7.4 Economy in the Interwar Period Flashcards
Which western country suffered the biggest losses from the Great Depression?
Germany
Why were economies in Latin America, Africa, and Asia hurt by the Great Depression?
Their economies dependent on foreign trade.
British economist John Maynard Keynes rejected what economic ideal?
Laissez faire economics
Keynes said governments should use deficiet spending to stimulate national economies during times of depression. What is deficit spending?
When the government spends more than it takes in.
U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt embraced Kenynes’ economic ideas by creating a group of policies and ideas collectively known as what?
The New Deal
In Russia, Vladimir Lenin attempted to remedy the collapose of the Russian economy with the New Economic Plan. What did the New Economic Plan do?
Private trade was reintroduced and allowed on a small scale.
Did Lenin’s New Economic Plan last?
No. It ended when he died in 1924.
After the Russian Revolution, were things peaceful in Russia?
No. The Russian Civil War lasted between 1918 through 1921. Workers striked, food was hoarded, and people died.
What was the Politboro?
The Communist Party’s central organization in the Soviet Union.
Who took countrol of the Politburo several years after Lenin’s death?
Joseph Stalin
Stalin abandoned Lenin’s New Economic Plan for his own Five-Year Plan. What did the Five Year Plan aim to do?
Transform the USSR into an industrial power.
Stalin collectivized agriculture. What did this mean?
Farms were taken from private owners and given to collectives or “kolkhoz” to manage.
What happened to people who disagreed with Stalin or had the poor luck of doing something that he thought was against him?
They were sent to gulags, or labor camps, where conditions were brutal and often deadly.
Stalin’s control of agriculture led to what?
A lot of starvation.
Who was Lazaro Cardenas?
A Mexican president who had many successes with land reform.
In 1938, Lazaro Cardenas nationalized the country’s mostly foreign-owned oil industry creating what company that is still around today?
PEMEX - Petróleos Mexicanos
What is fascism?
A political system that promotes an extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights, and a dictatorial one-party rule.
What leader coined the term “fascism”?
Benito Mussolini
What is corporatism?
A political theory based on the idea that sectors of the economy are organs of the same body, meaning every sector is supposedly free to organize itself as desired as long as it supports the whole.
What was the result of a fascist state imposing its will on ALL sectors of society?
A totalitarian state
After taking control of Italy, Benito Mussolini seized control of Libya and Italian Somalialand, and then moved on to take control of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia)? What did the League of Nations do about it?
Not much.
Who were the two sides in the Spanish Civil War?
The Republicans or Loyalists - democratically elected left-wing members of the Popular Front who wanted to resdistribute wealth from the Church and high ranking military officials
VS
the Nationalists - led by Francisco Franco - considered insurgents because they were fighting against the popular will of Spain, these people wanted fascist control of Spain and maintenance of current asset ownership
Who won the Spanish Civil War?
The Nationalists
Even though European nations signed a non-intervention agreement, who supported the Nationalists of Spain?
Hitler
Mussolini
Salazar (the leader of Portugal)
Cviilian volunteers from other countries fought on the side of the Loyalists. Where did they come from?
The Soviet Union
Britain
The United States
France
German and Italian support of the Nationalists escalated to bombing of Guernica in Northern Spain? Why was this bombing especially awful?
It targetted civilians.
What was the name of the German Airforce?
Luftwaffe
The bombing of civilians in Guernica was so terrible, Pablo Picasso created a large painting that depicts the death. Where is this painting now?
The United Nations
Who was Getulio Vargas?
The president of Brazil who took control when his part staged a bloodless coup in 1930.
Getulio Vargas’ middle class’ supporters though he would promote democracy. What happened instead?
He began creation of a fascist state.
Vargas promoted hypernationalism. What is this?
A belief in the superiority of one’s nation over all others, including the prioritization of the nation’s goals.
What was the difference between Brazil and European fascist states?
Brazil didn’t rely on violence to maintain control.
Historians think the bombing of Guernica may have been a practice exercise for whom?
The Luftwaffe
