The Great Depression
You will be responsible for creating TWO posts about the Depression using your assigned country. Your posts NEED to include links or videos that support your evidence. Be sure to build off of one another’s posts and read or watch each other’s videos or links. Allow your intellectual curiosity lead the online conversations. Your group’s posts need to discuss the following topics:
1. Describe life during the Depression in your country using specific evidence and examples.
2. Indicate the methods that your country used to combat the Depression.
The Great Depression was a huge economic depression that not only affected the U.S. after WWI, but also many countries of Europe, including Great Britain. After WWI, the U.S. and the Great European powers had debated over the debts that needed to be paid for from the war. Prices were driven high during and after the war, which caused mass inflation. Britain was further in debt due to the amount of ships that they had lost during the war. Britain’s conversion back to the gold standard, increased the price of British exports, which was a complete negative to the country’s economy. The Depression itself led to the abandonment of certain economic and governmental polices in Britain that had been established for quite awhile. The reason for this was people were trying to adjust to the failing economy the depression itself was leaving behind.
ReplyDeleteIn 1929, a Labour government headed by Ramsay MacDonald came to office. British unemployment at the time rose past 2.5 million people. MacDonald had proposed that government salaries should be reduced, and benefits/ budgets should be cut. MacDonald was thought to resign from his office after the negative criticism he received from the higher officials in government, but he remained, and the National Government had formed. MacDonald targeted the Depression in an interesting way, such as trying to balance the budget by raising taxes, and taking Great Britain off the gold standard. However, he had refused to do anything too radical that could potentially have a negative impact on the economy.
Even though he was trying to help people as a whole, there were many that remained unhappy, such as the working force.Those who were still unemployed suffered from lowered wages. Different areas of Great Britain faced different problems, some much more worse than the other parts of the country. The demand for ships fell 90%, and the production of steel and need for coal were lowered. People that had jobs needed money, and people who were unemployed needed jobs. The methods that were used to combat the depression proved to be effective later on but people were frustrated at what they had to go through, which is why strikes were very common. One of the most famous was the Jarrow March, which was a protest march against unemployment and poverty suffered in England. The areas know as Jarrow, was a big industrial area in England that was suffering from the massive unemployment going on across Europe. Nothing came out of the March, but this just shows how bad things got in Great Britain.
Unemployment was a huge problem during the 1930’s as the country’s many industries such as coal mining and ship building were becoming less important. Many people were left in severe poverty, but some places saw the rise of white-collar jobs. The transition between blue-collar to white-collar employment is called “deindustrialization.” New industries were popping up, and jobs like technicians, chemists, clerks, and retailers replaced the high amount of factory workers. Many women were also moved to get jobs during the war, and their drive to work kept going during the depression. Surprisingly, more people were employed in the 1930’s than ever before, but there was still an unusually high rate of unemployment.
DeleteMore info on the subject:
http://www.blacksacademy.net/content/3156.html
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/04/politico-says-opinions-of-shape-of-earth-differ-and-we-wont-interview-anybody-who-thinks-it-is-round.html
DeleteIf you scroll down there’s a graph that shows different countries’ economies when they switch from the gold standard to the new deal like Matt was talking about. I found it interesting.
I find it really interesting how the tides turn historically as Britain gives way to the establishment of the colonies in America early on in the 1600's, and after much development America holds major influnce economically over Britain in the 1900's. As the stock market crashes in America Britain is one European country hit the hardest due to over seas investments. Ultimately causing major unemployment,and poverty. While also still being heavily affected by the devastion of WWI. It also struck me to be interesting how during this time of neutrality countries were hit hard economically, but as soon as WWII arises in the 1930's there is a considerable bounce back as jobs are created, while the economy manages to slowly improve. So when you think about is war truly unnessary as people often argue or does warfare truly have underlying positive outcomes?
DeleteI found this link to be very helpful especially in the "international depression" section where they describe the affects of the Great Depression internationally while demonstrating these aspects visually through graphs and maps. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm
DeleteI like how Carlos compared the times between America and Britain. Like we came from them but then we support them too. Kind of like parents and children role reversal. And also the oversea invenstment thing is very true because Anerica was very prosperous and no one knows us like Britain so they put alot of money into us. Then when the Market crashed Britain was hit probably the hardest next to America due to the heavy investments.
DeleteI found what Matt was saying about the gold to be interesting, because my research for my own country, France, showed that gold was one of the reasons they were able to stay afloat during the depression. As Matt expressed, gold lost it's value in Britain during the depression, because of inflation, but I feel that it's really interesting that one negative aspect for a country, could be a positive aspect for another. And I also thought that Carlos posed a real question for conversation. Is war really negative, or does it contain underlying positive economic motives? It could really go either way, especially speaking in terms of world war one and two.
Deletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10730095
ReplyDeleteI came across this and thought i was interesting. It basically shows how the gap between the rich and poor have been widening since the Great Depression in Great Britain. Cool how today and the Great Depression period are kinda compared.
The Great Depression had a major impact on the world as we know, especially on Great Britain, and the recovery from the depression itself was very slow. The economy began to recover early on in the 1930's because Britain was taken off of the gold standard. This caused a decrease in interest rates (from 6% to 1%), which led to the slow recovery. The reason why some countries were still suffering from the depression was because most were still on the gold standard.
DeleteUnemployment soon began to fall after the year 1934 as well, which was a benefit to those who needed to find jobs. The South had recovered faster than the North. In some cases, the government issued different policies to deal with the after effects of the depression. People were being hired for road work, tariffs were put on steel imports to increase domestic wealth, and the overall number of jobs were increasing in different parts of Great Britain. Even though the government was taking action, there were not too many long lasting impacts that these polices had on the nation.
One method of getting Britain out of the Depression was the “house building boom.” As the name suggests, millions of homes were built during this time period. This not only offered jobs for the unemployed, but it satisfied the popular demand for a suburban home. People wanted their own place, away from the crowded cities. Suburbs popped up all over the country side, and Britain was slowly making its way out of the depression.
Deletehttp://www.freepedia.co.uk/DIRHomes.php
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1616085/Economy-watch-Is-Britain-heading-recession.html
DeleteI found this link to be pretty interesting because kind of like what matthew was talking about this compares times in Britian with times that happened during the depression for them. It talks about the troubles Britain has had in the recent past with recession and money issues and its sort of similar to the time that they faced the depression and how they had to get through it.
Having read that article now you see just how true the saying is. That saying of course is one in regards to history's tendency to repeat itself. The gap between the rich and poor in Britain was outrageous. The lower class was financially unstable causing a great deal of anger towards the rest of society. This is much like the society we are in today. Our recession only has the rich getting richer while times grow tighter and tighter for the poor. A recession or depression affects everyone, but the worst affected were/are the people in the lower class and below poverty line. In each country, there is a social/economic standard to measure or classify people in the lower class. People who are the low end in the ladder are usually referred to as lower class. They are usually employed in the low tier and their income, standard of living, education are usually less than people in the middle class. This ladder has existed for many many years, including those years in which Britain was in a depression. In comparison, the issue of the gap between rich and poor is identical from britain to our modern day situation. The lower classes are the people who were worst affected by recession as many lost their jobs. As they are already in the lower end of society they were pushed even down to below the poverty line. With no income and rising debts, their situation worsened even more. With the rich either stagnant or profiting, the gap was widening much like today. This is causing political unrest just as it did then. It is scary to see just how precisely the events of history repeat themselves. I thought that article was very interesting, Matt.
DeleteI found it very interesting that Britain was going through many of the same problems that the United States were going through. I also liked Jackie's link to the graph which showed the countries that switched off the gold standard were closer to recovering fromt the depression. As we can see France was not doing well due to their refusal to let go of the gold standard which ultimately left them damaged years after the depression had officially ended. I also found it interesting that due to the depression, workers switched from "blue collar" to "white collar," implying that people were moving from the industrial and hands on work, to the offices for work. Furthermore i was very interested in Matt's explanation of the strikes. Personally it did not make sense that people who did not have jobs, or their jobs were only available on a day to day basis(ie.industrial workers and ship builders,)would go on strikes. The depression was a time that the majority of people were in crisis and unemployed, if the father was employed than the mother was not, and vice-versa. And so i do not see how someone would take the time to go on a strike when they could take the time to look for the tiniest job to make money off of. While there were not many opportunites for jobs, these strikes showed the desperation of the unemployed and citizens in Britain. Their victory in WWI left them as a major power, yet with the Great Depression occurring, their main priority was to help their people in order for them to regain their strength as a world leader.
Deletehttp://history-world.org/great_depression.htm
This site breaks down the great depression as a whole and explains the causes of the depression to be from new problems in the industrial economy and long term weaknesses in the many countries' economies. This site also states the effects on the differet countries and the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/britain/depressionrev1.shtml
This is also a great site, this explains the amount of 2.5 million unemployed workers (25% of the people) as people who worked in the heavy industry such as coal and iron (as Jackie and Matt both spoke about.)This website goes into great detail of the causes and how the government reacted!
Causes of the Depression
The main trigger of the Depression was the Wall Street Crash, but other factors also helped to create the Depression out of the Crash. To understand them, you need to understand that the root of an economic depression is a reduction in spending, and that the way to end a depression is to get people to buy things:
1.Import duties - Import duties discouraged trade, which harmed the economy. The reduction in trade particularly hit the shipbuilding and railway industries if there was no trade, there was no need for transport.
2.Savings - when there is unemployment and uncertainty, people cut back on spending and save 'for a rainy day'. This then makes businesses go bankrupt and causes the unemployment they feared.
3.Unemployment - unemployed people have no wage and cannot buy things, which causes more businesses to go bankrupt and creates more unemployment.
4.Outdated practices - British heavy industry was out of date and labour-intensive. When orders dried up, the only way they could cope was to lay off workers.
5.Some Government actions made the depression worse: - The increase in unemployment meant the government was faced with a vastly increased expenditure on benefits. So in 1931, it raised income tax and cut unemployment pay by 10 per cent and introduced the means test. These measures reduced the amount of money people had to spend and made the Depression worse. - The Import Duties Act (1932) was designed to protect British industry, but this merely reduced trade and made the Depression worse.
Chat
France had won an incredible victory in the First World War and had achieved such long-term goals as the recapture of Alsace-Lorraine and what she thought was the permanent reduction of the threat posed by Germany. However, just as in Great Britain, the war merely diverted attention from, but did not solve, the tremendous economic and social tensions on the eve of the war. Economically, France did grow in the 1920s, but it could hardly offset the tremendous impact of the Great Depression. The economic crisis helped spur the radicalization of French politics, as groups from the far left and far right gathered support. In February 1934, following a right-wing riot that looked like it was going to shake the French Republic to its core, a number of parties on the center and left began to work together to form a “Popular Front” to block the possibility of a Fascist victory in France as had occurred the previous year in Germany.
ReplyDeleteThis “Popular Front” proved to be successful in May 1936, when a coalition of Communists, Socialists, and radicals won a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. They selected the leader of the Socialist Party, Leon Blum, to be Prime Minister. The new government worked to solve some of the labor issues that had plagued France for decades. In June, they put through the Matignon Agreement, allowing workers to collectively bargain with employers, reducing the work week to forty hours, and granting the right to fully paid vacations. Attention to social problems, however, had to be delayed, as France had to now grapple with an issue that challenged the very existence of the Popular Front, the Spanish Civil War.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great website that summarizes the impact the Great Depression had on France and how fluctuations in world currency hurt the nation.
ReplyDeletehttp://historyannex.com/20th-century-Europe/France-1930s/great-depression.html
I was gonna use this! Well I really enjoyed this link, so thank you for posting it so everyone else could see it. This really allowed me to see the impact that agriculture had on France. Due to industrialization, France's agriclutre had been decreasing in need for the nation. Yet because of France's high involvement of agriculture effecting its country, France was one of the last countries to feel the impact of the Great Depression because of their self sufficient ways. This also shows how France did not suffer in unemployment like Germany, Great Britian, or the U.S, and rather when someone from France lost their job, they would move to the countryside to stay with one of their peasant relatives. Most importantly, France did not suffer from a financial panic, but rather experienced a steady drop in production.
DeleteJust as Val said, France didn't see a sudden crash the way we all know the United States did. Throughout the entire war, France was aware of their decline in economics, therefore when it did take a turn for the worse, the government wasn't surprised. There were many factors, though, that lead to the depression in France. Not only did their position in the war create problems in their economy, however their behavior of their government after the war did as well. Their constant bullying of Germany into paying their reparation, a sign of how desperate they were for money at the time. Since the occupied Germany's railroad system's and mines, they lost Britain's support, and ultimately burned a useful bridge. Also, their harsh treatment of the Germans after world war I led to their trade agreements with other countries to alter because countries, like Britain, began to sympathize with Germany.
DeleteFrance, overall, fell into a Great Depression, just as every other country around them did. However, their version wasn't nearly as terrible. Although there were cases of starvation and unemployment, it was nothing compared to those of Germany and the United States.
Since Mike has the government aspect of the French Depression covered, I'll speak about a different branch of recovery in France afterwards. Due to the fact that the depression wasn't all that terrible in France, it wasn't too terrible for the French economy to bounce back. France became the leading producer in Gold, at the time, and also led the production in new cars. Also, they became the world's leading producer of iron during this time. The French were now able to rely on their markets again, without the risk of a crash. However, there was only one downfall to all of this. Since France lost a tremendous amount of men in world war I, they lost a great amount of their world force, which was one of the reasons that their unemployment during the depression was so low... all the men that would have been unemployed were all dead. This meant that France's army was weaker than usual, due to the sheer amount of men they had already lost, this hurt France in World War II.
Deletehttp://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-i/europe-after-world-war-14.htm
Deletethis website mentions many countries of Europe, however it really helps with France, in particular.
I find it really interesting how all these nations were hit so hard by the Great Depression, yet France was not hit nearly as hard. As a nation who had been corrupted and unstable for hundreds of years, France had really lucked out during this time period. I wanted to look up some more evidence about why France lucked out and I wanted to go into more depth about this other than just that "France was not as reliant on other countries..." Researching, I came upon a question that intrigued me. This link ( http://voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/5536 )asks, "Did France cause the Great Depression?" It then goes into evidence and statistics about the idea that France's redistribution of the gold standard caused deflation and eventually the Great Depression. It's kind of hard to understand, but it's really interesting if you give it some thought.
DeleteThe Great Depression affected all of the countries of Europe differently, France being one of them. I was especially interested in what Mike mentioned earlier in his posts about both sides of the political spectrum becoming more powerful, intense, and even extreme. Specifically, one group’s activity fueled the others. The first political fallout of the depression was the election of another Radical coalition government in 1932. They feared inflation and pursued a deflationary policy, as a result. In that same year, reparation payments upon which the French economy depended on stopped. This led to increased economic tension and difficulty in parliamentary life. Outside of the Chamber of Deputies, various right winged groups became active and favored variations of monarchism/authoritarianism. They, like the other radical conservatives of Europe, wanted to put the needs of Franc above all else and what France needed most was stability. The activities and propaganda of these organizations weakened loyalty to the government and made political life bitter and viciously vindictive. It also led to the last of the curious scandals of the Third Republic, which had important long-range political consequences.
DeleteThe Stavisky Affair in 1933 involved Serge Stavisky, a small-time gangster who seemed to have important connections in the government. The scandal appeared when bonds of a credit organization proved worthless. He was found dead in January 1934 and the police declared it a suicide. However, the French right believed that he was murdered to prevent the revelation of the scandal because it involved prominent government officials. Attempts by the government to cover up and quickly move on encouraged popular belief in the corruption of the government. The new right-winged leagues wanted to overthrow the regime and staged riots. Such activities culminated in a riot in February 1934 in a riot that resulted in 15 killed outside the Chamber of Deputies. The violence caused two prominent prime ministers of the left-wing to resign and the establishment of a centre government under Gaston Doumergue later that month restored confidence to the citizens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4tKz83YpBM
DeleteThis video is super informative..... and long. It's a college lecture but it covers every part of the popular front in France during the depression.
Wow you're right Steph that video was long, however it was extremely helpful. The professor just about everything that everyone has been blogging about. I especially liked that in the beginning he mentioned other countries such as, czechoslovakia and other states. Our main focuses were on France, Italy, Russia, Great Britain, and of course, Germany, and we forgot that there were other countries still living before, during and after the both World Wars and the Great Depression. I liked how he mentions how parliamentary states were dissipating while authoritarian states were arising. I tired researching on the less popular countries and very little came up, which is upsetting because even though Germany and those other countries played huge roles, they were not the only countries in Europe being affected and I think that we need to learn about all of Europe and it's nations because they didn't just disappear completely. Over all though this professor was very knowledgeable and I everyone should watch it because he mainly talks about France, yet he ties in all countries to this time era.
Deletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1388179/Rare-Library-Congress-colour-photographs-Great-Depression.htm
ReplyDeleteHeres a link for some rare in color Great Depression pictures
The Great Depression had many adverse effects in Italy. Despite the different structure of the Italian economy due to the lower degree of industrial development, the dynamics of the Depression in Italy were not very different from those of more industrialized countries like England, France and the United States. Although the decrease in the amount of total produced goods was smaller, the amount of produced industrial goods fell sharply. Due to the great Depression many key features of the Italian economy suffered. First, international trade between Italy and other nations sharply dropped because of the Depression. Also investments into other businesses fell because pre-depression investors no longer had any money to spend on new ideas. In general, the weakened economic conditions in Italy, along with Italy’s deep national dissatisfaction with its participation in the First World War caused the rise of Fascism in the country. Thus, during the Depression the Fascists held full control of the economy and their policies affected both life and finances during the Great Depression.
ReplyDeleteThe Fascists had promised to stabilize Italian social and economic life and that is why they gained so much initial popularity in Italy. Discipline was a substitute for economic polity and creativity and because of this, in the 1920s, Mussolini undertook vast public works, such as draining the Pontine Marshes near Rome for the establishment of settlements. Through all of his policies, Mussolini sought to make Italy a self-sufficient nation and he embarked on the “battle of wheat” to prevent foreign grain from appearing in products on Italian tables. Because of this wheat farming expanded enormously in Italy, but this measure only partially alleviated the burden of the Great Depression. After some time the wheat production plan failed and poor marginal land was expensive to cultivate so the prices for wheat and other goods actually rose.
Both before and during the depression, the fascists sought to create a moderate economic polity that was between socialism and a liberal laissez-faire system. Their policy was known as corporatism. This push towards the "corporative state" lasted well into the war and the idea of this system was to create a national community where the interests of all parts of the economy were integrated into a class-transcending unity. Some see the move to corporatism in two phases. First, the workers were release many of the privileges that they had prior and during the First World War. Initially the non-fascist trade unions and later the fascist trade unions were eliminated. Major industries were first organized into syndicates representing labor and management and then these two groups would negotiate labor settlements within the framework of the fascist regime. The Fascists thought that class conflict would be avoided if both labor and management looked to the greater good of the nation. The second phase, the corporate phase, sought to create entities called corporations which would include all industries relating to a major area of production, such as agriculture, and metallurgy. During this phase 22 such corporations were established to represent that whole economy and they were headed by the Chamber of Corporations. This was essentially the structure of the Italian economy and in the next post I will write about the effects of this system that was created by the Fascists.
Despite, the hard effort of the Fascists to improve the economy of Italy and to combat the effects of the Great Depression, the vast organizational framework that was created did not increase production in the county, but did increase bureaucracy and corruption. The corporate state allowed the government to direct much of the nation’s economic life and because of this consumers and owners did not know what was to be produced.
DeleteIn 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia, and economic life became focused on the war. The League of Nations even imposed economic sanctions to prevent other nations form purchasing Italian goods, but these sanctions had little to no effect. Because of the war taxes rose and during 1935 the government imposed a forced loan to make people in the country, mostly property owner, purchase war bonds.
During the late 1930’s the economy of Italy became depressed. Wages lowered and the Italian government took more control over the economy. International tensions increased and people saw that Fascism really did not help Italy in its economy. It did not bring Italy prosperity, but brought dislocation and a falling standard of living. This is how the Depression combined with Fascist influence affected the Italian economy.
The following is a great source about the Depression and its effect on Italy. It includes a great chart about the employment in Italy over the years and also includes all of the phases that Italy went through in its economy. Please take a look at it! (It even ties everything in with WWII)
Deletehttp://histclo.com/essay/war/dep/cou/ita/dep-ita.html
The following is an official paper written by a PhD holder about the economy in Italy and its shifts during the Great Depression. It is a bit technical, but a great resource.
http://www.ehes2011.com/papers/Italian%20Great%20Depression_Pezzolla.pdf
I take a personal interest in how the population of Italy was affected during the depression. I feel as though i can bring an interesting view point to this conversation as I must only look as far as my grandmother to trace my lineage back to Italy. Having visited the old homes of my ancestors a few years back and observing various characteristics I can see how they were affected and even how it changed those involved even to this day. I'm not quite sure i know a more financially frugal person when it comes to my grandmother. She only spends money when it is absolutely needed, that is why she never let her daughters buy a single school lunch because it was cheaper to make them a sandwich. She will not waste even a slice of bread, as soon as it is near expiration it is put in the freezer. These qualities she has developed are all due to her upbringing. She was raised by two parents who lived through the depression. Times were tough and adjustments were necessary. They had to save every cent they could. No food should ever be wasted as it was not particularly easy to come by. I was able to visit the home she grew up in. It was a modest home in which there was not very much space, just what they needed to get by. They lived a comfortable life within reason. Their experiences during the depression made my grandmother who she is today. It is fascinating to read about the living conditions just to think about how my ancestors were a part of it. My grandmother's actions are a result of it. And I am affected directly by it. The living conditions of the depression called for responsible spending and a lack of resources. Wages were low as jobs were few and far between. There was not a lot of food available. This called for frugal lifestyles.
DeleteFrom a more factual approach, in the aftermath of WW1, Italy was beginning to fail. It was in very poor condition. This was an underdeveloped country now plagued with inflation, food shortages, strikes, and unemployment. This allowed Benito Mussolini and the fascist party to come to power. His main interest was to use economic power to politically reshape the Italian state to fit his ideological outlook. It is hard to say what exactly took place with Mussolini. Some say he had a plan and others say he just reacted to events. Italy suffered in the bankruptcy of Banco di Milano, the Credito Italiano and the Banca Commerciale. In order to get out of the depression, Italy created three institutions funded by the Italian Treasure: the Sofindit in October 1931 (with a capital of 500 million liras), which bought back all the industrial shares owned by the Banca Commerciale and others establishment in trouble. In November 1931 the Imi (capital of 500 million liras) was also created, and issued five and one-half billion liras in state obligations, reimbursables in a period of ten years. This new capital was lent to the private industry for a maximum period of ten years. Finally, the Industrial Reconstruction Institute was formed in January 1933 and took control of the bank-owned companies, suddenly giving Italy the largest industrial sector in Europe.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GawHJ1cUsI&feature=related
DeleteThis video goes into depth about Benito Mussolini, his background and rise to power. The video goes over everything that Naz had mentioned above. The depression devastated Italy, and Italians were seduced by Mussolini who promised that he was the only person who could bring Italy back to its glory days of the Romans. He captivated them by giving them what they wanted to hear. He's methods were very similar to the ways of Hitler giving the people what they wanted. In return both ended up with complete control.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CDmqB2qT5c
DeleteThe good thing about this topic is that it happened during the time where cameras were accessible, allowing us to see into the past. This short clip is packed with great footage of the great depression. We can talk about how the depression affected people in Europe but by actually seeing it can you begin to understand what they went through. As Kevin mentioned before, he was given the opportunity to visit Italy and see how things are still affected by the depression and how life was almost unbearable.
I also found another website that is similar to the essay that Naz posted. It's a PDF and it gives a complete break down of Italy during the Great Depression. It list the key features of the Italian Depression :
1.) Persistent decline in international trade.
2.) Large fall in hours worked and production in the tradable sector, but negligible changes in the nontradable sector.
3.) Large fall in investment. (iv) Stability of the real wages.
Just a waring the pdf is extremely dense and maybe hard to read in full. But it does have headings so you can skip around and read essentials.
Couple of corrections..
Delete*Just a warning
**The website doesn't just go into the how life was but finical breakdowns with equations, as well as tables comparing other countries during the same time period.
Sorry I also forgot to put the PDF site down!
http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~quadrini/papers/deprpap.pdf
Since most has been said already about the Italian Depression, I thought I would take my curiosity to a point that the Guru had stated about the focus on the Ethiopian War. I had not known about it so I decided to do some research on the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in attempts to create a larger nation of Italy because it was struggling. He thought the expansion would bring more commerce and they would be better off. The Ethiopians were not well-equipped, to say the least. Some did not even have rifles to fight back with. The Italians used modern weapons against the Ethiopian forces such as machine guns, artillery, armored vehicles, air craft and at times used poison gas. Understand that most of Ethiopia is an unarmed state that could not harm anyone. Mussolini’s deeper and darker reasons behind the war effort were revenge for the defeat that the Italians suffered at the hands of the Ethiopians in 1896. He saw this as a nationalistic sense of war. He felt the Ethiopians put a black mark on the national honor of Italy. The main in charge of leading the brigades was Marshal Pietro Badoglio. He used poison gas to an alarming rate. The Italians were condemned by over 50 countries at the League of Nations for attacking this harmless and defenseless country. The Ethiopians stayed behind while most of the world advanced in technology and in a war sense, weapons. A lot of the heat came from Britain who was shocked at the Italians use of poison gas as well as the conscious bombings of Red Cross hospitals and ambulances that were a part of the British Red Cross Unit. They pushed for sanctions against the Italians. The French kissed-up to the Italians for help in the Hitler ordeal. The Italians were eventually condemned by the League of Nations.
DeleteDuring a time where most countries were turning to more violent means of governing their country, Italy had been involved in this fascist, dictator rule for quite some time now. They were based off controlling the lives of the people because what they previously were doing obviously was not working anymore. Mussolini had a way of changing his mind quite often. Originally he was on the side of the strikers and workers who pushed for better wages but then quickly changed his mind and began to put down the workers and strikers while protecting the strike breakers. They used means of terrorism such as murder, beatings and even began to use arson to scare any strikers away. One way of putting down strikes is to give the people what they want. Mussolini saw it as an opportunity to make an example of every strike that would happen from then on out and forcefully put it down. These uses of force became the way of doing things for the next 20 or so years all around Europe particularly Italy, Germany and Russia.
Deletehttp://histclo.com/essay/war/dep/cou/ita/dep-ita.html
DeleteHere is what helped me explain the Ethiopian war.
In class we've been talking about Germany the past few days, specifically the rise of Hitler and his Nazi Party. We worked our way up from Germany as the Weimar Republic to Adolf Hitler's intelligent (and legal) seizure of power by electoral means. But why don't we take a couple of steps back and explore one event that made this man's popularity skyrocket: the Great Depression.
ReplyDeleteOn October 29, 1929 in the United States, the Wall Street stock market crashed. This soon took a giant toll not only on the United States but on the entire world. Germany was hit especially hard by the Great Depression because its economy was so reliant on outside sources. As we've learned, Germany was a leading industrial nation during the time of the First World War. After the world had ended and the Treaty of Versailles came into effect, Germany's debt was piling up, making it virtually impossible for Germany to ever have an income again. Germany began printing money and paying debts with that, but this only caused through-the-roof inflation. (At one point in 1923, the German mark stood at 4.2 trillion to the dollar.) During von Hindenburg's time as president, the economy began to prosper again. Germany was getting loans from the United States, and was doing well with foreign trade, but it was money from other countries that Germany relied upon, and this is why Germany hit a turning point in 1930, when the Depression struck Germany hard.
Very quickly, production levels fell, and men were getting laid-off like crazy. Banks all over Germany were failing and were forced to shut down, and thousands of Germans who had hard-earned money in their savings accounts now had nothing. The middle class, who were now used to a higher standards of living, quickly fell to poverty and impoverished living. The money that could have bought a house before now couldn't even buy a loaf of bread. German streets were crowded with panhandlers and homeless families and by 1933, unemployment had climbed to 6.1 million. The German people were done with the Weimar Republic, this government which had done nothing for them. They were desperate for someone to come along and solve their problems, and this soon happened.
In a speech by German chancellor Gustav Stresemann in 1929, he said, "The German economy is doing well only on the surface. Germany is in fact dancing on a volcano. If the short-term loans are called in by America, most of our economy will collapse." The economy did, indeed, collapse. So did the Weimar Republic. From 1930 on, the Nazi Party was becoming more and more popular, gaining over 200 seats in the Reichstag by July, 1932. This party and Adolf Hitler, the party's leader, gave the people a new sense of hope and security, and soon all other parties were swept out of Germany altogether. Hitler promised to lift Germany back up onto its feet. He promised jobs to the unemployed, profits to small business, and higher prices for produce to farmers. He also promised that he would restore honor back to Germany.
DeleteHitler created a new military state out of Germany, and by 1934, employment dropped back down to 3.3 million. The army grew to over a million in the next five years, and to provide supplies for the army, factories were built. This created jobs, and so did public works projects. This included the creation of autobahns and the planting of new forests. The German Labour Front was set up, as well, creating stricter policies for German workers. Germans were given the sense that the government was trying to help them in every way possible, but this was not entirely true. Many workers were being scammed by the government who tried to get as much work out of them as possible. I found one scam, which particularly intrigued me. The Volkswagen Beetle was made to be an affordable car at 990 marks, an equivalent of 35 weeks of salary. A scheme was made so that workers put 5 marks a week into an account and after they reached 750 marks they would get this car. However, no one ever received any car.
By 1939, unemployment had gone all the way down to 302,000. There wasn't complete truth to this statistic, however. Indeed, Hitler did employ many Germans in public works projects, and many other men went into the army. However, the statistic had been corrupted with the fact that a good amount of the German population had been taken out of the statistic altogether! Most women, Jews, and unemployed men were disregarded as being a part of the German population, but only “true Germans” of the “superior race” were included. The “unemployed men” I am talking about here are the men who refused to work for the Nazis. These men, along with the Jews, were put into concentration camps.
First post, second paragraph correction: "After the WAR had ended and the Treaty of Versailles came into effect.." Not the world, the war. hahahah
DeleteAlso I forgot to say in my second post at the end of my second paragraph that all the money that these workers thought were going towards a new VW Beetle actually went straight to weapon factories. How crazy is that..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTuIzGe2Nz8 Here is footage taken from the time. This is a clip about the unrest in Germany streets during the Great Depression, and the desperate Germans lining the streets in support of Hitler and the Nazis. It's a good clip, check it out.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dDfVwzJbW4 If you don't feel like reading the novel that I wrote above here, watch this video and it pretty much sums up most of what I said.
DeleteAs Becky stated the depression for Germany was devastating. German unemployment would reach a staggering 6 million people at one point during the 1930's. Hitler was able to use the depression as the background for his political platform. He promised the end to unemployment. He would successfully end unemployment before World War Two in Germany. He did this through the building of industry in Germany. A majority of the industry was for military purposes such as bombs, airplanes, tanks.
DeleteHere is a video that shows the Nazi economic policy at home at this time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7m6b1cyRyo&feature=related
Hitler would use the labor force to his advantage. He was involved in many public works projects. He useed the autobahn as a national highway system in Germany. However, this project can be seen as a project for military purposes. This highway would allow German soldiers,weapons and vehicles to mobilize and move around the country. It allowed for fast mobilization of troops. Hitler also banned trade unions and the stirke was illegal in 1933. This created peace amongst the German workers. Hitler also organized the Labor Front which was to demonstrate that class conflicts had ended. People in this organization would receive vacations. THe German people were happy.
Here is another video about the depression in Germany during the 1930's
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJDylTBTi6Y
Hitler during the 1930's would also use a four year plan, preparing the German industry and economy for the war. Woman at this time were not really allowed in the workforce. Hitler believed that woman should be at home and deal with domestic duties. He believed that woman should only hold occupations in education and other womanly jobs. However, during the war, German women would be used in the manufacturing of materials for the war.
Here is a video on women in Nazi Germany.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6GPRuqmHsk
This video shows women working in a factory in Germany:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3_aTB138dI
Women would eventually work in the labor force because of the shortage of men.
German life was hit hard during the Depression. Germany got hit with a double whammy when the Depression came around because they owed so much money because of their requirement to pay reparations for WWI. Inflation became a huge problem after the debts were paid because so much money had been printed. Since they needed the money asap, they decided that by printing more, they could pay off their debts quickly. This ended up making more problems because everyone's money was now virtually worthless. The shutdown of the banks signaled that things were getting really bad, and action had to be taken. Desperation started to form because people needed help, and they needed it right away. Germany was close to crumbling when Hitler stepped in. For him, the Depression was a good thing. It gave him an opportunity to step in and start calling the shots. Due to everyone's need for an answer to their problems, they immediately accepted Hitler's control because he promised to make the hardships go away. He was brilliant in appealing to each individual class by telling them what he would do for them. He promised to give farmers higher prices for their produce, new jobs to the unemplyed, and restore profits of small businesses to the middle class. He told everyone exactly what they wanted to hear and it paid off. It didn't take long for the Nazi Party to gain political power and take over. I think Hitler's best move was blaming the Jews and other parts of German socitey for the problems in Germany. No one likes anything more than someone else to blame their problems in, so people bought in. They followed orders to punish these groups because they believed it would restore the balance to their once great nation. Hitler acted like a cobra, playing it down low and stealthy, then moving in when the time was right to seize the power.
Deletehttp://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/begins.htm
Deletethis is a pretty informative website about how the politics of Germany changed during the Depression.
I already said a bit about it but I want to talk about how brilliant Hitler was during this time of crisis. Hitler was no fool and he knew what he was doing. He failed at first to take power by using force, so he changed his tactics. He played everything by the rules, laying low until the time was right to make his move. He campaigned for support and slowly built up the power for the Nazi Party. He soon found himself acquiring a great deal of support because he had a nation that saw him as their savior. They believed that he would take Germany back to the top and fix the problems that had befallen them. These events foreshadowed WWII, because Hitler blamed others for the problems, which caused the public to also blame others. Frustrations grew, and it was only a matter of time before Germany struck again. Other nations should have paid a great deal more attention, because there were signs to suggest Germany's rising and possible attacks. Had the League of Nations worked, WWII potentially could have been avoided.
I find it interesting that Hitler, of all people, was the one the German people looked to for guidance and support during the depression. He was ultimately the one to solve Germany’s problems, like he promised he would. Unfortunately, that only lasted a short while, before he started killing everybody. But you’d be hard pressed to find someone during that time period to help Germany the way Hitler did. Without Hitler, World War II wouldn’t have happened, but Germany might have never recovered from its depression, and would have been wiped off the map once again.
DeleteAlso, one of the videos posted said people like Tomas Edison and Gandhi actually supported Hitler, and that just goes to show how much of an influence he had over not only the Germans, but on the whole world. Many actually thought he could make a difference. And he certainly did make a difference.
Going back, it’s also interesting that the Treaty of Versailles was what caused Germany to be so weak. If the Allies hadn’t taken so much away from the country, it might have been able to hold its own against the depression. Then Hitler wouldn’t have come to power because the people didn’t need them. Therefore, the great leaders of Britain, France, Italy, and the United States were indirectly responsible for the Holocaust. This would amuse me if it didn’t involve the deaths of millions of innocent people.
Something that has intrigued me throughout the readings of the rising to power of the major figure heads like Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler is that they all were opportunists. I will take Hitler here because I am commenting on the German’s posts. Massive inflation coupled along with a tattered economy and a nation on the decline due to the Versailles Treaty, Germany was on the verge of a catastrophe that would spell the end for them. Like any football team, or family for that matter on the verge of breaking whether it would be for a death or a ton of losses, they look to someone for guidance and to lead them back to the good times of being on top. Hitler was this fearless leader who came in with a plan during a time where the nation of Germany desperately needed someone like him. Through his various driving speeches that were delivered with such poise and potency, he grabbed the attention of all of Germany. He went to a nation during a time where they needed a savior and he became that savior. He acted at the perfect time and took what he thought he could get.
DeleteI decided to look more into Germany. As I read through all the posts, I definitely saw the troubles that Germany was facing. Hitler used this time to take power into his own hands. Germany did not care who came to power really, as long as they heard what they wanted to hear, that was good enough for them. The country was split politically early on in the depression. The parties present in the Reichstag, instead of uniting together, separated, causing the call for new elections, which is when Nazi Party stepped into power.
DeleteI liked Becky's one video, "The Depression in Germany", because you got a look at the suffering the Germans indured. It is really crazy to think that so many people lost jobs and that there was not enough work available for everyone. Even though Hitler saved the Germans by giving them jobs, he blinded them with his ‘kindness’, and was able to take them over with ease. One other video described the depression as a virus, and how it spread so easily from one country to another. This not only showed how closely connected the countries of the world were becoming, but how influential the U.S. was becoming as well. After the stock market crashed there in New York, the rest of the world suffered the same fate as the U.S. because they were tied to the country through mainly trade or exports.
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/1920s/Econ20s.htm
Deletehere is a quick link that I did'nt see anyone else post. It basically shows you in more detail some of the factors that lead Germany to become controlled by Hitler, and how the country itself would have inevitabley ended up in his grasp.
In reviewing all of the other posts I was wondering what the people went through while in Germany during the Nazi’s rule. The way that Hitler went to go and bring his dominance through the people by starting with the children. As the groups of children in the start of their rule they had around 100,000 people and then within two years they grew to 3.5 million. The children were influenced by the Nazi’s and showed how they were right and anything that they said was rule. So in the link below it shows a kid’s point of view during this time in German history, with how the young boy was influenced by them and he decided to follow them even though his father didn’t want him to. Also it shows how the Nazis took over the schools and changed all of the history books to be true about what they went through on their account.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVUAIPMsZ60&feature=related
Germany was, by far, the most devastated nation from the Great Depression. As mentioned, the country was slipping further and further into debt, inflation, and social discontent and they needed something, someone, to get them out. They were desperate and venerable, and Hitler seized on the situation to rise to power and create his 3rd Reich.
DeleteI was particularly fascinated with his oratorical power and unparalleled connection with his people. He promised each social class exactly what they wanted and was able to mobilize Germany for war while pulling the nation out of the depression. The people were seeing results and gave their leader all the support they could. Hitler created a cycle, in which he provided for the people and they, in turn, gave him loyalty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGhdX1SI3KY&skipcontrinter=1
This is one of Hitler’s speeches I watched. It really put things in perspective. I imagined myself to be a German at this time in history and really listened, not just heard, what Hitler had to stay. His words and emotions empowered the masses and fueled them with a fiery nationalism that couldn’t be stopped.
Hitler was able to mold the desperate German people, as he liked, with the power of his promises. This included blaming the Jews for the economic problems, which he was in the process of reversing. He infused his speeches with anti-Semitic ideology that transfigured into a national hatred and horrible hate crimes. Here are videos of 1.) “Kristallnacht” and 2.) a survivor of the incident and her account of Nazi Germany.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uine5MhOc0I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUiEBQ2ga4U
http://howhitlercametopower.com/how-the-soviet-union-helped-hitlers-rise-to-power/
DeleteLike Jeff, I too found it interesting that something so bad that was happening could somehow be an advantage to these over controlling leaders. The link I posted is to a site that talks about Hitler’s rise to power but how both the Great Depression and Stalin were involved. This article says that it was revealed that although it may have been thought that Germany was having a really hard time, the Soviets show a different story. This revels that the German people may have been poor but the country of Germany was rich and thriving. The article goes on to say that a lot of money was spent helping Stalin in modernizing his army. It’s sort of interesting to see the different views on how the Great Depression affected the different groups and the secrets that may lie behind some of this stuff. It’s also interesting to see how Stalin and Hitler were assets in helping one another to achieve the things that they wanted.
I'm writing in response to the decline of The once mighty German empire during the great depression. It was obvious the Treaty of Versailles was a vindictive assault by the allies who allowed their desire for revenge get the best of them. By forcing the Germans to pay reparations for the war they were effectively destroying the German economy. They caused inflation to run rampant in Germany and created an environment where Adolph Hitler could seize power. After the dismantling of the German Reich the population felt slighted and looked for answers. Hitler gave them those answers and used the Jews as a scapegoat. its almost as if you could blame the second world war on the allies for forcing the treaty of Versailles as well as the depression on the German people.
DeleteUpon reading the depression posts for Germany after world war I, it greatly slants that Germany got the short end of the stick when it came to the conclusion of the war. Economically, it directly results in the outbreak of world war two. The outright devastation that Germany had to endure, from both the war and the Treaty of Versailles, was absolutely incredible. As everyone else who commented on this post expressed, Germany had lost a ridiculous amount of power after world war I. However, what I find most interesting about Germany is its resilience. Germany has bounced back from a terrible loss in World War One, to become yet another world power in World War two. Under the power of Hitler, the economy was able to restore itself within a matter of four years. Compared to other nations, those of whom have suffered depression, their comebacks were nowhere near as steep. Germany went from hero, to zero, to hero, to zero again within a matter of a couple decades. Fascinating.
DeleteStalin started to press the economic development which was his way to eliminate any threats in the party. As the State Planning committee worked out the First Five-Year Plan for the economic growth, Stalin went on to bring on his own plan “Revolutions from above”. As the First Five-Year Plan went into action it showed a high demand for rapid industrialization and heavy industry. Unions were converted into mechanisms to increase the productivity of the worker. While everyone is producing more goods they have a hard time trying to hit the targets that are presented by Stalin. Shortages of consumer goods started to show up and the inflation went through the roof. To help with Russia’s need for more food supplies, all of the land and animals owned by peasants’ were put into collective farms and thus restricted their leaving the farm. The reintroduction of serfdom was reinstated, and Stalin wanted to eliminate the wealthiest of the peasants who brought the other peasants closer to others with a capitalistic relationship. In action against the new rules the peasants would slaughter their livestock instead of turning them over to the farms. The number of livestock was low for the years to come and in trying to help resolve the problems they sent the wealthy peasants off to Siberia to help make sure starvation would not come any sooner.
ReplyDeleteIn going on the rout of industrializing Russia Stalin went was able to at least try and make sure that Russia wasn’t going to fall apart. Instead there was great increase in there economy.
As David mentioned, the industrial achievement of the Society Union in the period between the two world wars is one of the striking accomplishments of the twentieth century. The Russian economy grew more rapidly than any other nation in the Western world during any similar time period and was able to survive the German invasion. As a result of Stalin’s economic policies large, new industrial cities had been built and thousands of people populated them. Moreover, Stalin modernized the backward Soviet economy and, in the process, silenced all opposition.
DeleteBuilding off of what David included in his post, Stalin used two primary methods to combat the Depression in Russia: 1.) Rapid Industrialization and, 2.) The Collectivization of Agriculture. In 1927, the Party Congress in Russia decided to push for rapid industrialization. Thus began the tremendous industrial advance of the Russian state. This new policy ended Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) and led to Soviet industrial production rising a whole 400% between 1928 and 1940. The production of heavy industry - specifically iron, steel, coal, electric power, tractors, railway cars, combines - was emphasized. However, FEW consumer goods were produced. The labor needed for this development was supplied internally and capital was raised from the export of grain EVEN AT THE COST OF INTERNAL SHORTAGES. It is safe to say that the Soviet industrial machine was fueled at whatever cost. Stalin’s industrialization of the nation mirrored that of the tsars’ in that the technology needed to do so was borrowed from already industrialized nations in the west.
David mentioned the Five-Year Plans, too. These were the foundation for Stalin’s economic policy. They started in 1928 and were overseen by the State Planning Commission, better known as Gosplan. It set goals for production and organized the economy to meet them. This required the coordination of all the facets of production and mistakes were not uncommon due to its intricacy and difficulty. Uniquely, the government and Communist Party, much like the Nazis in Germany, undertook a vast program of propaganda to sell their plans to the public and to elicit cooperation.
When it came to the collectivization of agriculture, however, cooperation was seldom found. The decision to industrialize rapidly brought enormous consequences for Soviet agriculture. Under the NEP, a few farmers, the “kulaks,” had become prosperous and represented about 5% of the population. Farmers throughout the whole Soviet Union were discontented with their situation because there were few consumer goods to purchase with the cash they received from their crops. As a result, they frequently withheld grain from the market in 1928 and 1929. Food shortages then occurred in the cities and the government under Stalin worried increasingly about potential unrest. During such a period, Stalin decided that agriculture must be collectivized to produce enough grain for food and export, to achieve control over the farm sector of the economy, and to free peasant labor of the factories in the expanding industrial sector. This unleaded a second bloody revolution and violence throughout the countryside. The kulaks were blamed for the grain shortages and the determined peasants held on desperately to their land. They even sabotaged collectivization by slaughtering millions of horses and cows, as well as by hoarding grain. This resulted in millions of famers being killed and millions of others being transported to the Gulags, or forced labor camps (many of which were in Siberia). Those that were left worked on the massive collective farms that were operated by state-provided machinery. Russian collectivized farmland constituted 90% of total land and this shift in control meant that the government was in complete control of the food supply. Even though they beat the peasantry, they had not solved the problem of producing enough grain. This problem would remain unsolved for decades.
DeleteLife during the Depression in Russia was particularly unique in that it was overwhelmingly brutal and the people suffered from massive oppression from the Stalin-operated government, yet the economy exploded. The social and human cost of the economic effort had been astounding and, to this day, the total extent of its horror is still unknown. Superficially, it seemed as though the Soviet Union had created a new civilization and left the West in awe. However, what those individuals were not aware of was the shortage in consumer goods, poor housing, and the total social cost of the Soviet achievement. Millions were killed and uprooted under the rule of Stalin in the interwar period. Ruthlessly, Stalin reorganized Russia into a heavy industry machine and earnestly believed the ends justified the means. David also began to mention the purges carried out by Stalin. His decision to industrialize quickly, to move against the peasants in order to collectivize farms, and reverse the Comintern policy so that anti-communist and communist groups could band together against Nazism aroused internal political opposition. His policies were blatant departures from Leninism. In order to rid himself of opposition and consolidate his power, Stalin arrested, imprisoned, sent to labor camps and/or killed hundreds of thousands of people. His targets included all those who opposed him or posed a threat to his power and came from the citizenry, elite party members, and the army. For example, in 1934 Sergei Kirov, the popular party chief of Leningrad and a member of the Politburo, was killed. In the wake of the assassination Stalin persecuted thousands for it was believed that opponents of the regime killed him and Stalin was out to find and eliminate them. However, it is almost certain that Stalin himself authorized the murder because he was afraid of the Leningrad leader and his potential power/influence.
DeleteSweet links and vids yo:
Deletehttp://www.johndclare.net/Russ11.htm
-This link is neat because it outlines the basics and pros/cons of Stalin's Five-Year Plans.
http://v4valentine.tripod.com/SPP/MA0102_Index.htm
-As mentioned, Stalin used propaganda effectively to win support from the people for his regime and his economic plans. Here are some pretty neat and popular examples. English translations are provided, don't worry.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371768/Testimony-Gulags-forgotten-victims-Steal-mans-bread-die-.html
-Some testimonies from those at the Gulags. Their stories are really moving and from all different kinds of people. Stalin's brutality and horror cannot and will not be forgotten.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXGThPeOJu4
-A quick vid about Stalin's economic plan. Five minutes of Five-Year plans comin' at cha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRc7JXkEDl4&feature=related
-Probably the most shocking evidence I came across in my research. Stalin, during the interwar period and his reorganization of Russia and its economics, mercilessly persecuted the Ukrainians. Using his power to control food supplies, Stalin literally starved millions to death. Not many people hear too much about this and I believe it is especially important to share.
I decided to read up on the Russian outlook of the Great depression. While searching on the internet I found a power point on the depression and its affects on various countries.
Deletehttp://www.slideshare.net/vtucker/great-depression-communist-russia
I found the Russian depression interesting because of the means in which the Russians tried to mend the economy. Grain seemed to be the source of revenue for the communist state. Russia created collective farms which were used to collect grain for export. The communists at this point were not concerned with the people's well being. As mentioned by Steph and David there was a group of farmers that decided to rise against the Russian regime. The Kulaks were a group of wealthy Russian peasants and made up about 5% of the population of Russia. The kulaks killed their own livestock and destroyed their own grains. I found it interesting that the Russians either killed the Kulaks or exiled them to Gulags in Siberia. This is basically a death sentence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3a_chejjV4&feature=related
This video represents what life inside the Gulag was like. They were basically work camps.
Here is another video, on the collectivization in Russia. The font is slightly hard to read.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd8E9xBasKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTuIzGe2Nz8
ReplyDeletelinks to a video that shows the chaos of Germany during depression and some cool footage of Hitler doing his thing.
France like many of the other European countries was trying to recover from WWI. Yet France had more of a self-sufficient economy than other nations. The economy of France was formed of small and middle sized businesses rather than being financed by shares (such as the United States and Great Britain.) Rather than putting their invested money in stock, France invested in gold, which in 1929 was a currency of refuge. During the 20’s France became less competitive with other industrialized nations and was no longer concentrated on its capital and agriculture. During the depression in France there was not a time when there were more than 500,000 workers unemployed, yet throughout the different industries, wages were lowered. During this time the government raised their tariffs in order to protect the French goods, especially their agriculture. Farmers during this time received unusual protection from the government in order to help maintain the home market. However, this did little to overcome the industrial inactivity, thus causing the relations between the labor and management to become tense
ReplyDeleteDuring the Depression, France did little to act in response to it due to many factors. For example France had a weak executive government. Yet most importantly it did nothing due to the psychological component. The inflation in France had left the country in a phobia of its nation going into an economic and power decline. France also refused to move away from their currency of using the gold standard, even though other countries had. During the Depression, France’s political stability was great because it was governed by six different cabinets, even though the everyday work was run by a group underneath the cabinets, the people in France did not see that as a positive. The citizens of France did not see the stability but rather the instability at the top of their government where they needed it most, and as a result saw the constant changes in the cabinet as a symbol for weakness in their political stability.
DeleteI find it interesting that France was not as heavily affected by the depression, yet was very much a part of it's misfortune. It's suprising to hear that there is a nation that survived the depression fairly well with a government that was fairly stable.
DeleteWhat i wonder, however, is if France had any form of contact or relationship with other nations during the Depression. It seems that all these nations seemed to retort into isolation during the depression. It could be that they were to busy trying to deal with their own problems and literally could not afford to get mixed up with others.
I also find it interesting that effects of the depression are still felt today much like WWI as mentioned with the growing gap between rich and poor in Britain. What effects are still seen in France today from this i wonder.....i wonder alot...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXGThPeOJu4
ReplyDeleteThis video shows how Russia went on to industrialize itself with the Five-Year plans and they helped spring the country past a depression that was hitting the other super powers. Russia was able to boost its economy but they did not work hard on keeping their people out of the cold. When they were in the collective farms the conditions were bad and many died because of the poor ways.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dirwin/Did%20France%20Cause%20the%20Great%20Depression.pdf
ReplyDeleteThis is an essay written about whether France had caused the Great Depression due to their hoarding of gold. France had increased its share of world gold reserves from 7% to 28% in under five years. This essay poses the thoughts of France as a bigger trigger to the economic depression over the U.S because of it "gold hoarding." Some of the points he makes are very interesting.
During the depression The Russian people were basically unaffected. Russia is communist so no other country got involved with them and the government owned pretty much everything. Even workers from America and Germany moved to Russia to find work because Russia stayed fairly prosperous in the depression. Only in the beginning was Russia affected by the depression. But Joseph Stalin created a 5 year plan to avoid any drawbacks.
ReplyDeleteoverlook on the depression in short.
http://en.allexperts.com/q/European-History-670/2008/4/Great-Depression-Russia.htm
Russia's plan to combat the depression was Joseph Stalin's 5 Year Plan. in his plan he set out to make Hydro-Electric dams for electricity, he opened new mines, ship canals, iron and steel mills, and various industrial complexes, and transportation methods. he wisely made ways to make money and save money. Even though Russia was basically unaffected by the depression Joseph Stalin was putting them in position to be a big power.Stalin had started Russia on its rapid industrialization. It created many new jobs for the civilians and brought workers from other countries as well.
ReplyDeletean over look on the 5 year plan.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSfive.htm
Russia on the surface seemed to have been missed by the devastation of the depression. Their rapid industrialization brought with is a short lived claim of prosperity the cost of which wouldn't be fully realized until later into the depression. Since the beginning of industrialization there has been a battle between the old ways(agricultural) and new(industrial) there was no difference in Russia. Joseph Stalin in an attempt to fuel his industrial machine started collective farms. This lead to problems with the wealthier farmers who would often sabotage the farms success. Stalin also started requisitioning food from private stocks, if that was unsuccessful his army would scour the country side seizing private stocks and killing the previous owners. Stalin fueled the pride of the workers by calling on the world's hope that they would fail as the "communist experiment". However they did not and were able to turn things around with the help from Stalin's 5 year plans.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I found everyone talking about but no one explaining was the actual man Joseph Stalin. Yes his leadership was brutal and his methods cruel, however it was him who was able to lead Russia out of depression and through WWII. He actually set out to be a priest, however was kicked out of the school of divinity because of his interest in Marxist writings. He became a bolshevic and like Goebbels in Germany was a chief propagandist for their movement. He quickly rose through the ranks of the party and following Lenin's death started to purge Russia of any opposition to his rule like Trotsky. Then in 1928 he started releasing a series of 5 year plans. These plans created a booming economy as well as supported communal farming for the betterment of Russia. Stalin and other Russian took pride in the fact that they prospered during this period while other nations crumbled. However this cost Russia thousands of lives through several different facets. However the most interesting fact i found in this video(link below) was that Stalin wasn't even Stalin, he made it up after being exiled to Serbia several time.
ReplyDeleteQuick Mojo bio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otX9r5aun5U
Alex, Chris, and Becky did a very good job summarizing the Great Depression in Germany, but I wanted to add one more item to their discussion. Alex mentioned that Hitler was viewed as a savior by his people, but nobody truly explained how he came to be known as the “Messiah” of Germany. In this post I wanted to describe how Hitler gained the support of his people socially, and how he gained full control of his country without having to suppress his people like other dictators had to in history.
ReplyDeleteTo begin Hitler came to power at the time when the Great Depression had finally hit rock bottom (about four years after the downward slide down that slippery slope first began in 1929). Hitler used the burning of the Reichstag as an excuse to suspend the German constitution and to declare the beginning of the German ‘war against terrorism' declaring that acts of ‘communist terrorism' would not be tolerated. As is typical of dictators and fascism in general, Hitler then suspended all other political movements and parties, creating a one party state, which also resulted in the Nazi party seizing a monopoly on the media, for dictators do not tolerate contradiction of the airing of opposing points of view.
Once this stage was complete Hitler was free to begin the process of manipulating public opinion so as to create those brainwashed zombies you can see when you watch old newsreel footage showing glazed eyed Germans with their arms stretched out adoring their Fuhrer. The way that Hitler accomplished this interesting feat was that with the press firmly muzzled and the access to information of the German people now strictly controlled by Goebbels, Hitler was free to borrow huge amounts of money from the international money markets. Hitler then used the enormous sums he had borrowed to bring full employment to Germany, ending the Great Depression with what seemed at the time, to the average German, to be miraculous suddenness. The propaganda churned out by Joe Goebbels showed the Fuhrer ending the Great Depression simply through the issuance of a Fuhrer order and the flipping of a light switch so as to turn the economy ‘On'. This was then peddled as proof positive that fascism was a much more efficient form of government than democracy, for it was the partisan political feuding of democracy which caused the Depression, while it was the firm, one man rule of a totalitarian fascist which then instantly ended the Great Depression. I wanted to mention the above points because they were never covered in the textbook and I personally believe that without the help of Goebbels, Hitler could have never gained the popularity that he did with his people. Goebbels truly streamed propaganda to the people of Germany and this propaganda exponentially helped Hitler.
In general, Hitler had it easy. He did not need to terrorize the Germans. He was free to carry out his plans with no interference for he had become the most popular politician in history, and even the liberals and the ex-communists were supporting Hitler in those days because they could see the results with their own eyes and decided that even though Hitler was a fascist he was obviously good for the Germans and exactly what Germany needed in those days. Hitler was not history's greatest monster. He was history's most cunning dictator, and for that reason he did not need to crush the Germans. The Germans had it good, and so did their dictator.
To support this I actually found a video series titled The Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler. It consists of 5 parts, but part 1 accurately supports what I talked about in this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cCRN1flMOk
I was reading a bit about Stalin while researching some ish about Russia, and I couldn't help but notice how similiar the two leaders were. First off, they both experienced their share of failures. Both of these men had spent their fair share of time in prison. Like Hitler, Stalin was good at taking advantage of times of weakness or any real opportunity to increase his own power and influence. When Lenin's health was failing, he appointed Stalin to the position of General Secretary, which a lot of people believed was just acting as "Lenin's mouthpiece", so they figured it wasn't that important of a position, which allowed Stalin to win the position easily. Soon after, Lenin experienced a broken blood vessel in his brain, which prevented him from being able to speak. Therefore, Stalin's position became extremely important as he was "Lenin's mouthpiece". Stalin basically had control at this point, and he used his power to remove supporters of Leon Trotsky from office. Later on, when he had disagreements with Lenin, he asked Trotsky for his support. He agreed but Lenin also asked for his support to take Stalin down. Stalin found out and actually scolded Lenin's wife for allowing Lenin to write letters in his sick condition. Lenin tried to have Stalin removed but died before anything could be done. Stalin got lucky and ended up becoming the leader of the Soviet Union. Lenin's wife still wanted his last will to be published so people would see that Stalin had to be removed. However, Stalin had the advantage, as his supporters were in charge of that decision, so they made sure Lenin's last wishes weren't published. Stalin, like Hitler, was an ultimate opportunist and he was good at what he did. He was even able to remove Trotsky from the government after he turned on Stalin. He was just like Hitler, in that it always seemed like he was steps ahead of everyone.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSstalin.htm
this is a pretty good website that talks about how Stalin came to power.