The Great Depression and the Causes of World War II

1. The Great Depression and the Causes of World War II 1929-1939

2. Objective • To understand the causes of the Great Depression • To understand the effects of the Great Depression • To understand how each country reacted to the Great Depression • To understand how Adolf Hitler came to power • To understand the causes of World War II

3. The Great Depression • The 1920s were a period of economic prosperity • In Europe and the United States • Role of US • Fragile prosperity

4. “Dude, where’s my car?”

5. American Economic Expansion during the 1920s

6. Consumer Debt in the 1920s

7. The Crash of 1929 • Major selling of stocks in Wall Street • Stock Market crash in Wall Street October 29, 1929

8. The Great Depression • Massive shutdown of businesses • Massive global unemployment in US, Europe, and elsewhere • Economic collapse threatened payments of reparations

9. The Great Depression • Britain • Coalition government formed • 2.5 million unemployed by 1931 • Abandons the gold standard • Raises tariffs

10. The Great Depression • France • Affected France in 1931 • Social and Political Paralysis

11. The Great Depression • The United States • Expanded role of federal government • The New Deal under Franklin Roosevelt

12. The Great Depression in the US and Europe

13. The Great Depression

14. Germany • Depression weakened support for the Weimar Republic • Torn between Communists and Nazis

15. Germany • 1932 Elections held in 1932 • Hitler appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933

16. Germany • Hitler consolidates his power in 1933 • Reichstag fire, February 27, 1933 • Enabling Act passed March 23, 1933

17. Nazi Rally

18. Germany • Hitler eliminates internal competition • “Night of the Long Knives” • Hitler becomes both President and Chancellor on August 2, 1934

19. Germany • Hitler and Anti-Semitism • “Stab in the Back Theory” • Nuremberg laws (1935)

20. Germany • Hitler’s Economic Policies • Tax breaks for families • Heavy government spending on public works to eliminate unemployment

21. Italy • Mussolini and Fascists take over Italy in 1922 • One-party state • Fascists made deal with big business • Signs agreement with the Vatican in 1929

22. Soviet Union • Centralized Planning • Stalin takes over Soviet Union after Lenin’s Death • New Economic Policy discarded • Heavy industrialization begins • Collectivization of agriculture

23. “Let’s all get to work, Comrades!”

24. Soviet Union • Stalin’s Purges (1936-38) • Stalin eliminates potential rivals • Millions of people arrested, deported, executed, or disappeared

25. Causes of World War II • Hitler begins to scrap Versailles after 1933 • Rearms Germany past limits permitted by Versailles • Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland in 1935

26. Critics of Appeasement

27. Causes of World War II • Appeasement • British came to the conclusion that Treaty of Versailles was unfair • France goes along with Britain

28. Causes of World War II • Hitler redraws Germany’s borders • Austria (1938) • Czechoslovakia

30. German Takeover of Austria

31. Causes of World War II • Munich Conference • Sudetenland Question • British Prime Minister Chamberlain agrees to let Hitler have Sudetenland

32. “I have brought peace for our time.” • British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returning from the Munich Conference in 1938

33. Causes of World War II • Hitler breaks his promise • Hitler sets his sights on Poland

34. Hitler and Mussolini

35. Conclusion • The Great Depression affects Europe and the United States • The Great Depression causes countries to look at other alternatives • The Great Depression leads to rise of Hitler and the Nazis • Hitler scrapped the Treaty of Versailles • British appease Hitler in hopes of getting him to cooperate • Hitler breaks his promises and begins World War II