Age Of Anxiety Dbq Essay

In June of 1924, the four-year terror of WWI began, a period of time marked by trench warfare, new Maxim guns, and the aimless massacre of millions. Sparked by deep tensions around the world, the war was fought between two main sides: the Allies and the Central Powers. After years of stalemate, a series of events, including the Russian Revolution and entrance of America into the war, finally brought the genocide to a stop. The Treaty of Versailles was passed, and countries set their eyes on rebuilding- unaware of new issues caused by the war that had just concluded. Moreover, although the Central Powers had finally been subdued by the Allies, “The Age of Anxiety” is a fitting title for the period that followed, which was marked by the global

Soon after the Treaty of Versailles’ ratification, Hitler unified Germany by scapegoating Jews and “liberal traitors”, radicalized a new Nazi nationalism, and used anger towards the Treaty of Versailles as a platform to create “justified” conflicts with other nations. Meanwhile, over in Japan, increased propaganda directed at youth, such as the Japanese booklet in Doc. J, ridiculed Western leaders (creating tension) and glorified Japan’s taking over of surrounding land in an attempt to foster Japanese pride, a behavior that would prove to effectively intimidate the Western powers. Similarly, in America, new pride as the world’s “best hope” for mankind (Doc. C) led to a national sense of American “superiority”, which isolated it from the rest of the world while granting further unification. Finally, in Italy, Mussolini united his people under a new doctrine of Fascism, which attacked all forms of communism, socialism, and capitalism. As seen in the unification of the aforementioned countries, nationalism always leads to some form of international tension. Most particular to this time, absence of an international body capable of lessening the tension practically made World War II inescapable. As shown by the League of Nations’ powerless depiction as a rabbit (Doc. E) in the face of international strife and as evidenced by the un-intervened nature of the chaotic Spanish Civil War (Doc. K), the world anxiously recognized during this time that WWII would be right around the