How did the Great Depression weaken Western democracies?

Vanna Qing
Exam-History Essay#1
March 3rd Monday
Ms. Macaulay
How did the Great Depression weaken Western democracies?

The Great Depression, began in 1929, has lasted for about10 years. It had destructive influence on economy and politics, which, as a result, weakened Western democracies a lot. Firstly, why the Great Depression occurred? With the development of economic globalization and world multipolarization, the collapse of one country's economy was very easy to cause a global negative effect. Before the Great Depression, WWI brought Western Countries destructive destroy. Woodrow Wilson, the president of America, wanted to set up the League of Nations to maintain the peace, however, it turned out to be ineffective. Germany could not achieve the post-war compensation for France and other countries. The discontent of both sides with the Treaty of Versailles also helped open the door to the Great Depression and WWII. Due to the overproduction, the prices for products fell rapidly and caused a series of downturns in the economies in lots of countries. Another factor that triggered the Great Depression was an international financial crisis involving the U.S. stock market. Based on the uneasy peace and uncertain security, the Great Depression made things even worse. It totally shook people's confidence in political democracy and weakened Western democracies. The Great Depression had a huge bad effect on economies. During that time, for almost every country, trade was slowing, industrial production was declining, and unemployment was rising. For example, by 1932, the industrial production in United States had fallen almost 50 percent from its 1929 level. In Germany, unemployment was 3 million people by march and to 4.38 million by December in 1930. There also had some other kinds of economic influence in different countries. In France, the Popular Front government started a program for workers called Collective bargaining (the French New Deal), which aimed to give them the right to negotiate with employers over wages and hours. In Great Britain, John Maynard Keynes put forward a new idea. He suggested that unemployment came from a decline in demand, not from overproduction. Demand could be increased by putting people back to work building highways and public building. If necessary, governments should finance such projects with deficit spending, or going into debt. However, the political leaders in Britain largely ignored the new ideas. Besides, in America, the president Franklin Delano Roosevelt pursued a policy of active government intervention in the economy, known as the New Deal. The government increased its power to economy and offered many public works to unemployed people. It may have prevented a social revolution in the U.S. however, it did not solve the unemployment problems. The Great Depression also had a huge bad effect on politics. For Germany, the Great Depression paved the way for fear and the rise of extremist parties. A political chaos occurred in France—During a 19-month period in 1932 and 1933, 6 different cabinets are formed. Finally, Communists, Socialists and Radicals formed a new country—Popular Front government. Besides, in Great Britain, the Labour Party failed to solve the nation's economy and fell from power in1931. The Conservatives formed a new government. To survive, western countries gave their responses to the Depression. Some increased government activity in the economy. Some people began to renew interest in Marxist ideas. Communism thus became more popular. It also led masses of people to follow political leaders who offered simple solutions for dictatorial power. Everywhere, democracy seemed on the defensive in the 1930s. The Great Depression left millions of people unemployed and national economies in crisis. This economic collapse shook people's confidence in political democracy. Popular morale waned. Many people turned to Marxism, Nazism, or fascism for answers, which, as a result, weakened Western democracies. Actually, the depression was a typical problem with Capitalism. The Great Depression showed people the problem and let them realize that Capitalism is not a perfect theory. However, countries could try to weaken its influence by improving policies. One example would be increasing government activity in economy.