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutional ban on the producing, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933. The Prohibition Gangsters were violent mobsters who extended their illegal activities in the 1920s through the sale of intoxicating liquor which led to organised crime. The names of the most famous gangsters in the Roaring Twenties were Al ”Scarface” Capone, George ”Bugs” Moran, Charles ”Lucky” Luciano, Dutch Schultz and Jack ”Legs” Diamond.
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The Wall Street Crash of 1929 ended the Roaring Twenties era, and the Great Depression brought years of worldwide gloom and hardship.
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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1929

In Moscow on the 9th February 1929 the Litvinov Protocol was signed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union), Poland, Estonia, Romania and Latvia. Named after the chief Soviet diplomat, Maxim Litvinov, the treaty provided for the immediate implementation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact by the signatories, thereby formally denouncing aggressive warfare as part of national foreign policy. The protocol was registered with the League of Nations, ready for the immediate entry into force of the Treaty of Paris of 27th August 1928.

The Lateran Treaty was signed in Rome on the 11th February 1929, between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See (Vatican City), which settled the “Roman Question” and normalised relations between the Vatican and Italy. The Italian parliament ratified the treaty on the 7th June 1929.

Herbert Hoover became the 31st President of the United States on the 4th March 1929. The Great Depression was the central issue of his presidency starting with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. There were occasional upswings but more frequent downswings until the economy verged on disaster in 1931-33 along with most of the industrial world. Upon taking office Hoover believed it would not be too long before poverty was banished from the United States. Having seen the fruits of prosperity brought about by technological progress, many shared Hoover’s optimism and the already strong stock market climbed even higher on Hoover’s inaugaration. But within months of his taking office, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 occurred, and the worldwide economy began to spiral downward into the Great Depression.

In Rome on the 7th June 1929, the Italian parliament ratified the Lateran Treaty making the Vatican City an independent sovereign state. The government, led by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, agreed to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact came into effect on the 24th July 1929. The pact had been signed by all the major countries in Paris on the 27th August 1928 where they renounced the use of war and called for peaceful settlements of any future disputes. As a practical matter the Kellogg-Briand Pact did not live up to all of its aims. It did not end war or stop the rise of militarism and was unable to keep the international peace in the following years owing to its lack of influence on foreign policy. It had erased the distinction between war and peace because, in future, the signatories began to wage war without declaring.

The Geneva Convention (1929) was signed in Geneva on the 27th July 1929. The Hague Regulations of 1899 and 1907, concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, revealed deficiencies during the Great War. Some of the deficiencies were partly overcome by special agreements made between opposing forces in Berne in 1917 and 1918. The International Red Cross Conference of 1921, submitted their draft proposals to the Geneva Convention of 1929, expressing concern over the treatment of prisoners of war. These proposals were accepted and completed the Hague Regulations and entered into force on the 19th June 1931.

In Paris on the 31st August 1929 the Young Plan was finalised during the renegotiation Germany’s Great War repatriation payments. A new committee, chaired by the American Owen Young, met to revise the Dawes Plan of 1924. The plan reduced the amount due from Germany to $26,350,000,000 (United States) to be paid over a 58.5 years, which was accepted with minor changes and went into effect on the 1st September 1930.

When the stock market on Wall Street in the United States crashed on the 29th October 1929 the Great Depression began. The impact on the industrial world was dire. In Germany millions were thrown out of work and several major banks collapsed. Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP prepared to take advantage of the emergency to gain support for their party. They promised to repudiate the Treaty of Versailles, strengthen the economy and provide jobs.

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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1928

In Russia on the 11th January 1928 Leon Trotsky was exiled to Alma Ata, a small town in Kazakhstan, a month after he had been expelled from the Communist Party by Josef Stalin. The following year he left the Soviet Union, never to return. He spent the next few years in various countries, Turkey, France, Norway and finally Mexico He continued to urge revolution in his writing, despite the threats on his life during his time in exile.
In China, the Jinan Incident which began on the 3rd May 1928, was a limited armed conflict between the Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese Army. Jinan is the capital of East China’s Shandong province and the Japanese had a force there ever since the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 primarily over control of Korea. Relations between the two nations were not very good and the Japanese commander moved troops into the Jinan area and in the meantime Chinese troops withdrew from the city on 30th April 1928. The situation remained tense but reasonably quiet until a minor clash occurred on the 3rd May 1928. Twelve Japanese civilians were killed and leaders on both sides agreed to a truce and ceasefire. Despite the Japanese consul general’s push for peace the Japanese military felt they could not let the “insult” to Japanese honour to go unpunished. When Japan issued a set of demands to China, they were so onerous the Chinese had no choice but to refuse and hostilities began. The Japanese forces pushed Chinese troops from the area and inflicted thousands of casualties as well as killing over 2000 civilians. The conflict ended on the 11th May 1928 with a Japanese victory and the Japanese army occupied Jinan until March 1929.
In China the Huanggutun Incident was a successful attempt by the Japanese Army to assassinate the Chinese Fengtian warlord Zhang Zuolin by blowing up his train. The assassination which occurred on the 4th June 1928 takes its name from the Huanggutun train station Shenyang where the attack took place in North West China. Following the 1911 Xinhai Revolution three cliques were supported by foreign powers in China. The Soviet Union backed the Kuomintang group which would later go on to rule all of China under Chiang Kai-shek. The United States and most of the European powers supported the Zhili faction. Japan threw its weight behind Zhang Zuolin’s Fengtian Army, where it had political and economic interests in the development of the region especially its almost untouched mineral wealth. The Japanese Army was responsible for the security of the South Manchurian Railway and with Japanese investment being increased in Manchuria Zhang guaranteed support. The Imperial Japanese Army also helped Zhang militarily including putting down an anti-Fengtian uprising. Japan hoped for a future in which it occupied Manchuria in partnership with Zhang. However, Zhang was only interested in gaining Japanese support to secure his grip on the territory he already controlled. Relationship between the two parties began to deteriorate. Zhang opened talks with both United States and Britain giving both nations a foothold in the economic and trade opportunities to be had in Manchuria. These opportunities had previously only been open to Japan. Unconvinced of Zhang’s ability to maintain control of Manchuria Japan chose to remove Zhang and replace him with a puppet leader. On The evening of the 3rd June 1928, Zhang boarded a train in Beijing, where he was closely guarded by loyal Fengtian troops. A bridge a few miles east of Huanggutun train station in the suburbs of Shenyang was selected for the assassination as it was particularly vulnerable to attack by outside forces. A bomb was placed on the bridge. Zhang’s train passed over the bridge at dawn on the 4th June 1928 at which point the bomb exploded. Several of Zhang’s staff were instantly killed and Zhang died of his injuries a few hours later. Zhang’s son, Zhang Xueliang, emerged as the surprise new leader of the Fengtian clique. Keen to avoid conflict with Japan the new leader began talks with Ching Kai-shek’s Nationalists. It was several more years before the Japanese Army was able to mount another attempt to establish a puppet leadership in Manchuria.
The Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 was a treaty signed between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinia) on the 2nd August 1928. Emperor Zewditu I ruled Ethiopia at the time of the treaty. But it was 36 year old Ras Tafari Makkonnen who represented the government of Ethiopia. Tafari, while still in his minority, was heir apparent. Within two months, on the 7th October 1928, Ras Tafari was proclaimed Regent. A little over two years later, on 2nd November 1930, Zewditu died and Tafari was proclaimed Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. In 1926 Italy and Britain attempted a joint economical exploitation of Ethiopia. The Italians planned to build a railway and the British hoped to construct mighty water works for irrigating the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. British public opinion turned against the water works scheme and it was cancelled. This left the Italians in the lurch. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini enlisted the aid of King Victor Emmanuel’s cousin, the Duke of Abruzzi, to bring his influence to bear and promote the railway scheme. In 1928 the Duke and his suite crossed the Mediterranean, sailed down the coast of Africa, and then headed inland to Ethiopia and its remote capital Addis Ababa. The Duke gave Raf Tafari a large Isotta Fraschini Limousine a luxurious Italian product. They declared a 20 year friendship pact between the two nations, access to the sea for Ethiopia, a road for Italy and an agreement to settle future disputes through the League of Nations. Both sides were at cross-purposes when they approached the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928. Mussolini wanted the treaty to be an economic access that allowed Italy to penetrate Ethiopia. Meanwhile, Ras Tafari never intended to allow the Italian road from the sea to be built. He considered the road from the coastal town of Aseb to be a natural invasion route.
In Paris on the 27th August 1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed by the major powers of the world including Germany, France and the United States of America. Most other states signed up soon after. Sponsored by France and the U.S. the treaty renounced the use of war and called for the peaceful settlement of disputes. The pact was named after its authors United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand. The pact was effective from the 24th July 1929.
The Soviet Union launched the first five-year plan with a list of economic goals, created by General Secretary Josef Stalin and based on his policy of Socialism. It was implemented between October 1928 and November 1932. The Soviet Union entered into a series of five year plans which began under Stalin’s rule. He launched what would be described as a ”revolution from above” to improve the Soviet Union’s domestic policy. More importantly it centred on the rapid industrialisation and the combined collection of all agriculture. His plan was to effectively industrialise the economy of the Soviet Union by concentrating on heavy industry. His planning was ineffective and unrealistic given the shortest amount of time to meet the desired goals. The central and most important part of the plan came between 1928 and 1932 which was the most crucial time for Russian industrialisation. The largest success of the five year plan, however, was the Soviet Union began its journey to become an economic and industrial superpower. Stalin declared the plan a total success at the beginning of 1933 by stating that the creation of several heavy industries, as proof, where none had existed before.
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THE INTER – WAR PERIOD 1927

The long Chinese Civil War began on the 12th April 1927 and was a conflict between Chinese Communists and Chinese Nationalists. The force loyal to the Chinese government was called the Kuomintang (KMT), and they fought the Communist Party of China (CPC). The war finally ended in 1950 which resulted in the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in mainland China and the Republic of China in Taiwan. The Civil War carried on sporadically until the latter part of 1937, when the two parties came together to form the Second United Front in order to battle the Japanese invasion.
The Treaty of Jeddah was signed on the 20th May 1927, between the United Kingdom and Ibn Saud. It recognised the independence of Ibn Saud and sovereignty over what was then known as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. The two regions were unified into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. In return Ibn Saud agreed to stop his forces from attacking and harassing neighbouring British protectorates. The Treaty superseded the 1915 Treaty of Darin.
In Poland on the 7th June 1927, Pyotr Volkov the Soviet ambassador to Poland, was assassinated at the railway station in Warsaw. He was shot by 19 year old Boris Kowerda an exiled Russian youth, in retaliation for having signed the death warrants in 1918 for Tsar Nicholas II and the Russian Imperial Family.
In Russia on 12th November 1927 Joseph Stalin ousted Leon Trotsky from the Communist Party, effectively ending the career of his greatest political rival. Stalin would later force Trotsky into exile and order his assassination. Trotsky served under Vladimar Ilyich Lenin, and was one of the heroes of the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917 that brought Russia under communist rule. As Lenin’s health began to rapidly deteriorate in 1921, Trotsky was outmanoeuvred by his political rivals, Josef Stalin, Grigori Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev. His rivals gained control of the Politburo and Central Committee. Following Lenin’s death in 1924 Stalin emerged as the leader of the Soviet government. Stalin removed Trotsky from his role as war commissar in 1925 and from the Politburo the following year. Trotsky aligned himself with Zinviev and Kamenev, who had split from Stalin in 1926. Stalin expelled Trotsky and Zinoviev from the Communist Party on the 12th November 1927. A month later, Stalin expelled ninety eight of their supporters.
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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1926

The Greek, Lieutenant General Theodoros Pangalos was a soldier, politician and dictator who declared a state of emergency on the 3rd January 1926 and assumed dictatorial powers. A distinguished staff officer and an anti-royalist, Pangalos played a leading role in the September 1922 revolt that deposed King Constantine I and in the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic. In June 1925 he had staged a bloodless coup and his assumption of power was recognised by the National Assembly which named him Prime Minister. At a rigged election on the 4th April 1926 Pangalos had himself elected President. His political and diplomatic inability soon became apparent. On the economic front Pangalos attempted to devalue the currency by ordering paper notes cut in half. He conceded too many rights to the Yugoslav trade in Thessaloniki but, worst of all, he embroiled Greece in the so-called War of the Stray Dog, harming Greece’s already strained international relations. Soon many of the officers who had helped him come to power decided that he had to be removed. On the 29th August 1926 a counter-coup led by General Georgios Kondylis deposed Pangalos and Pavlos Kountouriotis returned as president. Pangalos was imprisoned for two years in the Izzeddin Fortress, and after his release he never regained the popularity he had before the coup and never again played a role in Greek politics.
In occupied Germany the British and Belgian troops began to leave Cologne on the 31st January 1926. At the end of the Great War, French, British, Belgian and United States troops occupied the Rhineland. This was agreed as part of the Armistice signed on the 11th November 1918. The details, including zones of occupation, were worked out by the French Marshal Ferdinand Foch and the British and Belgians were allocated the city of Cologne and the surrounding areas. British troops first crossed the border into Germany on the 2nd December 1918. The occupation was originally intended to last for fifteen years with the number of Allied troops reduced in stages after five and ten years. However, some British troops stayed on in Weisbaden until the 30th June 1930.
The Treaty of Berlin was signed by Germany and the Soviet Union on the 24th April 1926, which pledged neutrality if either country was attacked by a third party within the next five years. The treaty was signed in Berlin on the 29th June 1926, and it went into effect on the same day.
In Paris on the 25th May 1926, Ukrainian nationalist leader Symon Vasilyevich Petliura was assassinated by Russian Jew Sholom Schwartzbard when he pulled out a gun and shot him five times. Petliura was a politician and journalist who had been Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Army and the President of the Ukrainian National Republic. He led Ukraine’s struggle for independence following the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917. Following the Russian Revolution, and the outbreak of hostilities between the Ukraine and Soviet Russia, Petliura lost most of his army to the Bolsheviks and by early 1924 had settled in Paris. During his years in exile in Paris he established and edited the Ukrainian language newspaper Tryzub promoting Ukrainian culture. He was also head of government-in-exile of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. After hearing that Petliura was relocated in Paris, Schwartzbard plotted his assassination as he blamed Petliura for the loss of his family during the 1919 pogroms

Germany joined the League of Nations on the 8th September 1926 following the Locarno Conference of October 1925. The conference consisted of a series of treaties that allowed Germany to become a member of the League Council, for which it had previously applied. In 1924, the newly appointed foreign minister of Germany Gustav Stresemann adopted a new policy toward the League of Nations which previous governments had rejected. The rejection had been on the grounds that the victors of the Great War created difficulties in order to suppress the defeated Germans.

In Japan, Hirohito became the 124th Emperor on the 25th December 1926, following the death of his father Taisho. At the start of his reign, Japan was already one of the great powers. They had the ninth largest economy in the world, the third largest navy and was one of four permanent members of the League of Nations. However, the first part of Hirohito’s reign took place against a background of financial crisis and increasing military power within the government. The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy held veto power over the formation of the cabinet.

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The Inter-War Period 1925

With the economy improving in January 1925, Adolf Hitler’s opportunities for political agitation was limited. In a meeting with Heinrich Held, the Prime Minister of Bavaria, on the 4th January 1925, Hitler agreed to respect the state’s authority and promised that he would seek political power only through the democratic process. Although the NSDAP was banned in Bavaria following the failed Beer Hall Putsch the meeting paved the way for the ban on the NSDAP to be lifted on the 16th February 1925. However, after an inflammatory speech he gave on the 27th February 1925, Hitler was barred from public speaking by the Bavarian authorities, a ban that remained in place until 1927. To advance his political ambitions in spite of the ban Hitler appointed Gregor & Otto Strasser and Joseph Goebbels to organise and grow the NSDAP in northern Germany.

Adolf Hitler formally renounced his Austrian citizenship on the 7th April 1925. Whilst in prison and shortly before he was eligible for parole the Bavarian government attempted to have him deported back to Austria. The Austrian federal chancellor rejected the request on the grounds that his service in the German Army made his Austrian citizenship void.

On the 12th May 1925, retired Field Marshal Paul Von Hindenburg took office as President of Germany. Presidential elections were held in Germany on the 29th March 1925, with a second run-off on the 26th April 1925. They were the first direct elections for the President of the Reich, Germany’s head of state during the 1919-1933 Weimar Republic. Following the death of the first President, Friedrich Ebert, in February 1925, the Weimar constitution required that his successor be elected by the “whole German people”. The first President Ebert had been elected indirectly by the National Assembly. Hindenburg was elected as the second president of Germany in the second round of voting.

On the 18th July 1925 Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifest Mein Kampf was published. It was a blueprint of his agenda for a Third Reich and a clear exposition of the nightmare that would envelope Europe from 1939 to 1945. The book sold 9,473 copies in its first year.

During October 1925 the terms of the Treaty of Locarno were negotiated and finally signed on the1st December 1926 by Germany, France, Belgium, Britain and Italy. The treaty recognised defeated Germany’s borders with France and Belgium and that Germany would never again go to war with the other countries. However, Britain, Italy and Belgium undertook to assist France in case future German troops marched into the de-militarised Rhineland. The treaty paved the way for Germany’s admission to the League of Nations in 1926.

After his release from prison in December 1924, Adolf Hitler honed his oratorical skills and worked for the advancement of the Nazi Party. Such advance was slow throughout the years 1925 to 1929 because of a fairly stable financial period in Europe.

In Italy, Benito Mussolini gradually dismantled all democratic institutions and by 1925, he had declared himself dictator taking the title “Il Duce” (“The Leader”). To his credit, he carried out an extensive public works programme and reduced unemployment making him very popular with the people.

The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements signed in London on the 1st December 1925, and had been negotiated at Locarno in Switzerland in October 1925. The treaties settled the borders of Western Europe and normalised relations between Germany and the Allied powers. It also stated that Germany would never go to war with the other countries. Locarno divided borders in Europe into two categories. The western borders were guaranteed by Locarno treaties, and the eastern borders of Germany with Poland, which were open for revision.

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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1924

In Germany, following Adolf Hitler’s arrest and charge for high treason in November 1923, a report by the Bavarian authorities in 1924 stated that his service in the Bavarian Army came about because of an administrative error. As an Austrian citizen he should have been returned to Austria. At the outbreak of the Great War Hitler was living in Munich and voluntarily enlisted in the Bavarian Army and, therefore, he was to allowed to keep his German citizenship. He was decorated for bravery and received the Black Wound Badge whilst serving on the Western Front.

Vladimir Lenin, the architect of the Bolshevik Revolution and the first leader of the Soviet Union, died on the 21st January 1924, of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 54. Upon Lenin’s death his body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum in the Red Square just outside the Moscow Kremlin. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honour. Fellow revolutionary Joseph Stalin succeeded him as leader of the Soviet Union.

On the 1st February 1924 Britain formally extended diplomatic recognition to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union). However, Anglo-Soviet relationships during the 1920’s was marked with distrust.

The trial of Adolf Hitler began in February 1924 and was conducted before the special People’s Court in Munich and Alfred Rosenberg became temporary leader of the NSDAP. On the 1st April 1924, Hitler was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment at Landsberg Prison and received friendly treatment from the prison guards. He was allowed mail from supporters and regular visits by party comrades. While at Landsberg Hitler dictated most of the first volume of Mein Kampf (My Struggle) to his deputy Rudolf Hess. The book laid out Hitler’s plans for transforming German society into one based on race. The main theory centred on Aryan superiority and Jewish inferiority. Some passages implied genocide.

In Italy, general elections were held on the 6th April 1924. They were held under the Acerbo Law which was approved by Parliament in November 1923. This law stated that the party with the largest share of the votes would automatically receive two-thirds of the seats in Parliament providing they received over 25% of the vote. The Nationalists of Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party used intimidating tactics, resulting in a landslide victory and subsequent two-thirds majority. This was the last free election in Italy until 1946.

In Italy on the 10th June 1924, the Unitary Socialist Party leader Giacomo Matteotti was kidnapped and assassinated by Fascist Blackshirts. Mussolini ordered a cover-up in order to avert a coup which could have swept Fascism away.

The Dawes Plan was a report accepted by the Allies and Germany on the 16th August 1924. On the initiative of the British and U.S. governments a committee of experts headed by American financier, Charles G. Dawes, produced a report on the question of German reparations under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The occupation of the Ruhr industrial area by France and Belgium contributed to the hyperinflation crisis in Germany. The plan provided for an end to the Allied occupation, and a staggered payment plan for Germany’s payment of war reparations. The plan proved to be unworkable as it was only in interim plan, and in 1929 the Young Plan was adopted to replace it.

On the 18th August 1924, France and Belgium began withdrawing their occupying troops from the Ruhr industrial area of Germany. Ten years after the August 1914 declaration of war, cultural demobilization was finally able to begin, alongside a move away from violence in international relations. The Lacarno Treaties of 1925 established redefined German borders.

Adolf Hitler was released from prison on the 20th December 1924 after he had been pardoned by the Bavarian Supreme Court despite the state prosecution’s objections. Including time spent on remand Hitler served just over one year in prison.

On the 31st December 1924, the Italian Blackshirt leaders met with Mussolini and gave him an ultimatum, crush the opposition or they would do so without him. Mussolini decided to drop all trappings of democracy.

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