Analysis of Quiz 5

 

1. Fascism is one variety of authoritarianism. The Russian Revolution created the first significant authoritarian mass society, one of the Left or Communist type. Authoritarian societies of the Right had typically been absolute monarchies which had exercised power from the top down using the strength of army and the police to control the people.. Fascism has come to be seen as a new kind of authoritarianism ---- totalitarianism. Like Communism it relied on mobilization of the masses, but not on behalf of a radical egalitariansm, but rather on behalf of values that are typically seen as conservative. (F-R, p.98) The discussion about Fascism borrowing from the Left and from the Right is based on the pioneering work of UCLA History Professor Eugen Weber who argued that fascism "borrowed" the techniques of both the radical Left, i.e. Communists, and of the Right, i.e. traditional authoritarianism. Question 1 on the quiz asks about the character of fascism? What does "borrowing from the Left and Right mean? Was it conservative and opposed to revolutionary change? (p. 98, rt. col.) Who were its leaders? (p. 98 rt. col). Did it want to establish a classless society, based on socialist principles as did the Left? Did it want to overturn traditional values or want to preserve them through radical means?(98, rt. col, bottom)
2. This question focuses on the relationship between economic and social change and the Growth of Fascism (F-R, pp. 98-100) and asks why people on the Right who normally oppose change, flocked to join fascist movement? How did they view the parliamentary politics that ran the countries in which they lived? The answer to this question supports the thesis that some, but very short and limited experience with democracy was necessary to prepare for the mass mobilization upon which fascism depended. Among what age group was fascism the most popular and why? What were the fascists', at least experessed, attitudes towards modern big business and the development of a worldwide economy? To what socio-economic group did fascism appeal?
3. Findley-Rothney discuss "Fascist Myth Versus Fascist Reality." (119-121.) What was fascism's remedy for the problems of modern society? (102) Where did this idea come from? How was it supposed to work? Did it fulfill these hopes? Why do the authors see this as a myth relative to the reality of what happened.? Was Fascism able to save Italy from the Depression? (p. 103 left col.) Does corporatism .have anything to do with corporations and big business as understood in the U.S. today?.
4. This question asks about the "Weakness of the Weimar Republic." (pgs. 104-107.) What is meant by the myth of the "stab-in-the-back"?(104 rt, 106, left. col.) What was the nature of the constitution that established the Weimar Republic? (p. 104, rt. col.) What do the authors say about German Revolution of 1918 and why is this significant regarding the failure of the Weimar Republic? (p. 106 left col.). What was the significance of the hyperinflation of 1923 for the middle classes? (106-left)
5. This question asks about the process by which the Weimar Republic was destroyed and Hitler came to power. What group constituted a third of Nazi membership? (F-R, 107, bot-rt.) From what kinds of parties did the Nazis draw many of their new voters in 1932 and 1933? Among which groups did the Nazis have relatively little least success in attracting voters?(107-bot-rt) How did Hitler become Chancellor? (107-rt.-mid)
6. This question focuses on Nazi society and the economy. (p. 108-109). How was the Fuehrerprinzip, which was inherent in at least the Prussian tradition since the Middle Ages, (see lecture notes associated with Conservative Modernization in Germany) used to create an authoritarian mass society? (pgs. bot. 108-109). Was big business and and heavy industry affected? (p. 109-mid-left) Do you see how this is a logical extension of a society that had modernized conservatively? Did Nazism solve the problems of the Depression? (p. 109, top-rt.). What happened to the many Protestant religious denominations? (108, rt-col.)
7. This question asks about the nature of "Nazi Society and Economy" (p.108-109). What happened to industrial profits under Nazism? (109-rt.) Did Nazi economic policy make the regime popular or unpopular with a majority of the people? (p. 109 mid-left.) Did the Nazi romantic emphasis on conservative values epitomized by hard-working farmers on the land cause an exodus of population from the country-side? (p. 109, right-middle). Did the Nazi regime buy the support of the working-class with wages that were above the norm? (p. 109, right col.)
8. This question asks about Hitler's justifications for territorial expansion in the period before Gemany's attack on Poland, September 1, 1939" (1) Revision of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which, among other things, took territory away from Germany, (2) the incorporation of "racial Germans" and (3) Lebensraum, the conquest of  living space in the East from racially inferior Slavs.  See F-R, 111-113. Had the Treaty of Versailles in fact taken the Rhineland away from Germany? Was it, therefore, outside the Third Reich? What reason did Hitler cite for "remilitarizing" the area.? (p. 111 left). What was the nationality of the dominant population of the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia (p. 111, last paragraph.) Had Czechoslovakia ever been a part of Germany? Had Austria been a part of Germany before the Versailles Treaty? What was the "racial nationality" of the overwhelming preponderance of Austrians? What, therefore, the reason  for its annexation # 1, # 2, or #3? (111-rt). Since most of Poland had never been part of Germany, could Hitler's justification have been revisionist? What was the dominant nationality of Poland? What was the reason for the attack on Poland (p. 113-rt.).
9. This question deals with Japan after World War I and up to the consolidation of its militarist, some say fascist, government after 1937. How and when did Japan experience Depression? When did it end? (p. 211-left). What was Were there political parties, were they effective and was there evidence that democratization was taking hold? (p. 211-right) Did Japan consolidate its democracy and did parliament control the military? (p. 211-right). Who had the right to vote (p. 211-right)
10. This question deals with Japan after 1937. Was its economy primarily agricultural, with an industrial sector that just imitated the West? Did a fascist-style society develop on the basis of the mobilization of the masses by a civilian political movement? Was Japan ruled by a charismatic, civilian political leader with a clear-cut ideology of fascism? Was their a military seizure of power or a more gradual move towards authoritarianism and militarism. (p. 212-left.)