The First World War and the Interwar Collapse

Four Years, and Then Twenty More

The First World War killed around ten million soldiers. Modern technology made defence far cheaper than attack.

Key features of industrialised warfare:

• Entrenched fronts gained kilometres at vast human cost.
• Verdun lasted nearly all of 1916.
• The Somme cost Britain 57,470 casualties on its first day.

Societies sustained this through total war. States directed economies, introduced conscription, rationed food, and blurred the line between combatants and civilians.

Two political shifts decided the outcome:

• Russia's February revolution destroyed the monarchy, and the October revolution brought the Bolsheviks to power.
• Russia exited the war in 1918.
• The entry of the United States in 1917 guaranteed Allied victory.

The Treaty of Versailles settled the peace in 1919. It disarmed Germany and assigned war guilt. Reparations were fixed in 1921 at 132 billion gold marks (132 billion). In practice, Germany only paid the A and B bonds worth 50 billion (50 billion). The rest pleased voters in Britain and France. Keynes argued against the settlement in The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919).

The Interwar Collapse

European recovery after 1924 depended heavily on American loans. The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 ended this flow of capital.

In Germany, unemployment reached six million by early 1932. Countries tied to the gold standard suffered deep deflation.

Economic ruin destroyed the Weimar Republic:

The Nazi vote actually fell from 37.3 per cent in July 1932 to 33.1 per cent in November 1932. Hitler was not elected to lead Germany. Instead, Hitler was appointed chancellor in January 1933 by conservative elites. In March 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act.

Common pitfall: claiming Hitler was elected. The NSDAP never won a majority. His vote fell in late 1932 before backroom deals installed him in January 1933.