The Wall Street Crash

Question 1

By 1933, how many Americans were unemployed?

Answer 1

Around 15 million.

Question 2

Give 5 reasons why people turned to extremist parties:

Answer 2

-Hitler was very skilled at offering solutions using simple slogans like ‘Freedom, work, bread’
-In a dictatorship, the state runs everything so people were more likely to be taken care of
-They promised to take land by force so that their populations would have space, food and resources
-They used the promise of victories in war overseas to distract people from their problems at home. They would restore national pride
-Dictators found victims to blame their problems on, like Hitler with the Jews

Question 3

How did the Great Depression affect the League of Nations?

Answer 3

-Hitler and Mussolini were not interested in collective security and weren’t scared by moral condemnation
-To fight aggressive dictators the League would need an army
-It didn’t have its own so would have to ask its members, but they didn’t want the expense of a war during the depression
-The only sanctions the League could impose were economic
-However in a time of economic crisis countries weren’t willing to stop trading with other countries, as this would create more unemployment and hurt their own people