PowerPoint to help my 4th grade students the interwar period

1. 8. The Interwar Period
4th
ESO
Maira Gil Camarón

2. What problems led to a new world was
in just 20 years?
Global economic imbalances
USA: the world’s leading economic power  European
countries were indebted to the United States as a result of the
war loans
Europe: the WW1 had impoverished the countries of
Europe and had to cope with war loans and the
devaluation of their currencies
1929: Wall Street Crash (economic crisis)  the entire
global economy, which was linked to and dependent of USA,
entered a period of economic depression  unemployment
and poverty led to a severe social crisis
GERMANY was unable to pay the war reparations:
inflation, drop in the value of the mark, a sharp rise in
unemployment and a rapid decline in living standards 
surge in nationalism

4. The effects of the Russian Revolution
Economic difficulties caused a serious social crisis.
1919-1920: strikes in Britain, France, Germany (Spartacist
Massacre), Italy… and the demonstrations were suppressed
and trade union rights were limited  unions, socialists and
communist parties became stronger by reminding workers that
the Russian Revolution had led proletariat to power
Proletariat and bourgeoisie started to oppose to the
democracy: ones because were dissatisfied with the
repression of their rights, and others because feared a
revolution

5. The crisis of democracies:
the rise of totalitarian
regimes
Economic crisis + social unrest
Countries with
democratic and
parliamentary tradition
integrated the socialism
through the universal suffrage
and political coalitions (GB,
France, Belgium…)
Countries with little
parliamentary tradition:
the liberal parties were
powerless in the face of social
unrest and ended up imposing
authoritarian political systems
which promised to combat the
spread of socialist and
communist ideas

7. The United States: from prosperity to
crisis
The Roaring Twenties
1918-1929: decade of prosperity (the Roaring Twenties)
in which the American way of life became a model for the
whole world
Economic growth was based on a transformation of goods
manufacturing processes  Taylorism and Frodism helped
increase productivity and reduce costs. The rise of the wages,
advertising campaigns, hire purchase and bank loans paved
the way for an era of mass consumption
This prosperity was reflected in a huge stock market boom
 the profits from good business led to a rise in demand for
shares, whose value rose steadily

8. Five causes of the boom
Isolationism  different governments kept out of foreign
affairs and limited foreign competition by imposing high
import tariffs
Technology  electrical, chemicals and film industries
Mass production  automobile industry (Ford)
Hire purchase  borrowing increased the amount of
money available to spend and the demand for goods
Shares  firms learned to raise money for expansion by
selling shares of the Stock Exchange (what caused problems
later)

9. The paradox of prosperity and the Wall Street
Crash
Many people in the USA grew richer in the 1920s, problems:
Farmers borrowed money to acquire new land/machinery to
increase the production  they were producing too much
food, so prices fell and small farmers grew poorer
Inequality was growing because wages grew much more
slowly than profits; many people couldn’t afford the new
consumer goods  overproduction
Share prices had risen too high due to speculation: the prices
were higher then their real value

10. Towards the end of the 1920s, these problems helped to slow
down economic growth. Manufacturers were now making too
many goods; they had to reduce production, so workers lost
their jobs. People started to worry about the economy and in
October 1929 share prices fell suddenly  the Wall Street
Crash created panic, so more and more people sold their
shares (24 October 1929, the Black Thursday). Many
investors were ruined and panic spread among the population
and the bans were forced to close due to a lack of funds.
By 1932, shares had lost over 85% of their value.
In few years the crisis affected many industries, trade an
agriculture  economic recession (the Great
Depression) and unemployment in the whole world

12. Effects of the Depression
Unemployment: 13 million people were out of work
Industrial production dropped by 45% between 1929 and
1932
House-building fell by 80% between 1929 and 1932
The entire American Banking system reached the brink of
collapse
From 1929 to 1932, 5,000 banks went out of business
Although many people went hungry, the number of
recorded deaths from starvation during the Depression was
110, although many other illnesses and deaths were
probably related to a lack of nutrition

14. The New Deal
US + European countries adopted measures to reduce the effects of
the crisis
F. D. Roosevelt introduce the New Deal, a series of political
programmes based on the ideas of the economist Keynes who
advocated state intervention in economy. The measures
included:
Paying farmers to produce less so that food prices would rise
Making banks stronger
Building infrastructure such as roads, bridges and dams in order to
provide employment
Providing free food through “soup kitchens”
Introducing unemployment benefit and old age pensions
All these measures stabilised the banking system and reduce
unemployment, but US economy did not recover completely until
the previous moments of the WW2
New Deal made the US government much more involved in the
economy and some people criticised this

15. The crisis of democracy: fascism in Italy
Post-war Italy
 The peace agreements  a major disappointment
 Political instability  5 governments in 3 years
 War: human and economic consequences  crisis
 Social tensions: strikes…  fear of a revolution
The rise of Fascism
Benito Mussolini: Fasci  violent group that fought to stop the rise of
the labour movement
1921: the Fasci became the National Fascists Party with a program
based on building a strong state and a expansionist foreign policy
It were supported by the bourgeoisie, the Catholic Church and the king
1922: the Fascist Party achieved 22 deputies  March on Rome  the
king gave Mussolini the control of the government

17. The main ideologies of Fascism
1922-1924: Mussolini restricted freedom and persecuted
his opponents
1924: Fascist Party won the elections  authoritarian
regime where Mussolini had total power. The
Parliament was replaced with the Chamber of Fasci
Strikes were banned and unions were replaced with
cooperative unions. The fascists also controlled the
economy, advocated a self-sufficient economy policy
and supported private enterprises with military orders and
heavy subsidies
The state used the party to exercise strict control over
society
Mussolini promised the creation of an Italian Empire that
would control the Mediterranean in a similar way to the
ancient Roman Empire. He invaded Ethiopia in 1935 to expand
the Italian colonies in the North Africa

19. Germany: the rise of Nazism
Post-War Germany
1918: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated  Weimar Republic
was founded. It was threatened by left-wing
revolutionary movements (the Spartacist o communist
uprising) and by several coup attempts by the extreme right
(the Munich Putsch by the Nazis)
Germany had to accept the military defeat and the harsh
peace terms imposed on them  they considered the
Treaty of Versailles humiliating:
The treaty accused Germany of causing the war, robbed it of its
territories, reduced its army and imposed heavy economic
reparations
Economic crisis, poverty, unemployment

20. Adolf Hitler and the emergence of the Nazi
Party
Hitler was a demobilised soldier from the WW1 and he could
not accept Germany’s defeat. In 1920 he joined the National
Socialist Workers Party of Germany (NSDAP). They
had their own flag, with the swastika, and their paramilitary
groups: SA and SS
Hitler’s ideology: Mein Kampf  disrespect for
parliamentary democracy and hatred of Bolshevism. He
advocated antisemitism, the superiority to the Aryan
race and the need to build a great empire (Reich)
To attract the working classes, Hitler used demagoguery: he
promised jobs, the reduction of industrial profits and better
wages. He blamed Jews, communists and democrats for the
crisis in Germany
Nazi militias opposed the Republic and were responsible for
several revolts

22. Hitler’s rise to power
1924-1929: improvement in economic  1929 crisis finished with
this improvements: bankruptcies, factory closures, unemployment,
social unrest… Much of the population began to support
extremist parties: bourgeoisie, farmers and desperate workers
were attracted by Nazi promises
Nazi Party began to receive the support of industrials and financers,
and received financial assistance  1932 they won 13 million voted.
January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor
March 1933: new elections  Nazi squads started a fire in the
Reichstag (parliament) and blamed it on the communists  the fire
served as a pretext for Hitler to remove his opponents and demand
full powers
1934, after the death of Hindenburg, Hitler declared himself Fürer
(leader) and Chancellor of the Third Reich

24. The Nazi regime: a totalitarian system
A totalitarian system
1934: Individual freedoms and
rights were abolished. The
political parties and trade
unions were dissolved. Only
the NSDAP was allowed and all
workers were forced to join the
only trade union: the German
Labour Front
Public administration was purged
 the Gestapo was created, lead
by Himmler. It was responsible
for repressing opponents of the
regime and controlling public
opinion

25. The enforcement of Nazi ideology
Absolute ideological unity  Ministry of Public
Enlightenment and Propaganda (Goebbels) guaranteed a culture
and fixed attitude based on racist and nationalist ideas.
Science and culture were “nazified”, destroying intellectual
freedom
Education of young people: the education system was
politicised  teachers were purged and censorship was
introduced in classrooms and textbooks

26. Maintenance the racial purity of German society 
persecution and elimination of all minorities. The persecution of
Jews was most prominent  Nuremberg Laws prohibited
interracial marriages and excluded Jews from German citizenship,
were enacted in 1935 and, from 1938, Jews were forced to wear
a Jewish identity badge
After 1933, concentration camps were created to imprison
socialists, communists, democrats and, above all, Jews

27. Economic self-sufficiency and rearmament
The Third Reich wanted a revival that would make Germany a world
economic power and the idea of a war was inevitable  militaristic
and expansionist projects
Economic self-sufficient (autarky)  heavy industry (arms
industry). And ambitious public works programme was carried out to
solve unemployment (motorways and other infrastructure was created)
An Expansionist policy
Hitler wanted a new order in Europe under the domination of
Germany. He needed a powerful army and he strengthened the
army with the introduction of the military service and the creation of
the Wehrmacht (army) and the Luftwaffe (air force)  he wanted
to conquest a “living space” (Lebensraum) in eastern Europe

29. The indoctrination of the population
Indoctrination  Hitler Youth
Propaganda and fear and the appeal of Hitler’s project,
secured the support of the people.