1. The Time Between the Wars
The Roaring 20s and the Great Depression

2. The Great Depression
When the United States stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, the world’s economy collapsed.

3. The Early 1930s nations struggled through depressions
businesses went broke
millions of people were out of work
banks closed
poverty spread throughout the world
The climate was perfect for the rise of dictators such as Adolf Hitler (Germany) and Benito Mussolini (Italy).
This period is known as the Great Depression.

4. London in 1930
Paris in 1930

5. United States
October 29, 1929 (the day the US stock market fell) is known as Black Tuesday.
Many investors lost everything
At one point, ¼ of all Americans were unemployed.
Breadlines and soup kitchens were set up to feed the poor.
Many of the urban poor lived in shanty towns called Hoovervilles (named after President Herbert Hoover, the president at the time of the beginning of the Great Depression).

7. Germany Germany depended heavily on American loans.
The Wall Street Crash (Black Tuesday) placed more pressure for Germany to repay US loans.
rampant hyperinflation = useless currency
massive unemployment (5 million in 1932, 20% of total population)
production fell 40%
Germany turned to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to solve the German economic crisis.

8. The deutschmark Germany’s currency

9. The deutschmark in 1923 was only good for making kites

10. …and burning in a stove for heat.

11. Germans wanted someone to blame for their misfortune.
The Nazi party offered
Jews as the scapegoat.
Children were often
organized in youth groups
and taught Nazi dogma.
Germans were told to boycott Jewish businesses.
Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) was a night of destruction aimed at Jewish homes and businesses.