1920s, 1930s, and the Road to War Study Notes

Jim Chen
Inflation:A decline in purchasing power for per unit of money. Currency value per unit decreases, prices of goods and services increase. Prohibition:The legal act of prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol. Statuteof Westminster:British Empire dissolved into British Commonwealth. Members of the Commonwealth, including Canada, can repeal any British law in its country. Ridingthe rods: The act of hitchhiking by riding upon rail trains. In the Great Depression, many people did this in order to find work and travel. UnionNationale:Quebec social reform party born in the Great Depression. Preached for Quebecers to live life as farmers and gave considerate amount of power to Catholic Church. Social Credit Party: Political party in the Depression, most popular in Alberta. Wanted to give $25 per person per month and to change credit system. Became Reform party in 90s. BennettBuggies:Cars with engines removed, pulled by horses. Showed poverty at the time to the extent where gasoline wasnt affordable. Communists:Blamed capitalism for Great Depression. Believed worker-owned companies and worker-owned state will create prosperity for the people. Radical ideology. Fascists:Belief that the people serve the state. Authoritarian nationalism. Needs of state comes before needs of people. Fascist states run by totalitarian dictator. Notable examples: Hitler, Mussolini. CooperativeCommonwealthFederation:Party formed during Depression. Believed Great Depression failed due to laissez-faire government. Proposed socialization and political reform. Later became NDP. WorkCamps:Camps dedicated to have people perform labour jobs for pay. Governments solution to unemployment. On to OttawaTrek: Relief camp workers abandoned post and planned to riot in Ottawa by riding the rods. Stopped at Regina. ReginaRiots: Riot caused by encounter between the police force and relief camp workers. Many workers arrested. The NewDeal: Roosevelts solution to Depression relief for impoverished/unemployed, recovery of economy, and reform of financial system.

BloodySaturday:June 21, 1919. At Winnipeg General Strike, mayor called in RCMP to shoot at and beat protestors. Laissezfaire capitalism:Belief that private corporations should be free from tariffs, restrictions, and subsidies. Government should have minimal say in economic trade. StockMarket:Market that exchanges shares of companies for investment. Buyingon margin:Buying stocks with money loaned from banks/credit companies. Assemblyline: Invented by Henry Ford. Speeded up industrialization and overall speed of production. Depression:An extremely severe recession. Deflation:Rise of value per unit of money. Opposite of inflation. Laissezfaire: Let it be. Minimal government intervention, especially upon the market. William Lyon Mackenzie Kings attitude toward the Depression. Relief vouchers:Vouchers issued by governments during the Depression which would allow people to get just enough basic necessities. Leagueof Nations:Formed after WWI to promote international disarmament. Failed to control Germanys growth due to Policy of Appeasement of leaders. WinnipegGeneralStrike: 1919, great organized strike by labourers. Resulted in RCMP intervention and eventually Bloody Saturday. PersonsTrial: 1929. Alberta Five challenged use of persons in the Canadian constitution. British Privy Council officially recognized Canadian women as persons. Canada had taken another step toward gender equality. EconomicSpiral: Low wages = lower purchasing power = lower income for salary = even lower wages. Never-ending cycle of economic change. Can also go the other way (high wages = more purchasing power, etc.) Flapper:New women culture in 1920s. Women wore short skirts, smoked, drank, and wore excessive makeup. Shocked social norms at the time. Affected by the roaring twenties. WilliamAberhart:Leader of Social Credit Party. MauriceDuplessis:Founder of Union Nationale. J.S. Woodsworth:Founder of the CCF.

AlbertaFive: Five women who challenged use of persons in Canadian constitution. See Persons Trial. Groupof Seven:Canadian painters especially famous in the 20s and 30s who created art inspired by Canadian landscape. FrederickBanting& CharlesBest: Inventors of artificial insulin, treatment for diabetes. BobbieRosenfeld:First Canadian woman to win gold medal in Olympics. 1928. WilliamLyonMackenzieKing:Canadian PM from 1921 1926, then 1935 1948. PM during WWII. Laid foundations of welfare state in Canada. Socialist visionary. R.B. Bennett:Canadian PM during Great Depression. Wanted to implement Roosevelts New Deal in Canada. Failed to deliver promises and defeated by Mackenzie King. F.D. Roosevelt: US President during WWII. Implemented New Deal in US. Eager to join Allied forces in the War. WinstonChurchill: Britains wartime PM during WWII. Hard-working and determined to win, he successfully led the British and defeated Germany. TheodoreRoosevelt:President of US from 1901 1909. Not exactly relevant to 1920s to 1940s. Adolf Hitler: Fascist dictator of Germany. Leader of Nazi Party. Believed in German superiority and wanted to bring Germany out of economic shambles due to defeat in WWI. Biggest reason for the occurrence of WWII. JosephStalin: Leader of Soviet Union. Harsh dictator. Fought with Allies in WWII. Strong believer in communism.

Causes of WWII
1. Treaty of Versailles: -Allied forces in WWI forced Germany to pay debts it couldnt afford to pay. -This led to very poor economic conditions in Germany. 2. Economic Conditions in Germany: -A large percentage of the countrys income went toward repaying war debts. -This shattered the German economy and result in hyperinflation of the gold mark. -Germany as a whole was in poverty and desperation. 3. Failure of the League of Nations: -Leaders such as UK Prime Minister Chamberlain adopted the Policy of Appeasement. -In order to prevent war, they decided to look the other way when Japan invaded Manchuria, and when Italy invaded Ethiopia. 4. Road to War: -Hitler saw the appeasement policy of the LN and chose to do the same.

-He first marched German troops into Rhineland. LN did nothing. -He was able to conquer Austria, Sudetenland, and then the rest of Czecho-Slovakia, all granted by the LN. -By the time LN tried to stop Germany, it was too late. -Hitler got its army from his conquer of Czecho-Slovakia.