In Between the Wars

Question 1

• When do you think we could consider ourselves in a depression and not a recession?

Question 2

• How do you think that this generation would react to a true depression?

Age of Anxiety• Term used to describe the period between 1919 and

1930’s – post WWI. • In Germany and France led to counter-culture

movements (flappers in US) – Release from Victorian ideals.

• Major advancements in science and culture in Germany – Heideggar in philosophy, Heisenberg in physics, Brecht in theater, Einstein in physics.

• Lost Generation in Literature – Hemingway, Stein, Fitzgerald.

Weltanschaung

• Formed by Freud as a concept.• “Worldview”• Should focus on science as a solvent for

everything.

Some Important Ideas, Movements Abounded

• Lack of Optimism– Dadaism– Existentialism– Weltanschaung– Age of Anxiety

• World Wide Depression

Weimar Republic

• Created by popular uprising among sailors and military in 1918 – forced government to sue for peace.

• Created an unstable democratically elected government – Parliament called “Reichstag”

• Faced popular uprising by Pols and Salisians• “Stab in Back Theory” - Hindenberg

Challenges to Weimar Government

• 1. Marxist uprising in Munich – 1920 – put down by Freikorps – elite ex soldiers not under control of gov’t

• 2. Strikes and Uprisings in Saxony and Hamburg• 3. Paramilitary organizations in Germany –

Right wing and left wing.• 4. Beer Hall Putsch – 1923 – failed Munich

uprising by Hitler and Nazis

Oh yeah…and Versailles

• 1. Hyperinflation– Caused by inability to pay reparations and default on

loans– French and Belgians then took over Ruhr valley and all

mining operations– Had to pay striking workers – more money in system -

hyperinflation

• 2. Reparations – Finally paid off in 2010• However – Post 1923 – short lived golden age of

art and culture.

Weimar Golden Age…

• Gustav Stresemann – President who brought stability to German state in this period– Secured American money to back currency via

Dawes Plan– Adherence to international policy and Treaty– Created by “outsiders” – Dada (Art),

Expressionism (Philosophy), Bauhaus (Architecture), Epic (Theater)

Dadaism

• Artistic movement directly connected to WWI• Blamed the event on colonization and

bourgeoisie nationalism.• Dada art is the opposite of art. It does not

focus on aesthetics – it rejects logic and reason in art.

• A reaction to a lack of optimism.

Bauhaus

• Architectural movement • Modernist – brought all aspects of design

together• Influenced by Dada and by industrial structure

Epic Theater – Bertolt Brecht

• Epic theater was developed to force you to understand that you are seeing a play.

• Example – a sign drops down in the middle of a performance that tells you how many people are sitting in the audience at the moment.

• Best example – Mother Courage and Her Children / The Threepenny Opera

Causes of the World Wide Depression• Depends on the Economist– Easy Credit of Federal Reserve – Caused the Stock

Market Collapse – lots of debt– Dawes Plan• Gold Standard Pre-War / Post-War• German Reparations paid in 1 billion mark increments• US provided aid to Germany to pay it back, France

would then pay back US and Britain

– John Maynard Keynes – the government took a non-interventionist policy

– Monetarists – it was caused by a lack of money in the system

Effects of the World Wide Depression• Canada had its total wealth drop by 56%• France: development of the socialist Popular

Front and rioting• Japan: Used Keynesianism and was able to

recover quicker• USSR: Avoided the worst of the depression –

unless you were Ukrainian of course• US: 1/3 unemployment and almost 60% of total

wealth lost• Germany – Weimar Republic eventually collapsed

under pressure of hyperinflation and poverty. Papiermark was worth 4.2 Trillion per 1 US Dollar in 1923.