1924

The year in brief

In January 1924 Lenin died, and a struggle for power began in the party. In February the first Labour government recognised the Soviet Union de jure, and Britain became the first of the victorious powers to break Moscow’s isolation. On 1 April a Munich court sentenced Hitler for the putsch to five years’ fortress confinement, the lightest possible sentence; by December he was free. In Italy Mussolini’s list won an election held amid violence and fraud, and in June a Fascist squad abducted and killed the socialist Giacomo Matteotti. Mussolini ended the crisis caused by the crime with a dictatorship. In August the Dawes Plan was adopted in London: it spread German reparations over instalments and gave Germany a loan, and the French began gradually withdrawing their troops from the Ruhr.