After World War I, the leading democratic powers faced difficult political and economic challenges.

Social Change After World War I and Scientific Discoveries

After World War I, society and culture in the United States and elsewhere changed rapidly. New technologies-- such as the telephone, radio, and motion pictures-- created a mass culture. One symbol of this new age was jazz. This new music, with its different sounds and improvisations, gave the age it name—the Jazz Age. Young women who rejected the moral values and rules of the Victorian Age were called flappers. Women even took on careers. A few women, such as Texas governor, Miriam Ferguson were elected to office. 

Not everyone approved of this new lifestyle. The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution supported Prohibition which banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. 

New scientific discoveries challenged long-held ideas.

Describe the characteristics of the new Jazz Age

Literature Reflects New Perspectives and Modern Art 

The new literature reflected different reactions to the war. Some writers, such as Erich Remarque in All Quiet on the Western Front, revealed the horrors of war. Other writers saw the war as a symbol of the moral breakdown of Western civilization. Gertrude Stein called the young people who were disillusioned by the war and what followed a “lost generation.”  In the cultural movement called the Harlem Renaissance, African American artists and writers expressed pride in their culture. 

In art and architecture, Western artists rejected traditional styles. They experimented with other styles. Instead of trying to reproduce the real world, they used color, lines, and shapes in different ways. Abstract art, for example, used only lines, colors, and shapes. The subject was not even recognizable. The Dada movement offered works that seemed like absurd nonsense. 

Architecture moved from classical traditions as well. Some buildings used glass, steel, and concrete with little else added.

How did artists respond to World War I?

Postwar Politics in the West and International Relations 

After the war, Britain, France, and the United States appeared powerful. But there were challenges facing each nation. Returning veterans needed jobs. The war-destroyed lands in France needed to be rebuilt. Britain had economic problems. In addition, Britain still faced problems with granting Ireland independence. Political divisions threw France into conflict. In the United States, the fear of communism led to the “Red Scare.”  Many Americans feared communists with radical views may have come to the United States. The “Red Scare” also led to limiting immigration from Europe. 

The three democracies also faced international issues. Concern about a strong Germany led France to build the Maginot Line along its border with Germany. France also insisted on strict enforcement of the Versailles treaty. Many nations signed the Kellogg- Briand Pact,  promising to “renounce war as an instrument of national policy.” The great powers also agreed to disarmament, or the process of reducing armed forces and weapons. The League of Nations encouraged members to cooperate.  Unfortunately, neither the Kellogg-Briand Pact nor the League of Nations had the power to stop aggression. Ambitious dictators in Europe noted this weakness. They began to build up their armed forces and weapons.

Economics in the Postwar Era and The Great Depression 

The war affected economies all over the world. Both Britain and France owed huge war debts to the United States. Both countries relied on reparation payments from Germany to pay back their loans. The cost of paying France and Britain for damages caused by the war deeply hurt Germany’s economy. Britain was in debt, with high unemployment and low wages. In 1926, a general strike lasted nine days. A general strike is a strike by workers in many different industries at the same time. On the other hand, the French economy recovered fairly quickly.  The United States, however, emerged as the world’s leading economic power. In the affluent 1920s, middle-class Americans enjoyed the benefits of capitalism, buying cars, radios, and refrigerators.

Better technologies allowed U.S. factories to make more products faster. This led to overproduction. Factories and farms produced more goods than were being sold Factories then cut back. Many workers lost jobs. A crisis in finance, or the management of money matters,  led the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. The Federal Reserve is the central banking system of the United States. This move made people even more nervous about the economy. In the autumn of 1929, financial panic set in. Stock prices crashed. The United States economy entered the Great Depression, the economic slump, that soon spread around the world.

Western Democracies React to the Depression 

Before the Great Depression, most governments did not interfere in the economy. However, in the 1930s, governments in the United States, France, and Britain changed their methods. All stepped in to find solutions. Britain set up a coalition government from all three of to help the recovery. In France, the socialist leader Leon Blum’s Popular Front government tried to solve labor problems. In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the economic and social programs of the New Deal. Although the solutions did not end the problems, in the case of the United States and Britain, there was some relief. As the Depression continued, many people began to lose faith in democratic governments. Extremists and those with radical views began to gain ground. 

Why might some people have become disillusioned with democratic governments during the Great Depression?