Chapter 30
The Global Great Depression
and authoritarian response
The Great
Depression was not
just a United States
thing, it greatly
affected the whole
world and worsened
the existing
problems.
Internal problems (depression)→ questioning
the new government who is doing little to
help→ rise of strong authoritarian leaders
Long-Term causes of the Great Dep.
● WWI led to war-induced inflation
● over production of farm goods
o
o
new equipment, cheap prices
developing countries pushed production→ prices
drop
● Reliance of US loans in Europe
● Protectionism → high tariffs
o
insistence of repayment of debts
The Great Depression → SPARK
● Oct. 1929 NY Stock market crashed
● Depression spiraled
o
This is called a death spiral
● social ills led to questioning liberal demo.
● US has to call in loans from Europe
o
they can’t pay
How the GD affected others
● Soviet Union
o
largely untouched because it was cut off from the
global market
● Japan
o
severely affected because of exports
● LA
o
led to new state involvement in the economy
Social and Cultural effects of the GD
● Educated people can’t get work
o
that doesn’t make sense
● family roles disrupted
o
men can’t work so women and children did
● Popular cultural became more sedate
● Escapist entertainment
And it gets worse
Responses in Western Europe
● First reaction → close and protect
o
o
o
exacerbated the situation
High tariffs other nations stop buying
government cut spending programs
● Political polarization
o
o
communist/socialists began to gain popularity
conservatives don’t want to change
Responses in the US
● Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal
o
offered more direct aid and established systems
like Social Security
● As a result, the US did not experience
extreme political movements
● Scandinavia will become a welfare state but
the US won’t go that far
Germany
● Treaty of Versailles → it is that big of a
problem
● Fascists promised a strong leader and
military policy
● Hitler led the National Socialist Party
Nazism and Fascism
● Preached unity (nationalism)
o
too many groups in parliament for unity
● Return to traditional past
● fix the wrongs of Versailles
● Blame others not Germans
Jews
o Communists
o
Totalitarian state
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
eliminated political parties
purged bureaucracy and military
secret police
no more trade unions
propaganda
wanted a land empire
made secret deal with USSR
Spread of Fascism and Spanish Civil
War
● Nazies were an inspiration to other
struggling nations
● Benito Mussolini in Italy
o
1935 attack on Ethiopia to avenge colonial loss
earlier
● 1936-1939 civil war in Spain
o
o
Parliamentary republic vs military state
General Franco emerged as leader
Latin America
● New political parties attacked liberalism
and capitalism
● import substitution industrialization
● population growth
● dependent economies
● rise of middle class
Great Crash in Latin America
● Dependent economies crashed
● Vargas regime in Brazil
o
sets up an authoritarian government
 does become more liberal over time
 supports allies in WWII
● Peron in Argentina
o
o
o
strange combo
supported by the people/labor
went against the catholic church (oops)
Militarization in Japan
● Authoritarian military rule
● 1931 depression but actively responded to
the Depression → suffered less
● mass patriotism and new policies
● 1936 attempted coup led to series of
militaristic prime ministers
● 1938 Japan ready for wider conquest
STALIN
● HE controls everything
o
o
collectivization: put all land into mass holdings by
government
everyone should share equipment
● Kulaks (wealthy landowners)
o
lose their stuff
● 5 year plan
o
massive factories