Timeline
1928 US banks stop lending to Europe and lend to US stock market investors
1929 US stock market crashes
US banks collapse and contract
1931 main German bank collapses saved by Government intervention - precludes reparation payment
1931 Hoover puts moratorium on repayment
1932 reparations end
I. Life after Versailles
Peace treaty leaves instability
Massive death tolls destroy economy
Each nation in debt to the others
New countries disrupt existing trade
Political life
Representation, unions
Social Life
Affect on society – Amelia Earhart & Glenn Miller
Affect on art
Pablo Picasso & Edvard Munsch
II. France
Seeks allies to support peace treaty
Occupies Ruhr 1923
III. Weimar Republic (Germany)
Signed the peace treaty – government hated by Germans
emergency rule, Article 48
Economy
crushing war debts and reparations
invasion of the Ruhr sends inflation spiraling
Destruction of economy has significant effects on society
IV. The Great Depression
Three main causes of worldwide spread of depression
1. financial crisis from war and peace settlement magnified by linked economies
2. crisis in production and distribution
3. no strong leadership
V. What the Depression did to the world
A culture of fear and apprehension takes root
Governments take an active role in society – upsetting centuries of relatively unchecked capitalism
Electoral Rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, 1928-32
Rampant inflation turns bundles of money into cheap toys for children