1 / 12

Vocabulary

Vocabulary. Weimer Republic- Germany’s democratic government that was established after WWI. Inflation- When the value of a currency decreases. Black Tuesday- Oct 29, 1929, the day the NY Stock Exchange crashed. Warm Up. What were some of the problems with the Treaty of Versailles?.

tillie
Download Presentation

Vocabulary

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Vocabulary Weimer Republic- Germany’s democratic government that was established after WWI. Inflation- When the value of a currency decreases. Black Tuesday- Oct 29, 1929, the day the NY Stock Exchange crashed.

  2. Warm Up What were some of the problems with the Treaty of Versailles?

  3. The Great Depression

  4. Setting the Stage After WWI, European Nations were rebuilding their war-torn economies. Only the United States and Japan had come out in better financial shape. The United States offered loans and aid to the war-torn countries of Europe.

  5. Postwar Europe • New Governments • From 1914-1918, Europe’s last absolute rulers were abolished. • They were replaced with Democracies • These democracies functioned as Multi-Party Systems • This made it difficult to solve problems • Voters instead turned to Dictatorships

  6. The Weimer Republic • Germany’s new Democratic Gov’t • Many weaknesses • Lacked strong democratic tradition • Many political parties • Blamed for defeat in WWI and Versailles Treaty • Inflation • Value of German currency plummeted

  7. The Great Depression • Causes: • Uneven distribution of wealth • Working class Americans could not afford to buy goods being produced • Unable to sell goods, store owners cut back on orders • Factories laid off workers • Cause economic spiral downward • Overproduction of agriculture • Technology increased crop yields driving profits and prices down • Farmers couldn’t pay off their loans forcing banks to close

  8. Stock Market Crash • In 1929, Wall Street was the financial capital of the world • U.S. Economy was booming sending stock prices soaring • Many people bought stocks on margin (only paying for % of stock) • Worked if prices kept rising • Sept. 1929 investors thought prices were too high and began to sell stock • By Oct 24th, panic resulted, everyone wanted to sell stock and nobody wanted to buy. • “Black Tuesday” Oct. 29, 1929 The Market Collapsed

  9. The result was the collapse of the American Economy • Thousands of businesses failed and banks closed • People lost their life savings because banks had no money • Stocks bought at high prices were now worthless • By 1933, ¼ of Americans were unemployed

  10. Global Depression • Investors withdrew their money from Europe • Worldwide trade came to a halt because of high import tariffs • Countries who depended on the U.S. for loans were particularly hard hit • Germany

  11. Challenges for Democracies • The Depression confronts democracies with serious challenges • Britain, France and the United States were able to create programs that slowly helped improve the economy • Other countries however, turned to an extreme form of government called Fascism

  12. Reflection Why were democracies unable to solve the economic and political problems? What was Germany’s gov’t called and what problems did it face? What were the 3 main causes of the Great Depression? Why was the United States so important to the worldwide economy?

More Related