Ap World History Dbq

After World War I, European countries were devastated. Europeans were disappointed in their old governments; they felt that they had failed them by causing the war and catapulting them into a depression. Destroyed, they turned away from democratic governments and supported communism and fascism simply to avoid democracy. Others were intellectually lost and desperate for leadership. The government encouraged the people’s support by instilling irrational fears amongst their citizens and promising to free them from it. Once the governments had gained support, people began to see the power that their authoritarian governments had gained. Their desire to have a strong and united nation took control and the motivation to support an authoritarian
German revolutionaries published the Spartacist Manifesto in which they put down the democratic Germany. They wrote about the “beast of capital,” democracy, which caused the war; they held the government responsible. Furthermore, they believed that the government could not fix what it caused. They felt that the government was unable to restore order, feed their people, insure laws, and give jobs to the country it has destroyed. They wanted a new government to replace the failing one; they recognized that democracy had failed them and they turned to fascism. (Document 1) A Hungarian born British author, Kostier, agreed and said that people were disappointed by democracy and its effect on economy and wanted to avoid it. In order to escape, they ran to the opposite extremes: fascism and communism. Though they may not have necessarily agreed with every aspect, their goal was to rebel against democracy. Those who decided to become extreme leftists became communists; those who became extreme right wing became fascists. It all centered from a hate and a desire to rebel against the existing government. Europeans supported authoritarian governments just to avoid democracy. (Document