Modernism and Fascism

I. Collapse of Empires

            A. Russian Revolution (familiar pattern)

                        1. military and economic collapse

                        2. Czar abdicates

                        3. Lenin stages coup against moderate government

                        4. Red Terror and Civil War

                        5. Rise of Stalin

            B. Fall of German, Austrian and Ottoman Empires

                        1. Loss of territories and colonies

                        2. smaller nation states

                        3. efforts at democratic government

II. Versailles Treaty

            A. Awkward compromise between power politics and self-determination

                        1. Who deserved to have a nation?

                        2. What about mixed populations?

                        3. Germany not allowed to be self-determining

                        4. Italy is left disappointed

                        5. Arabs denied self-determination entirely

            B. Punishment of Germany

                        1. Loss of territory

                        2. Military limits

                        3. Reparations

            C. Nationalism lives on

                        1. weak commitment to openness and free trade

                        2. ineffective League of Nations

                        3. Resentment of Italy and Germany

III. Modernist turn in culture

A. Rejecting the old culture in the aftermath of failure

1. Fundamental questions about reality

a. questioning goodness of human nature

b. questioning power of science and reason

c. questioning idealism

2. Collapse of Christianity in Europe

3. Artists reject past ideals

a. Dadaism

-Marcel Duchamp's "LHOOQ"

b. Surrealism

-Salvador Dali's "Persistence of Memory"

4. Writers cast doubt on past "truths"

a. T. S. Eliot's Hollow Men

b. Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front

B. Reinventing the future by going back to basics

1. Writers try to build on subjectivity

a. Virginia Woolf, Room of One's Own

b. Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front

2. Artists look closely at the essence of images--shape, color, composition

--Matisse, Woman in Blue

3. Musicians investigate nature of music

--Arnold Shoenberg's 12-tone system

4. Architects rethink fundamental of beauty and function

--Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus school

IV. Fascism is the rebirth of nationalism

A. mixes nationalism with romanticism, social Darwinism, imperialism, conservatism and modernism.

1. could be called super-charged nationalism

2. deploys explicit language of power rather than justice or morality (i.e. nihilism)

3. Presents itself as the solution to the troubles of post-war Europe

a. political powerlessness of Italy and Germany after Versailles Treaty

b. unemployment and economic decline

c. threat of socialism to the middle classes

d. most of all, fear and doubt

B. Rise of Fascist Movements

1. Mussolini's "black shirts" intimidate Italian government

2. Hitler's "brown shirts" intimidate German government

V. Adolf Hilter

A. Leader of National Socialist party (�Nazi�)

1. attempted coup in Munich fails (1923)

2. writes Mein Kampf in jail

3. this book is an updated version of romantic nationalism

a. modernist (nihilist) discourse on power

b. modernists appreciation of mass psychology

B. Hitler's appeal to the masses

1. hatred of Versailles Treaty

2. resistance to socialism

3. safety of social conservatism

4. rejection of modernism (bans Jazz music)

5. overcoming doubt and helplessness