On 4 February 1915, in response to the German submarine blockade of Great Britain, the Royal Navy seized all food destined for Germany which led to extreme food shortages. Prior to this, Germany had imported 25% of what was consumed and was not self-sufficient in terms of food. In response to this, a War Food Office was set up in 1916 but its actions were often counter-productive for example when they ordered the killing of 9 million pigs due to that fact they consumed grain. This consequently led to less pork and fertiliser and ultimately had a negative impact. Following the Auxiliary Service Law in December 1919, which required all able-bodied Germans to work for the war effort, there was a sharp increase of social unrest as Germans felt their rights being curtailed.
One of the main reasons for this opposition was the economic and social hardships Russia was going through particularly in the months after the October revolution. Food shortages plagued Russia due to problems of distribution, problems of inflation and problems of production. The railway system in Russia had virtually collapsed. This meant that food supplies or any other necessary supplies couldn’t be distributed efficiently around Russia which caused massive food shortages. Food shortages were a key problem in Russia as it meant the people were starving and desperate.
Though collectivisation may have had short term boosts to the economy but the effects of collectivisation were disastrous. For that the harvest of 1933 was nine million tons less than that of 1926 and the number of pigs dropped by 65%. These are the results of the peasants rebelling against the soviets forced collectivization. These peasant rebellions were damaging to the economy as its effects emanates to the city
In this camp, they also stripped the Jews from the traditional practices, such as forbidding them to wear any Jewish symbol, clothing, etc. and burning all their holy books and other religious strongholds. But they differ in the fact that the Jewish were killed for disobeying and were not paid for their work, but in the relocation camps, the Japanese worked on government-owned or –leased farmland and they were used to produce poultry, eggs, and pork. These internees earned on average, sixteen dollars per month for a forty-four hour week. They were similar in that they both isolated these races from the rest of society, by use of the ghettos which were located in foreign places such as Poland and Germany, capturing them from their homes, and the relocation camps were located in certain areas in the United States and both the ghettos and the relocation camps were highly monitored by the military.
They were forced to lay off all of their workers and close down. Unemployment was a major effect on many Americans during the depression. Unemployment affected the middle class the most. By 1933 nearly 40-50% of American’s were unemployed. The Great Depression also severely impacted the lives of farmers.
Bartering had been common in medieval times which show how people resorted to previous looked down upon activities. Pensioners on fixed incomes suffered as pensions became worthless. Restaurants did not print menus as by the time food arrives…the price had gone up! The poor became even poorer and the winter of 1923 meant that many lived in freezing conditions burning furniture, or in some cases, banknotes, to get some heat. The group that suffered a great deal - proportional to their income - was the middle class.
The problem with starving people in America is that, first of all people are starving. Then you have people who might die from not getting enough food. If homeless people have kids then it makes babies not get the nutrition that they should be getting. It just spreads all over tell about half of Americas population will be homeless or starving. No one should ever have to live through that, ever.
Zachary Young Contemp. U.S History HIS 229 1) The main topic in the film we watched in Mondays’ class was The Great Famine in Russia in the early 1900’s. The Great Famine was detrimental to Russia. It killed millions of people, and could be said to have started with an economic crisis. 2) There were a few “major players” involved with this situation, but I think the main figure was President Herbert Hoover.
Each year, the U.S. Census Bureau counts the number of "poor" persons in the U.S. In 2005, the Bureau found 37 million "poor" Americans. Presidential candidate John Edwards claims that these 37 million Americans currently "struggle with incredible poverty." Edwards asserts that America's poor, who number "one in eight of us…do not have enough money for the food, shelter, and clothing they need," and are forced to live in "terrible" circumstances.However, an examination of the living standards of the 37 million persons, whom the government defines as "poor," reveals that what Edwards calls "the plague" of American poverty might not be as "terrible" or "incredible" as candidate Edwards contends. Poverty is an important and emotional issue.
People living during that time period had a very low tolerance for disease due to a weakened immune system. The Black Death killed anywhere from 30%-60% of the population of Europe. In the 14th century, this translated to about 75-200 million people. Because the workforce was significantly decreased because of all the death, it gave peasants more leeway to demand higher wages. Prices for goods increased along with the wages of the people.