How Far Can the Failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s be blamed on the Great Depression? The failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s can be blamed partly on the Great Depression because this economic crisis in 1929 influenced the later invasions, such as the Abyssinian Crisis and Manchurian Crisis, which are believed to have undermined the League because it was then seen as powerless and irrelevant, however, it is not the most significant reason as to why the League failed, because both self-interest and the absence of the USA in the League, were major factors that caused the failure of the League, and are more significant origins of the failure than the Great Depression. The Great Depression can be regarded as a significant factor as to why the League of Nations failed in the 1930s because as a consequence, all countries around the world lost their good will, which the League greatly depended on in order to be successful, and lead to militarism; to which the League was unsuccessful in controlling. The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression, and hit many powerful countries critically. Therefore, it led to militarism because many countries did not know what to do in response, other than to focus on expansion as a solution to their problems.
Various historians argue that it was in fact foreseen to fail due to the various complications that the Republic encountered, such as opposition from both sides of the political spectrum, the implications of the Treaty of Versailles and the impact of the Great Depression. Others argue that the Weimar Republic was a product of complex and painful compromises, and may in fact have survived had it not been for the economic conditions that riddled both Germany and the international economy. It was indeed inevitable that the Weimar Republic would have faced difficulties from the start; however, to say that the Weimar Republic was doomed is to some extent incorrect. The republic was beginning to overcome its difficulties during the mid-1920s as economic, political, and cultural improvements were occurring, and if it hadn’t been for the economic circumstances, the republic may have prospered for many years. From the very beginning, the Weimar republic encountered resistance from both sides of the political spectrum.
The Depression which began in 1929 was a great mean for Hitler to come to his power. During the Depression (1929-33), the Weimar Republic was seriously undermined by the social and economic conditions, which were also exploited by the Nazi Party. The Nazi ideologies appealed to those people who had seen no hope on the Republic. The Party promised people jobs, money, and homes, plus, they also wanted to abolish the Treaty of Versailles so there wouldn’t be huge reparations. That’s what German people want; they liked to be reminded of the humiliation caused by the War, and they wanted to get it back from the Republic.
After the First World War there was an attempt to try to return to this form of economy but it failed leaving Britain’s economy exposed to huge levels of deflation with no effective plan to counteract in place. This led to the suspension of the gold standard along with capital controls and a policy of permanently low domestic interest rates being introduced. In 1929 a new government came into power, although they were not expected to come to an agreement to make cuts to the dole system they did stick strictly to the ‘orthodox treasury view’ in its fiscal and monetary policies. This was all done for a good reason as the labour government were worried that an inflationary policy would reduce the real wage of labour. The unemployed population may have been able
Hitler’s strategy incompetence, the Allied bombings and losing the Battle of The Atlantic were all also important factors in the defeat of Germany. This essay will aim to judge to what extent the failings of the economy contributed to Germany’s defeat in conjunction with various other factors that led to the downfall of Germany. The Nazi’s economic policy did nevertheless, have significant contribution to the defeat and fall of Germany during the war. The Four-Year Plan of 1936, which was major part of their economic policy, was meant to make Germany ‘fit for war within four years’. However, the German economy was not really ready for a long war and was struggling by 1939; its capacity was only strong enough to sustain a couple of short campaigns.
! After the First World War, unlike some other nations that were prepared to fight another major war, Britain had an aftermath of the war. Britain was struggling with economy as they met the economic depression; they were still on the stage of recovering. Also as the Americans were insisting on maintaining their isolationism, which they were willing to be isolated from the European countries’ conflicts, this eliminated any other possibilities and chance for the British to earn loans. Moreover, as Britain was one of the major power of the WWI, the effects on both of their men and arms were not recovered from the WWI.
Assess the reasons why the Weimar republic failed to survive the effects of the great depression (1929-1933) [50 marks] Plan Treaty of Versailles Reparations Opposition foreign loans removed therefore unstable The division between opposing parties caused an unstable government, who formed policies have to construct because of this. Lack of support from the public good exploitation from Nazi propaganda/Hitler People seeking radical parties’ inflation/hyperinflation Protectionism Intro In order to assess the reasons why Weimar republic failed it is essential to establish their reasons so that we can reach a judgement. The depression hit hard on Germany and people assumed that Weimar government couldn’t sort out Germany’s problems anymore. Germany's economy was already suffering difficulties before 1929 and was heavily dependent on American loans, many of which could be withdrawn. From October 1929, Germany was badly hit by the effects of the Wall Street Crash.
Was the Great Depression the main reason why the Nazi party grew between 1929 and 1932? The Great Depression occurred in 1929 and affected Germany because America took all their loans from Germany so business’ close and the standard of living in Germany decreased. After the Great Depression, the public went to the extremist parties, the NSPD and the Communists. This was because the German government didn’t have a reasonable plan for amending the crisis – the Chancellor Bruning believed that decreasing government spending and increasing the taxes would get Germany out of their economic crisis. This angered the German public as they thought that the government’s plan would just make living harder if they did increase the taxes.
Why did a dictatorship emerge in Germany in 1933 and not before? The Weimar Republic was bound to fail sooner or later given its weakness at birth and the values it was associated with however as to why Hitler was able to take power in 1933 and not before is an interesting question that requires much thought and attention. It has being proven throughout history that for extreme parties such as the NSDAP or the Communist party to gain mass support there has to be an economic crisis. The Nazi party was the one which eventually turned out ahead of the others, partly because of their leader, Adolf Hitler and partly because of their wider appeal and superior organisation. After it was proven that to rise to power through revolutions and coups (Spartacist revolt, Munich Beer Cellar putsch) was not practicable, economic crises offered these groups their only means to rise to power.
Was the League of Nations a failure? The League of Nations is thought to be a failure by many, because of hard irony and limitation on military might. The League accomplished very little in stopping wars and conflicts while having very little power. Often they just shook fists at ruthless, evil dictators such as Germany’s Adolf Hitler and his conquests, without intervening. Another Major flaw was that “the country, whose president, Woodrow Wilson, had dreamt up the idea of the League - America -, refused to join it.” The league’s most powerful militaries Britain and France not only suffered casualties, but also economically as they were greatly in debt to the United States.