What Relationship Is There Between the Economic and the Political Collapse of the Inter-War (1919-39) International Order
What relationship is there between the economic and the political collapse of the inter-war (1919-39) international order?
The inter-war period from 1919 to 1939, as its name suggests, is usually marked by two wars that took place before and after the period, the First World War and the Second World War. Naturally, the study of this period revolves around these two historically important events that shaped the world order. The collapse of economic system of the world in this period, which can only be rightfully explained with reference to the First World War, is usually accepted as one of the most prominent explanations for the collapse of international order which paved the road for the Second World War. The aim of this essay is to explore the collapse of economic system of the world in the inter-war period in relation to the collapse of political order at the time and with particular reference to two historic events, the First World War and the Great Depression, whose impacts and consequences had great influence in shaping the course of history thereafter.
The first point that will be discussed is the impacts of the First World War on the economic system of the world in the beginning of the inter-war period. The First World War, or the Great War, involved almost every major power there was on the planet thus the damage that would be caused by it was inevitably of the global scale. Such is the degree of harms caused by the war that a simple invocation of relevant figures would be sufficient to describe its magnitude: more than 8 million lives were lost and even more were wounded (Mazower 1999, 78); France, whose territory has served as the major battle field of the world, lost one tenth of its active male population, that is more than 1.3 million dead and 600,000 disabled, suffered 40% drop in industrial production and 30% drop in agrarian production compared to the pre-war level due to the German occupation of its industrial north-eastern provinces (Howard
The inter-war period from 1919 to 1939, as its name suggests, is usually marked by two wars that took place before and after the period, the First World War and the Second World War. Naturally, the study of this period revolves around these two historically important events that shaped the world order. The collapse of economic system of the world in this period, which can only be rightfully explained with reference to the First World War, is usually accepted as one of the most prominent explanations for the collapse of international order which paved the road for the Second World War. The aim of this essay is to explore the collapse of economic system of the world in the inter-war period in relation to the collapse of political order at the time and with particular reference to two historic events, the First World War and the Great Depression, whose impacts and consequences had great influence in shaping the course of history thereafter.
The first point that will be discussed is the impacts of the First World War on the economic system of the world in the beginning of the inter-war period. The First World War, or the Great War, involved almost every major power there was on the planet thus the damage that would be caused by it was inevitably of the global scale. Such is the degree of harms caused by the war that a simple invocation of relevant figures would be sufficient to describe its magnitude: more than 8 million lives were lost and even more were wounded (Mazower 1999, 78); France, whose territory has served as the major battle field of the world, lost one tenth of its active male population, that is more than 1.3 million dead and 600,000 disabled, suffered 40% drop in industrial production and 30% drop in agrarian production compared to the pre-war level due to the German occupation of its industrial north-eastern provinces (Howard
Bibliography: * Boyce, R., ‘World War, World Depression: Some Economic Origins of the Second World War’, in Boyce, R., and Robertson, E. M. (eds.), Paths to War: New Essays on the Origins of the Second World War, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1989. * Howard, M., ‘The Legacy of the First World War’, in Boyce, R., and Robertson, E. M. (eds.), Paths to War: New Essays on the Origins of the Second World War, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1989. * Keylor, W. R., The Twentieth Century World and Beyond: An International History Since 1900, 5th edn., New York, Oxford University Press, 2006 * Robbins, K., Appeasement, 2nd edn., Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, 1997 * Ziebura, G., World Economy and World Politics, 1924-1931: From Reconstruction to Collapse, Oxford, UK; New York: Berg; New York: Distributed exclusively in the US and Canada by St. Martin’s Press, 1990.