A GLOBAL DEPRESSION

WHAT DID EUROPE LOOK LIKE AFTER THE WAR? Most countries were nearly bankrupt Changing government created difficult climate

WHAT PROBLEM IS GERMANY FACING ? Weak government which is blamed for problems The Great Depression hits all of Europe not just the US. Severe inflation of money Economy was aided by loans from America Germany is admitted to the League of Nations All countries agreed to not go to war in the future

WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT DEPRESSION? 1.Big gap between rich & poor 2.Overproduction of goods 3.less demand for goods

HOW DID THE GREAT DEPRESSION AFFECT THE WORLD? Stock market crash caused thousands of businesses to fail American businesses called in debts from foreign countries America raised taxes on foreign goods to encourage people to buy American Foreign countries raised their import taxes in response Unemployment increased world wide

HOW DID THE WORLD DEAL WITH THE DEPRESSION? Britain’s government passed measures to stabilize its economy France also fought of the Depression by passing reforms within the workplace Denmark, Sweden & Norway used public works projects to give people jobs America elected Franklin Roosevelt who used the “New Deal” to give people jobs and steady pay

WHAT PROBLEMS DID THE GERMANS HAVE AFTER WWI? Political Turmoil After the defeat of Germany, the Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate The Weimar Republic was declared. A revolution happened from The Republic was very unstable. There were over thirty political parties, though only six had any real power.

Three major economic issues. First, the reparation payments of the Versailles Treaty,. still quite exorbitant, were manageable. Second, the shift to a peace time economy was rather smooth because Germany continued to print money. This led to the astronomical inflation of Third, because of the weakening by inflation and the dependence on foreign loans. The Great Depression hit Germany especially hard.

GERMAN INFLATION U.S. $1 = 0.84 British Pound = 1.14 Canadian Pound = 0.57 German Marks = 1.35 Australian Dollar 1.Which country’s currency was the strongest? 2.Which countries currency was the weakest?

Now… How much would each item cost in German Marks? a.Flypaper $2.00 US b.Pocket knife$10.00 US c.1lb of peas $4.00 US

PRICE OF 1 LOAF OF BREAD: mark160 marks 200,000,000 marks 1.Describe the difficulties the German people might have had with price inflations like this? 2.How would you feel?

Lastly the psychological shock of losing the war. to learn of Germany's defeat. Many people, particularly because of fabricated military reports, were surprised by the loss. (Hitler was one of these people.) There was also the stab-in-the-back theory, insisting the military lost because of poor political support.