The Western Democracies Stumble Chapter 13 Section 2 “In 1919, the three Western Democracies—Briatin, France, and the US—Appeared powerful. They had ruled the Paris Peace Conference and boosted hopes for democracy among the new nations of Eastern Europe. Beneath the surface, however, postwar Europe faced grave problems. To make matters worse, many members of the younger generation who might have become the next great leaders had been killed in the war.”

Politics in the Postwar World Party Struggles in Britain Labour Party surpassed Liberal Party in strength, Conservatives dominated politics Irish Independence at Last 1922 – The IRA helps Ireland become a self-governing Irish Free state France’s Troubled Peace Several parties competed for power, so a series of quickly changing coalition governments ruled

“The Red Scare” and Isolationism in the US Unlike the rest of the world, the US emerged from WW1 in the best financial shape Despite minimal loss during the war, the US experienced some domestic unrest Fear of radicals and the Bolshevik Revolution 1919-1920: police rounded up suspected foreign born radicals and expelled them from the US Led to a limit on immigration from Europe

Postwar Foreign Policy Arguing Allies France wanted to keep Germany out “Maginot Line”, allying with the Soviet Union, enforcing the Treaty of Versailles Britain wanted to relax the treaty to prevent Germany from becoming weak while France and the Soviet Union got strong The Search for Peace Germany and the Soviet Union joining the League of Nations in 1926 “Kellogg-Briand Pact” designed to end wars between countries; helped the great powers pursue “disarmament” Political cartoon pg. 429 The League’s Weakness Was unable to enforce its policies and ideals 1931: condemned Japan for invading Manchuria, but did not take military action to stop it

Postwar Economics Britain and France recover The US Booms Britain: deeply in debt, factories out of date, severe unemployment, low wages, worker unrest and frequent strikes; “general strike” in 1926 France: economy recovered quickly with financial reparations and territories from Germany, but still had economic swings Overall, a rise in the standard of living The US Booms Emerged from the war as the world’s leading economic power

The Great Depression Falling Demand and Overproduction Farmers who had been vital and prospered during the war were less in demand and stopped buying New technology led to “overproduction” which led to lay offs Crash and Collapse Crisis in “finance”, NYSE at an all time high, so the “Federal Reserve” raised interest rates in 1928 and 1929—it didn’t work Fall 1929: many people sold their stock at once, the market crashed, people lost their jobs; aggravated the economic decline Cycle of overproduction and falling demand led to “The Great Depression” The Depression Spreads American banks stopped loaning money abroad, demanded repayment of foreign loans, Germany, France, & Britain couldn’t may their payments Everyone increased tariffs, and the depression touched every corner of the world

The Democracies React to the Depression Britain and France Search for Solutions Britain: set up a coalition government, but 1 in 4 were still unemployed France: leftist parties united behind Leon Blum, who passed some social legislature, but did not satisfy radicals; led to strikes and no more Blum In an attempt to end the Great Depression, Western countries put programs into place that lessened suffering, but did not solve the problems

Roosevelt Offers the US a New Deal President Hoover did not want to intervene in private business matters 1932: President Roosevelt elected and introduced the “New Deal” as a package for Depression relief Federal government becomes more involved in people’s every day lives New laws regulate stock exchange, protect bank deposits Government programs created jobs, gave aid to farmers New Social Security system 1934: The Dust Bowl destroyed farmlands, people moved to the West Coast to start over