MEPX
Chapter 5 of 10All chapters
  1. 1The age of revolutions
  2. 2Industrial society
  3. 3Empire and nationalism
  4. 4The First World War
  5. 5Between the wars
  6. 6The Second World War
  7. 7Building a new order
  8. 8The Cold War
  9. 9Decolonisation and civil rights
  10. 10Since 1991

Chapter 5 of 10

Between the wars

Depression and dictatorship.

Economic collapse

The 1929 crash became a global depression through banking failure and collapsing trade, with unemployment reaching a quarter of the workforce in some countries.

  • Democracies fell to authoritarian movements in several states.
  • The Soviet Union industrialised rapidly at enormous human cost.

The road to war

Expansionist regimes in Germany, Italy and Japan met weak collective responses, and appeasement bought time without preventing the conflict.