Chapter 16.2
THE WESTERN DEMOCRACIES STUMBLE

1919- The Western governments (Britain,
France, United States) look powerful
 Ruled
Paris Peace Conference
 Hopes for democracy among new nations in
Eastern Europe

Problems beneath the surface
PARTY STRUGGLES IN BRITAIN

The Labor Party surpasses the Liberal Party
 Labor
Party popular among workers
 Promoted gradual move toward socialism

As the Liberal Party falters, the middle class
begins to back the Conservative Party
 With
this support, the Conservative Party holds
power for much of the 1920s
IRISH INDEPENDENCE AT LAST
1914- Parliament attempts to pass a home rule
bill- shelved when the war begins
 Easter 1916- militant Irish nationalists launch
revolt against British rule

 Quickly

1919- Parliament attempts to pass home rule
bill again- fails
 IRA

suppressed
begins guerilla warfare against Britain
1922-agreement reached between moderates
“THE RED SCARE” AND ISOLATIONISM IN THE US

The US emerges from WWI in good shape


Late entrant into war=relatively few casualties and little
loss of property
Domestic Unrest
Fear of the Bolshevik Revolution set off the Red Scare
 Police rounded up foreign born radicals and a number
were expelled from the US

 Sacco

and Vanzetti
The Red Scare let to demands in the limit of
immigration
ARGUING ALLIES

France wanted to secure its borders against Germany



Built Maginot Line along German border
France also strengthened its military alliances with other
countries
Strict enforcement of
the treaty of Versailles
and payment reparations


Kept German Economy
weak - $30 Billion = $2.7 Today
Britain disagrees with this
THE SEARCH FOR PEACE

People worked for peace in the 1920s
 1925-Locarno
Treaties signed (settled Germany’s
disputed borders)

Kellogg Briand Pact- the great powers pursued
disarmament
 Almost
every independent nation signs
THE LEAGUE’S WEAKNESS
Peace was fragile
 The League was powerless to stop aggression
 Dictators in Europe noted the League’s
weaknesses and pursued aggressive foreign
policies

POSTWAR ECONOMICS
The war hurt and helped some nation’s
economies
 Britain and France owed a lot of money to the
United States
 They depended on the reparations from
Germany

 These
Reparations hurt Germany
BRITAIN AND FRANCE RECOVER

Britain deeply in debt in the 1920s
 Factories
were out of date
 Unemployment is severe
 Wages remain low
1926- general strike occurs which lasts nine
days
 The french economy recovered rapidly

 Reparations
a lot
and territories from Germany help out
THE UNITED STATES BOOMS
The US emerges from the war as the leading
economic power
 The US is the glue that holds the system
together

FALLING DEMAND AND OVERPRODUCTION
The wealth in the US was not evenly spread
 The demand for raw goods during the war was
great

 After
demand dwindled, production didn’t
 Led to overproduction
 Factories began to make less, and cut worker’s jobs
CRASH AND COLLAPSE

Prices at the NY Stock exchange were at an all
time high

People bought stocks through risky means
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates in 1928
and 1929 to slow the growth
 In the autumn of 1929, jitters over the economy
caused everyone to sell their stocks all at once

Black Tuesday
 Financial panic set in
 Stocks crashed
 The Great Depression begins

THE DEMOCRACIES REACT TO THE DEPRESSION
The governments of Britain, France, and the
United States try to find ways to life the
depression.
BRITAIN AND FRANCE SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS

Britain sets up a coalition government made of
leaders from all three political parties
 By

1931, 1 in 4 workers is unemployed
By the min-1930s France felt the pinch of the
Depression
 People
back Leon Blum- a socialist leader
 Strikes soon bring down Blum’s government
because he could not solve all of the labor
problems
HOOVER’S POLICY

US president Herbert Hoover believed the
government should not intervene in private
business matters
 Did
try limited number of
measures to solve crisis
(Hoover Dam, etc.)

Didn’t help to ease the
financial crisis
ROOSEVELT OFFERS THE US A NEW DEAL

1932- Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected
 Said
the government needed to take an active role
in combating the Depression

Introduced the New Deal
 Government
became more
involved in people’s lives
 Passed legislation
 social
 TVA
security
THE DUST BOWL

Natural disaster hit many states- created the
Dust Bowl
 Migrant
workers went Westward
 Grapes
of Wrath by John Steinbeck
 Dorothea Lange
Hard Times and Good Times in America
Migrant Mother