Deck 20: Democracy and Dictatorship in the 1930s

Question 1

During the 1930s, in countries where democratic governments were not well established, dictatorship spread alarmingly. Many people said that democracy was suited only to:

A) countries with large agricultural sectors.
B) countries with highly educated populations.
C) wealthy or prosperous countries.
D) socially conscious countries.

Answer 1

wealthy or prosperous countries.

Question 2

During the interwar years, Britain struggled with an economic depression because of all of the following reasons except:

A) the loss of foreign markets.
B) the growth of tariff barriers throughout the world.
C) a chronic depression in British agriculture.
D) antiquated management techniques and industrial machinery.

Answer 2

a chronic depression in British agriculture.

Question 3

The bitter 1926 general strike of British coal miners and other workers ended in:

A) a victory for the coal miners.
B) a compromise where neither party was satisfied.
C) a stalemate, in which working conditions and pay remained the same.
D) a setback for the trade unions, which were put under stricter control.

Answer 3

a setback for the trade unions, which were put under stricter control.

Question 4

In 1922, when it displaced the Liberals as the official opposition party, the British Labour Party:

A) adopted a militant socialist program.
B) called for a general strike.
C) allied with the British Communist Party.
D) committed itself to a program of gradualist, democratic socialism.

Question 5

The government, headed by Labour Party leader Ramsay MacDonald, coped with the depression by:

A) raising the interest rates on business loans.
B) greatly increasing the "dole" payments.
C) introducing retrenchment and budget-balancing policies.
D) terminating imperial trade preferences.

Question 6

In his famous book, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money , British economist John Maynard Keynes argued that:

A) if private investment funds were idle, government funds must be employed to encourage economic activity.
B) the only cure for the Great Depression was socialism.
C) governments should balance their budgets so that interest rates would go down and private enterprise could borrow more easily.
D) huge tax cuts would encourage consumer spending.

Question 7

In 1922, following a small but savage war against the British in 1919-1920, the Irish Free State became:

A) an independent nation.
B) a dominion within the British Commonwealth.
C) an integral part of the United Kingdom with representatives in Parliament.
D) a crown colony.

Question 8

The 1931 Statute of Westminster conferred "dominion status" on Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa wherein the dominions:

A) were allowed to levy tariffs against British goods.
B) became legally equal with each other and with Britain.
C) had to defer to the British Parliament in economic matters.
D) had full autonomy in policy making except in the case of foreign affairs.

Question 9

During the 1920s in France:

A) economic conditions were as depressed as in Britain.
B) industrial production fell drastically due to inflation.
C) a large-scale reconstruction program was undertaken to repair wartime devastation.
D) the Great Depression came earlier than in other countries.

Question 10

In France, during the riots of February 1934, _____.

A) the president of the Republic was assassinated
B) a fascist mob temporarily gained control of Paris but was forced to give up after the Socialists and Communists proclaimed a general strike
C) antirepublican activists threatened to storm the Chamber of Deputies and battled with police
D) left-wing extremists caused a riot on the Place de la Concorde

Question 11

Which of the following is true of the Popular Front?

A) It was a Communist-controlled electoral organization.
B) It was a western European version of the Russian populist movement.
C) It was a political coalition of Radical Socialists and Socialists, with Communists pledging their support.
D) It was a coalition of peasants and other rural voters.

Question 12

Identify an incident that led to the overthrow of Blum's government.

A) The Blum government's involvement in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 due to the fear of opposition within an already divided France
B) The Blum government's refusal to dissolve fascist armed leagues
C) The Blum government's refusal to follow the lead of Britain of not getting involved in the Spanish Civil War of 1936
D) The Blum government's refusal to provide aid to the hard-pressed Spanish Popular Front government, which was fighting fascist forces across the Pyrenees

Question 13

Which of the following statements is true about Benito Mussolini, the Fascist dictator?

A) He was the son of a blacksmith.
B) He had been a left-wing socialist before the First World War.
C) He demanded Italian intervention in the First World War on the side of the Allies.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 14

The October 1922 "March on Rome" was:

A) a violent coup d'état in which Mussolini seized power by force.
B) the convergence of groups of Fascist Blackshirts.
C) a movement by the Christian Socialists to gather votes.
D) a violent coup d'état in which Mussolini seized power by force and a movement by the Christian Socialists to gather votes.

Question 15

Mussolini and the Fascists came to power in 1922 for all of the following reasons except:

A) the acute postwar economic depression and unemployment.
B) the postwar social unrest, including land seizures in the countryside.
C) the fear among the propertied classes of a Soviet-style revolution.
D) the big victory in the 1921 election.

Question 16

In theory, Mussolini introduced the corporative state, which included all of the following features except:

A) dividing all economic life into 22 major areas.
B) establishing a "corporation" for each division of economic life.
C) allowing the Fascist labor unions to expropriate the property of the owners of industry.
D) doing away with the anarchy and class conflict engendered by free capitalism.

Question 17

When the Great Depression struck, Mussolini:

A) delivered Italy from distress with its excellent economic controls.
B) turned to a vigorous program of public works and to increasing economic self-sufficiency.
C) used fundamental reforms to change the status of the farmers and peasants.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 18

Hitler rose to national prominence after the failure of the "beer hall Putsch" of 1923 because of:

A) the popularity of his book, Mein Kampf.
B) his widely publicized trial.
C) his association with General Ludendorff, who took part in the Putsch.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 19

Which of the following does not explain why Hitler came to power in 1933?

A) No country suffered more than Germany during the Great Depression.
B) The steady increase in the Communist vote or Bolshevism frightened many people.
C) The Depressed stirred up universal German loathing for the Treaty of Versailles.
D) Terrible inflation developed when the government financed public works through deficit spending.

Question 20

In July 1932, the Nazi Party won their greatest victory in a completely free election, thus:

A) making them the second biggest party in Germany.
B) giving the Nazis a majority in parliament.
C) making the Nazis the largest single party in Germany.
D) giving the Nazis a majority in parliament and making the Nazis the largest single party in Germany.

Question 21

In 1933, the burning of the Reichstag-the building that housed the German parliament-was significant because:

A) Hindenburg blamed it on the Nazis and tried to have them outlawed.
B) Hitler blamed it on the Communists and bullied the voters before elections.
C) it showed that Germany was on the verge of a leftist revolution.
D) it gave Hitler a chance to form a coalition with the Communist opposition.

Question 22

In the context of Hitler's propaganda, which of the following is true of Hitler?

A) He claimed to favor communism for German workers.
B) He declared that pure Germans must rely on Marxism.
C) He denounced the Treaty of Versailles as a national humiliation.
D) He appreciated the Weimar democracy for eliminating class struggle.

Question 23

Nazi Germany, as well as Fascist Italy, set up the economic goal of autarky, which meant:

A) concentrating on building up industry so that manufactured goods could be traded for raw materials.
B) focusing on acquiring external assistance and international trade.
C) self-sufficiency and absolute independence from foreign trade.
D) giving priority to agricultural production over industrial production.

Question 24

Identify a true statement about law in the Nazi state.

A) It was defined by a government that discouraged anti-Christian pagan movements and worship of the old Teutonic gods.
B) It was defined by the National Socialists along with other political parties at the time.
C) It was defined as the will of the social revolutionary Brownshirt leaders operating in the interests of the Nazi state.
D) It was defined as the will of the German people operating in the interests of the Nazi state.

Question 25

Which of the following is true of the differences between a democratic system and a totalitarian system?

A) Unlike a totalitarian system, a democratic system exaggerated ideas of nationalism and national solidarity.
B) Unlike a totalitarian system, a democratic system defined the nation as a biological entity, a group of persons possessing the same physical ancestry.
C) Unlike a democratic system, a totalitarian system officially condemned racism.
D) Unlike a democratic system, a totalitarian system accepted and even glorified violence.

Question 26

By 1938, the few remaining democracies in Europe included all of the following except:

A) Czechoslovakia.
B) Spain.
C) Denmark.
D) Belgium.

Question 27

What were the causes and consequences of the Great Depression of the 1930s? Could governments have done anything to prevent it?

Question 28

Compare and contrast the anti-Depression policies of the western democracies with the policies of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.

Question 29

Explain the circumstances that led to the triumph of Mussolini and Fascism in Italy.

Question 30

Discuss the major political and economic crises in France during the interwar years. Why did France not succumb to a Fascist dictatorship?

Question 31

Define totalitarianism and explain why it emerged after the First World War. Was totalitarianism a completely new phenomenon, or did it have roots in the 19^th century and earlier?

Question 32

Evaluate the influence of the Popular Front in France.

Question 33

Define the corporative state. How closely did the Fascist corporative state resemble the one found in syndicalist theories?

Question 34

In what ways did totalitarianism aspire to resolve class conflict? Was it effective in doing so?

Question 35

How did the Nazis "coordinate" the German society?