The Interwar Period and the Great Depression

1920s and 1930s

Consequences of WWI – Make Germany Pay!

Versailles Peace Settlement infuriated Germany, demanded huge reparations, disarmamentAustro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire and Czarist Russia are gone.New CountriesLeague of Nations, minus the U.S.Psychological effects – Lost generation – over 10M dead

Interwar in the West

Britain and U.S. – isolationismU.S. refuses to join the League of NationsU.S. economy is rising. It is Europe’s biggest creditor.Most of the European countries are experiencing horrible economic problems.Germany economically suffered horribly in the war and afterwards

Germany $$$$$$$$France insisted on war reparations of about $13,000,000.On top of the $37B Germany lost during the war ruins Germany’s economy and sinks it into a depression.German Weimar government is blamed and takes the brunt of the German public’s anger.In 1922 Germany defaults on part of this payment.Germany’s industrial sector is frozen.

Better to burn the mark than spend it!

Russia under Stalin

Lenin dies 1924 causing a power struggle that Stalin wins.Stalin’s 5-year plans move to industrialize the Soviet UnionPurges of the 1930s

The Jazz Age – The Roaring 20s – The United States

Social changesLiberated social moresWomen’s franchiseRadical changes in fashion, music and acceptable behaviorDARK SIDE: pessimism – particularly in art and intellectual thinkingProblems in agriculture even before the stock market crash of 1929

Prohibition – The United States

Women led-temperance movementOutlawed alcohol after WWIHelped organized crimeAdded to the risqué gaietySpeakeasies

Speakeasies

The U.S. Great DepressionStarted with the U.S. stock market crash of 1929Oct. 24, 1929. Over 12 million stocks changed hands.Black Tuesday – Oct. 29, 1929 – over 16 million stocks traded.Effect on Europe:

Remember the U.S. was the creditor to most of economically unstable Europe.Massive political unrest

In the 1930s in Germany, many people starved to

death, like this little boy in the picture below.

Political Responses

Democratic framework – New Deal in US, Labor Party in Great Britain.Communism – occurred in many European parties. Looked to Soviet Union as an example. USSR seemed unaffected by the Depression.Fascism – new movement. Appeared in Italy in the 1920. State above private interest. Marital agenda.

Readings

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