3.9 The Impact Of The Great Depression 1929 Flashcards
What was the Wall Street crash?
A sudden collapse of the stock market in New York in October 1929 after a long period of rising prosperity and overconfidence by investors
What is Black Thursday and when is it?
24 October 1929
The New York stock exchange experienced its worst ever fall in share prices (was followed by another collapse on the following Tuesday)
On Black Thursday how much value did the largest American companies fall by?
10%
What was the impact of Black Thursday on millionaires and investors?
Millionaires lost their fortunes and smaller investors lost their savings
What was the impact of Black Thursday on companies and workers?
Companies went bankrupt and workers lost their jobs
What was the impact of Black Thursday on the American banks?
Stopped lending money and called in their existing loans(of which included Germany)
What year was the Great Depression?
1929
Why had the German economy begun to stagnate by 1928?
Because investment was decreasing
What had Germanys economic recovery in the years 1924-28 been financed by?
Largely by American loans
Why was the Wall Street crash in America so damaging for Germany?
-the loans that had been financing the German economic recovery from 1924-28 dried up and the American banks demanded immediate repayment of the loans
(thus at a time where Germany needed more investment to stimulate the economy, money was being withdrawn)
Who was the largest overseas market for German manufacture goods? And why was this a problem
USA-the depression drastically reduced demand for imported goods in the in the USA and therefore Germanys trade declined rapidly
(USA was the largest overseas market for German goods) Give evidence for German trade decreased rapidly as a result of the Great Depression?
From 1929-1932 Germanys export trade fell by 61%
It’s industrial output fell by 58% of its 1928 level
-due to this the German economy entered a depression
What did the Great Depression do to the German economy in the end?
Caused it to enter a deep depression
The depression affected other countries as well but not as bad, from 1929-1932 what was the decline in industrial output of Germany and Britain ?
Britain 10%
Germany 58%
What did Germanys foreign trade collapsing do to the labour market?
-as trade collapsed and prices well companies declared bankruptcy and made workers redundant
-the companies who survived had to reduce the workforces, cut wages and hours of work
Led to mass unemployment
How did the Great Depression cause German banks to get into difficulties?
-customers withdraw their money and outstanding loans were not repaid
-following the collapse of an Austrian bank in May 1931, the German banking system entered a crisis
What did the Government do to try and relive pressure on the German banks?
In July 1931 it closed the banks and stock exchange for two days to provide the financial system with some breathing space(e.g people can’t withdraw money from the bank)-but this was obviously only temporary
By 1932 what percentage of the German population were unemployed?
33%(did not reflect true scale of employment as it only included who were registered as unemployed-estimated true number was 8 million
put strain on the welfare system
What areas of work did the depression badly hit?
-main industrial areas(Ruhr and port cities such as Hamburg)
-white collar workers
-civil service(severe cuts in workforce and reductions in salaries of those who remained)
-farming (exports of agriculture declined and prices collapsed-farmers forced to give up farms to repay bank loans-lots of agricultural unemployment
What was the effect of mass German unemployment on society?
-welfare costs quickly overwhelmed the budget-
1930 gov moved to limit benefits being paid. People only entitled to state benefits for a fixed period after which they had to apply to local authorities for relief. Local benefits were strictly means-tested
-women received less benefits than men, the young revived less benefits than the old
In a particular town why could the impacts of the depression be extremely bad?
If the town depended on a single industry(didn’t have a diverse economy)
Unemployment figured 1928- 1933
Sep 1928- <1,000,000
1929 >1,000,000
1930 3,000,000
1931 4,000,000
1932 5,000,000
Jan 1933 6,000,000
Mass unemployment obviously led to…
Increasing poverty
What is a shanty town?
Rough shelters build without official permission in areas with no access to running water or gas and electricity supplies, they were inhabited by the poor especially those who no longer qualified for benefits
What were the indications that the depression had caused poverty to rise?
-increase of diseases linked to poor nutrition and poor living conditions (rickets and tuberculosis)
-doctors reported numerous cases of malnutrition amongst children
-suicide rate increased
-unemployed couldn’t pay rents and were evicted-shanty towns began to appear on the edges of large cities like Berlin
What did a typical daily meal consist of for a family
-5 slices of bread
-6 small potatoes
-small cabbage
(Hardly ever any meat)
-too little to live on but too much to die from
Why did women have less unemployment than men(2 asp)
- Women less likely to register and unemployed
- Traditional female occupations in service industries less affected than male dominated manufacturing industries
What was the youth unemployment rate (14-25) for male and female in Hamburg in June 1933?
Male 39%
Female 25.2%
What were the consequences of high youth unemployment?(3 asp)
-groups of young men congregate in public spaces with their presence causing alarm to older and middle class citizens
-men joining extremist organisations
-increased crime rate
What crimes were the 14-25 committing as a result of the Great Depression ?
Offenders against the state: violent disorder in political demonstrations
What did the KPD benefits from the Great Depression
Recruited working class youths from “wild cliques” to join political demonstrations and join in with street battles
What did the Hitler youth and SA benefits from the Great Depression
-increased membership due to offer of food uniform, shelter and the excitement of fighting street battles
(However the majority of young men had little/no contact with the political extremes and girls were even less involved)
What were the policies of Brunings gov to tackle unemployment
Leave it to the market forces to revive the economy some time in the future
-keep control of expenditure, unemployment benefit and lessen the effects of unemployment on the young -priority to get youths of the streets
How did Bruning actually attempt to reduce p/solve youth unemployment.(3 asp)
-established day centres for young people where they could participate in work-related activities and socialise
-emergency labour schemes where youths required to undertake unskilled manual labour for a wage below the minimum wage
-voluntary labour schemes where people were sent away form the cities for 6 months of residential work-didn’t help Permanent employment though
Where Brunings schemes popular with young people and provide evidence?
No there were strikes for higher pay in October 1930 and June 1932
Why did women become unpopular as a result of the Great Depression?
The dismissal of many male workers whilst women were still employed in service the sector reignited the debate about if married women should be employed when men were out of work
Evidence of the campaign against double earners being a success?
May 1932 a law is passed allowing some married civil servants to be dismissed (extent only limited to central gov employees if it could be proven that their economic circumstances were secure)
-after the law was passed the Reich postal office dismissed 1,000 married women from its employment (equal rights for women suffered a set back due to the depression)
When does Müllers gov collapse and Brüning becomes the chancellor?
March 1930
When is the election where the KPD and nazis first make major gains?
September 1930(Nazi party increase seats from 12-107
When does the Austrian bank collapse?
May 1931
When is the financial crisis in Germany?
July 1931
When is the SA banned?
April 1932
When does Hindenburg get re-elected as President?
April 1932
When does Brüning resign and get replaced by Von papen?
May 1932
When does the Nazi party become the biggest party in the Reichstag?
July 1932
What were the 3 consequences of the Great Depression on the political system?
-caused the collapse of the Grand coalition led by Müller in March 1930
-led to an intensification of political violence
-provided an opportunity for parties on the extreme right and left to gain support and fatally undermine the democratic system
Which parties were in Müllers grand coalition?
SPD
Centre
DVP
DDP
Liberal parties Democratic Party
What specifically caused the collapse of Müllers grand coalition?
Wall Street crash and Great Depression cause soaring unemployment which put a servers strain on state finances(welfare state)+ falling tax revenues led to the state being in serious deficit by the end of 1929. The decision on how to fix this split the coalition:
(Left)SPD: protect level of benefits and raise taxes
(Right):DVP: reduce unemployment benefit
Gov in deadlock and Müller resigns in March 1930
Who was Müller’s successor as chancellor?
Brüning leader of the centre party (appointed by Hindenburg)
Who influenced Hindenburg to appoint Brüning and what is the significance of this?
Two key military figures
-General Groener who had been the defence minister since 1928
-General Kurt Von Schleicher, Groeners political advisor
-army had begun to take a key role in politics (both men opposed to parliamentary democracy and viewed the collapse of the Grand coalition as a chance to impose a more authoritarian form of gov
-(Brüning had authoritarian leanings)
How many laws were passed by the Reichstag 1930-32
1930:98
1931:34
1932:5
How many laws were passed by presidential decree 1930-32
1930: 5
1931: 44
1932: 66
Why could Brüning not pass laws in the Reichstag?
Because his coalition did not have the SPD(largest party in the Reichstag)
After this no gov ever had a majority rule in Reichstag and relied on presidental decree to rule(democracy dead in the water)
What did Schoeicher do in the early years of the Weimar Republic?
Helped negotiate Ebert-Groener pact
-negotiations with USSR on the building on German arms factories in Russia
-effectively head of the army by 1926, in Hindenburg’s inner circle helped steer him to more authoritarian style of gov
How did Schleicher view the nazi party?
Their mass support as most effective counter weight for the popular support of KPD and SPD-he looked for ways to work with Hitler to do this
Why was Hindenburg using article 48 a crisis in the Reichstag?
Only supposed to be used in an emergency, SPD won Reichstag support for a notion it should be withdrawn so Brüning dissolved the Reichstag and called an election in September 1930?
When does Brüning dissolve the Reichstag and call and election?
September 1930
In the September 1930 election how much of the population had voted for anti democratic parties?
2/5
What did the Nazis do with their new power in the Reichstag?
Distrusted proceedings through shouting, chanting and interrupting-shift of power moved from Reichstag to the president and Reichstag proceedings became shorter and more infrequent
What is the Red-front Fighters league?
Army of the KPD,established in 1924 by leader Thälmann, it engaged in street battles with the SA and police
What would the SA and red-fighters front league do on the streets?
-break up political meetings of opponents
-break up rival marches and cause full scale riots
(Particularly bad in election time)
What did Brüning to do try and stop the fighting in the streets?
December 1931- banning of political uniforms(SA just marched in white shirts)
April 1932 SA banned (however membership grew and violence not brought under control p)
How many members did the SA have by the end of 1932
Estimated 400,000
Deaths or communists and Nazis from political violence 1930-32
Nazis 1930:17,1931:42,1933:84
Communists: 1930:44,1931:52,1933:75
By 1929 agricultural development was..
3/4 pre war levels
KEY flashcard: what was the economic impact of the Great Depression(9 steps)
1.post hyperinflation the Dawes(1924)and young plan(1929) and plans to renegotiate reparations leads to 25.5 billion mark loan form USA
- 1929 Wall Street crash
- USA calls in all loans
- German businesses who relied on loans not have enough money to sustain production and pay workers
- Unemployed increases and demand for consumer goods decreases
- Businesses go bankrupt and those who don’t lay off workers
- Many Germany can’t afford rent and lose their homes
- Business and German people can’t repay loans to German banks so the banks collapse and people lose their savings
- Economy goes into depression
