Video Lesson

Lesson Objectives

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Discuss the causes and effects of the Great Depression;
• Jot down the factors that led to the rise of Fascism and Nazism.

Brainstorming Questions

• What were the factors that turned the interwar capitalist economy into the Great Depression?
• What were the results of the Great Depression?
• What are the main characteristics of Fascism?

Key Terminology and Concepts

A. Interwar Capitalist Economy and the Great Depression

Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or “depression”) between 1929 and 1933. It led to massive bank failures, high unemployment, inflation, as well as dramatic drops in GDP, industrial production, and stock market share prices. The cause of the Great Depression was mainly due to the collapse of international trade as a result of restrictive trade practices globally. Many nations experienced a decline, though the severity and timing differed from country to country.

The world depression of 1929–33 was the worst depression recorded in history. The depression hit non-industrial countries more harshly in one way than industrialized countries since the price of raw materials and food stuffs failed more sharply than the price of manufactured goods. The World Depression was an economic and political turning point in the inter-war period. The political effects of the depression were disastrous internationally. The depression helped the militarists to take power in Japan and was a major factor in enabling Hitler and the Nazis to take power in Germany in January 1933. The world was then again on the road to war.

B. The Rise of Fascism in Italy

The Fascists chose an ancient Roman emblem of power, a battle-axe wrapped in reeds and was known as “fasces.” The party called for the glorification of the state, a single-party system with a strong ruler, and aggressive nationalism. The Fascists soon got the support of the majority because they promised jobs to the unemployed, land to the peasants and protection from communism to business owners. In October 1922, the Fascists wearing their usual black shirts began a march on Rome. King Victor Emmanuel III feared using armed force to stop the march. So, he appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister. With this, the Fascists took power in Italy.

C. The Rise of Nazism in Germany

Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933 following a series of electoral victories by the Nazi Party. He ruled absolutely until his death by suicide in April 1945. Upon achieving power, Hitler smashed the nation’s democratic institutions and transformed Germany into a war state intent on conquering Europe for the benefit of the so-called Aryan race. His invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, triggered the European phase of World War II.

D. Franco’s Spain and Japan in the 1930s

There was indeed a Spanish fascist party that was founded in 1932. In the civil war, Franco received support from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. However, Franco was not a fascist. He had no Fascist ideology. He had a mass popular movement behind him like the movements in Italy and Germany, but Franco’s regime cannot be defined as Fascist.

Militarism, aggressive nationalism, hatred of Marxism and social revolution all characterized the Japanese military regime. Nevertheless, Japan’s militarist regime of 1933–1945 appeared in a different social and political context to European Fascism and was not Fascist in the European sense.