Lesson Plans

The Western Heritage ©2000

by Kagan, Ozment, and Turner

Focus Lesson 20

Chapter 28: "Europe and the Great Depression"

AP* Course Description

1. Intellectual and Cultural History
   • Secularization of learning and culture
   • Scientific and technological developments and their consequences
   • Major trends in literature and the arts
   • Intellectual and cultural developments and their relationship to social values and political events
   • Developments in social, economic, and political thought
   • The diffusion of new intellectual concepts among different social groups
   • Changes in elite and popular culture, such as the development of new attitudes toward religion, the family, work, and ritual
2. Political and Diplomatic History
   • The rise and functioning of the modern state in its various forms
   • The evolution of political elites and the development of political parties and ideologies
   • The extension and limitation of rights and liberties (personal, civic, economic, and political); majority and minority; political persecutions
   • The growth and changing forms of nationalism
   • Forms of political protest, reform, and revolution
   • Relationship between domestic and foreign policies
   • War and civil conflict: origins, developments, technology, and their consequences
3. Social and Economic History
   • The role of urbanization in transforming cultural values and social relationships
   • The shift in social structures from hierarchical orders to modern social classes: the changing distribution of wealth and poverty
   • The influence of sanitation and health care practices on society; food supply, diet, famine, disease, and their impact
   • The development of commercial practices and their economic and social impact
   • The origins, development, and consequences of industrialization
   • Changes in the demographic structure of Europe, their causes and consequences
   • Gender roles and their influence on work, social structure, family structure, and interest group formation
   • The growth of competition and interdependence in national and world markets
   • Private and state roles in economic activity
   • Development of racial and ethnic group identities

Key Components

• Instructor's Manual: pp. 52–53
• Study Guide and Workbook, Vol. II: pp. 155–164
• Test Item File: pp. 152–157

Key Web Sites

• The Purge
• Collective Security
• Totalitarian Rule
• International Baccalaureate Holocaust Project
• The Fascist Approach
• European Labor in the 20th Century

Key Words and Terms

Suggested Pacing

Test Strategy

Key Concepts

• The Great Depression
  World War I had inflicted great damage on many nations in Europe. Not only was there much physical destruction and loss of life, but there was also economic devastation as well. Germany's reparations were forgiven in 1932 without full payment because of the great hardship that they had caused a nation struggling to rebuild its industrial base. Other nations struggled under the burden of war debts that they could not pay in full. The United States had come out of the war as the creditor nation to Europe, and the inability of European nations to repay their debts was one factor that added to the collapse of the United States' economy. The demand for manufactured goods fell off, and farmers had difficulty borrowing money against future crops, as the money supply shrank. Countries tried to protect their manufacturing industries and agricultural industries by raising tariffs on imports but succeeded only in dampening the market for their own goods.
  
  
• Responses to the Depression
  There were many countries tackling many different solutions to the Depression. Britain attempted radical changes, especially in abandoning the gold standard, increasing taxes, and cutting spending. France established better wages and working conditions and increased government spending by raising salaries for civil servants and financing public works programs. Germany suppressed political and civil liberties, ended trade unions, ignored consumer satisfaction, and instituted massive government spending through public works projects and the rebuilding of the German military. Italy created corporatism—a type of planned economy—which was not very effective because of its large bureaucracy. After Italy attacked Ethiopia, the League of Nations placed sanctions on Italy, which further damaged its economy. The Soviet Union through Stalin's Five-Year Plans took on massive, rapid industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture. Its industrial output during the 1930s grew fourfold, yet people remained poor and living and working conditions improved little.

Summing Up Student Understanding

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Aspects of Western Civilization, Vol. II, edited by Rogers—Chapter 8