Europe between the wars “The time not to become a father is 18 years before a world war.” American essayist E.B. White. I would add, “especially after a first world war.” A whole generation was born during and after the Great War, just in time to fight and die in the second. Talk about bad timing! Introduction: Welcome to the “entre-deux-guerres,” or “between the wars,” the period in European history between the war that was supposed to end all wars, the “World War,” and everyone’s worst nightmare, the outbreak of a second that would eventually be nearly ten times deadlier and bring an iron curtain of division in Europe and Asia. This is a tricky era, because there is a tendency to think, with benefit of hindsight, that the Great War led directly to the Second World War. I don’t personally believe that anything is inevitable, but you can certainly draw some lines of continuity between the two conflicts. We will attempt to do that as we go along. In addition, we’ll have the opportunity to reflect on the relationship between political/economic change and the arts, a rich vein in particular since many describe this time as a “broken world.” Another thought that tends to come up over and over is the viability of democracy vs. the temptations of dictatorship. Almost every nation in Europe had a strongman in place even before Hitler became established. Why is it so difficult to establish and maintain a democracy, as we have had here for 200+ years? And then there is the matter of Hitler and Stalin: what was it about this period that brought forth these monsters and propelled them into positions of power? Here in the US, we got Franklin D. Roosevelt during the great crisis; the Germans and the Russians weren’t so lucky. Course Objectives: I hope that by course’s end, you will be able to identify some of the issues and problems in the postwar that helped bring about the beginning of a second, that you will be able to identify and discuss a couple works of art/music/literature associated with the “interwar” years, that you will appreciate to a greater degree the difficulties of democracy and the temptations of dictatorship in modern societies, and then account(insofar as you can; no one really has a definitive answer)for the rise of the two men most responsible for the wrecking of the l9l9 peace, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. And, for those of you bound for the Foreign Service, and I hope some of you will try for this, how about some reflection on the Versailles peace and how it might have been done differently? Granted, the peacemakers had extraordinarily tough circumstances, but they are not exempt from our criticism. Evaluation: We will write one or two midterms, depending on time(this is a new course, so it’s hard to tell how fast or slow we’ll go), but your main grade will come from your performance in the annual Undergraduate Liberal Arts Symposium. For this course, your assignment is to create an exhibit in a new Museum of the History of 20th-century Europe, to be housed somewhere on the WSU campus. The possibilities are wide-ranging: you could profile an individual and his/her contributions to the interwar period(Hitler and Stalin excepted; as my grad advisor often said, “that’s been done to death.”). Some suggestions: Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Joseph P. Kennedy(US ambassador to Great Britain in the late l930s), John F. Kennedy, Dmitrii Shostakovich, Sergei Prokoviev, Maurice Ravel, George Grosz, Marc Chagall, to name just a few. Or you could focus on a particular event that would help interested laypeople understand this period, for example the Spanish Civil War, the Munich crisis, Kristallnacht(Night of the Broken Glass, Germany, l938). Or you could focus on some aspect of the period that is close to what you are studying, e.g. the effect of the world financial crisis on Hitler’s coming to power, or more generally the rise of dictatorship. Whatever you choose, you will research the topic for most of the term and then present your findings, mount your exhibit, for the Liberal Arts symposium in late April or May. And you will be able to claim on your resume that you were invited to present your research at a prestigious campus-wide event, a plus for your resume. Introduction: The shadow of the Great War The war that took Europe by surprise: the “summer storm.” Industrial-strength slaughter The death of empires A peace to end all peace?! Film: “J’accuse,” Abel Gance The first post-war years “Winners” old and new “Losers” and their bitter pill A new old “loser:” the case of Hungary You say you want a revolution: Soviet Russia Film: “Potemkin,” Sergei Eisenstein The turning of the tide: the rise of dictatorship and the ascendency of “appeasement.” Nazism and Stalinism: the early years The pacifist impulse: “we will carry war…no more.” “The George Washington of Germany” and the European order Films: Triumph of the Will, Olympia)Leni Reifenshtal War dead ahead: from Munich crisis to the breakout of war, l938-39 The Czechoslovak “problem” and “peace in our time” Frenemies: The Soviet-German rapprochement The end of the Versailles treaty and the Hitler-Stalin “new order” “Rain Stops Play,” September 1, l939. Film: The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin