From Reign Of Terror

The Interwar period of RoT is generally considered to last until the Russian Civil War in 1926. The events preceding that are divided to several subcategories.

Contents 1 1917-1920: Immediate Reactions 1.1 1917 1.2 1918 1.3 1919 1.4 1920 2 1921-1924: The storm rises 2.1 1921 2.2 1922 2.3 1923 2.4 1924 3 1925-1926: The World Trembles 3.1 1925 3.2 1926

[edit] 1917-1920: Immediate Reactions

[edit] 1917

• December: Unhappy workers try to attack several members of the new Weimar Republic government. This quickly results in a nationwide rebellion, which was supposed to topple the government within weeks. Anarchists and followers of the socialist theories rose up, and so the Bavarian Socialist Republic and German Anarchists started to fight the government.

[edit] 1918

• The first year of peace passed by. Armed forces started to demobilize, and internal problems were focused on. Overall, there is no real victor in this war, as every nation suffered damage to their economy. Debts and deficits cause recession Europe-wide.
• Weimar army captures Munich in the autumn. The German revolution is coming to a close.
• Anarchists of the United States send several mail bombs and carry out other bombing strikes in April-June 1919.
• The Palmer raids begin: the U.S department of justice carry out attempts to arrest and deport several radical leftists, especially anarchists. The raids aren't as successful and the Dep. of Justice had hoped, and only increased the anarchists' will to fight.
• The revolution finally comes to an end in November. Anarchists and socialists escape to Russia, where they will later play a role in the political movements there.

[edit] 1919

• The Tragic Week: A small strike at a metal work quickly escalated into a nation-wide rebellion. During this, the Argentine Patriotic League emerged, and started to attack on the Jews and Catalans of Argentina. They claimed that the Catalans were anarchists and the Jews were bolsheviks. The President of Argentina declared a state of emergency, but the Patriotic League quickly, together with disloyal members of the current government party (Radical Civic Union), turned their heads and targeted the government. The Tragic Week, which eventually lasted for two weeks (the strike to rebellions phase lasting one week, and the coup to militarist government another week), and the Patriotic League and the disloyal Civic Unionists seized the power in Argentina.
• The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 results in Great Britain granting independence to Egypt. Great Britain refused to give up control of Suez canal or to recognize the new nation.
• In March, a general strike begins in Ruhr. German economy cannot sustain the war reparations. Fortunately the strike didn't escalate, and things were brought back under control.
• Strikes also occur in the United States. Some americans had expected the worst, an anarchist overtaking of the government. Things were brought back under control, although the fact that prohibition law will come to effect in a matter of months keeps the society on its toes.

[edit] 1920

• The League of Nations is doing its work: Spitsbergen is officially given to Norway.
• The Government of Ireland Act is presented in the British parliament. The idea of releasing Ireland as a political entity didn't gain much popularity, especially when the current internal situation was uncertain. Some members of the parliament continued to resist the act even years later.
• The Irish guerrillas fight for their independence.
• A referendum is held in Switzerland. Switzerland becomes a member of the League of Nations.
• The Mexican Revolutions ends, the revolutionaries are victorious.
• Italian anarchists cause the Wall Street Bombing in September.
• In October, thousands of unemployed people demonstrate in London, over a hundred are injured.
• The Irish Republican Army attacks British agents and British troops retaliate elsewhere in what became later known as the Bloody Sunday.

[edit] 1921-1924: The storm rises

[edit] 1921

• The Integralist Party of Italy is formed. The integralists feel that Italy utterly failed in the Great War and want to install a more powerful government.
• Rising tensions in Russia can be seen: anarchists rise up to revolt in Kronstadt, but the rebellion is put down. Anarchists hide in other parts of the country, such as Ukraine and Belarus.
• Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the President of the United States. His government aims to bring stability back and crack down anarchist movements.
• An anarchist strike occurs in Norway.

[edit] 1922

• The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt.
• The Washington Naval Treaty is signed; many great powers agree to disarm some of their warships.
• Minor border incidents occur in the Turkish-Greek border.
• Hungary joins the League of Nations
• Mussolini and his blackshirts march to Rome. However, the leftist parties had managed to organize an anti-fascist strike in Rome, and the march culminated in an all-out battle in the streets of Rome. The battle finally ended when the Italian army was summoned: several divisions from the nearby cities were brough to restore control. Mussolini and several other strong members of the party were arrested.
• With a huge defeat in their attempts to seize power and the loss of their leader, the Italian Fascist Party slowly starts to diminish.

[edit] 1923

• British colonial expansion: Britain attacks and annexes Libya.
• Lithuania attempts to revolt, but they are quickly defeated by the Russian armies. Internal problems are rising in Russia.
• Munich Beer Hall Putsch: Hitler and other members of the NSDAP storm a beer hall in Munich, attempting to seize power and eventually depose the government of Germany. The next day, the police and army rush to the place to stop the unrest. The Nazis, the police and the army started to exchange shots, and in the battle, Hitler as well as Hermann Göring were both hit and died later.
• Inflation in Germany reaches its heigh, and one U.S dollar is equivalent of 4.2 trillion Papiermark.
• Police strike in Australia.

[edit] 1924

• Socialists win the general elections of Italy, as the fascists lost a lot of support in their march.
• Remaining fascists and their supporters kidnap Italian socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti and kill him.
• Fascists, who are in dire need for allies, ally with their former rivals, the Unione Sindacale Italiana, an anarcho-syndicalist party.
• In July, the fascist-anarchist alliance start to seize the power in major cities all around Italy: the Italian Civil War has begun.
• Naples, Milan and Sicily are in the Anarcho-Fascist hands.
• Anarcho-Fascists and Socialists are almost equal in numbers; however, most of the population seems to be aligned towards the fascists.

[edit] 1925-1926: The World Trembles

[edit] 1925

• The first decisive battle of the Italian civil war is fought near Parma: Socialists defend the city successfully and the anarcho-fascists suffer moderate casualties.
• Strikes in Austria.
• Arab revolts start in the Levant area. Syrian nationalists fight against the weak Ottoman garrison there.
• The arab revolt of Syria quickly escalated into a larger revolt: Iraq, Hejaz and Nejd also start fighting for their independence.
• Greek government can sense a good moment to intervene, and they declare war on the Ottomans in late October, claiming that many Greek-populated areas still remain in Ottoman hands.
• Anarcho-Fascists in Italy capture Genoa but loses Naples.
• Within a month of the Greek declaration of war, Bulgaria also declares war on the surprisingly incompetent Ottomans.
• Progress of the war is slow: Greece is constantly engaged in naval battles and the Ottomans' retaliatory capabilities are low due to Middle Eastern revolts.
• French people demand that France does something to make the Germans pay their reparations. French government tries to calm them down, but the protests quickly escalate to strikes around the country.

[edit] 1926

• All hell breaks loose in Russia. Nestor Makhno has gained support, and his followers are now over 300,000 in numbers. Makhno and his "Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army" as he calls it, marches to Kiev and proclaims the birth of Anarchist Ukraine.
• Russian army is sent to deal with Makhno and his army. However, some of the army's soldiers are also Ukrainian, and the army is demoralized. Thus they fail to depose Makhno, and suffer heavy casualties.
• Anarcho-Fascist troops in Italy reach Florence, but are losing ground in the south.
• Syria defeats the Ottoman troops in the decisive battle of Deir es Zor.
• Greece reaches Aleksandroupoli. Bulgarian troops also reach the sea, after almost a decade without sea access.
• Ottomans successfully land in Cyprus, which they had given to Greece in the peace treaty of 1917.
• Inspired by the success of Makhno, Bolsheviks and radical socialists pull off a coup in St. Petersburg. The Russian Civil War begins.
• The Anarchist and Bolshevik revolts spread: The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic and the Mountainous Republic of Northern Caucasus are formed and sign an alliance to fight the common enemy.
• France and Great Britain send support to Russia.
• Ottomans, who have realized their hopeless situation, asks for peace with Bulgaria and Greece. Both of these countries accept, with territorial concessions from Ottoman europe.
• Later in that year, several other nations, such as Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania declare independence.
• The final nation to declare independence is Finland, who declares herself free on the 6th of December. During the long period, Finnish nationalism had spread further to Karelia, and the Finnish population there joined the newly established state.
• In the middle of all this chaos, the League of Nations seems unable to do anything. Some member nations recognize some of the newly created states, such as the Baltic states, Poland and Finland.