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Militarism
By 1890 the strongest nation in Europe was Germany, which had set up an army reserve system that drafted and trained young men. -
Alliance System
By 1907 there were two major defence alliances in Europe. The Triple Entente, later known as the Allies, consists of France, Britain, and Russia. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. -
Period: to
World War I
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Declaration of war
Congress was tired and still debating weather to declare war on Germany. -
The Nazis Take Over Germany
In Germany, Adolf Hitler had followed a path to power similar to Mussolini's. At the end of WWI, Hitler had been a jobless soldier drifting around Germany. In 1919, he joined a struggleing group called the National Socialist German Workers' Party, better known as the Nazi Party. Hitler proved to be such a powerful public speaker and organizer that he quickly became the party's leader. -
Farmers Need a Lift
During WWI prices rose and international demand for crops such as wheat and corn soared. Farmers took out loans to buy more land for crops. When WWI ended demand for crops droped like a stone and many farmers were in dept and became bankrupt. -
The Rise of Facism on Italy
While Stalin was consolidating his power in the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini was establishing a totalitarian regime in Italy, where where unemployment and inflation produced bitter strikes, some communist-led. -
Consumers Have Less Money to Spend
As farmers' income fell, they bought fewer goods and services, but the problem was larger. By the late 1920's Americans were buying less - mainly because of rising prices, stagnant wages, unbalanced distribution of income, and overbuying on credit in the preceding years. Production had also expanded much faster than wages, resulting an ever widening gap between the rich and the poor. -
Failures of the world war 1 peace settlement
Instead of securing a "just and secure peace," the treaty of Versailles only caused anger and resentment in Germany.After the war democracies callapsed and dictators were able to take power. -
Joseph Stalin reforms the Soviet Union
Hopes for democracy gave way to civil war, resulting in the establishment of a communist state. Stalin took control of the country. Stalin focused on creating a modelcommunist state, in so doing, he made both agricultural and industrial growth the prime economic goals. -
Period: to
WWII
