The Age of Anxiety Chapter 28 Post WWI and the Depression

Modern Thought Beginning to question cherished values and beliefs. Pre-WWI Europeans had an optimistic view of the world. Paul Valery ( ): Europe was looking to the future with dark foreboding. They were having a “crisis of the mind.”

Philosophy Fredrich Nietzsche ( ) –West had overemphasized rationality and stifled passion and animal instinct. –“God is dead,” he has been murdered by lackadaisical modern Christians who no longer really believe in him. –Painted a dark world. Accepted meaninglessness of human existence. Georges Sorel ( ) –French Socialist –Rejected democracy and believed that the masses of the new socialist society would have to be cont5rolled by a revolutionary elite.

Logical Empiricism –Rejected most concerns of traditional philosophy. –Ludwig Wittgenstein: philosophy is only the logical clarification of thoughts –“Of what one cannot speak one must be silent. Existentialism: Search for moral values. –Most were atheists. –Honest human beings are terribly alone, for there is no God to help them. (Jean-Paul Sartre) –Human beings must act, they define themselves by actions and choices. –Inescapably responsible for your own behavior.

Revival of Christianity Christ was seen as the greatest moral teacher and the “supernatural” elements of him were played down. Stressed human beings’ sinful nature and the need for faith and God’s forgiveness. Soren Kierkegaard rejected formalistic religion and committed to a remote and majestic God. Karl Barth ( ) –Re-create the reformation. –People have to accept God’s word... With awe, trust, and obedience. Many illustrious people began to turn to religion in the 1920s and 1930s. Religion was a meaningful answer to terror and anxiety.

Physics: emphasizing the uncertain Marie Curie: –radium constantly emits subatomic particles and does not have a constant atomic weight. Albert Einstein: –Special Relativity. Everything is relative except the speed of light. –No Certainty. Ernest Rutherford: –The atom could be split –The neuron is capable of passing through other atoms –Road to atomic bomb. Werner Heisenberg: –“principle of uncertainty” –It is impossible to predict behavior of an electron –NO CERTAINTY!

Freudian Psychology ID –Primitive, irrational unconscious. –Driven by sexual, aggressive and pleasure- seeking desires. Ego –Rationalizing conscious. –Mediates what a person can do. Superego –Ingrained moral values –What a person should do. After WWI encouraged sexual experimentation Undermined the optimistic view about the rational and progressive nature of the mind.

Literature: limited, confused viewpoint of a single individual Marcel Proust: –Remembrance of Things Past –Bittersweet memories of childhood. Lived like a hermit. William Faulkner: –The Sound and the Fury –Drama seen through the eyes of an idiot. James Joyce: –Parallel between his character & Ulysses. –Life is a gigantic riddle to be unraveled. Oswald Spengler –Decline of the West –Western civilization was in its old age and death was approaching through conquest of the yellow race.

T.S. Elliot –The Waste Land –World of desolation until his conversion. Franz Kafka –The Trial, The Castle. –Helpless people crushed by hostile forces. –Came to fruition with Holocaust George Orwell –1984 –Anti-utopian –Language, technology, and psychological terror to strip and individual of human dignity.

Arts Functionalism –In architecture it should serve a functional purpose. –Sky scrapers using cheap steel, concrete, and elevators without ornamentation. Louis H. Sullivan Frank Lloyd Wright Walter Gropius –Est. The Bauhaus, a school for architects, designers, and theatrical innovators. –Studied the arts with a stress on functionality.

Painting Impressionism –Capture momentary overall feeling. Claude Monet: Expressionism –Know and depict worlds other that the visible. –Emotion and imagination Vincent van Gogh: –Visions of his minds eye Pablo Picasso –Cubism –Complex geometry and overlapping planes. –Les fauves: wild beasts –Dadaism –Surrealism

Music Igor Stravinsky –The Rite of Spring –Dissonant rhythms and earthy representation of lovemaking. –Very controversial. –Reflects time Arnold Schonberg –Abandoned harmony and tonality. –Notes were independent and unrelated. –12 tone music. –Won acceptance after WWII.

New Entertainment Movies: –Silent films –Based in US –Charlie Chaplin –An escape from the real world. –In Britain 1 in 4 went to movies twice a week Radio –Guglielmo Marconi “wireless communication” Vacuum tube –Medium for communication –3 of 4 households had at least 1 radio. –Governments used it

Peace and Political Stability Versailles –Shaky truce –Germany hated it –France was fearful and isolated –Britain was undependable –U.S. turned its back John Maynard Keynes –Economic Consequence of the Peace. –Only a complete revision could save Europe. –Stirred guilt about Germany

England made a lot of money off of Germany and wanted a good relationship. France wanted to punish Germany and get reparations –Form the “little entente” –Call for reparations from Germany $33 billion in $2.5 billion installments. –Weimar Republic is only able to pay a few. When they can’t pay French send armies to occupy the Ruhr district. German government orders people to stop working and passively resist. Germans then print money to pay bills and cause horrendous inflation. They then try cooperation and compromise.

Hope Dawes Plan: –Designed by banker Charles Dawes. –Get reparations reduced and dependant on economy –Germany gets large loans from US, they pay France and Britain who in turn pay the US. –We pay ourselves off. Germany sees an economic recovery Kellogg-Briand Pact –“condemned and renounced war as a national policy” –Agree to settle disputes peacefully –Fostered optimism and encouraged stability.

Democratic Governments Sharp political divisions in Germany. Controversy between the Communist and Socialist Parties. France becomes where the twentieth century is. Britain faced challenges –Economic during the 1920s Grant autonomy to Ireland in 1922.

The Great Depression Depressions were common and almost predictable. Black Tuesday triggered the collapse into the depression. –Caused by speculation, buying on margin, and lack of ‘real’ investment. Panic in US causes a financial crisis throughout the world. –Americans call in loans to other countries taking money from their hurting economies. Production between 1929 and 1933 decreased by 38% Countries raised tariffs.

Causes 1. International economy lacked leadership. 2. Poor national economic policy in most countries. Mass unemployment: –People lost dignity –Decrease in marriages and the birth rate –Increases in suicide and mental illness. Reactions New Deal in the US –Focus on government support and relief programs Scandinavia –Socialism, large scale deficits, and social welfare England –Concentrated on national market –Lowered interest rates France –NO stability in the Government. –Political tensions lead to lack of leadership.