Tuesday, March 30, 2010

WH II Honors Ch. 15 Test Analysis

Ch. 15 Test

Period 3
Number of Grades 24
Range of Grades (70% - 96%)
Mean 82.8%
Median 85%
Mode 86%

Grade Distribution by Grouping

%
0 - 9
10 - 19
20 - 29
30 - 39
40 - 49
50 - 59
60 - 69
70 - 79 8 Assessment(s) (8)
80 - 89 11 Assessment(s) (11)
90 - 99 5 Assessment(s) (5)

Grade Distribution of each Grade

%
70 1 Assessment(s) (1)
71
72 1 Assessment(s) (1)
73
74 2 Assessment(s) (2)
75
76 3 Assessment(s) (3)
77
78 1 Assessment(s) (1)
79
80 2 Assessment(s) (2)
81
82 1 Assessment(s) (1)
83
84 2 Assessment(s) (2)
85
86 4 Assessment(s) (4)
87
88 2 Assessment(s) (2)
89
90 2 Assessment(s) (2)
91
92 1 Assessment(s) (1)
93
94 1 Assessment(s) (1)
95
96 1 Assessment(s) (1)

Period 4

Ch. 15 Test

Number of Grades 35
Range of Grades (74% - 100%)
Mean 89.6%
Median 90%
Mode 92%

Grade Distribution by Grouping

%
0 - 9
10 - 19
20 - 29
30 - 39
40 - 49
50 - 59
60 - 69
70 - 79 3 Assessment(s) (3)
80 - 89 11 Assessment(s) (11)
90 - 99 20 Assessment(s) (20)
100+ 1 Assessment(s) (1)

Grade Distribution of each Grade

%
74 1 Assessment(s) (1)
75
76
77
78 2 Assessment(s) (2)
79
80 1 Assessment(s) (1)
81
82 1 Assessment(s) (1)
83
84 4 Assessment(s) (4)
85
86 3 Assessment(s) (3)
87
88 2 Assessment(s) (2)
89
90 5 Assessment(s) (5)
91
92 6 Assessment(s) (6)
93
94
95
96 5 Assessment(s) (5)
97
98 4 Assessment(s) (4)
99
100 1 Assessment(s) (1)

Period 5

Ch. 15 Test

Number of Grades 34
Range of Grades (62% - 98%)
Mean 84.5%
Median 86%
Mode 82%

Grade Distribution by Grouping

%
0 - 9
10 - 19
20 - 29
30 - 39
40 - 49
50 - 59
60 - 69 2 Assessment(s) (2)
70 - 79 6 Assessment(s) (6)
80 - 89 15 Assessment(s) (15)
90 - 99 11 Assessment(s) (11)

Grade Distribution of each Grade

%
62 1 Assessment(s) (1)
63
64
65
66
67
68 1 Assessment(s) (1)
69
70
71
72
73
74 2 Assessment(s) (2)
75
76 3 Assessment(s) (3)
77
78 1 Assessment(s) (1)
79
80 1 Assessment(s) (1)
81
82 5 Assessment(s) (5)
83
84 3 Assessment(s) (3)
85
86 2 Assessment(s) (2)
87
88 4 Assessment(s) (4)
89
90 3 Assessment(s) (3)
91
92 3 Assessment(s) (3)
93
94 2 Assessment(s) (2)
95
96 2 Assessment(s) (2)
97
98 1 Assessment(s) (1)

Period 7
Ch. 15 Test

Number of Grades 34
Range of Grades (76% - 100%)
Mean 87.6%
Median 90%
Mode 86%

Grade Distribution by Grouping

%
0 - 9
10 - 19
20 - 29
30 - 39
40 - 49
50 - 59
60 - 69
70 - 79 6 Assessment(s) (6)
80 - 89 11 Assessment(s) (11)
90 - 99 16 Assessment(s) (16)
100+ 1 Assessment(s) (1)

Grade Distribution of each Grade

%
76 4 Assessment(s) (4)
77
78 2 Assessment(s) (2)
79
80
81
82 4 Assessment(s) (4)
83
84 1 Assessment(s) (1)
85
86 5 Assessment(s) (5)
87
88 1 Assessment(s) (1)
89
90 5 Assessment(s) (5)
91
92 5 Assessment(s) (5)
93
94 2 Assessment(s) (2)
95
96 1 Assessment(s) (1)
97
98 3 Assessment(s) (3)
99
100 1 Assessment(s) (1)

WH II Honors: 31 March 2010

Prayer

Current Events:

History of Easter




Preview: Chapter 17 The West Between the Wars 1919-1939

Section 1
Uneasy Peace, Uncertain Security

A Weak League of Nations

The Treaty of Locarno

Reading Check

Explaining

Why was the League of Nations unable to maintain peace?

The Great Depression

The post-war prosperity did not last. At the end of the 1920s, an economic crisis began in the United States and spread to the rest of the world, leaving almost no corner untouched.

Causes of the Depression

The wealth created during the 1920s in the United States was not shared evenly. Farmers and unskilled workers were on the losing end. Though demand for raw materials and agricultural products had skyrocketed during the war, demand dwindled and prices fell after the war. Farmers, miners and other suppliers of raw materials suffered. Because they earned less, they bought less. At the same time, better technology allowed factories to make more products faster. This led to overproduction, a condition in which the production of goods exceeds the demand for them. As demand slowed, factories cut back on production and workers lost their jobs.

Meanwhile, a crisis in finance—the management of money matters, including the circulation of money, loans, investments, and banking—was brewing. Few saw the danger. Prices on the New York Stock Exchange were at an all-time high. Eager investors acquired stocks through risky methods. To slow the run on the stock market, the Federal Reserve, the central banking system of the United States, which regulates banks, raised interest rates in 1928 and again 1929. It didn’t work. Instead, the higher interest rates made people nervous about borrowing money and investing, thereby hurting demand.

In the autumn of 1929, jitters about the economy caused many people to sell their stocks at once. Financial panic set in. Stock prices crashed, wiping out the fortunes of many investors. The Great Depression, a painful time of global economic collapse, had begun quietly in the summer of 1929 with decreasing production. The October stock market crash aggravated the economic decline.

Responses to the Depression

In 1931, the Federal Reserve again increased the interest rate, with an even more disastrous effect. As people bought and invested less, businesses closed and banks failed, throwing millions out of work. The cycle spiraled steadily downward. The jobless could not afford to buy goods, so more factories had to close, which in turn increased unemployment. People slept on park benches and lined up to eat in soup kitchens.

The economic problems quickly spread around the world. American banks stopped making loans abroad and demanded repayment of foreign loans. Without support from the United States, Germany suffered. It could not make its reparations payments. France and Britain were not able to make their loan payments.

Desperate governments tried to protect their economies from foreign competition. The United States imposed the highest tariffs in its history. The policy backfired when other nations retaliated by raising their tariffs. In 1932 and 1933, global world trade sank to its 1900 level. As you have read, the Great Depression spread misery from the industrial world to Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Reading Check

Summarizing

What were the results of the Great Depression?

Democratic States After the War
Note Taking

Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas

Record main ideas from this section in a table like the one below.


In 1919, the three Western democracies—Britain, France, and the United States—appeared powerful. They had ruled the Paris Peace Conference and boosted hopes for democracy among the new nations of Eastern Europe. Beneath the surface, however, postwar Europe faced grave problems. To make matters worse, many members of the younger generation who might have become the next great leaders had been killed in the war.

At first, the most pressing issues were finding jobs for returning veterans and rebuilding war-ravaged lands. Economic problems fed social unrest and made radical ideas more popular.

In addition to problems at home, the three democracies faced a difficult international situation. The peace settlements caused friction, especially in Germany and among some ethnic groups in Eastern Europe.

Germany

From its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the League of Nations encouraged cooperation and tried to get members to make a commitment to stop aggression. In 1926, after signing the Locarno agreements, Germany joined the League. Later, the Soviet Union was also admitted.

France

Like Britain, France emerged from World War I both a victor and a loser. Political divisions and financial scandals plagued the government of the Third Republic. Several parties—from conservatives to communists—competed for power. The parties differed on many issues, including how to get reparations payments from Germany. A series of quickly changing coalition governments ruled France.

France’s chief concern after the war was securing its borders against Germany. The French remembered the German invasions of 1870 and 1914. To prevent a third invasion, France built massive fortifications called the Maginot Line along its border with Germany. However, the line would not be enough to stop another German invasion in 1940.

In its quest for security, France also strengthened its military and sought alliances with other countries, including the Soviet Union. It insisted on strict enforcement of the Versailles treaty and complete payment of reparations. France’s goal was to keep the German economy weak.

Great Britain

Britain disagreed with this aim. Almost from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, British leaders wanted to relax the treaty’s harsh treatment of Germany. They feared that if Germany became too weak, the Soviet Union and France would become too powerful.

In Britain during the 1920s, the Labour party surpassed the Liberal party in strength. The Labour party gained support among workers by promoting a gradual move toward socialism. The Liberal party passed some social legislation, but it traditionally represented middle-class business interests. As the Liberal party faltered, the middle class began to back the Conservative party, joining the upper class, professionals, and farmers. With this support, the Conservative party held power during much of 1920s. After a massive strike of over three million workers in 1926, Conservatives passed legislation limiting the power of workers to strike.

Britain still faced the “Irish question.” In 1914, Parliament passed a home-rule bill that was shelved when the war began. On Easter 1916, a small group of militant Irish nationalists launched a revolt against British rule. Although the Easter Rising was quickly suppressed, it stirred wider support for the Irish cause. When Parliament again failed to grant home rule in 1919, members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) began a guerrilla war against British forces and their supporters. In 1922, moderates in Ireland and Britain reached an agreement. Most of Ireland became the self-governing Irish Free State. The largely Protestant northern counties remained under British rule. However, the IRA and others fought for decades against the division.

Ireland 1916 - The Easter Rising, 4:45




The Irish Resist

Members of the Irish Republican Army prepare to resist the British occupation of Dublin in 1921 by erecting a barbed wire barricade. The Irish Free State, established in 1922, was a compromise between the opposing sides, but peace was short-lived. The conflict has continued since that time.

The United States

In contrast, the United States emerged from World War I in good shape. A late entrant into the war, it had suffered relatively few casualties and little loss of property. However, the United States did experience some domestic unrest. Fear of radicals and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia set off a “Red Scare” in 1919 and 1920. Police rounded up suspected foreign-born radicals, and a number were expelled from the United States.

The “Red Scare” fed growing demands to limit immigration. Millions of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe had poured into the United States between 1890 and 1914. Some native-born Americans sought to exclude these newcomers, whose cultures differed from those of earlier settlers from northern Europe. In response, Congress passed laws limiting immigration from Europe. Earlier laws had already excluded or limited Chinese and Japanese immigration.

Reading Check

Explaining

What did John Maynard Keynes think would resolve the Great Depression?

John Maynard Keynes and the Great Depression, 2:10

Hughes Rudd narrates:



Ch. 17 References

The Great Depression

Photo Essay on the Great Depression

Cf. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/tools/browser12.html

Diaries of people who lived during the Depression

Cf. http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/our_america/great_depression/

People and events of the Dust Bowl

Cf. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/

Original photographs from the times

Cf. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fatop1.html

Cf. Click on links to view original documents from Mussolini's life and times.

Cf. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/heroesvillains/g3/

Click on "Germany Image Gallery" for the slideshow.

Cf. http://www.worldwar2database.com/cgi-bin/slideviewer.cgi?list=preludegermany.slides

Read a detailed account of the life of Hitler

Cf. http://library.thinkquest.org/19092/hitler.html

Test yourself on how Hitler came to power

Cf. http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/lessons/riseofhitler/index.htm

Nazi propaganda posters: Election, Sower of peace, 'One People, One Nation, One Leader,' Saving for a Volkswagen, Jews, Anti-Bolshevism.

Cf. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nazi_propaganda_gallery.shtml

Soviet Russia

Stalin and Industrialization of the USSR
See original documents and learn more about Stalin's methods.

Cf. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/heroesvillains/g4/

View Soviet posters

Cf. http://www.internationalposter.com/country-primers/soviet-posters.aspx

Review Stalin's takeover of power

Cf. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/russia/stalinsact.shtml

Find out more about jazz

Cf. http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/class/whatsjazz/wij_start.asp

Sunday Bloody Sunday - Wolfe Tones, 4:09

This is a song from their CD entitled Celtic Symphony.



Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son, 2:19



How To Take Effective Notes



Email to gmsmith@shanahan.org

After tonight, do not do any HW or school work so that you can attend church services during the Easter holiday.

Wednesday: p. 528, #13-16

Also, email me with your opinion when we should take the Ch. 16 Test; the day we return, two days after we return following the break, or whatever. I will then tabulate the results and announce the Test date.

Thursday: (Actually, not due until the first day back after the break), p. 528, #17-19

Friday: (Actually, not due until the second day back after the break), p. 532, History and You (either diagram or more simply just make a list as a reference)

p. 533, Preview Questions, #1-2

p. 534, Comparing Cultures

p. 535, #1-2

AP Economics: 31 March 2010

Prayer
Current Events:
“Democratic Senator: Health Care Law to Address ‘Mal-Distribution of Income’”

“After the Senate passed a “fix-it” bill Thursday to make changes to the new health care law, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the influential Finance Committee, said the overhaul was an “income shift” to help the poor.

The Senator stated that the legislation would address the “mal-distribution of income in America.”

“Too often, much of late, the last couple three years, the mal-distribution of income in American is gone up way too much,” he said. “Wages have not kept up with increased income of the highest income in America. This legislation will have the effect of addressing that mal-distribution of income in America.”

Democratic Governor Howard Dean states that Health Care/Tax is to Redistribute Wealth.



We will pick up where we left off in Chapter 23.
Chapter Overview
This chapter discusses how the federal government is financed and includes material on public choice. Different approaches to a balanced budget are described as is the role of the Federal Reserve. The federal government budget deficit’s relationship to the trade deficit is explained, as are the implications of deficit financing in an open economy. The chapter concludes with a section on the burden of the public debt, considering to whom it is owed, the interest paid on it, and the crowding out effect.

Chapter Outline

Public Choice Analysis
Approaches to Federal Finance
Annually Balanced Budget
Cyclically Balanced Budget

Reagan on Balanced Budget, :31



Functional Finance
Checkpoint: Financing the Federal Government
Financing Debt and Deficits
The Government Budget Constraint
The Role of the Federal Reserve

Thomas E. Woods, The Economic crisis & The Federal Reserve, 5:24


Budget and Trade Deficits
Implications of Deficit Financing in an Open Economy
Checkpoint: Financing Debt and Deficits
The Burden of the Public Debt
Internally versus Externally Held Debt
Interest Payments
Crowding-Out Effect

Crowding Out & Lags, 5:52


Public Investment and Crowding Out, 7:07

Does the economy self-adjust? If so, what is the role for the government if the economy is not where we'd like it to be? This video takes a brief look at two different schools of economic thought.


Intergenerational Burdens of Fiscal Policy
Fiscal Sustainability of the Federal Budget
Checkpoint: The Burden of the Public Debt
How Much Debt Can We Carry?
Ideas for Capturing Your Classroom Audience
Exactly how large is the national debt? Find out at the Web site called The Debt
to the Penny, which is part of the site of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The site is located at: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np.

Your students may be creditors of the U.S. government! Show them how to
assess the value of any U.S. savings bonds they may have been given over time
on the Web site at: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/tools/ tools_
savingsbondcalc.htm.

For data and other information on the government's budget, visit the sites of the
Office of Management and Budget at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/ and the
Congressional Budget Office at: http://www.cbo.gov/.

Chapter Checkpoints
Financing the Federal Government
Question: Is the absolute size of the national debt or the national debt as a percent of gross domestic product the best measure of its importance to our economy? Why?

The point is to check that students can: comprehend that the amount a country
owes should be viewed in terms of its national output or income, GDP.
Financing Debt and Deficits
Question: Assume the federal government decided to increase spending and lower
tax rates.running ever larger deficits.and got the Federal Reserve to agree to buy
all of the new bonds that the Treasury issued. What would be the impact on our
economy?

The point is to check that students can: integrate the material in the chapter with the effect on the economy when the Fed buys bonds (from previous chapters).

The Burden of the Public Debt
Question: Is crowding-out an inevitable result of deficit spending if the Federal
Reserve does not buy back an equivalent amount from the market?

The point is to check that students can: understand the different impacts of deficit spending when the economy is slack as opposed to when it is at or close to full employment.

Extended Example in the Chapter

How Much Debt Can We Carry?

Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, cautioned about
the future threat from growing budget deficits, and at other times backed away from that position. The reason seems to be that his views changed as to how much debt the government can comfortably take on. The higher level of that “danger point” may in part be due to lower interest rates and improved financial markets.

This section references an article by Edmund Andrews titled “Greenspan Shifts
View on Deficits,” from The New York Times (March 16, 2004, pages A1 and C2).

Examples Used in the End-of-Chapter Questions
Question 3 refers to the Laffer curve. You may wish to review the material from the chapter on fiscal policy.
Question 5 references the history of the U.S. government’s budget position, noting
that it has been in surplus on average about one year in every decade. You can illustrate the history of the deficit with the graph from the Web at:
http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm.
Question 11 references an open letter from Ben Stein to Henry Paulson after
Paulson was appointed as U.S. Treasury Secretary. The piece is titled “Everybody’s
Business: Note to the New Treasury Secretary: It’s Time to Raise Taxes,” and it
appeared in The New York Times on June 15, 2006. For more on Secretary Paulson,
see the Web site of the U.S. Department of Treasury at: http://www.ustreas.gov/.
Question 14 refers to the roles of Congress and the Executive Branch in managing
the budget. For more about the agencies involved, visit the sites of the Office of
Management and Budget at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/ and the Congressional
Budget Office at: http://www.cbo.gov/.
For Further Analysis
Understanding Crowding-Out
This example can be used as an in-class small group exercise or as an individual inclass exercise. It is designed to complement the text’s material on crowding-out by examining the effect of the deficit on interest rates through the workings of the money market and the bond market. This treatment ties the topic back to the analysis used in Chapter 21, and you may wish to expand the assignment by delving more deeply into the effects in the money market.

Web-Based Exercise
This example can be used as a small group exercise or as an individual exercise.
The exercise provides an opportunity for students to apply the material in the chapter about the Federal Reserve and the government’s budget deficit to an analysis of comments by the current Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke. The third question provides an opportunity to reinforce students’ understanding of the role of the Fed with regard to Congress and the Executive Branch.
Boomers and the Budget Deficit
In an AP story from January 18, 2007, titled “Bernanke Warns of ‘Vicious Cycle’ in
Deficits: Wave of Retiring Boomers Will Put Growing Strain on Budget, Fed Chief
Says” (available on the MSNBC site at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16688089/)
the Fed Chairman outlines his concerns about future deficits. (Note that he was testifying to the Senate Budget Committee.)
After reading the article, answer the following:
1) Why is the retirement of the baby boomers a problem for the budget deficit?

2) What is the “vicious cycle” about which Bernanke is concerned?

3) What suggestions, if any, does Bernanke make about what Congress and the
administration should do?

Tips from a Colleague
Students are often unclear about the relationship between an annual budget deficit
and the accumulated debt. Using data to illustrate the changes that have occurred
over time helps clarify this. Also, students are not likely to grasp how much they
hear about the deficit at any point in time is based on projections. Comparing the
information on the Web sites of the Office of Management and Budget and the
Congressional Budget Office can point out the differing assumptions being made.
Finally, be sure that students understand the process. The media give presidents too much credit and too much blame.


Email HW to gmsmith@shanahan.org

After tonight, do not do any HW or school work so that you can attend church services during the Easter holiday.

1. Be sure to review Chapters 20-22 (we will have Tests on this material as well, TBA). Some students have asked to be tested as close as possible after covering the material.

2. Answer Questions and Problems, #11-15, p. 618.

3. As review for HW, typical questions that you may encounter on the actual AP Economics Macro Test are included daily:

Economic Growth and productivity, Review Questions

Free-Response Question

Economists believe that high budget deficits today will reduce the rate of growth of the economy in the future. Why? Does it matter what causes the high budget deficits?

WH II Honors: 30 March 2010

Prayer

Current Events:


This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

Chechen Link to subway blast


Chechnya is predominantly Muslim. Most of the Chechens belong to the Shafi`i school of thought of Sunni Islam.

In addition, the government of Indonesia uses this school of thought for the Indonesian compilation of sharia law. It is the dominant school of not only Chechnya but also in Syria, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Kurdistan, Egypt, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Maldives, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and Indonesia.

CNN's Atika Shubert looks at a possible Chechen connection to attacks in Russia, including twin subway blasts.





This cartoon portrays one view of the peace treaties that ended World War I.

* The turkey symbolizes Germany.
* Britain holds a carving knife and fork, ready to carve the turkey.
* Other Allies await the feast.

1. What does carving up the turkey symbolize?

2. What attitude do you think that the cartoonist has towards the treaties?

Preview: Chapter 17 The West Between the Wars 1919-1939

Chapter Overview

Section 1 The Futile Search for Stability

Chapter Preview

A Story that Matters

The Great Depression

Ch. 17 References on the Great Depression

The Great Depression

Photo Essay on the Great Depression

Cf. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/tools/browser12.html

Poor Farmer

Poor Farmer

This haunting photograph shows a farmer ruined by the dustbowl of 1936. A woman and nursing child, possibly part of his family, sit behind him under a makeshift shelter.

Diaries of people who lived during the Depression

Cf. http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/our_america/great_depression/

People and events of the Dust Bowl

Cf. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/

Original photographs from the times

Cf. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fatop1.html

The Dust Bowl

In Dorothea Lange’s famous 1936 photo Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, a mother looks into the future with despair. She migrated to escape scenes like the one below, where huge dust storms buried farm equipment in Dallas, Texas. How did geography help aggravate the depression in the United States?

The Great Flu Epidemic

Hospitals "Full-Up": The 1918 Influenza Pandemic, 8:24

A documentary comparing the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic with modern-day health capabilities, in the event of an act of bioterrorism or any large-scale infectious disease outbreak.



Section 1

The peace settlement at the end of World War I left many nations unhappy and border disputes simmering throughout Europe. The League of Nations proved a weak institution. Democracy was widespread, and women in many European countries gained the right to vote. However, economic problems plagued France, Great Britain, and the German Weimar Republic. When Germany declared that it could not continue to pay reparations, France occupied one German region as a source of reparations. An American plan reduced the burden of reparations and led to a period of prosperity and American investment in Europe. The prosperity ended with the economic collapse of 1929 and the Great Depression. European governments tried different approaches to ending the depression. Many middle-class Germans began to identify with anti-democratic political parties. The new American president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, pursued a policy of active government intervention in the economy that came to be known as the New Deal.

League of Nations, 2:52



Uneasy Peace, Uncertain Security

A Weak League of Nations

The peace was fragile. Although the Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawed war, it provided no way of enforcing the ban. The League of Nations, too, was powerless to stop aggression. In 1931, the League vigorously condemned Japan’s invasion of Manchuria, but did not take military action to stop it. Ambitious dictators in Europe noted the League’s weakness and began to pursue aggressive foreign policies.

Analyzing Political Cartoons

An End to War?

The Kellogg-Briand Pact raised hopes for an end to war. But not everyone was so optimistic, as this 1929 American cartoon shows.

*Kellogg-Briand Pact framed as a fire insurance policy
*Adequate navy as a fire extinguisher
*Uncle Sam looking at both

1. Do you think that the cartoonist feels that a fire insurance policy is enough to prevent a fire?

2. What point do you think the cartoonist is making about the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

French Demands

Inflation in Germany

The Treaty of Locarno

The Locarno Treaties and Germany's Entry into the League, :59



Despite disagreements, many people worked for peace in the 1920s. Hopes soared in 1925 when representatives from seven European nations signed a series of treaties at Locarno, Switzerland. These treaties settled Germany’s disputed borders with France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. The Locarno treaties became the symbol of a new era of peace.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact, which was sponsored by the United States in 1928, echoed the hopeful “spirit of Locarno.” Almost every independent nation signed this agreement, promising to “renounce war as an instrument of national policy.” In this optimistic spirit, the great powers pursued disarmament, the reduction of armed forces and weapons. The United States, Britain, France, Japan, and other nations signed treaties to reduce the size of their navies. However, they failed to agree on limiting the size of their armies.

Reading Check

Explaining

Why was the League of Nations unable to maintain peace?

The Great Depression

The post-war prosperity did not last. At the end of the 1920s, an economic crisis began in the United States and spread to the rest of the world, leaving almost no corner untouched.

Causes of the Depression

The wealth created during the 1920s in the United States was not shared evenly. Farmers and unskilled workers were on the losing end. Though demand for raw materials and agricultural products had skyrocketed during the war, demand dwindled and prices fell after the war. Farmers, miners and other suppliers of raw materials suffered. Because they earned less, they bought less. At the same time, better technology allowed factories to make more products faster. This led to overproduction, a condition in which the production of goods exceeds the demand for them. As demand slowed, factories cut back on production and workers lost their jobs.

Meanwhile, a crisis in finance—the management of money matters, including the circulation of money, loans, investments, and banking—was brewing. Few saw the danger. Prices on the New York Stock Exchange were at an all-time high. Eager investors acquired stocks through risky methods. To slow the run on the stock market, the Federal Reserve, the central banking system of the United States, which regulates banks, raised interest rates in 1928 and again 1929. It didn’t work. Instead, the higher interest rates made people nervous about borrowing money and investing, thereby hurting demand.

In the autumn of 1929, jitters about the economy caused many people to sell their stocks at once. Financial panic set in. Stock prices crashed, wiping out the fortunes of many investors. The Great Depression, a painful time of global economic collapse, had begun quietly in the summer of 1929 with decreasing production. The October stock market crash aggravated the economic decline.

Responses to the Depression

In 1931, the Federal Reserve again increased the interest rate, with an even more disastrous effect. As people bought and invested less, businesses closed and banks failed, throwing millions out of work. The cycle spiraled steadily downward. The jobless could not afford to buy goods, so more factories had to close, which in turn increased unemployment. People slept on park benches and lined up to eat in soup kitchens.

The economic problems quickly spread around the world. American banks stopped making loans abroad and demanded repayment of foreign loans. Without support from the United States, Germany suffered. It could not make its reparations payments. France and Britain were not able to make their loan payments.

Desperate governments tried to protect their economies from foreign competition. The United States imposed the highest tariffs in its history. The policy backfired when other nations retaliated by raising their tariffs. In 1932 and 1933, global world trade sank to its 1900 level. As you have read, the Great Depression spread misery from the industrial world to Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Reading Check

Summarizing

What were the results of the Great Depression?

Democratic States After the War
Note Taking

Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas

Record main ideas from this section in a table like the one below.


In 1919, the three Western democracies—Britain, France, and the United States—appeared powerful. They had ruled the Paris Peace Conference and boosted hopes for democracy among the new nations of Eastern Europe. Beneath the surface, however, postwar Europe faced grave problems. To make matters worse, many members of the younger generation who might have become the next great leaders had been killed in the war.

At first, the most pressing issues were finding jobs for returning veterans and rebuilding war-ravaged lands. Economic problems fed social unrest and made radical ideas more popular.

In addition to problems at home, the three democracies faced a difficult international situation. The peace settlements caused friction, especially in Germany and among some ethnic groups in Eastern Europe.

Germany

From its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the League of Nations encouraged cooperation and tried to get members to make a commitment to stop aggression. In 1926, after signing the Locarno agreements, Germany joined the League. Later, the Soviet Union was also admitted.

France

Like Britain, France emerged from World War I both a victor and a loser. Political divisions and financial scandals plagued the government of the Third Republic. Several parties—from conservatives to communists—competed for power. The parties differed on many issues, including how to get reparations payments from Germany. A series of quickly changing coalition governments ruled France.

France’s chief concern after the war was securing its borders against Germany. The French remembered the German invasions of 1870 and 1914. To prevent a third invasion, France built massive fortifications called the Maginot Line along its border with Germany. However, the line would not be enough to stop another German invasion in 1940.

In its quest for security, France also strengthened its military and sought alliances with other countries, including the Soviet Union. It insisted on strict enforcement of the Versailles treaty and complete payment of reparations. France’s goal was to keep the German economy weak.

Great Britain

Britain disagreed with this aim. Almost from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, British leaders wanted to relax the treaty’s harsh treatment of Germany. They feared that if Germany became too weak, the Soviet Union and France would become too powerful.

In Britain during the 1920s, the Labour party surpassed the Liberal party in strength. The Labour party gained support among workers by promoting a gradual move toward socialism. The Liberal party passed some social legislation, but it traditionally represented middle-class business interests. As the Liberal party faltered, the middle class began to back the Conservative party, joining the upper class, professionals, and farmers. With this support, the Conservative party held power during much of 1920s. After a massive strike of over three million workers in 1926, Conservatives passed legislation limiting the power of workers to strike.

Britain still faced the “Irish question.” In 1914, Parliament passed a home-rule bill that was shelved when the war began. On Easter 1916, a small group of militant Irish nationalists launched a revolt against British rule. Although the Easter Rising was quickly suppressed, it stirred wider support for the Irish cause. When Parliament again failed to grant home rule in 1919, members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) began a guerrilla war against British forces and their supporters. In 1922, moderates in Ireland and Britain reached an agreement. Most of Ireland became the self-governing Irish Free State. The largely Protestant northern counties remained under British rule. However, the IRA and others fought for decades against the division.

Ireland 1916 - The Easter Rising, 4:45




The Irish Resist

Members of the Irish Republican Army prepare to resist the British occupation of Dublin in 1921 by erecting a barbed wire barricade. The Irish Free State, established in 1922, was a compromise between the opposing sides, but peace was short-lived. The conflict has continued since that time.

The United States

In contrast, the United States emerged from World War I in good shape. A late entrant into the war, it had suffered relatively few casualties and little loss of property. However, the United States did experience some domestic unrest. Fear of radicals and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia set off a “Red Scare” in 1919 and 1920. Police rounded up suspected foreign-born radicals, and a number were expelled from the United States.

The “Red Scare” fed growing demands to limit immigration. Millions of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe had poured into the United States between 1890 and 1914. Some native-born Americans sought to exclude these newcomers, whose cultures differed from those of earlier settlers from northern Europe. In response, Congress passed laws limiting immigration from Europe. Earlier laws had already excluded or limited Chinese and Japanese immigration.

Reading Check

Explaining

What did John Maynard Keynes think would resolve the Great Depression?

John Maynard Keynes and the Great Depression, 2:10

Hughes Rudd narrates:



Ch. 17 References

The Great Depression

Photo Essay on the Great Depression

Cf. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/tools/browser12.html

Diaries of people who lived during the Depression

Cf. http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/our_america/great_depression/

People and events of the Dust Bowl

Cf. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/

Original photographs from the times

Cf. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fatop1.html

Cf. Click on links to view original documents from Mussolini's life and times.

Cf. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/heroesvillains/g3/

Click on "Germany Image Gallery" for the slideshow.

Cf. http://www.worldwar2database.com/cgi-bin/slideviewer.cgi?list=preludegermany.slides

Read a detailed account of the life of Hitler

Cf. http://library.thinkquest.org/19092/hitler.html

Test yourself on how Hitler came to power

Cf. http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/lessons/riseofhitler/index.htm

Nazi propaganda posters: Election, Sower of peace, 'One People, One Nation, One Leader,' Saving for a Volkswagen, Jews, Anti-Bolshevism.

Cf. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nazi_propaganda_gallery.shtml

Soviet Russia

Stalin and Industrialization of the USSR
See original documents and learn more about Stalin's methods.

Cf. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/heroesvillains/g4/

View Soviet posters

Cf. http://www.internationalposter.com/country-primers/soviet-posters.aspx

Review Stalin's takeover of power

Cf. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/russia/stalinsact.shtml

Find out more about jazz

Cf. http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/class/whatsjazz/wij_start.asp

John & Yoko - Sunday Bloody Sunday, 5:03, from Lennon's 'Sometime In New York City' album.


Sunday Bloody Sunday - Wolfe Tones, 4:09

This is a song from their CD entitled Celtic Symphony.



Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son, 2:19



How To Take Effective Notes


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Tuesday: p. 528, #10-12