post-wwi: an age of uncertainty

Post-WWI:An Age Of Uncertainty Honors World Studies 2011 - 2012

Changing Viewpoints

• In reaction to WWI, people looked at the world differently

• Albert Einstein created his theory of relativity which changed accepted laws of motion and gravity.

New Beliefs

• WWI caused many new beliefs – Existentialists– Friedrich Nietzsche –Dadaism and surrealism – Jazz soon spread throughout the world. – Young people broke with past values–Women • Working outside the home• earned suffrage • New dress style flappers

New Inventions

• Technological advancements improved transportation– The automobile– Air travel • Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart

• More leisure time/ popular culture– radio –Movies / Charlie Chaplin. – Large sporting events / Babe Ruth

A Global Depression

• In October 1929, the US stock market crashed leading to the Great Depression, which caused businesses to fail and banks to close • The collapse of the US economy soon

spread around the world • Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program

started economic recovery in the US.

Problems Caused by the Great Depression

• U.S. stock market crashed and businesses failed• Widespread unemployment and hunger resulted• Unpaid debts caused banks to close• Industrial production fell and U.S. economy

collapsed• World War I left many counties bankrupt or with

huge debts• International trade suffered• Need for strong, effective leadership felt

How did worldwide leaders react?

Western Democracies• Avoided political extremes, but many

economic measures required centralized control rather than local action

• Regulated stock market and banking system

• Passed social reforms such as unemployment insurance, housing subsidies, and welfare benefits

• Increased taxes to pay for these social reforms

• Created huge public works projects to provide jobs

Fascism or Nazism• Ruled by a charismatic leader through a

one-party system• Urged public sacrifices to cure

economic woes• Centralized government authority over

business and labor through state corporations that set wages, prices, and labor conditions

• Saw foreign expansion and militarism as primary solution to economic problems

• Employed workers to build factories, highways, and weapons and to serve in the military