1. AP European History Mrs. Gregory
The Age of Anxiety
AP European History
Mrs. Gregory

2. Modern Thought After WWI
Doubt in human ability to progress after seeing the deaths of millions for little to no progress in land leads to gross disillusionment
Philosophical underpinnings:
Friedrich Nietzsche
Most famous quote: “God is dead”
Words and meanings: relevance comes from their history, those with firm control over words control society and culture
Superman (Übermensch): breaks out of societal conventions and formulates new moral codes for himself
For Nietzsche, life is meaningless
Books:
Thus Spake Zarathustra
The Will to Power
Life comes from random chance happenings
No purpose for life
No inherent meaning
Rules are the constructs of those in power (traditional values might have been different with another culture)
Traditional values have no ultimate meaning
There is no ultimate meaning and life has no purpose
The end of life is the end
Accept the meaninglessness of life and move on

3. Modern Thought After WWI
(A) Paul Valéry: saw postwar mankind as suffering from a “cruelly injured mind”, plagued by anxiety because of the loss of the progressivist vision of the 19th century
(B) Henri Bergson: experience and intuition as important as rationalism and scientific thinking
(C) Ludwig Wittgenstein: adopted logical positivism; disparaged the search for superior truth B C

4. Modern Thought After WWI
Increasing religion: Christianity
Stems from work of Søren Kierkegaard (A)
Karl Barth: father of neo-orthodoxy (B)
Converts and attractants
T. S. Eliot (C)
W. H. Auden (D)
Evelyn Waugh (E)
C. S. Lewis (F)
Graham Greene (G)
Max Planck (H) A B C D E F G H

5. New Media Radio Cinema: Known as the “wireless” Silent films “Talkies”
Useful as propaganda
Leni Riefenstahl:
Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens)

6. The Interwar Political Situation
Political instability:
Search for governmental forms that will not lead to war and will control the chaos of the post-war world
Reparations: end of Germany’s prosperity
Rampant, soaring inflation (4 trillion marks to 1 US Dollar) by November 1923
Dawes Plan put in place to curb runaway inflation in European nations

7. Kellogg-Briand Pact: 15 countries renounced war “as an instrument of national policy”, early attempt at a peace movement (idealistic, doesn’t work)
Demonstrates the aggressive political hopefulness of the 1920’s
Discouragement mostly found in the artistic/literary circles; politics is philosophically a different place
Various parties competed for seats in Parliaments and for influences among various constituencies (Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats – all wanted workers votes)
Shattering of political spectrum grew as economic situations worsened
Growth of Democracies

8. Artistic and Philosophical disillusionment
Despair over the ability of mankind to solve his own problems by alternatives rather than reason

9. Enter the Great Depression
Stock Market crash in the US (October 1929)
Wiped out the financial holdings of millions
Banks went under because of bad debts
US banks call in their loans; bad for Europeans who owe millions of dollars to the US; New Deal puts Roosevelt into office
Germany’s solution: print billions of marks; leads to runaway inflation
France: depression hits later but is more persistent
Britain: less effected and also more socialist oriented; Liberal party surpassed by Labour Party
Countries go off the gold standard
Massive unemployment worldwide; in Europe socialism takes strong root in Scandinavian countries (welfare, pensions, healthcare)

10. Political Movements Authoritarianism: Totalitarianism:
Human traditions of gravitating toward strong leaders in times of crisis
Authoritarian regimes: trying to maintain peace and order; minimal restriction on freedoms (if you go along; passive acceptance)
Totalitarianism:
Seeks to control the totality of people’s lives
Religion, leisure activities, culture (art, music, books), media, politics
Afraid of and discouraged deviation