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THE INTERWAR YEARS • World War I had been the most devastating war the world had yet seen and following it, many nations began the futile search for stability and peace – Treaty of Locarno • Spirit of cooperation between Germany and France • 1925 treaty guarantees Germany’s new western borders with France – Kellog-Briand Pact • An accord written by U.S. Secretary of State Frank Kellog and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand • 63 nations pledge to renounce war as – Germany joins the League of Nations in 1926 – No way to enforce any of this Why Peace Fails • Weak League of Nations – Turns out to be a great failure – The United States does not join • Americans don’t want to be involved in European affairs – Could only use economic sanctions, not military force, to stop aggression – The European powers don’t want another war either • Great Britain and France will follow the policy of appeasement = will back down and give in to the demands of aggressor nations to maintain peace • WWI and the Treaty of Versailles – Germany is angry over the terms and reparations – The Allied Reparations Commission determines Germany owes 132 German marks, which equals 33 billion dollars – The new German republic makes its first payment in 1921, but the next year faces financial problems • Announces it is unable to pay anymore • This angers France, who sends troops to occupy the industrial heartland of Germany to collect the money – To solve this problem, Germany starts printing more paper money, which leads to inflation • 1914: 42 German marks = 1 U.S. dollar • Nov. 1923: 130 marks = 1 U.S. dollar • End of 1923: 4.2 trillion marks = 1 U.S. dollar – An American banker comes up with a plan to reduce reparations and coordinates Germany’s annual payment plan with its ability to pay • The Great Depression – Depression = a period of low economic activity and rising unemployment – Two factors played a role in the Great Depression • Series of downturns in the economies of individual nations – consumer spending had slowed • Black Tuesday – U.S. Stock market crash, which leads to an international financial crisis – Effects • The United States had been world’s leading money lender and this leads to European banks crashing • • • The two nations hit hardest were the U.S. and Germany – 40% of Germans were unemployed • Renewed interest in Marxist doctrines • Marx had predicted that capitalism would destroy itself • The new democratic gov’ts in Europe, especially Germany, were unable to deal with the crisis • Many people turn to political leaders who offer simple solutions in return for dictatorial power Weak Democratic Governments – President Wilson claimed that the Great War had been fought to make the world safe for democracy • However these new democracies were unable to handle the economic crisis – The former monarchy in Germany was replaced by a democratic state called the Weimar Republic Rise of Dictators – Aggressive dictators came to power in Europe and Japan and began making territorial demands – Totalitarian state = gov’t that aims to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural lives of its citizens – Achieves this through mass propaganda