My Back Hurts… …Horizontally, Exactly in the Middle Chapter 19, Section 3 Notes

French Flop World War I has ended…economies need to recover We talked yesterday about the impact the war had on farmland In addition, the French economy was in trouble What does war cost a lot of? Answer: $$$ The French economy was in trouble because of war debt, high prices, government spending, and military spending

French Flop Why would high prices hurt the industrial workers and the middle class? Answer: they don’t make as much $$ so rising prices hurt them more Germany made France say “uncle” twice in 50 years…Germany enters, French power leaves The French would not let it happen again: they built a series of steel and concrete fortifications known as the Maginot Line It could have been called the “Mag-i-don’t” line for how well it worked…ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… It was a good idea for the present, but not the future…why? Answer: You could fly right over it!

You Say Locarno…I Say Locarno…I Mean, How Else Can You Really Say Locarno? The Locarno Pact (1925) was born from European concerns about future wars The Locarno Pact said that the countries would settle all future disputes peacefully It also guaranteed existing boundaries France and Germany Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Poland in it

Why the Popular Front was Popular In 1934, France went back to favoring a strong gov’t, led by a dictator, who’d protect the nation Trade unions called for a general strike A general strike is a refusal by workers to work until their demands are met The demands were met by a socialist government led by Leon Blum in 1936 The Bank of France came under gov’t control

Some of you look bored… So here are some dancing bears to look at…

Why the Popular Front was Short Leaders of French industry were encouraged to give pay increases to end the strike A 40 hour workweek and paid vacations became mandatory Labor-Management arguments were now negotiable The Bank of France was government-controlled The weapons industry underwent partial nationalization (gov’t control) Did it work? Not really, as prices continued to rise Blum’s gov’t lasted only one year

British Bumbling Britain is also out of $$ after WWI They have another major problem: their machinery and factories are outdated What does this mean? Answer: They struggle to compete with newer U.S. and Japanese technology Poor technology + protectionism (tariffs) = damaged British trade

British Bumbling British workers suffered after the war as disarmament left many factory workers without jobs What is disarmament? Answer: When a country no longer makes weapons for wartime By 1921, almost 25% of Britain was unemployed Labor unrest takes place: labor unions want high wages and employment rates of war years; industry leaders did not (said they could not)

A Man Named Ramsey to the Rescue… Ramsay MacDonald was the leader of the Labour Party and spoke out for the workers, but they did not have a majority in the House of Commons MacDonald formed a coalition gov’t with the Liberal Party (they worked together) This gov’t set a tight budget Protected Brits from foreign competition Helped construction industry All of these measures helped the economy recover

Tomorrow… We’ll continue with some blood and guts from Ireland, talk about Eastern Europe and try to convince you that Hitler was a bad person…