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TheGreat Depression. BONUS MARCH. THREE STOOGES. SHIRLEY TEMPLE. WIZARD OF OZ. ALICE IN THE WONDERLAND. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. SUPERMAN. CHARLIE CHAPMAN. SLAPTICK COMEDY. MARX’S BROTHERS. Chapter 17: The West Between the Wars 1919 – 1939.
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CHARLIE CHAPMAN SLAPTICK COMEDY
Section 1: The Futile Search for Stability A. Uneasy Peace, Uncertain Security: Peace Settlements at the end of WWI created border disputes among new nations and left many Germans determined to change the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. - A Weak League of Nations: President Wilson had hoped that the League of Nations could solve many of the new conflicts, but the league was not able to maintain peace. Reasons why the League of Nations was unsuccessful: The United States never ratifies the Treaty of Versailles and therefore did not become a member of the League of Nations, 2. League of Nations had no way to use military force and had to rely on economic sanctions to stop aggression
- French Demands: • The French demanded that the Treaty of Versailles be strictly enforced; held a tough policy over the issue of reparations • By 1922, Germans announced they could no longer pay back the 33 billion dollars due to economic problems, therefore the French army occupied the Rhur Valley, an industrial and mining center; the French took reparations by operating German industries themselves
- Inflation in Germany: • In response to the French, German workers went on strike; eventually the government paid them by printing more money; this devalued the German currency and caused inflation to go up; Result: German mark became worthless • Huge inflation meant the Germans suffered terribly; led to political unrest therefore an international commission stepped in to help; Result: The Dawes Plan – it reduced reparation payments and coordinated Germany’s payments with what they could afford; the plan also loaned Germany 200 million and led to heavy American investments from 1924-1929
B. The Great Depression: • - Causes of the Depression: • Two main causes: 1. downturn in the economies of nations during the second half of the 1920s; characteristics -overproduction and unemployment 2. collapse of the U.S. stock market in 1929 • Germany had been borrowing money from U.S. banks to pay reparation payments, after the crash, American investors pulled their money out of Germany; this weakened all European countries
Responses to the Depression: • Governments mismanaged the depression; they lower wages and raise tariffs on foreign goods • U.S. government becomes more involved in business despite their laissez-faire tradition and Communism and Marxist ideas become more popular • Depression leads many people to follow political leaders who proposed simple solutions in return for complete power – democratic governments were challenged everywhere
