Great Depression + WW2

Question 1

Economic Problems:

Answer 1

The economic recovery of Europe was dependent on a series of financial entanglements, as debts among allies were supposed to be paid by Germany and Austria, and US funds. But the countries of Austria and Germany were reliant upon US capital loans to finance reparations to Britain and France, and Britain and France relied upon that money to pay back the US. by 1928 a large number of investors began to withdraw capital from Europe, weakening the economy greatly.
Improvements in Industrial processes caused reduced demand for certain raw materials causing an increase in supply without demand (drop in prices) example the automobile companies began to use reclaimed rubber, undermining the value of the rubber industry and causing massive financial losses in the Dutch east Indies.
The state of Agricultural production was also a major economic weakness, as mass overproduction caused rapidly falling prices. Because during the great war European farmers decreased their output which American, Canadian, and Argentinian farmers replaced to supply demand. But at the end of the war there was a mass-scale overproduction, demand decrease and prices collapsed globally.
Caused mass-scale poverty among farmers and a subsequent oversupply of industrial goods, as agrarian families could not afford to purchase these goods.

Question 2

The Crash of 1929:

Answer 2

The United States enjoyed a boom after the Great War, industrial wages were high, production + consumption increased, pp, in the United States, invested their earnings into speculative ventures, buying stock on margin, meaning they could put up as little as 3% of stocks price in cash and borrowing the remaining from brokers and banks, by October 1929, hints of worldwide economic decline spread rapidly throughout society (stock prices overvalued) many investors pulled out of the market. On black Thursday, October 24th, a wave of panic selling in the New York Stock exchange caused prices to plummet = overextended investors to lose life savings many financiers committed suicide (11), investors called in loans, and investors were forced to sell more securities.

Question 3

Economic Contraction spreads:

Answer 3

Financial chaos caused a decrease in business and wages and employment rates plummeted, consumer demand could not satisfy the output of manufactured goods, leading to overstock in inventory and therefore cut production and increased layoffs. Unemployment furthered a lack of consumer demand. 1930 slump worse = production = half of what it was in 1929 national income decreased and 44 % of US banks were out of business, deposits of millions disappeared. Much of the world depended upon US capital, the economic decline created a ripple effect felt throughout the world.
Societies experienced economic decline through 1930 although the severity varied, but nearly all industrialized nations suffered greatly
Germany and Japan really suffered, as well as Latin America, Africa, and Asia, countries that were most affected relied on the export and import of cash crops

Question 4

Economic Nationalism:

Answer 4

Great Depression = destroyed international finance and commerce, cooperation disintegrated, gov. Began to focus on internal resources and developed a sense of economic nationalism. Tariff barriers, import quotas, and import prohibitions, gov. Achieve economic self-sufficiency
But because global interdependence remained a relatively unattainable goal - causing retaliations from other countries
US Congress passed Smoot- Hawley Tariff Act in 1930, raising duties on manufactured products, other gov retaliated by raising tariffs on imported US goods. = drop in international trade = economic nationalism = negative

Question 5

Economic Experimentation:

Answer 5

Classicl economic thought = capitalism = self sufficient system = best left to own devices = gov responded to crises in one of 2 ways
Initially most gov, did nothing hoping that crisis resolve itself, and others attempted to take action by attempting to reduce inflation and these actions essentially made things worse, leading towards a call for reform
John Maynard Keynes: influential economist of twentieth century, created The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. (1936) he stated that the cause of the depression was not excessive supply but inadequate demand, he urged gov to stimulate the economy by increasing money supply, to lower interest rates and encourage investment. Also advised governments to undertake public works projects, to create jobs and redistribute wealth and incomes

Question 6

The New Deal:

Answer 6

Keynes’s theories = noninfluential until after WWII, Us president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, applied similar ideas, aggressively attempted to inflate economy and combat the destruction of the depression. His propositions for dealing with the calamity included legistlation designed to prevant the collapse of banking system, provide jobs, workers rights organize and bargain, minimum wages, social security for old age. Economic reforms = new deal = federal gov justified in taking action to intervene and protect social and economic welfare of ppl
Military spending in WWII did more to end Depression in United States than anywhere else.

Question 7

Fascism

Answer 7

“a political movement and ideology that sought to create a new type of society, developed as a reaction against liberal democracy and the spread of socialism and communism.”
The term derives from a Roman symbol of punitive authority = wooden rods strapped together around an axe = in 1919 Benito Mussolini used this as a symbol for the Italian fascist movement (Italy 1922-1943) other movements similar to Italian fascism developed = dominating political spheres throughout Europe examples = Germany (facade of national socialism - Nazism) while the movement was popular mostly served no threat to political authority except for Italy and Germany (never overthrew parliamentary system) combination of political and economic decline made fascism a popular alternative outside of Europe 1930s fascism gained popularity in Japan, China, South Africa; Brazil, Argentina, and Arab lands. - however, still remained centrally in Europe

Question 8

Defining Fascism:

Answer 8

The 1920s-1930s fascism = millions of followers - mainly popular among middle and rural classes/populations. Groups were severely affected by economic and social chaos, fearful of class conflict and the power of the political left wing. Nationalists also attracted - bc they felt governments failed during WWI to their goals for unification and sovereignty. Fascists sought to create new “nationalist community” - nation-state or ethnic/religious group. Revival of lost national traditions = differed widely with great variety. Fascist movements (common features) veneration of state, devotion to strong (single) leader, ultranationalism, ethnocentrism, and militarism. (textbook) Hatred towards liberal democracy - felt its institutions were weak and decadent. Hated the idea of class-based structuralization such as promoted by socialism and communism. Emphasized Chauvenism (super nationalism) and xenophobia( fear of foreigners) fascists embraced militarism - large militaries, organize “public life alongside military.” loves uniforms, parades, and architecture.
Italian Fascism:

Question 9

Italian Fascism:

Answer 9

Benito Mussolini: 1922-1925 prime minister and 1925-1943 as Fascist dictator former socialist and from 1912-1914 he was the editor of Italy’s leading socialist newspaper, Avanti. In his writings, he encouraged Italians to enter WWI. (thought would be nation turning point) soldiers would spearhead the transformation of Italian society = a nationalist, repressed socialist, strong political leader - Mussolini.
In 1919 - established Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian combat veteran league) gained widespread support in 1920, by 1921 = 35 fascists to the Italian parliament. Result of violence against socialist party (military) blackshirts. socialists= military strikes in north cities = chaos = Mussolini decided time to take control 28 of October 1922 = march on Rome, Mussolini in Milan but blackshirt troops attacked Rome. King Victor Emmanuel III demanded Mussolini on 29th become prime minister - new gov = inaugurated fascism in 1922.

Question 10

The Fascist State:

Answer 10

1925-1931, Italian Fascists consolidated power in-laws, providing a legal basis for transformation into an essential dictatorship. 1926 Mussolini, a total power dictator, ruled as Il Duce (leader) and sought to eliminate other parties, no press freedom, no freedom of speech. Special Tribunal for Defense of State (military) no political dissent. Any of those who rebelled = were imprisoned or exiled to remote islands, facing capital punishment. He sought to end labor unions and strikes, and harmonize interests of workers, employers, and landlords = corporatist order. National Council of Corporations = “settled labor disputes,” but really just propaganda = In 1932 Mussolini = was confident enough to say the 20th century will be a fascist rise to power and of Italian rise to power.
Until 1938 racism and anti-semitism were never part of fascism but after became a large part, suddenly emplacing laws that made Jews = unpatriotic, and couldn’t marry, Aryan race, and no government employment. Due to their fellowship with Adolf Hitler, and in 1936 Mussolini told followers history revolved on the “Rome- Berlin Axis.” in 1939 leaders of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany = a political and military alliance = 10-year pact of steel. = strong links between two factions of fascism.

Question 11

Lost Generation:

Answer 11

The term “lost generation,” was coined by Gertrude Stein in passing to her friend Ernest Hemmingway - used to describe American intellectuals in the postwar period in Paris. They discussed usually in works of poetry the disillusionment of the war, instead of portraying it as a great and positive event, it portrayed it as the tragic event that it was.
Many of the most influential writers of this period are Ernest Hemmingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929), and Enrique Maria Remarques All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)
They lamented the decline of postwar society

Question 12

Crash 1929 October 24th

Answer 12

The United States enjoyed a boom after the Great War, industrial wages were high, and production + consumption increased, pp, in the United States, invested their earnings into speculative ventures, buying stock on margin, meaning they could put up as little as 3% of stocks price in cash and borrowing the remaining from brokers and banks, by October 1929, hints of worldwide economic decline spread rapidly throughout society (stock prices overvalued) many investors pulled out of the market. On Black Thursday, October 24th, a wave of panic selling in the New York Stock Exchange caused prices to plummet = overextended investors to lose life savings many financiers committed suicide, investors called in loans, and investors were forced to sell more securities.

Question 13

Flappers:

Answer 13

It was a term used to describe women in the 1920s who defied social standards and defied usual patriarchal expectations.

Question 14

Roaring 20s:

Answer 14

Time burgeoning economic prosperity following the settlement of WWI, there was an abundance of money, known for its extreme decadence and exorbitant displays of wealth.
It was characterized by letting loose as people fell away from the traditional regimentation of society, and embraced things such as jazz, enjoying freedom.

Question 15

Prohibition:

Answer 15

It was an act passed in 1919, known as the volsted act which allowed for legislation to support the banning of selling, creating, and distributing alcohol. Originally Woodrow Wilson instigated prohibition as a way to save grain during WWI, in 1917. The movement was led by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which stated that the US would be a better place for all if alcohol was banned, they also wanted to stop the abuse of alcohol by their husbands who blew their savings at the bars.
This caused an increase in mobsters, gangs, and illegal alcohol smuggling, leading to the development of speakeasies.
Alcohol became illegal because of the 18th ammendment

Lasted from 1920 to 1933

Question 16

Women and Race:

Answer 16

Nazis were alarmed by the rapidly declining birth rates due to the war, and so they created a campaign to increase the births of “racially viable children.” (the Aryan race)
The desire to use women to achieve objectives was right on track with the Nazi’s relegation of women to spheres of domesticity, forcing them into the roles of faithful wives and mothers.
They used tax credits, marriage loans, child allowances, and authorities = who wanted to increase marriage and procreation.
Divorce laws were rewritten so that a man could divorce their wife if they felt that they were infertile or could not bear children.
Abortion clinics closed, and contraception was made nearly impossible to attain.
They also used pronatalist propaganda which essentially formed a cult of motherhood, on the 12th of August, the birthday of Hitler’s mom, women who bore a lot of children received distinctions of honor in the 3 classes: bronze for those with more than 4, silver for those with more than 6, and gold for those with more than 8.
By 1939, more than 3 million women held these awards however the birthrate still remained relatively low.

Question 17

Nazi Eugenics:

Answer 17

Rulers were not only obsessed with increasing the number of children born, but also increasing the “quality.” in 1933, began a mandatory sterilization program for all men and women who had “hereditarily determined sickness” such as blindness, deafness, chronic alcoholism, feeblemindedness, schizophrenia, manic depression, and physical deformities.
Between 1934-1939 more than 30,000 men and women underwent this compulsory sterilization.
In 1935, Germans made the exceptions for abortions to be granted under the circumstances of the baby being “hereditarily ill,” or “racially alien.”
“Mania for racial health,” led to the murder of over 200,000 men, women, and children.
1939-1945, Nazis would regularly kill by methods of lethal injection, gas chambers, and starvation, for the members of society they deemed useless, “especially physically and mentally handicapped.”
Eugenics = precursor to exterminations of entire populations considered racially inferior such as the Jewish, and Gypsies.

Question 18

Anti-Semitism:

Answer 18

Prejudice against the Jewish population, was the trademark of National Socialism and Nazism. Immediately when the Nazi party gained control in 1933, they sought to oppress the Jewish population of Germany.
nazi‘s based antisemitism on biological “race theories” - but used religious descent to determine if people were Jewish
They instigated a large number of segratory laws against the Jewish people which sought to humiliate and separate this group from society.
1935 Nuremberg Law = revoked Jewish people’s German citizenship status- and no marriage/ intercourse between “Germans and Jews.”
Criplled the Jewish financially depriving them of access to financial hubs and the banking system, while doctors, lawyers, and others lost their jobs. Those who owned small -businesses’ faced harsh taxation and near robbery from gov.
The goal of Nazis was to cause Jewish to emigrate and leave the country, thousands left, but the main event that caused a mass-scale evacuation was known as Kristallnacht in 1938. Or the night of broken glass, when Nazi’s arranged to break into and destroy Jewish stores, burn synagogues and killed more than 100 Jewish people - highlighted to Jewish people the hatred they were viewed with under Hitlers Reich, by 1938 more than 250,000 Jewish people had left Germany, leaving behind the poor and elderly to uncertain future.

Question 19

Nuremberg Laws:

Answer 19

in 1935, the Nazi regime passed two sets of laws known as the Nuremberg laws; these laws were meant to oppress the Jewish population of Germany, isolating them politically, socially, and economically. The first part of the Nuremberg laws is known as the Reich Citizenship Law, which denoted Jewish people as identifiable by ancestral descent, declaring that only individuals of German descent could be considered citizens of Germany, revoking the citizenship rights of Jewish people in Germany. The second law was the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor, which made marriage between a Jewish person and a German illegal and furthermore banned all forms of sexual intercourse between a Jewish person and a German.

Question 20

Kristallnacht:

Answer 20

The goal of Nazis was to cause Jewish to emigrate and leave the coutnry, thousands left, but the main event that caused a mass-scale evacuation was known as Kristallnacht in 1938. Or the night of broken glass, when Nazi’s arranged to break into and destroy Jewish stores, burn synagogues and killed more than 100 Jewish people - highlighted to Jewish people the hatred they were viewed with under Hitlers Reich, by 1938 more than 250,000 Jewish people had left Germany, leaving behind the poor and elderly to uncertain future.

Question 21

Programs:

Answer 21

It is the Yiddish word for devastation, and it was what people used to describe the destruction that took place during Kristallnacht.

Question 22

Mein Kampf

Answer 22

Directly translated to mean, “MY STRUGGLE,” by Adolf Hitler, while in Jail in 1924, the main themes = Aryan superiority, a plan for Aryan world rule, and “guilt of the Jews as destroyers of the world.” (hatred for all Jewish people, blaming them for everything.) “Mein Kampf was written in two volumes. The first volume, called Eine Abrechnung (“A Reckoning”), was published in July 1925. The second, Die Nationalsozialistische (“The National Socialist Movement”),”
https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206644.pdf
Prior to writing the book he called for the Jewish people to be removed from Germany, but in it he for the first explicitly calls for their murder of them.
Published July 18th, 1925
Advocated for Germany to conquer land in Russia, as German “living space.”

Question 23

Gertrude Stein:

Answer 23

An American writer, coined the term to Ernest Hemmingway, “You are all a lost generation.” referring to the writers from America who congregated in Paris and produced literary works disillusioned by the horrors of the Great War.

Question 24

Albert Einstein:

Answer 24

In 1905, first began to revolutionize the science world with his theory of special relativity which stated that space and time cannot be considered absolutes as their measurement of them varies subjectively with each observer
Also discovered is the photoelectric effect = “when light strikes certain metals, electrons can eject from them.”
Also developed the mathematical formula E= MC2 which was later used to explain how energy can be released in an atomic bomb.
In 1922 he received the Nobel prize in physics

Question 25

Sigmund Freud:

Answer 25

He was famous for developing the psychoanalysis theory, = theorizes the function of the human mind to evaluate and treat discontinuities in persons mind, and explains human behavior, believed that the events of ones childhood = big influence on adult lives and shape our personality, = helped treat a lot of mental health disorders = example = Hitler = young life oppressed by father grew up and had severe mental issues

Question 26

John Steinbeck:

Answer 26

Wrote the novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) which adresses the rising political anger in the United States due to the Great Depression. Novel describes a families relocation from Oklahoma to California due to the destruction of agriculture, by what was known as the dust bowl, = discusses US gov “planned scarcity” in which they would destroy crops to bring down prices = even though the country itself was starving

Question 27

Joseph Stalin:

Answer 27

Following the revolution in Russia, many older members of the Bolshevik party believed that in order to maintain the Socialist control of Russia, the revolution would need to continue to spread throughout the surrounding countries to take place on an international scale. Others argued that socialist control can be maintained in the presence of one country alone. One such argument of the latter was Joseph Stalin, he was the bureaucratic secretary general in Russia, who promoted Socialism in one country. He changed his surname to Stalin to represent his goal to gain power, translated to “man of steel.” in his early years he was a misfit among the elitist Bolsheviks who were highly educated in comparison to his heavily accented Russian. But by 1928, he gained complete control of another party so that the dictatorship of the soviet union could remain unchallenged.
Five Year Plan:
It was an economic plan that sought to transform the Soviet economy from primarily agricultural to becoming a major industrial power of the world. - heavy industry in steel and metal goods
Used Gospan (central state planning agency) Stalin set out to “coordinate resources and labor on an unprecedented scale.”
Bold alternative of market centralization against the traditional capitalist system. Stalin sought to convey the urgency of his endeavor by saying. “We are 50 to 100 years behind the advanced countries. Either we do it or we shall go under.”

Question 28

Charles Lindbergh:

Answer 28

He was the first aviator to complete a solo-transatlantic flight, known for helping advance the aviation industry
Flight went from Ny to Paris
He also flew more than 50 combat missions