Post WWI & Great Depression
AGE OF ANXIETY
Europe’s mood after WWI
Europe after WWI
Transformation of
Europe
 Period of Social Change
 Scientific and Cultural
Transformation
 German Hyperinflation
Social Changes of the 20’s
 Class distinctions faded as role of
aristocracy declined
 Government expansion led to more
“white-collar” jobs (office work,
business, etc)
 Advancements in technology slowed of
working class
 Women earned the right to vote
 Did not effect politics as women voted like
male relatives
German Hyperinflation
 German economy collapsed in
1923
 Treaty of Versailles
 Loss of territory
 War Guilt Clause
 Had to pay the winners back for the
war
 Leads to Hyper-inflation
What does hyperinflation look like?
 What can you do with German
money in 1923?
 Make a fort (above) or burn it
for heat (right)
Robert Mugabe
and Zimbabwe
The Dawes Plan
United States
High Interest Loans
Interest on
War Debts
Germany
War
Reparations
Allies
The Great Depression
Causes
Effects
 Agricultural
 Decline of world trade
Depression
 Bank Failures
 Overproduction
of Goods
 Credit
 Massive
unemployment
 Global decline in
industrial production
 Poverty and hunger
widespread
Reactions to the
Depression
 Government Changes
 The New Deal
 Keynesian Economics
 Greater government role in the economy
 Political Radicalization
 Rise of communist and fascist parties
 Germany and Japan turn to state controlled
economic growth
Fascism
 Mussolini – Italy (1922)
 One- party dictatorship
 Took over all positions in government, the press,
public education, and gave employers control over
workers
 Extreme form of nationalism
 Powerful secret police
 Fascism appealed to people who feared:
 Rapid change & economic instability
Totalitarianism and Mass Mobilization
 Characteristics:
 Attack liberal democracy and capitalism
 State directed economy
 State more important than the individual
 Charismatic dictators
 Depend upon mobilization of the masses
 Embrace public welfare programs
 Use censorship and propaganda
 Women not permitted a public role
Adolf Hitler
Rise of Hitler
Reforms by Hitler
 Austrian
 Ignores the Treaty of
Versailles
 Served in World
 Ends war reparations
War I
payments
 Became
 Remilitarizes
chancellor of
Germany
Germany in 1933
Japan
 Authoritarian
 Want to get out of the Great Depression
 Some working class parties
 Government fell into the hands of a
nationalist military group
 Began aggressively attacking areas of
Asia