THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1923

When, in January 1923, Germany defaulted on its reparation payments French and Belgian troops occupied the heavily industrialised Ruhr district. The humiliating peace terms of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 provoked bitter indignation throughout Germany, and seriously weakened the democratic regime. The Treaty stripped Germany of all its overseas colonies and the return of Alsace and Lorraine to France. Germany was not allowed to have a real Army, Navy or Air Force. On the 11th January 1923 France and Belgium occupied industrial sectors in West Germany and stationed troops in the Rhineland. Reparations were demanded, especially by France, involving shipments of raw materials, as well as annual payments. The German government encouraged the population of the Ruhr to passive resistance which included shops not selling goods to foreign soldiers, or coal mines not supplying the foreign troops. Trams would be left abandoned in the middle of the street if members of the occupation army sat in them. The German government printed vast quantities of paper money, causing hyper-inflation, which also damaged the French economy. The passive resistance proved effective, insofar as the occupation became a loss-making deal for the French government. By June 1923 the hyper-inflation in Germany caused many prudent savers to lose all the money they had saved. The German government also had to contend with disagreement and dissent from anti-democratic Nazis, nationalists and communists.

Signed in Switzerland on the 24th July 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne settled the boundaries of modern Turkey. The treaty was signed by Turkey and Entente powers. It marked the end of the Turkish War of Independence and replaces the earlier Treaty of Sévres.

The Corfu incident was a 1923 diplomatic and military crisis between Greece and Italy. It was triggered when an Italian general was murdered on Greek territory. The general was heading a commission to resolve a border dispute between Albania and Greece. On the 31st August 1923, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini issued an ultimatum to Greece to pay reparations for the murder. When the ultimatum was not totally accepted Mussolini dispatched forces to bombard and occupy Corfu. On the 27th September 1923, the Corfu incident ended when Italian troops withdrew following the Conference of Ambassadors. The conference ruled in favour of Italian demands of reparations from Greece.

Turkey officially became a Republic on the 29th October 1923 following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The republic was created after the overthrow of Sultan Mehmet VI and the new Republican Parliament delivered the coup de gràce to the Ottoman state. Following the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was practically wiped out from the world stage.

In Munich during November 1923 the Beer Hall Putsch took place in which Adolf Hitler unsuccessfully led the Nazi Party (NSADP) in an attempt to overthrow the German government. By emulating Benito Mussolini’s ”March on Rome” of 1922, Hitler wanted to stage his own coup on Bavaria, followed by a challenge to the government in Berlin. Seeking the support of Munich’s effective ruler, Gustav Ritter von Kahr they found they were faced with a rival party who wished to install a nationalist dictatorship without Hitler. In 1923 Hitler enlisted the help of the Great War General Erich Ludendorff for an attempted coup to form a new government. On the 8th November 1923 Hitler’s party stormed a public meeting of 3,000 people organised by Kahr in a beer hall in Munich. Interrupting Kahr’s speech, Hitler announced that the national revolution had begun and declared a new government with Ludendorff. With drawn handgun Hitler demanded and received the support of Kahr’s rival party. Hitler and his fellow Nazi members initially succeeded in occupying the local army and police headquarters, but Kahr and his cohorts quickly withdrew their support. Neither the army nor the state police joined forces with Hitler. The following day, Hitler and his followers marched from the beer hall to the Bavarian War Ministry to overthrow the Bavarian government, but the police dispersed them. Sixteen Nazi members and four police officers were killed in the failed coup. Hitler fled but was arrested on the 11th November 1923 and charged with high treason.

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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1922

On the 6th February 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty ended with the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty in Washington D.C. The conference was attended by nine nations including the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, France and Italy. Soviet Russia was not invited to the conference. The signing parties agreed to limit the size of their naval forces.
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Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Rapallo on the 16th April 1922 re-establishing diplomatic relations. The two signatories mutually cancelled all pre-war debts by renouncing all financial claims on each other and pledging future co-operation.
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In October 1922 the Russian Civil War (ongoing since the 7th November 1917) ended in the Bolshevik victory with the defeat of the last White Army forces in Siberia.
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Italian King Victor Emanuel III appointed fascist leader Benito Mussolini as prime minister on 29th October 1922. Mussolini was ambitiously hoping to raise Italy to the levels of its Roman past and therefore criticised the Italian government for the weakness of the Treaty of Versailles. Capitalising on public discontent following the Great War he organised a paramilitary unit known as the ”Black Shirts”, who terrorised political opponents and helped increase Fascist influence. His fascist party marched on Rome. Widespread social discontent, aggravated by middle-class fear of a socialist revolution and by disappointment over Italy’s meagre gains from the peace settlement after the Great War, created an atmosphere favourable for Mussolini’s rise to power. On the 24th October 1922, the fascist party leaders planned an insurrection to take place on the 28th October 1922, consisting of a march on Rome by the fascist armed squads known as Blackshirts and the capture of strategic places throughout Italy. Waiting in Milan for the outcome of events, Mussolini left the work of organisation to his subordinates. He declared that only he could restore order and was given the authority as prime minister in 1922. On the 28th October 1922, to meet the threat posed by the bands of fascist troops now gathering outside Rome, the government ordered a state of siege for Rome. The King refused to sign the order, which meant the army who could have stopped Mussolini was not called on to oppose the fascists. It has been suggested the King refused to sign the order as he was afraid he would lose his throne if he did not cooperate with the fascists, he also wished to avoid a civil war. As Italy slipped into political chaos, Mussolini declared that only he could restore order and was duly given the authority in 1922 as prime minister.
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The abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) on the 1st November 1922 ended the Ottoman Empire, which had lasted since 1299. On the 11th November 1922, at the Conference of Lausanne, the sovereignty of the GNAT exercised by the Government in Ankara over Turkey was recognised. The last sultan, Mehmed VI, departed the Ottoman capital, Constantinople, on the 17th November 1922. The legal position was ratified with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on the 24th July 1923.
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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1921

In February 1921, and already highly effective at crowd manipulation, Adolf Hitler spoke to a crowd of over 6,000 people. To publicise the meeting, two truckloads of party supporters drove around Munich waving swastika flags and distributing leaflets. Hitler soon gained a reputation for his rowdy speeches against the Treaty of Versailles, rival politicians and especially against Marxists and Jews.
The Peace of Riga (also known as the Treaty of Riga) was signed in Riga on the 18th March 1921, between Poland, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish – Soviet War. The treaty established the Polish – Soviet borders until the Second World War where they were later redrawn during the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.
In June 1921, while Adolf Hitler and Dietrich Eckart were on a fundraising trip to Berlin, a mutiny broke out within the NSDAP in Munich. Hitler and Eckart had met in 1919. Members of its executive committee wanted to merge with the rival German Social Party (DSP). Hitler returned to Munich on the 11th July 1921 and angrily tendered his resignation. However, he announced he would re-join on the condition that he would replace Anton Drexler as party chairman, and that the party would remain in Munich. Drexler was the Party Chairman who had encouraged Hitler to join the party in 1919. The committee agreed, and he re-joined the party on the 26th July 1921. In the following days, Hitler spoke to several packed houses using all his oratorical skills gaining thunderous applause. His strategy proved successful, and at a special party congress on the 29th July 1921, he was granted absolute powers as party chairman, replacing Drexler by a vote of 533 to 1. Hitler’s vitriolic beer hall speeches began to attracting regular audiences. He became adept at using populist themes and used his personal magnetism and an understanding of crowd psychology to his advantage while engaged in public speaking. Early followers included Rudolf Hess, former air force ace Hermann Göring, and army captain Ernst Röhm. Röhm became head of the Nazis’ paramilitary organisation, the (SA ”Stormtroopers”), which protected meetings and attacked political opponents. The group, financed with funds channelled from wealthy industrialists, introduced Hitler to the idea of a Jewish conspiracy, linking international finance with Bolshevism.
The U.S./German and the U.S/Austrian Peace Treaty were both signed on the 25th August 1921, marking the formal end of war between the two states and the USA. These treaties were signed because the USA had not ratified the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-German.
On the 29th August 1921, the U.S./Hungarian Peace Treaty was signed marking the formal end of the state of war between the two states. The United States had not ratified the Treaty of Trianon hence the separate peace treaty.

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THE INTER- WAR PERIOD 1920

Set up on the 10th January 1920, the Free City of Danzig was a self-governing city-state and a port on the Baltic Sea. Danzig was under the protection of the League of Nations with special rights reserved for Poland, as it was the only port in the Polish Corridor. The Free City was occupied and annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939 when it ceased to exist. After Germany’s defeat in 1945 Danzig was occupied and annexed by Poland under the Polish name of Gdansk.
On the 21st January 1920, the Paris Peace Conference came to an end with the inaugural General Assembly of the League of Nations. Although one of the victors of the Great War, the United States of America never joined the League.
On the 13th March 1920 the failed Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch attempted to overthrow the Weimar Republic and establish a German right-wing government. Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz led the coup which took place in Berlin and was supported by parts of the military. Their argument being that the brave efforts of the undefeated German military had been “stabbed-in-the-back” by civilians at home. The government was forced to flee the city for Munich, then called upon the German citizens to join a general strike. Most civil servants refused to cooperate with Kapp and his allies, who in the meantime had set up an intermediate government in Berlin. However, the majority of the working class participated in the general strike. With the country paralysed, Kapp and Lüttwitz were unable to govern in Berlin, as all communications were by courier between the loyal military units. When proclamations asking the workers to return to work, and promises of new elections were ignored, the putsch collapsed on the 17th March 1920. Using passports supplied by supporters in the police Kapp fled to Sweden and Lüttwitz fled to Hungary in April 1920.
Adolf Hitler was discharged from the army on the 31st March 1920 and began working full-time for the NSDAP. The party headquarters was in Munich, which was a hotbed of anti-government German nationalists determined to crush Marxism and undermine the Weirmar Republic.
The 1920 Iraqi Revolt started in May 1920 with mass demonstrations against the British occupation of Iraq. The revolt gained momentum when it spread to the largely tribal Shia regions of the middle and lower Euphrates. Sunni and Shia religious communities together with tribal urban masses and Iraqi officers in Syria cooperated in the revolution. The object of the revolution was for the creation of an Arab government and independence from. British rule. Although the revolt achieved some initial success, the revolt was largely over by the end of October 1920 after the British had forced the rebels to surrender when the rebels had run out of supplies and funding.
Hungary signed the Treaty of Trianon with the Allied Powers in Paris on the 4th June 1920. The Allies dictated the terms of the treaty which was forced on Hungary rather than negotiated. The Hungarian delegation had no option but to accept the terms and signed the treaty under protest, which was registered with the League of Nations on the 24th August 1920.
In Paris on the 10th August 1920, Turkey signed the Treaty of Sèvres with the Allied Powers. The United States did not sign as they had never declared war on Turkey. The terms imposed on Turkey were equally as harsh as the Treaty of Versailles was on Germany in 1919. The treaty portioned the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish armed forces were reduced in size. Greece did not accept the borders as drawn up in the treaty and did not sign. The Treaty of Sèvres was annulled in the course of the Turkish War of Independence and the parties signed and ratified the superseding Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
On the 20th October 1920, a Polish mutiny led by Lucjan Zeligowski (known as Zeligowski’s Mutiny) was a Polish military operation resulting in the creation of the Republic of Central Lithuania. Without the official support from the Polish state, Jozef Pilsudski the Polish Chief of State, ordered the operation. The region of Vilnius was captured and annexed by Poland.
In America on the 2nd November 1920, Franklin D. Roosevelt was defeated for the office of Vice President by Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge. This was the first election in America since the end of the Great War in 1918. Democratic President Woodrow Wilson had hoped for a third term in office but party leaders were unwilling to re-nominate the unpopular president. Wilson was unpopular in the USA as he had failed to keep America out of the Great War. The wartime boom had collapsed and politicians were arguing over the various peace treaties and the question of America’s entry into the League of Nations. James M. Cox was the Democratic nominee for the presidency with Roosevelt as his running mate for Vice President. Cox was defeated by Republican Warren G. Harding as the 34th President of the USA. Coolidge would take over as president when Harding died in 1923, and Roosevelt would later win the 1932 presidential election.
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THE HISTORY OF THE INTER-WAR YEARS 1919 to 1939

Following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on the 28th June 1919, France insisted Germany be held responsible for reparations as they were the instigators of the First World War. The relatively short period between November 1918 and September 1939 of the inter-war period brought about massive changes worldwide. The former Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and German Empires were dismantled. The Empires of Britain, France and others faced challenges as imperialism was increasingly viewed negatively in Europe. Independence movements in British India, French Vietnam, Ireland and other regions gathered momentum. Politically, communism and fascism came to the fore with the main perpetrators being Russia, China, Germany and Italy. Russia and China took the communist route, with Germany and Italy taking the fascist route.
Mechanisation expanded dramatically leading to economic prosperity and growth for the middle classes in North America, Europe and the populations of the developed world. The Great Depression of the late 1920s brought a collapse in world trade. Some economies were beginning to recover by the early 1930s.
In Italy during 1919, Benito Mussolini created the Fascist Party by organising several right-wing groups into a single force. He became Prime Minister in 1922 and by 1925 he had made himself dictator taking the title ”Il Duce” (“the Leader”). In 1939 Italy and Germany signed a military alliance known as the “Pact of Steel”.
In Germany during 1923, France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr in order to compel Germany to increase its war reparation payments. This was to lead to massive inflation (stagflation) of the German economy and the value of the “mark” was destroyed. Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933 and in August 1934 he became the Fuhrer of Germany and promoted a massive re-building project. He also started a re-armament campaign. His territorial ambitions led to the annexing of the surrounding countries which set the stage for the subsequently Second World War.
Following the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, communism in Russia began to be a major force when Joseph Stalin became the uncontested leader of the Soviet Union. Stalin was to remain the leader until his death in March 1953. Communism in China began in 1921. The 1900 Boxer Rebellion and the subsequent Great Revolution of 1914 to 1918, led to the civil war between the government of the Republic of China and the Communist Party of China, which began in August 1927.
In civilian life the “Roaring Twenties” highlighted novel and highly visible social and cultural trends and innovations. These trends, made possible by sustained economic prosperity, were most visible in major cities like New York, Chicago, Paris, Berlin and London. The Jazz Age began and Art Deco was at its peak. For women, knee-length skirts and dresses became socially acceptable, as did bobbed hair. The women who pioneered these trends were frequently referred to as flappers.
The Great Depression began in October 1929 following the Wall Street Crash which was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The crash affected all Western industrialised countries for the following ten years. Effectively the depression ended after America entered the Second World War in 1941, when many unemployed people were drafted into the war effort either through the military or manufacturing services. The classic property trading board game “Monopoly” was invented in America during the Great Depression. The object of the game is about dealing in big money and getting rich quickly.

24th May, 1927,
45/Memorials/182 (A.G.4.b.)

Sir,

In continuation of this Office letter dated 9th instant, and your reply thereto of the 11th. I am directed to inform you that it has now been ascertained that Major General Chevalier de Callatay is Commander the 6th Infantry Division at Brussels (not 10th Division).

I am also to inform you that a Belgian Military Band will be in attendance at the unveiling ceremony on 5th June next.

I am,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
Signed G.E. SHELLY,
Captain
For Director of Personal Services.

Major A.S. BRACE,
Hon. Sec. 20th Division Memorial Committee,
19, St. Mary Abbots Terrace,
Kensington, W. 14.

Copy to Major General Sir Douglas Smith KCB, KCVO.,
& British Military Attaché, Brussels.

On headed notepaper

19, Northampton Square,

London, E.C. 1.

Telephone

Clerkenwell 4487

19^th May 27

My dear Brace,

Here are two copies of the proof of Service & invitation card.

Yours ever

P.S. Story

9th May, 1927
45/Memorials 13/182 (A.G.4.b.)

Sir,

I am commanded by the Army Council to refer to War Office letter of even number dated 28th April 1927, relative to the unveiling of a Memorial to the 20th Division, at Langemarck on Sunday, 5th June next, not Saturday 4th June as stated therein.

I am to say that it has been ascertained through our Military Attache at Brussels that Major General de Callatay, Commanding the Infantry of the 10th Division will represent the Minister of National Defence at the Ceremony, and to ask, whether in the opinion of Sir Austen Chamberlain, K.G., a formal invitation should be sent him through the Foreign Office.

I am,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
(Sd) A.E. Widdows

The Under Secretary of State,
Foreign Office
S.W. 1.

On War Office Headed Notepaper.

THE WAR OFFICE,

LONDON, S.W. 1.

7^th April, 1927.

45/Memorials/182 (A.G.4.a.)

Sir,

With reference to War Office letter, number as above, (A.G.4.b.) dated 26^th October, 1926, I am directed to enquire whether the date for the unveiling of the Memorial to the 20^th Division at LANGEMARCK has yet been decided.

I am to say that it is possible to obtain permission from the Belgian Government for Officers and other ranks attending the ceremony to travel through BELGIUM in uniform or plain clothes, and without passports, provided they travel in one body, under Command of an Officer, and are in possession of identity cards furnished by this Department.

They are, however, not prepared to grant permission for Arms (other than swords for officers) to be carried in their Country on occasions of this nature.

If you desire the special facilities above referred to, the following information should be furnished not later than 6 weeks before the date the party desires to start:-

1. Date and hour of ceremony.
2. Name of officer to perform ceremony.
3. Strength of the party.
4. The date and port of departure from England.
5. The port of arrival in Belgium.
6. The date and port of departure from Belgium.
7. The rank and name of the officer in charge of the party.I am,                        Your obedient Servant                                    ******* *******for Director of Personal Services.Major General Sir W. Douglas Smith KCB, KCVO.,(Cox’s Branch),
8. On reverse in handwriting.
9. 6, Pall Mall, S.W.1.
10. C/o Messrs Lloyds Bank Ltd.,
12.                                     Colonel AAG
14.             Sir.

Reply

I have asked Major Brace who is arranging all details for the unveiling ceremony to give you the information you require, his address is 19, — — & he will write to you in the course of a day or two.

I would ask whether you would kindly arrange for a senior officer of the Belgian Army to attend the ceremony.

I have etc., etc.

15/4/27

U.S. of State

War Office.

SPECIAL PARTY in CONNECTION with the UNVEILING of the

20^th DIVISIONAL MEMORIAL at LANGEMARCK.

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ITINERARY.

(Subject to prevailing conditions, accommodation being obtainable, and the necessary passports and permits being granted).

The train and steamer services shown in the itinerary are subject to alteration or cancellation without notice.

1927.

Saturday                    Depart London (Victoria)    10.00

June 4^th.                    Arrive Ostend.                       15.45

Depart Ostend.                     16.40

Arrive Ypres.                         18.47

Sunday                      During the morning drive by auto-car to Langemarck for the

June 5^th                     unveiling ceremony, and return to Ypres in time for luncheon.

In the afternoon a drive will be arranged, passing through Vlamertinghe, Poperinghe, Reninhelst, La Clytte, Locre, Mont Kemmel, Messines, Wytschaete, Hollbeke, Hill 60, Zillebeke, Menin Gate, and return to Ypres.

Monday                      Depart Ypres.                                    9.18

June 6^th.                    Arrive Ostend.                                   11.33.

Depart Ostend.                                 14.30.

Arrive London (Victoria).                 20.27.

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INCLUSIVE FARE: – £4.12.6. each passenger (for a party of not less than thirty persons).

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WHAT THE FARE PROVIDES:-

1. Third class travel tickets from London to Ypres and return.
2. Meals en route, consisting of luncheon on June 4^th and luncheon and dinner on June 6^th.
3. Hotel accommodation at Ypres, consisting of meat breakfast, table d’hote luncheon, table d’hote dinner, bedroom, lights and attendance, commencing with dinner on June 4^th and terminating with breakfast on June 6^th including taxes.
4. Transfers from station to hotel and vice versa on arrival and departure in Ypres.
5. Drives by auto-car (motor chars-a-banc) on Sunday, June 5^th as specified in the itinerary.
6. All fees and gratuities to hotel and railway servants, and to the drivers of the conveyances utilised.
7. The services of a competent courier throughout the journey. He would supervise the general arrangements, act as interpreter, and relieve the members of all trouble as to detail.  TRAVEL TICKETS. The fare of £4.12.6. covers third class travel tickets. Members can travel in a superior class at the following supplements:First Class throughout.                   …..                  …..                  £1.18.0. each.
8. Second class railway and first class on steamers                     £1.0.0. each.
9. HOTEL ACCOMMODATION. Passengers booking at the fare of £4.12.6. will be accommodated at the Hotel Skindles, Ypriana, or similar establishment, at Ypres. Members desirous of staying at a better grade of house, e.g. Hotel Continental, Excelsior, or similar hotel, can do so upon payment of a supplement of….12/6 each.
10. SUPPLEMENTS.
11. ————