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Chapters 30-31: The Great Depression, World War II, and Decolonization. AP World History Mr. Bartula. The 1920s: Temporary Prosperity. Optimism and prosperity in the 1920s led many to hope that large scale conflict could be avoided.
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Chapters 30-31: The Great Depression, World War II, and Decolonization AP World History Mr. Bartula
The 1920s: Temporary Prosperity • Optimism and prosperity in the 1920s led many to hope that large scale conflict could be avoided. • This hope ended abruptly in October, 1929, with the onset of the Great Depression.
The Great Depression’s Causes • After effects of World War I • Overproduction • Tariffs and other trade barriers • Stock market crash • Bank failures in the US and other countries
Responses to the Great Depression • The enormous economic decline led many western governments to take greater control over their nation’s economies. • Many saw the Depression as evidence that democratic governments and capitalism were incapable of solving problems or meeting the needs of modern society.
US reaction to the Depression • Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt the US enacted a reform program known as the New Deal. • The New Deal expanded government powers and regulated the US economy more closely than ever before. • Programs such as Social Security were designed to help Americans through the worst effects of the Great Depression and, it was hoped, prevent another.
Western European Reactions • Social Democratic governments were elected in Scandinavia. They were socialist but democratic. • In England, the Labour Party took power • France’s government was led by the Popular Front, a mixture of socialist and moderate parties. • These governments attempted to help end the Depression by taking more power over their economies
The Soviet Union • Because its economy was independent and did not depend on external trade, the Soviet Union had few economic troubles during the 1930s. • Joseph Stalin boasted that this demonstrated the superiority of socialism over capitalism, and some Westerners agreed. • Stalin’s Five Year Plans and focus on heavy industry and militarization made the Soviet Union a powerful force.
Japan • Japan had fought on the Allied side during World War I, but was disappointed with its treatment by the other powers afterwards. • By the 1930s, military leaders or warlords had taken power. • Japan began to construct the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, promising “Asia for the Asiatics.”
Germany • After World War I Germany’s economy was devastated, its territory shrunken, and its military force depleted. • Many Germans felt their country had been badly treated by the Treaty of Versailles, and were eager for revenge. • The Great Depression made Germany’s situation worse, and many Germans looked to new leadership.
The “Stabbed-in-the-Back” Theory Disgruntled German WWI veterans
Adolf Hitler • Born 1889, Austria • Obsessed with German racial superiority • Anti-Semitic • World War I veteran, took leadership of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi) in early 1920s • Attempted to seize power in 1923, but was imprisoned. • Wrote Mein Kampf • Appointed Chancellor after Nazis won the German elections in January, 1933.
The Third Reich • By 1934 Hitler had taken total power and become Der Fuhrer, or “The Leader” of Germany • He began to remilitarize Germany in defiance of the Versailles Treaty. • Anti-Semitic Decrees first separated the Jews from the Germans, then began to limit their rights, eventually leading to the Holocaust.
The Road to World War II • Many point to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in Northern China in 1931 as the true beginning of World War II. • During the 1930s, Mussolini’s Italy invaded and conquered Ethiopia, Japan continued to invade and conquer China, and Germany made aggressive moves towards war • The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1938 was another omen of greater conflicts to come.
Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.
Rome-Berlin Axis, 1939 The “Pact of Steel”
The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939 Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop & Molotov
Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939 Blitzkrieg [“Lightning War”]
Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941 A date which will live in infamy!
The Italian Campaign [“Operation Torch”]:Europe’s “Soft Underbelly” • Allies plan assault on weakest Axis area - North Africa - Nov. 1942-May 1943 • George S. Patton leads American troops • Germans trapped in Tunisia - surrender over 275,000 troops.
