The Great Depression and the Causes of World War II

1929-1939

Objective

To understand the causes of the Great Depression To understand the effects of the Great Depression To understand how each country reacted to the

Great Depression To understand how Adolf Hitler came to power To understand the causes of World War II

The Great Depression

The 1920s were a period of economic prosperity In Europe and the United States

Role of US

Fragile prosperity

“Dude, where’s my car?”

American Economic Expansion during the 1920s

Consumer Debt in the 1920s

The Crash of 1929

Major selling of stocks in Wall Street

Stock Market crash in Wall Street October 29, 1929

The Great Depression

Massive shutdown of businesses

Massive global unemployment in US, Europe, and elsewhere

Economic collapse threatened payments of reparations

The Great Depression

Britain Coalition government formed

2.5 million unemployed by 1931

Abandons the gold standard

Raises tariffs

The Great Depression

France Affected France in 1931

Social and Political Paralysis

The Great Depression

The United States Expanded role of federal government

The New Deal under Franklin Roosevelt

The Great Depression in the US and Europe

The Great Depression

Germany

Depression weakened support for the Weimar Republic

Torn between Communists and Nazis

Germany

1932 Elections held in 1932

Hitler appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933

Germany

Hitler consolidates his power in 1933 Reichstag fire, February 27, 1933

Enabling Act passed March 23, 1933

Nazi Rally

Germany

Hitler eliminates internal competition “Night of the Long Knives”

Hitler becomes both President and Chancellor on August 2, 1934

Germany

Hitler and Anti-Semitism “Stab in the Back Theory”

Nuremberg laws (1935)

Germany

Hitler’s Economic Policies Tax breaks for families

Heavy government spending on public works to eliminate unemployment

Italy

Mussolini and Fascists take over Italy in 1922 One-party state

Fascists made deal with big business

Signs agreement with the Vatican in 1929

Soviet Union

Centralized Planning Stalin takes over Soviet Union after Lenin’s Death

New Economic Policy discarded

Heavy industrialization begins

Collectivization of agriculture

“Let’s all get to work, Comrades!”

Soviet Union

Stalin’s Purges (1936-38) Stalin eliminates potential rivals

Millions of people arrested, deported, executed, or disappeared

Causes of World War II

Hitler begins to scrap Versailles after 1933 Rearms Germany past limits permitted by

Versailles

Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland in 1935

Critics of Appeasement

Causes of World War II

Appeasement British came to the conclusion that Treaty of

Versailles was unfair

France goes along with Britain

Causes of World War II

Hitler redraws Germany’s borders Austria (1938)

Czechoslovakia

German Takeover of Austria

Causes of World War II

Munich Conference Sudetenland Question

British Prime Minister Chamberlain agrees to let Hitler have Sudetenland

“I have brought peace for our time.”

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returning from the Munich Conference in 1938

Causes of World War II

Hitler breaks his promise

Hitler sets his sights on Poland

Hitler and Mussolini

Conclusion

The Great Depression affects Europe and the United States

The Great Depression causes countries to look at other alternatives

The Great Depression leads to rise of Hitler and the Nazis

Hitler scrapped the Treaty of Versailles British appease Hitler in hopes of getting him to

cooperate Hitler breaks his promises and begins World War II