The Raise of Authoritarian and Ultranationalists after World War 1

The rise of authoritarian and ultranationalist in 1930s was an accumulation of several factors such as economic collapse, mistreatment of peasant farmers and workers, and the need for raw material. The world’s economy after World War one was severely crippled and damaging as many nation were left with large debts and for some countries, the price for losing the war have further pushed their economy into ruins. After World War one, several countries were experiencing inflation, each to various degree.

During this time, Germany was hit the hardest by the inflation as the value of its currency was reduced to almost nothing. After the First World War, Japan was experiencing economic growth of unprecedented level. However, because of this fast pace growth, the country was also consuming more natural resources then it could find in its home territory. In Russia, the earliest form of authoritarian came in the form of Lenin Red communist party and his founding of the Soviet socialist Republics. After Lenin had died, Stalin took up the reign and would use the authoritative power of the soviet party to enact policies that would further consolidate his power and remove any and all signs of opposition.

After 1918 when World war one have ended, with the exception of the United States, Japan and a few other, a lot of participants of the war were struggling to rebuild and pay back debts that were accumulating, and rebuilding an economy while dealing with inflations. No other country economy had suffer for as much as Germany economy did. Not only did their government have to deal with rebuilding the economy, but they were also forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. In this treaty Germany and its government were forced to pay France, Britain and several other Allie country for the damage of the war through form of monetary payment, and land distribution. Not only were there demand for payments from Germany but there were also restrictions and limitations that were out in place. One of the biggest restriction that had the biggest impact on German Citizen was the blockade of imported resources. The original intent of the blockade was to starve Germany and its central power allies from valuable resources so that they could no longer power their armies. However this blockade were kept in place even after the war was over for several months. During those months hundreds and thousands of German citizens were dying of starvation. This blockade was a factor that contributed to in the extreme inflation in Germany. The lack of food meant that it the cost of food and other necessity skyrocketed. According to some sources, the inflation become so severe that one USD would equal 4200 billion German marks. The Treaty of Versailles was supposed to stop Germany from causing another future aggression, but it had also gave the German people to resentment towards the Allied power. The inflation and weak economy and lack of a strong government, and resentment were catalysts that gave raise of Hitler Authoritarian regime. During his campaign, he would often draw back to those things as a call to action for the German people to unite under his ideology.

On the cusp of 1930, like many other nation, Japan was severely affected by the global depression. The Japanese citizens felt that their current government was inadequate to respond to the current economic decline. The lack of faith in the Democratic Party was the perfect setting for the right wing political party of Japan to come to power. During this time, the general public were beginning to call for restructuring and eventual replacement of the Democratic government for another that would be able to respond faster to crisis and have a strong stance in doing what is good for the nation. 1931 was the year that japan became an official ultra-nationalistic state as man right winged politicians and military official took power. In the following years after the establishment of the ultranationalist party, the new Japanese government began to invade other countries around in search for more natural resources. The ultranationalist government was able to get support for military expansion and conquest, as they would often declare that it was for good of the country.

The raise of authoritarian government in Russia came from the Russian revolution and the collapse of the tsar authoritarian government. The revolution had spawned from peasants no longer wanting to be oppressed and the middle class were tire of not having a say in how their government should be ran. After the Tsar fell, the population were split into two major party- the red and white- that would continue to clash with each other for control of the government. The “white” side were a collection of smaller political group that were against communist ruling, and the red side were consisted Lenin and his communist supporter. The “White” political party would also have foreign backer to aid them in the fight for control. Capitalist favoring countries such as Britain and US would send in supplies and troops. However, this foreign intervention would only serve as a fuel for a call to action that Lenin would use to promote his communist ideology. He would often state that capitalist only care about making money and taking advantage of the peasants and working class, and the only way to stop that was to join and support the communist party. This message resonated with a lot of poor rural farmer and working class as they still remember the oppression of the tsar and had no desire to experience something like that again. Thus by 1920s the communist party had gain enough supporter to take over the government.

There were many reason for raise of Authoritarian and ultranationalist in 1930s. For some country, a weaken economy and dire living situation was the perfect catalyst, such as Germany. For others, the lack of natural resources to support the unprecedented growth of the country was enough for the people to demand a stronger more authoritarian government, such as in Japan. In Russia, Lenin and his communist party was able to established an authoritarian government based on the promise of better living condition and social justice was enough for the people to give him the support that he needed. 

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