The Aftermath of The Great War

Meredith Harbison

Katelyn Wetzel

Derek Wilbert

Battered Europe

• War weary and war torn Western Europe looked for revenge after the brutal years in the bloody trenches.

• After Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates and flees Germany an armistice quickly follows on November 11th

• In Paris a peace conference convenes to create what will become The Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

• Germany was held personally responsible for the war and was forced to pay reparations to the Allies.

• Germany was forced to cede Alsace-Lorraine, coal mines in Saar to France

• Most of West Prussia and Posen was given to Poland

• The Rhine was demilitarized

• All colonies and possessions were released

• All war materials given to allies

Affects of the Treaty

Germany

• Germans reached the top of the inflationary chart after the war going from 4.6 million marks to 4.2 trillion marks

• Germany was hit hardest by inflation because of the immensely high war reparations

Germany’s Losses

United States

• Before the was the U.S. economy was in a recession, but a 44 month economic boom ensued from 1914-1918.

• After the war, America was doing great because we were making a huge amount of money for supplying ammunition and supplies to other powers.

Positives vs. Negatives

• The mass loss of life in WWI disillusioned many Americans against the war

• However, the cost for fighting for freedom is never too high

World War I

• Over 100,000 American lives were lost in the fight for democracy

• This generation was nicknamed “The Lost Generation” because of the casualties in the trenches despite having the lowest casualty amount in the war.

Changes in American Culture

• After the war and devastation occurred the American populace wanted nothing more but to shrink back into its shell

• The war propaganda made many blame foreigners for the problems leading to a vast wave of anti-foreignism and xenophobia that intoxicated Americans into the 1940’s

Struggling Finances

• The once reliable money lender of the Western European nations now found themselves millions of dollars in debt to the war fund.

• The rapid printing of money began to steadily increase inflation during the after war years

Price Changes in the 1920s

Communism:•system of social organization in which property (especially real property and the means of production) is held in common.

•In modern terms, Communism is applied to the movement that aims to overthrow the capitalist order by revolutionary means and to establish a classless society in which all goods will be socially owned.

Anti-Communist Tide

After the horrors of World War I and the tremendous loss of life, America wanted to return to its traditional policy of strict isolationism

The feelings rose against anything “Unamerican” and xenophobia ran rampant.

Anti-Foreign and Anti-Communist feelings both began to rise after troops returned from World War I

Red Scare Outbreaks• Starting with the Czar

toppling in Russia by the radical Bolsheviks in 1917 and lasted through 1920

• The fear of anarchism and revolution sparked a strong feeling against the “non-native” socialists and communist parties

Carl Marx: Idea of Communism started with him

Finding Commies on Home Soil

• While our men were over fighting the “Huns”, many American's fought at home. Anyone who wasn’t as patriotic as possible (draft dodgers, “slackers”, German-Americans, immigrants, and communist) were suspected

Communist Discontent

• In the Seattle docks a large scale strike led by alleged Communist sympathizers led to the United States Marines being sent in to return the workers to their posts

• In the next summer multiple race riots erupted in dozens of cities, leaving many dead and many more wounded

• A police strike centered in Boston led to a ton of theft and vandalism sweeping through the unprotected streets

• Steel workers struck and slowed the return to normal economy

Communist Resistance

• Wilson appointed a new Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer whose reign was characterized by illegal search and seizure, unwarranted arrests and detentions, as well as mass detentions

• He was eventually defanged by the bombing of his house and became of little note after

The Hunt is Over…

When companies started realizing that deporting immigrants (many of them were accused of being communist) took out a major source of labor, the newspapers stopped featuring

the Reds. They started objecting the over zealous Red-

hunters.

New Transportation• Ingenious entrepreneur Henry Ford

reshaped American History by the mass production of the Model T

• “I will build a motorcar for the great multitude” Ford oft was quoted.

Revolution of the Automobile

• Cars strictly for the affluent was a thing of the past as Henry Ford’s assembly line swept into factories everywhere.

• Henry Ford was churning out a car every 24 seconds in the prime of the assembly line

New Affluence, New Toys

The newly booming economy and stock market led to a sharp rise of the standard of living in America.

With the new money and the ending of a military production board the economy shifted to a consumer based one.

The creation of the radio, television, and cars changed American ways of life.

TV1925 - October 2: Scottish inventor John Baird invents the

first form of a television

Everlasting Companies

• NBC and CBS were created in the 1920s and are still around today– Covered the 1928 Election

– Hired musicians, comedians, and sold advertisements.

• Schwebel’s Bread

What Went On!

Impact on America

• The new ease of transportation and the seemingly endless supply of natural oil led Americans to flock to the suburbs

• The recreational view switched from the group and get together, to the solemn and quiet car drives

• The tremendous boost kick started an American economy and continued the boom until the end of the Roaring Twenties

The Boom of the Bear• During the twenties and its unparalleled rise of prosperity

the “Bear” stock market rose to an unprecedented high

• The idea of “Buying on Margin” and Incremental payments lead to a mass buy and sell during the decade following WWI

The Economy

The 1920's was, for 8 years and 3/4 of 1929, a very happy decade. Lots of positive things will be forever know from the 1920s!

Works Cited• 13th Edition of the American Pagent

• Burnett, Paul. "The Red Scare". 3/29/2010 <www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/saccov/redscare.html>.

• "The Model T Ford". 3/30/2010 <www.modelt.ca/history.html>.

Works Cited Continued

• "World War I: Aftermath". Holocaust Encyclopedia. 3/29/2010 <www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&modulId=10007429>.