DBQ: The Age of Anxiety

1914 - 1939

Directions:  The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1 - 12.  (The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.) 

This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents.  Write an essay that:

·       Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.

·       Uses all or all but one of the documents.

·       Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible.  Does not simply summarize the documents individually.

·       Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.

1.  Examine the documents that follow and analyze the impacts of World War One on world societies.  What political, cultural, and economic conditions contributed to this situation?  Was the Second World War inevitable?  What additional documents could you use to assist you in answering this question?

Historical Background:  To some historians, the interwar years between World War One and World War Two are known as the Age of Anxiety.  Various factors – environmental, political, economic, cultural, and social - combined to produce a general feeling of apprehension in societies around the world.  These years are often seen as years of wild abandon, particularly in the arts and in social life.  The cultural arts, art, literature, music, poetry, etc., expressed this anxiety with a variety of new forms that broke traditional molds.  Disasters often dampened the high spirits of the time. Floods and dust storms leave millions destitute, the Depression sweeps across the globe, struggles for independence from colonial rule make headlines, and extreme forms of nationalism and militarism once again rear their ugly heads.

Document 1

Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front, 1929

I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. I see that the keenest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more refined and enduring. And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me. What would our fathers do if we suddenly stood up and came before them and proffered our account? What do they expect of us if a time ever comes when the war is over? Through the years our business has been killing; -- it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us?

Document 2

Stephen Kern, The Culture of Time and Space, 1880-1918, 1983

From around 1880 to the outbreak of World War I, a series of sweeping changes in technology and culture created distinctive new modes of thinking about and experiencing time and space. Technological innovations including the telephone, wireless telegraph, x-ray, cinema, bicycle, automobile, and airplane established the material foundation for this reorientation; independent

cultural developments such as the stream-of-consciousness novel, psychoanalysis, Cubism, and the theory of relativity shaped consciousness directly. The result was a transformation of the dimensions of life and thought.

Document 3

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Sr., (R – MA); 12 Aug 1919

You may call me selfish if you will, conservative or reactionary, or use any other harsh adjective you see fit to apply, but an American I was born, an American I have remained all my life. I can never be anything else but an American, and I must think of the United States first, and when I think of the United States first in an arrangement like this I am thinking of what is best for the world, for if the United States fails, the best hopes of mankind fail with it. I have never had but one allegiance--I cannot divide it now. I have loved but one flag and I cannot share that devotion and give affection to the mongrel banner invented for a league. Internationalism, illustrated by the Bolshevik and by the men to whom all countries are alike provided they can make money out of them, is to me repulsive. National I must remain, and in that way I like all other Americans can render the amplest service to the world. The United States is the world's best hope, but if you fetter her in the interests and quarrels of other nations, if you tangle her in the intrigues of Europe, you will destroy her power for good and endanger her very existence. Leave her to march freely through the centuries to come as in the years that have gone. Strong, generous, and confident, she has nobly served mankind. Beware how you trifle with your marvelous inheritance, this great land of ordered liberty, for if we stumble and fall freedom and civilization everywhere will go down in ruin.

Document 4

Treaty of Versailles, 1920

ARTICLE 231.

The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies 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 Germany and her allies.

ARTICLE 235.

In order to enable the Allied and Associated Powers to proceed at once to the restoration of their industrial and economic life, pending the full determination of their claims, Germany shall pay in such installments and in such manner (whether in gold, commodities, ships, securities or otherwise) as the Reparation Commission may fix, during 1919, 1920 and the first four months of 1921, the equivalent of 20,000,000,000 gold marks.

Document 5

Cartoon from Punch magazine, London, England, July 28th 1920

Moral Suasion.  The Rabbit. "My offensive equipment being practically nil, it remains for me to fascinate him with the power of my eye." 

Document 6

T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland, 1922

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow

Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,

You cannot say, or guess, for you know only

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,

And the dry stone no sound of water. Only

There is shadow under this red rock,

(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),

And I will show you something different from either

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

Document 7

Treaty Between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, Signed at Washington, February 6, 1922.

Article VII

The total tonnage for aircraft carriers of each of the Contracting Powers shall not exceed in standard displacement, for the United States 135,000 tons (137,160 metric tons); for the British Empire 135,000 tons (137,160 metric tons); for France 60,000 tons (60,960 metric tons); for Italy 60,000 tons (60,960 metric tons); for Japan 81,000 tons (82,296 metric tons).

Document 8

James N. Rosenberg, Oct 29 Dies Irae ("Days of Wrath"), 1929

Document 9

Benito Mussolini, The Doctrine of Fascism, 1932

If it is admitted that the nineteenth century has been the century of Socialism, Liberalism and Democracy, it does not follow that the twentieth must also be the century of Liberalism, Socialism and Democracy. Political doctrines pass; peoples remain. It is to be expected that this century may be that of authority, a century of the "Right," a Fascist century. If the nineteenth was the century of the individual it may be expected that this one may be the century of "collectivism" and therefore the century of the State.

Document 10

From a Japanese booklet for children, 1938

Document 11

Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937

Document 12

Agreement concluded at Munich, September 29, 1938, between Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy

Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, taking into consideration the agreement, which has been already reached in principle for the cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory, have agreed on the following terms and conditions governing the said cession and the measures consequent thereon, and by this agreement they each hold themselves responsible for the steps necessary to secure its fulfilment:

(1) The evacuation will begin on 1st October.

(2) The United Kingdom, France and Italy agree that the evacuation of the territory shall be completed by the 10th October, without any existing installations having been destroyed, and that the Czechoslovak Government will be held responsible for carrying out the evacuation without damage to the said installations.

(3) The conditions governing the evacuation will be laid down in detail by an international commission composed of representatives of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia.

(4) The occupation by stages of the predominantly German territory by German troops will begin on 1st October.

Document Analysis:  POV (Point of View)

Doc 1: Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front; landmark novel about a young man’s experiences in WW I, anxiety about the future, all I know is killing; POV:  Remarque is German and wrote the novel based on his own experiences, undergoing the chaotic struggle for political identity and power in post-war Germany

Doc 2: History about changes in thought and attitude based on cultural and scientific discoveries in the late 19^th, early 20^th centuries.  These discoveries unhinge traditional models of thought – nothing is certain; POV – historian, using changes in technology to prove point – may be biased towards his own thesis

Doc 3: Republican U.S. Senator arguing against the Treaty of Versailles and specifically the provisions calling for the League of Nations; POV – Republicans were vehemently against Wilson’s League; American nationalist and isolationist

Doc 4: Treaty of Versailles – ignoring Wilson’s ideas outlined in his Fourteen Points, the British and French hammered home a treaty which laid the entire blame of the war on Germany and extracted from her an enormous reparations payment.  This was, with the connivance of the Weimar Republic gov’t, to bankrupt Germany, causing massive inflation and unemployment. This, in turn, would lead to conditions favoring the rise of the Nationalist Socialist party – Hitler’s Nazi party.   POV:  French – payback for Franco-Prussian humiliation and for the war, which was fought mostly on French soil; British – to keep Germany in check.

Doc 5 Political cartoon lampooning the effectiveness of the League of Nations.  Without the Americans, the League had no effective military or political strength.  While it accomplished much against slavery and disease, it did nothing to prevent international strife in the name of nationalism or imperialism.  POV – Punch is a satirical British magazine poking fun at any and all absurdities in both international and national affairs.  Note – the rabbit is using the snake’s “technique”; also that the rabbit is “dressed up” for dinner.

Doc 6 T.S. Eliot, a British poet – one of a new breed of artistic figures breaking new ground.  His use of imagery and metaphor and historical references earns him a Nobel prize in literature.  Perhaps Eliot’s most famous work, this controversial poem details the journey of the human soul searching for redemption. The Waste Land is known not only for its probing subject matter but also its radical departure from traditional poetic style and structure incorporating historical and literary allusions as well as unconventional use of language.  POV – Eliot was born American, but became a British citizen.  He lived in London during the war and witnessed both its savagery and its aftermath. 

Doc 7 Washington Naval Treaty – signed by the major powers, it was an attempt to limit the size of national navies.  It was a disappointing affair for the Japanese who were deemed lesser powers.  POV – attempt at arms reduction in a spirit of peace; Japan – did not like the treaty and openly abrogated it later.  Note that neither Germany nor Russia is a signatory

Doc 8 Sketch by Rosenberg, a bankruptcy lawyer in Manhattan who witnessed the event, depicting the Wall Street crash of 1929.  It is done in a modernist, expressionist mode; note the crows which look like warplanes, the “earthquake” depiction of the event, the jumping bodies, panic and an almost deathlike crowd (some look like The Scream); lightning strikes, broken church – no faith?; The Great Depression will spread across the globe causing widespread poverty, unemployment and discontent; POV – artist, exaggerating the event to make it look worse than it was?  Note the title – Days of Wrath – indication of God-like anger at wealth – maybe a socialist?

Doc 9 Mussolini – written 10 years after assuming power.  Apologia for fascism.  Note the extreme nationalist viewpoint.  Mussolini – who got his ideas from many sources to include early communists and socialists in Germany and from Lenin in Russia created the first “fascist” state.  Although admired at first, his regime’s brutality and utter contempt for individual rights quickly alarmed the more democratic French, British and Americans.  POV – secure in his power, Mussolini is using his own media platform to justify his actions

Doc 10 Japanese booklet for children produced in 1938.  Note that this is before Japanese imperialistic designs were clearly evident in places other than China.  Careful examination shows native peoples welcoming the Japanese as if freeing them from Western control – and the destruction of British and American forces.  Chamberlain and Roosevelt look sadly and confusedly from the corners.  POV -  Propaganda, Japanese indoctrination of children - maybe also teachers, parents, and perhaps other people in the region; obvious nationalism and imperialistic designs

Doc 11 Painting by Picasso – Guernica; his subject is the village of Guernica which was used by German and Italian warplanes to test new bombs and tactics.  About 1600 civilians died in the unprovoked attack.  POV – Picasso was disgusted with the Spanish Civil War and especially Franco.  Anti-war.

Doc 12 Munich Agreement – British and French appease Hitler by giving him the Sudetenland.  Hailed as peacemakers, the British and French ministers are soon assailed as Hitler abrogates the agreement and invades all of Czechoslovakia.  POV – Appeasement; desperate to avoid war; note that Czechoslovakia is not a signatory.

Possible Groupings:

Docs 1, 3, 6, 7 ,11 – anti war

Docs 1, 2, 6, 8, 11 – pathos, anxiety of the age

Docs 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12 – all indications of war or inability to politically control war

Docs 3, 4, 5, 7, 12 – international  agreements – all of which fail

Docs 3, 4, 5 – all dealing with Treaty of Versailles

Possible Thesis:

     World War One had tremendous political, economic, and cultural impacts on the entire world.  There were, however, many other events between 1919 and 1939 that led to the anxiety of the time and that directly or indirectly contributed to the inevitability of World War Two.  These included the failure of the Treaty of Versailles to provide for an effective peace, the Great Depression, and the failure of international diplomacy outside of the League of Nations to impede designs on extreme nationalism or imperialism.  The art of this time poignantly reflects these failures and the pathos of the interwar years.  When we combine the events and historical evidence of the period a discernable pattern develops that supports the historians contention that this was truly an “Age of Anxiety”.

Basic

Has acceptable thesis.  The thesis must be explicit and based on the documents.  1 Point    _____

Understands the basic meaning of documents. 1 Point    _____

Supports thesis with appropriate evidence from all or all but two of the documents.   

2 Points          _____           

Analyzes point of view or bias in at least two documents.  Must show point of view in at

 least two documents by: 1 Point    _____

• Relating the author’s point of view to the author’s civilization or time OR
• Assessing the reliability of the source OR
• Recognizing that different kinds of documents serve different purposes OR
• Analyzing tone or intent of documents

Analyzes and synthesizes documents by grouping them in at least two or three ways.  

2 Point    _____

Here students must make comparisons with an appropriate grouping and/or interpretation of the

documents.  Students must use the documents to support the arguments for comparison.

Some general groupings:

• Economic
• Cultural
• League of Nations

Subtotal           7possible                  ______

 Expanded

Expands beyond basic core of 1 – 7 points.  A student must earn 7 points in the                     0 – 2 Points basic area before earning points in the expanded core area.

Examples:

• Has a clear, analytical and comprehensive thesis
• Shows careful and insightful analysis of the documents
• Uses documents persuasively as evidence
• Analyzes point of view in most or all documents
• Analyzes the documents in additional ways – groupings, comparisons, synthesis
• Brings in relevant “outside” historical content
• Explains why additional types of document(s) or sources are needed

Expanded                                                                                                             2 Possible            _______

Total:                                                                                                                                                    _______