The Great Depression and the Authoritarian Response

1. The Great Depression and the Authoritarian Response

2. Long-Term Causes of the Great Depression • WWI led to war-induced inflation • 1920-1921 Brief Recession • Structural problems with agricultural (farmers couldn’t repay debts they took out for machinery) • Dependent economies (non-core nations) fell into trouble • Poor government leadership including protectionism

3. GERMANY UNDER THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC (1919-1933)  • Germans didn't like the Weimar government and blamed them for signing the Treaty of Versailles • Germany had very high inflation because of two things: • they didn't raise taxes during the war • they printed a ton of money after the war • Money becomes worthless in Germany (a loaf of bread cost 2 billion marks by 1923)

4. HELPING GERMANY • Dawes Plan-  American aid to Germany that helps economy recover • By 1929 German factories are producing pre-war quotas • 1925 Germany allowed to join the League of Nations • Kellogg-Briand act in 1928 tries to outlaw war forever

5. The Great Depression • October 1929 NY Stock market crashed • Led to investments being pulled back • Led to bank failures • Led to U.S Loans being called back

6. Effects of the Crash • Industrial production worldwide fell • Social ills led to questioning liberal democracy as a form of government • many citizens didn't have experience with democracy so there were frequent changes in government • This leads to weak governments and a slow rise in totalitarian leadership • Soviet Union largely untouched because it was cut off from the global market • Japan severely affected because of dependence on exports and low demand for main export of silk (down 50%) • L. America- led to new state involvement in economy

7. Responses in Western Europe • First reaction- close and protect, cut down spending-exacerbated situation • Political polarization, as liberal governments appear too weak to solve problems • Parliamentary system became ineffective or overturned • Government help in Scandanavian countries

8. U.S. • Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal offered more direct aid to citizens, put people back to work on infrastructure projects and established systems like Social Security • As a result, the U.S. did not experience extreme political movements

9. Nazism and Fascism • Advocates of fascism attacked weakness of parliamentary democracy and corruption and class conflict of western capitalism • Fascists promised a strong leader and military policy and social reform to alleviate class distinctions • Hitler led the National Socialist (Nazi) party, which promised a return to Germany’s greatness • 1932 Nazi party won seats in parliament • Once in power quickly turned into a totalitarian state that wanted to extend the empire • Gestapo- secret police arrested political opponents • Hatred of Jews, whom he blamed for personal misfortunes and the rise of socialism and excessive capitalism

10. German Expansion and the Policy of Appeasement • 1935 Rearmament • 1938 Anschluss (union with Austria) • Appeasement (Chamberlin allowed him to occupy the Sudetenland to avoid another war) • Sep. 1939 invaded Poland and began World War 2 • Agreement with Russia to invade Poland (Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty) already in place

11. Spread of Fascism and Spanish Civil War • Nazi triumph led to fascist regimes elsewhere (Hungary, Romania, Austria, Italy) • Benito Mussolini in Italy 1935 attack on Ethiopia to avenge colonial loss earlier • No outside power stopped Mussolini and Ethiopia became a colony • 1936-1939 civil war in Spain • Gen. Franco (fascist dictator backed by Hitler and other European fascists) emerged as leader for next 25 years

12. Latin America Before the Great Depression • Import substitution industrialization during WWI caused spurt in economic growth but after WW1 wages declined which led to social unrest • Population growth and urban growth caused social problems • New pol. Parties attacked liberalism and capitalism

13. Labor and the Middle Class • With industrialization there is a rise of middle class, who demanded more political rights and the traditional land owning elite were open to giving them some power • 1914-1930 series of general strikes and labor unrest • Sometimes this led to brutal government repression • Growing class conflict taking shape

14. Ideology and Social Reform • Middle class emerged but only with the power of the military • Intellectuals complained that L. America was headed nowhere • Alternative political parties such as socialists and communists arose (esp. after the Russian Revolution)

15. Great Crash in L. America • Dependent economies crashed and gave rise to corporatism, which aimed at curbing capitalism but not going to Marxism • 1930s regimes concerned with social problems • Lazaro Cardenas (Mexico 1934-40) enacted large scale land reform and educational reform some of the revolutionary promises were delivered

16. Vargas Regime in Brazil • Brazilian economy, dependent on coffee exports, collapsed • 1929 contested election led to civil war • Getulio Vargas emerged as president and launched a new centralized political program imprisoning opposition groups like communists • Staved off two attempted coups • 1937 new constitution based on Mussolini’s ideas • 1954 committed suicide

17. Argentina: Populism, Peron, and the Military • Middle class radical party fell in 1929, which lead to a military coup • Military coup failed • Increase in industry led to increase in workers and development in1940s of two labor federations • 1943 military coup- nationalists wanted to industrialize and modernize Argentina • Juan Peron and wife Evita come to power and ruled in alliance with workers, industrialists, and nationalists

18. Militarization in Japan • Military already in power when Depression hits • 1931 depression but actively responded to the Depression, so suffered much less • Mass patriotism, new policies • 1936 attempted coup led to series of militaristic prime ministers • 1937 Japan had the 3rd largest and newest merchant marine in the world • 1938- Japan ready for wider conquest

19. Stalinism in the Soviet Union • 1927 acquires full power (after death of Lenin in 1924) • Collectivization in 1928 offered opportunity to mechanize farming and control peasantry • Kulaks (wealthy peasants) killed or deported in 1930s • Five-year plans for industrializing (focused on heavy industry) led to huge increase in output • Move to cities • Factory workers somewhat appeased

20. Totalitarian Rule • New control over intellectual life • Socialist realism as art • Police procedures changed • Famine in Ukraine killed upwards of 7 million • Great purge 1937-1938 where over a million were killed • Failed foreign policy because he got rid of key military officials

21. Socialist Realism