1918-39: Peacetime?

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Historians denote the, apparently expectedly temporary, years between wars as ‘peacetime’. This categorisation, however, in my view, can be problematic. Numerous questions are raised by this term: What even is peace? Can peace, localised geographically, co-exist with times of conflict? Is war an inevitability, or perhaps even a constant? In order to explore these questions, this essay is focused upon the 21 years of, by the above definition, ‘peacetime’ between the two World Wars, and how in reality these two decades were far from conflict free.

Defining peace as the absence of war is akin to defining good as the absence of evil – that is to say, a flimsy and circular definition. Despite this, dictionary.com offers just “the non warring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world” ¹ as an explanation of peace, and Merriam-Webster gives a similarly vague example of “freedom from civil disturbance” ². It is also telling that these sites define war as a “period of armed hostility or active military operations” and “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations” respectively; not simply the absence of peace. Arguably, these definitions therefore imply that war is the inevitability of these two scenarios; that peace is by definition the absence of war, but war is not by definition the simple absence of peace.

For many, World War Two is a clear example of this inevitable warfare. 

In 1919, following the signage of the Armistice a year prior, a meeting occurred between the leaders of Great Britain, The USA, Italy, and France, known as the Paris Peace Conference, which led to the emergence of the creatively named Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty had a myriad of terms, but the one to focus on is the, now infamous, Article 231, also known as the ‘war guilt clause’. The precise wording of the clause was altered a few times, before the Allied Powers (note that Germany was barred from negotiation meetings) settled on the final phrasing, which read and demanded: “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and the Enemy States accept the responsibility of the Enemy States for causing all the loss and damage [to] which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of the Enemy States” ³

To say that this wording – this notion that the Axis powers were to “accept the responsibility” for “causing all the loss and damage”, ie. for causing the war itself – sparked riots in Germany, is not an exaggeration. The politicians who agreed upon the Treaty were dubbed the ‘November Criminals’ and assassinated; the economy crashed; and this, ultimately, provided the stage for the rise of one Adolf Hitler. 

Aside from the War Guilt Clause, the Treaty also mandated that Germany forsake land, both in mainland Germany and overseas; which was distributed to France, Belgium, Poland, and Denmark, and led to a 13% loss of the nation’s European territory, which further lost Germany almost 50% of its iron reserves and 15% of its coal reserves. These were not resources Germany could afford to lose, as by 1918 the country was already close to bankruptcy, and the huge reparation demands only made this more severe; the seizure of income-generating areas (namely coal reserves in Saar and Silesia) did not help. When asked, the Allies refused to lower the reparations payments as – bar the USA who were enjoying the roaring benefits of the economic boom – they themselves required money to repay loans taken during the war. 

By 1922, Germany had missed multiple payments, which fuelled French retaliation, coming in the form of the January 1923, Franco-Belgian invasion of Germany’s production hub for iron, steel and coal: the Ruhr. The German government determined that while they couldn’t take military action, they could (and did) encourage workers in the Ruhr to engage in ‘passive resistance’, and so German workers went on strike to stop producing good that the French could seize, and some even resorted to sabotage/arson to damage factories and mines, further halting production. The French responded by bringing in their own workers, in what became a bloody but profitable occupation, enforced until the July 1925 Dawes Plan. (peacetime, right?..)

The infamous hyperinflation crisis in 1923 was an incredibly turbulent time for a nation already struggling, and most Germans began looking for someone to blame, with most turning their heads to the Weimar government. To illustrate how ruined the economy was – in December 1918, buying a loaf of bread in Berlin would only set you back 0.54 marks, five years later in November 1923 and you were looking at a price of 201,000,000,000 marks ⁴; an increase of 37,222,200,000,000%. Measures to restore the country and prevent a revolt included Stresseman’s introduction of the Rentenmark, and later Reichsmark; as well as negotiations of the aforementioned Dawes Plan which withdrew French troops from the Ruhr, and provided a much-needed boost to German industry to the spell of an 800 million gold mark loan from the USA; reparations payments were also lowered. There was mixed response to the Plan, as some felt that in accepting it, Germany was claiming the War Guilt too easily, but the Dawes Plan – alongside 25 billion additional marks from US loans – was arguably essential to Germany’s economic recovery. 

After 1924, the stability in the German currency not only restored the nation’s confidence in their economy which led to the government building new schools and raids, but also increased international investment (primarily from the USA) which boosted industry. This led to better standard of living, wage rises, and industrial output doubling from 1923-29, alongside new 1927 laws which established unemployment benefits. It looked as though Germany and primarily the economy was back on track. However, if you’ve been paying close attention, you may have noticed the dependence of foreign investment, especially from the USA: this first reared its head in 1927 when the farming industry began to slow, and doubled down with the 1929 Wall Street Crash, which exposed the true weakness that still plagued the German economy. Thus, the 1924 Dawes Plan was succeeded by the Young Plan 1929: many Germans opposed the new plan, heralding similar criticisms that were made towards the Dawes Plan, as they felt Germany shouldn’t continue to pay reparations, and that the progress of the nation was being purposefully inhibited (a topical notion which historians still debate). One petition against the plan, conceived by a businessman called Alfred Hugenberg, attained 4 million signatures, yet a December 1929 referendum re: the ‘Liberty Law’ only racked up 14% of votes against the plan. ⁵Despite the criticism, the Young Plan even didn’t amount to anything due to the Wall Street Crash – America could not afford to loan money to Germany, who subsequently suffered its own economic crash in 1931, leading civil unrest – mhm introductory definition – to only intensify

Notably, the League of Nations was formed at the end of WW1, as a new international organisation to allow powerful countries to discuss solutions to global problems diplomatically, to avoid another World War (welp). The League was devised by POTUS, Woodrow Wilson, however the post-war years in the USA can be categorised as a period of isolationism and thus they withdrew from European politics and did not join the league – Germany was also not initially invited to become a member. This changed in 1926 due to Stresemann’s persuasion, which was significant as Germany’s qualification as a member of the council (who made the most important decisions) benefitted both moderate political parties (who support Stresemann’s diplomatic politics), and many ordinary civilians (who gained more confidence in the Weimar regime). Once again, Germany appeared to be back on track. But, once again, this was not for long. For in 1933, Adolf Hitler became chancellor, and changed the course of history. 

The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), or more commonly the Nazi Party, was a preexisting extremist group in Germany, which was headed by Hitler from 1921. The Party’s aims were kept vague in the hope of appealing to as many German groups as possible: for example, the Party appealed to nationalists who opposed the Treaty of Versailles, the middle class and businesses who agreed with Hitler’s anti-communist ideals, and people searching for a scapegoat after the First World War who were drawn to the Party’s anti-Semitism. 

One of the key points of the Party’s ‘25 Point Programme’ (1920) states that “Only those of German blood, whatever their creed, may be members of the nation. Accordingly, no Jew may be a member of the nation.” (the plan also suggested mass deportation of “all non-Germans who entered Germany after 2 August 1914”); and anti-Semitism was also present in the declaration that “We demand freedom for all religious denominations in the State, provided they do not threaten its existence nor offend the moral feelings of the German race. The Party, as such, stands for positive Christianity. It combats the Jewish-materialist spirit within and without us, and is convinced that our nation can achieve permanent health only from within on the basis of the principle: The common interest before self-interest.” ⁶

Additionally, the Programme called for “equality of rights for the German people in its dealings with other nations, and the revocation of the peace treaties of Versailles and Saint-Germain” meaning that the Nazi Party grew in popularity with those who opposed the Treaty ⁷, reaching a (recorded) 2000 members by the end of 1920. ⁸ Upon being arrested after the Munich Putsch of 1923, Hitler reaffirmed the Nazi Party as the antithesis of the Weimar Republic, and staunchly against the Treaty Of Versailles: he said “I alone bear the responsibility. But I am not a criminal because of that. If today I stand here as a revolutionary, it is as a revolutionary against the revolution. There is no such thing as high treason against the traitors of 1918.” ⁹

His trial culminated in the sympathetic sentence of just five years imprisonment at Landsberg Castle, and between his growth in popularity following his trial speeches – newspapers in Germany and abroad who reported on the case, glorified Hitler as a nationalist ‘standing up for German rights’ – and early release meaning he only served nine months in jail, he was arguably let off incredibly easy: the judge could have ordered the execution of Hitler and his compatriots for his crimes, but he did not, which was representative of the powerful forces at play in Germany who wanted the Weimar government destroyed. Despite the failure of the Munich Putsch, Hitler didn’t seem too afflicted, likely because he legally wasn’t forced to be, and, reflecting in 1933 commented that “the events of 1923 with their blood sacrifice have proved the most effective propaganda.” ¹⁰ As for what Hitler spent his limited time in jail doing, he wrote his infamous book, ‘Mein Kampf’ (translating to my struggle): 

Hitler outlined his beliefs on the following: how the superior German race will rule the world, the Treaty of Versailles must be revoked, democracy is weak and Germany needs one leader who will benefit the people, Jews are leading a conspiracy to undermine Aryans and want to weaken the Aryan race by intermarriage, Jews are taking over German businesses and moderate political groups. Hitler also expressed an opposedly-capitalist view that Germany’s wealth must benefit German working people rather than the rich, yet also advocated for an invasion of Russian land to eliminate the ‘threat’ of communism. 

Becoming an author was not the only thing that occupied Hitler’s nine month prison stay, he also spent time identifying weaknesses within the Nazi Party (“Instead of working to achieve power by armed coup, we shall have to hold our noses and enter the Reichstag against the opposition deputies. If outvoting them takes longer than shooting them, at least the results will be guaranteed by their own constitution.” ¹¹) and reorganising it accordingly. 

For a whistle stop tour of some next steps in Hitler’s rise:

• In 1926, he was confirmed as leader at a party conference in Bamberg, in the same conference he also successfully argued for the return of the 25 Point Plan; the first Nazi rally was held in Weimar that year too. The anti-Semitic focus of Nazism clearly emerged, with editors of the Nazi newspaper emphasising anti-Jewish propaganda, which was unfortunately very popular. Hitler Youth was also created, which amassed over 100,000 members by 1929.  
• 1928 elections saw their win rate drop from 32 seats (May 1924) to just 12 seats. This result was partially the fault of the Nazis, and partly due to efforts from leading politicians Stresseman and Hindenburg to boost the popularity of the existing government.
• Heinrich Brüning became Chancellor in 1930, following disagreements in the governing coalition during the Great Depression.
• Article 48 (part of the initial Weimar Germany constitution which stated that in an emergency, the President could make laws by decree, without the approval of the Reichstag) was invoked by Brüning, who did not have a majority in the Reichstag. From this point on, the Reichstag met on rare occasions and were in effect controlled by Hindenburg and Brüning. 
• Brüning introduced several measures – such as further cuts to unemployment benefits, and tax rises – which were not well received, as they only served to increase the suffering of Germans. Unsatisfied with the state of the (supposedly moderate) government, many Germans found themselves taking solace in extreme political Parties. The Nazis welcomed them with open arms – oh, unless you were Jewish, in which case you, alongside Weimar politicians and Communists, were obviously to blame for Germany’s problems. The results were startling in the 1930 election, wherein the Nazis won 107 seats; and the Communists, 77.
• Brüning was fired from his role as Chancellor in May 1932, Hindenburg having been persuaded by army general Kurt Von Schleicher. 
• July 1932 and the Nazis were the biggest party in the Reichstag, controlling 230 seats from securing 34.7% of the vote. Presidential elections took place in this year, and while in April 1932 Hitler polled 13 million votes, he was beaten out by Hindenburg who remained in presidency. Hitler had however secured his role as a major political figure.
• Von Papen had a brief stint in the role of Chancellor, appointed largely as Hindenburg refused as he hated Hitler (fair).
• Believing he would be able to control Hitler behind the scenes, the resigned Von Papen set out to persuade Hindenburg to instate Hitler as chancellor, with him serving as Vice Chancellor. Eventually, President Hindenburg agreed, and on the 30th of January 1933, Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. 

Ludendorff, who had worked closely alongside Hitler during the Munich Putsch, in what can be described as masterful foreshadowing – or perhaps an intelligent observation about now inevitable actions – wrote of Hitler’s appointment as chancellor that, “You have handed over our German Fatherland to one of the greatest troublemakers of all time. I predict this evil man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and inflict immeasurable harm on our nation. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action.” ¹² And while there are a number of further steps before Hitler had fully established totalitarian control, in the interest of time and topicality, I’m going to jump forward to the precedent of World War Two. 

It is quite well know that war broke out between Germany and British-Franco forces in 1939, following the Nazi invasion of Poland; and the war between Germany and the Soviets began two years later, following the Nazi invasion, Operation Barbarossa – I hope you have already made note of the common factor.

Hitler had long been planning to invade Poland, and as such Britain and France had both pledged their support to defend the country if it were to suffer a German invasion. This was little deterrent to Hitler, who – having been secretly rearming the nation in volition of the Treaty of Versailles ¹³, and being relatively confident that he had a friend (for now) in Joseph Stalin, having signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact earlier in 1939 – launched an invasion on Danzig, with the Allies formally declaring war just two days later on September 3rd.

The following developments of the war are described by history.com as such:

On September 17, Soviet troops invaded Poland from the east. Under attack from both sides, Poland fell quickly, and by early 1940 Germany and the Soviet Union had divided control over the nation, according to a secret protocol appended to the Nonaggression Pact. Stalin’s forces then moved to occupy the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and defeated a resistant Finland in the Russo-Finnish War.

[…]

On April 9, 1940, Germany simultaneously invaded Norway and occupied Denmark, and the war began in earnest. On May 10, German forces swept through Belgium and the Netherlands in what became known as “blitzkrieg,” or lightning war. Three days later, Hitler’s troops crossed the Meuse River and struck French forces at Sedan, located at the northern end of the Maginot Line, an elaborate chain of fortifications constructed after World War I and considered an impenetrable defensive barrier … With France on the verge of collapse, Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini formed an alliance with Hitler, the Pact of Steel, and Italy declared war against France and Britain on June 10 … France was subsequently divided into two zones, one under German military occupation and the other under Petain’s government, installed at Vichy France. Hitler now turned his attention to Britain, which had the defensive advantage of being separated from the Continent by the English Channel.

To pave the way for an amphibious invasion (dubbed Operation Sea Lion), German planes bombed Britain extensively beginning in September 1940 until May 1941, known as the Blitz, including night raids on London and other industrial centres that caused heavy civilian casualties and damage. The Royal Air Force (RAF) eventually defeated the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) in the Battle of Britain, and Hitler postponed his plans to invade. With Britain’s defensive resources pushed to the limit, Prime Minister Winston Churchill began receiving crucial aid from the U.S. under the Lend-Lease Act, passed by Congress in early 1941. ¹⁴

As you can see, the war largely progressed as a product of Hitler-led German invasions; and the same can be said for 1941 Operation Barbarossa, and the opening of the Eastern Front of the war. To draw from a mnemonic device used in my own history class, the Soviet course of the battle can be lumped into four stages: setbacks, survival, Stalingrad, success.

‘Setbacks’ relates to the initial Soviet losses, which were ample, by the end of 1941: over 3 million Red Army soldiers had been captured, German forces were in control of 45% of the Soviet population, and Iron and steel production fell by 60 with the best agricultural land (which produced 40% of grain) also in German hands. Reasons for the following Soviet ‘survival’ include the unaccounted for harsh Russian climate which delayed the German assault, a tactical ‘scorched earth policy’, and prevalent propaganda campaign of the “Great Patriotic War” which evoked a nationalist comradery in many Soviet citizens. The Battle of Stalingrad is often held as the turning point in World War Two, for it is where the Soviets began to edge out the Nazis, who lost 147,000 deaths and 91,000 prisoners, as well as their morale, and, eventually, the war.

Obviously, I have had to omit countless details in this article, but the point that Hitler was largely responsible for World War Two stands regardless. Earlier, I explained how the Treaty of Versailles was an incredibly significant factor in enabling Hitler’s rise: can we therefore suggest that the Treaty caused World War Two? In the same article I cited earlier, this seems to be the case, which notes that “In particular, political and economic instability in Germany, and lingering resentment over the harsh terms imposed by the Versailles Treaty, fueled the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and [Nazi] Party” ¹⁵ in the first paragraph of their article on the Second World War. Furthermore, the Treaty was a result of World War One – so, can it be argued that World War One, and the diplomacy afterwards, caused World War Two; that is perhaps to say, that the war was inevitable?

With that in mind, it feels illogical to assert 1918-39 as ‘peacetime’. It also feels worth mentioning the number of atrocities that took place during this time, with one source reporting a minimum of 187 million casualties in conflict from the start of the 20th century ¹⁶ – between events such as the Holocaust, which claimed upwards of six million Jewish lives; wars in Ireland from 1919-23; 500,000 deaths during the Spanish Civil War; and unrest in Palestine (which you can read about further in this article https://www.fintalkshistory.com/?p=88), this period was not one of a non-warring condition, and not free from civil disturbance. In short: 1918 to 1939 was not peacetime.

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1.  ‘Definition of Peace | Dictionary.com’ (www.dictionary.com) <https://www.dictionary.com/browse/peace> ↩︎
2.  Merriam-Webster, ‘Definition of PEACE’ (Merriam-webster.com2019) <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peace>  ↩︎
3. Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute United States Department of State, ‘Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Volume XIII – Office of the Historian’ (history.state.gov) <https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1919Parisv13/ch17subch1>  ↩︎
4.  BBC, ‘The Weimar Republic 1918-1929’ (BBC Bitesize2020) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z9y64j6/revision/5> ↩︎
5.  ‘Weimar Republic Timeline 1929-33’ (Weimar Republic) <https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/weimar-republic-timeline-1929-33/> ↩︎
6.  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ‘Nazi Party Platform’ (encyclopedia.ushmm.org15 October 2020) <https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-party-platform> ↩︎
7. Ibid. ↩︎
8. BBC, ‘The Early Nazi Party and Its Beliefs – the Nazi Party 1919-1929 – OCR a – GCSE History Revision – OCR A’ (BBC Bitesize) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z98gxsg/revision/2> ↩︎
9.  ‘Adolf Hitler – Wikiquote’ (en.wikiquote.org) <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler#1923>  ↩︎
10.  ‘Weimar Republic Quotations’ (Weimar Republic) <https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/weimar-republic-quotations/> ↩︎
11.  Ibid.  ↩︎
12.  Vermont Humanities***, ‘The Rise of Nazism’ (Vermont Humanities) <https://www.vermonthumanities.org/programs/book-a-program/reading-and-discussion/reading-series/the-rise-of-nazism/>  ↩︎
13.  History.com Editors, ‘World War II’ (History.com29 October 2009) <https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history> ↩︎
14. Ibid. ↩︎
15. Ibid. ↩︎
16. Imperial War Museums, ‘Timeline of 20th and 21st Century Wars’ (Imperial War Museums2018) <https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/timeline-of-20th-and-21st-century-wars> ↩︎