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WWI
WWI was a war with Britain, France and Russia against Germany and Austria Hungary, with other countries drawn in.
There were 15 million death of soldiers. Europeans struggled after their cities, farms, factories, etc. had been destroyed. They went into debt to the US for 7 billion dollars and production went down by 25%. Russia, which was not prepared for the war and undeveloped, suffered an 80% production drop. The war cost Canada 164 million dollars, discluding the soldiers pensions. -
Rise of Communism
After the Civil War, Russia was suffering with transportation systems being broken down, which led to starvation of about 5 million people. Russia collapsing led to the foundation of the USSR, the world's first communist state.
Communism was supposed to get rid of class distinctions, with everyone working together for benefits. -
Treaty of Versailles
Germany had to pay reparation payments for the damage in Britain, France, Russia and other countries. They also had to give up German colonies.
Germans struggled with the debt to the world and had a downfall in their economy. -
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Stalin's leadership
Stalin industrialized the USSR and strengthened the military. He put the people to work by putting them on production schedules as peasants, making them work in collective farms and turn their grain over to the government.
Because all of the grain they made was used as the resource for gaining military funding, this caused a famine to occur, leaving nearly 5 million people to die. -
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The Great Depression
People started consuming more and started investing into stocks in attempts of get rich. But when consumerism declined, manufacturers didn't slow down production, which led to stocks declining. Investors, now worried for their money started selling stocks. The investors had borrowed money from the bank for their stocks, so they were now faced with having to pay back their loans. People had less money, which led to less buying, lowering the economy even more. -
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Great Depression (pt.2)
America had started calling back loans to Europe after WWII to deal with the economy, which dragged down those countries into the depression. Countries started putting tariffs in place for their products, which reduced world trade and worsened the depression. -
Hitler's rise to power
Germany was suffering with the effects of the Great Depression and the treaty of Versailles when Hitler came in with big plans, getting elected into the government later. Nazis started to control everything and everyone in Germany, manipulating the Germans. They took over Austria and Czechoslovakia, and when they started invading Poland, Britain and France declared war which started WWII. -
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WWII
More than 60 million people died to this war and 10-26 million people were killed in German death camps. Unemployment rates were also increasing. -
International Monetary Fund (IMF) established
Current goal:
To provide emergency short-term loans to countries
To demand reforms in a country to promote good governance and get rid of corruption -
Bretton Woods Conference
Representatives from 44 countries gathered around in 1944 to figure out how to prevent the economy turmoil from happening again. They came up with the World Bank and the International Monetary. -
World Bank (WB) established
Current goal:
Increase growth and reduce poverty in developing countries
To fund specific infrastructure projects -
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established
This agreement was to get rid of tariffs and other trade barriers between countries. -
World Trade Organization (WTO) established
Deals with the global rules of trade between nations.