The Impact of the Great Depression on France
The Great Depression began in the U.S. and gradually engulfed the world, leaving countries with economic and political problems to solve. France did not face the Great Depression until 1931, when growth slowed many times (Adelman et al., 2021). In 1929, France stood firmly on its feet, mainly leveraging small and medium-sized businesses for the economic masses. In addition, France had little interest in the stock market and gold, which allowed it to survive the first stagnation. Nor did the country face unemployment at the beginning of the depression, for after World War I, the population had dwindled considerably, and there was no one to work.
Nevertheless, in 1931, the standard of living in France fell significantly: the production level decreased, and the economic rate became less than 1%. Unlike other countries, France could not recover from the crisis for a long time because the unstable political system prevented the country from coping with the economic burden. The polarization of the political spectrum made it even more challenging to assess the socio-economic situation and to take adequate anti-crisis measures.
France coped with the crisis more quickly because it had the basis to survive the industrial and economic problems. Nevertheless, the protracted nature, shaky political system, and the beginning of state intervention in the economy led to the fact that in 1939, France was weakened. In addition, social reforms, changes in government, and currency controls led to growing tensions among the population. Eventually, France went to war with Germany in 1939 as it regained its economic strength through war production.
The Great Depression in Germany: Unemployment, Inflation, and Political Shifts
For Germany, the Great Depression was a factor that often exacerbated the political and economic situation. American banks sponsored German banks and made loans, but as the depression hit in 1929, they began withdrawing them. Germany experienced a vast jobs crisis: it has been noted that it was here that unemployment increased the most (Adelman et al., 2021). Combined with political ambitions that were not correctly realized, the German population experienced the typical problems of the lower strata of society: poverty, unemployment, and social insecurity (Ettmeier & Kriwoluzky, 2022).
The economy weakened: unemployment benefits had to be paid, which eventually became the principal expense of the budget (The impact of the Depression on Germany, n.d.). Consequently, the democratic order of society no longer seemed rational, and the population was markedly divided into extreme parties (Adelman et al., 2021). The supporters of communism sought to compensate for poverty by pressuring social injustice, and the supporters of Nazism took from the lower classes what was left. As a result, it was Nazism that came to dominate, and Adolf Hitler came to power because he gained the trust of the middle class and people in business who could support the economy.
The economic crisis contributed to the German attack on Poland because the crisis created the conditions for political support. In France, the parties were fragmented, and the population did not understand the tactics of action. The order was created in Germany to conquer other countries’ economic and territorial resources.
Germany, like France, had been coping with the crisis for a long time, but the French population was smaller, so unemployment was not so noticeable. Germany’s unemployment rate, on the other hand, was tremendous, which fostered political turmoil in society (Ettmeier & Kriwoluzky, 2021). As a result, Germany and France were divided into two military camps as the crisis demonstrated different production and government capabilities.
References
Adelman, J., Pollard, E., Rosenberg, C., & Tignor, R. (2021). Worlds together, worlds apart: A history of the world from the beginnings of humankind to the present. 3rd ed. W. W. Norton & Company.
Ettmeier, S., & Kriwoluzky, A. (2022). Brüning’s austerity policies of the early 1930s intensified the economic slump and increased unemployment. DIW Weekly Report, Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), 12(24/24), 163-168. Web.
The impact of the Depression on Germany. (n.d.). BBC Bite Size. Web.