Age of Total War

Topic: Problems for the Democracies and the Rise of Japan

Handout Eight 

OUTLINE: 

VIII. Problems for the Democracies and the Rise of Japan.

  1. Introduction.
  2. Retreat of Democracy in Austria.
  3. The Middle Danube
  4. Hitler’s Consolidation of Power.
  5. Crisis in Spain.
  6. Hitler’s Foreign Policy Objectives.
  7. Japanese Militarism.

QUESTIONS:

    1. Austria, following World War I, faced considerable problems in an effort to survive as an independent state. What were the political and social crises experienced by the Austrians? How did the Austria government hope to weather the political storm of the early to mid-1930s?
    2. The Balkans nearly always mystified writers, including the late-Rebecca West. What were internal political issues effecting region?
    3. How did Hitler and his henchmen manage to rule Germany? What techniques did they adopt that subordinated the interests Germany to the goals and objectives of the Fuehrer?
    4. The situation in Spain eventually came before the European political stage in a violent civil war played out starting in 1936. What were the causes of that horrific conflict?
    5. Once in power and master of Germany, how did Hitler hope to achieve his foreign policy objectives? How did he hope to pull them off?
    6. Japan was in a unique position before 1929 to continue on a slow path of parliamentary democracy. What happened that derailed Japan’s political development? What factors account for the rise of Japanese militarism that made war in the orient not only probable, but highly likely after 1931?

TERMS:

Kwantung Army                          Kuomintang                    Patriotic Assassinations

Lytton Commission                     Henry Pu-yi                    Mukden Incident

Primo de Rivera                           Alfonso XIII                   Cortes

Manuel Azana                              Alcala Zamora                Francisco Franco

Prince Carol                                Heimwehr                        Dollfus

Gleichschaltung                           Reichstag Fire                 Rudolf Hess

Gestapo                                        S.D.                                 S.S.

Night of the Long Knives            Deutschland Agreement