THE GREAT DEPRESSION



World War I

1920’s through the Great Depression

World War II

Review

World War I

1. Causes of World War I – M.A.I.N.

2. M - Militarism - the glorification, or build up and praise, of a nation's military. This is often in reaction to other nation's build up of their military

3. A - Alliances - Support by one country for another. Problems between two nations quickly involve other nations.

4. I - Imperialism - As countries secured territories for resources and trade, it increased tension with other nations.

5. N - Nationalism - Pride in one's nation. This increased tensions between regions in Europe.

6. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by-Serbian nationalist.

7. Because of alliances, more than 20 nations were instantly drawn into war!

8. Heeding President Washington's advice, the United States remained neutral. President Wilson believed involving the United States would have a negative impact on American lives and the American economy.

9. In May 1915, a German submarine, or U-boat, sank a British cruise ship, the Lusitania. 128 Americans were killed in the attack. This began to sway the American public into entering the war.

10. German continued to attack American ships supplying Great Britain with supplies. These actions increased American hostility towards Germany and the war.

11. Zimmerman Telegram - In February of 1917 Arthur Zimmermann, Germany's Foreign Minister, sent a telegram to Mexico that proposed Mexico join Germany in their fight. In return, Germany would help Mexico "'reconquer" New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona from the United States.

12. On April 12. 1917. President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers - Germany. Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

13. Even though many American supported the war effort, many were also opposed to the war.

14. Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress in 1915, was strictly opposed to the war.

15. Eugene Debs, a labor leader of the progressive era, was also opposed to the war.

16. Before the war ended, President Wilson created "fourteen points," or proposals designed to prevent future wars like WWI.

17. Point fourteen called for an international organization to help keep international peace. This organization would be known as the League of Nations.

18. At the end of the war, Wilson, and the Allied leaders, met in Paris to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

19. The treaty called for the Central Powers to pay reparations - money to pay for war damages.

20. The treaty also formally recognized the creation of the League of Nations.

21. Many Americans were opposed to the League of Nations. Many Americans felt that the League of Nations would only ensure that they would get caught up in future European disputes, and that these disputes had the potential to ruin the United States. In the end, the U.S. did not join the League of Nations and it was very ineffective.

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THE 1920s through the Great Depression

1. The 1920’s were known as the Roaring 20’s. It was a time of great economic prosperity and social change.

2. The 19th amendment was ratified in 1920. This constitutional amendment gave women the right to vote.

3. The Teapot Dome scandal was a controversy over the government sale of oil fields to private companies. Government officials had taken bribes to allow the sales.

4. When President Harding died, President Coolidge took over and let business run free. Farmers were already in trouble because of over production. These factors would help lead to the Great Depression.

5. In the 1920’s, Americans were worried about the large number of immigrants. Different groups tended to live together in cities and kept their ethnic beliefs.

6. Nativism is the belief that immigration should be kept to a minimum or stopped to keep non-Americans out of the country. Nativism was motivated by racism, and a fear of Americans losing their jobs to cheaper labor.

7. The Chinese Exclusion Act, the Gentlemen’s Agreement and the National Origins Act were laws that were passed to limit immigration. These series of anti-immigration laws were supported by nativist.

8. Immigration came to a stop when the Great Depression hit.

9. During the 1920’s the old conservative, religious right clashed with the modern, liberal left.

10. An example of this conflict between the left and the right was the Scopes Trial where a teacher was arrested for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution instead of the Bible’s version of creation in a Tennessee biology class.

11. Amendment 18 - From 1919 to 1933 Prohibition against drinking alcohol was tried. It didn’t work because gangsters were able to supply liquor and everyone wanted to have it.

12. During this time, many African Americans moved from the south to the north for better opportunities. The Harlem Renaissance was a writing and artistic movement to show case Black culture.

13. The Great Depression started in 1929. The stock market crashed (October 1929), banks went out of business and four out of every ten people were out of work. People stood in line for food and had no place to live.

14. The Great Depression was caused by over production of manufactured consumer goods, and bad credit (loans) provided by banks.

15. Farmers were also very hard hit besides having their usual problems. There was a drought that turned the Midwest into the Dust Bowl. A million farmers left their homes with many going to California where they were still unable to find jobs.

16. President Hoover was blamed for the Depression and not doing enough to end it. Hoovervilles and Hoover Blankets were terms used to show Americans displeasure with him.

17. President F. D. Roosevelt called his program to get business going The New Deal. He passed many programs designed to give public work projects a chance to pick up the economy. Most of his programs did little good but made people feel better.

18. Roosevelt declared a Bank Holiday to restore public trust in the banking system.

19. An example of FDR’s programs was the Tennessee Valley Authority. This gave people jobs and helped meet the regional electrical needs.

20. The best program started by FDR was Social Security. This would ensure that people who retired had some income for their older years.

21. Because Roosevelt was having many of his programs declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, he decided to “Pack The Court” with more justices of his choice. ( 9 to 14) This too was declared unconstitutional.

22. The National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) of 1935 gave labor unions the right to represent workers in collective bargaining.

23. The U.S. didn’t really get out of the Great Depression until World War II. Manufacturing and jobs became important to support the war.

World War II

1. After World War I, Europe saw the rise of a number of dictators, like Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler. The world wide Great Depression created conditions that allowed these leaders to come to power. These leaders promised prosperity and greatness to the countrymen.

2. The leaders created Fascist states. Fascism is a political system that is founded on extreme nationalism, a building of the military, and complete loyalty to the country’s leader.

3. In 1931, without the approval of the Japanese government, the Japanese army invaded the northern Chinese territory of Manchuria.

4. Japan saw militants take control of their government in 1936. These Military leaders believed Japan needed more land and resources to grow.

5. In 1935, Congress passed the Neutrality Act, in an attempt to stay out of the escalating European tension.

6. At first, European nations adopted a policy of appeasement towards Hitler. Appeasement is a policy of giving into an aggressive nation to prevent war.

7. By the end of 1939, Hitler had invaded Poland, and by the end of 1940, he had control of France.

8. The Holocaust was the imprisonment and extermination of Jewish Europeans by Hitler and the Nazis. Concentration camps were where imprisoned Jews were forced to work, and killed. Millions of Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

9. President Roosevelt asked Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the U.S. to sell or lend supplies to Britain, or other countries fight against the Nazis.

10. On December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed the military base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. They did so because the American refused to supply them with war materials, like oil, because they had invaded China.

11. The bombing of Pearl Harbor led Congress to declare war on Japan. Once they did, Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States.

12. The United States fought World War II on two fronts; one in Europe, and one in the Pacific.

13. The war demanded a lot of Americans at home. Rationing was started in order to set limits on the amount of scarce goods people could buy.

14. Women started working in factories building the vehicles and weapons used in the war. Rosie the Riveter became the iconic image of these women.

15. Japanese Americans were put into internment camps at home. This was done out of fear of the Japanese Americans were spies for Japan. In the Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States, the court ruled that the internment was justified.

16. In 1944, the United States invaded the beaches in Normandy, France, and began the final defeat of the Nazis. This was known as D-Day.

17. The Manhattan Project was the secret military project that developed the atomic bomb.

18. In 1945, President Truman decided that the United States should use the atomic bomb. The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan; one on the city of Hiroshima and the other on the city of Nagasaki.

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