Question

Unit 7 Discussion-Global Wars & Change in the 20th Century Unlocked Sunday, February 23, 2020 12:00 AM EST. Sunday, March 1, 2020 11:59 PM EST Must post first Subscribe Materials: All Unit 7 Materials. Purpose This unit addressed many of the most important events in the twentieth century such as the two global wars, the rise of Communism, Fascism and the Great Depression. The consequences of these events affected all regions but in varying degrees. In this exercise, students are required to demonstrate their comprehension of these events and how each country and its peoples responded to these challenges. Task There are two sections in this unit's discussion, and you are required to answer questions from both. Please answer the question from Section A and then proceed to follow the directions in Section B. You must give equal attention to both sections. There is no right or wrong answer here, but your opinion must be supported by evidence. You should use dates, specific names of people and places, and discuss the relevant facts to back up your assessment. SECTION A 1. Based on your knowledge in this course so far, what lessons do you think the world should learn from: A. the two global wars of the twentieth century (your analysis must include the lessons from the various theaters of war) OR B. The Great Depression Your answer must specify what these lessons are for if lessons could not be learned at all) and which groups, persons, or nations these lessons should be applied to. Remember you must provide specific examples and analyses with evidence to support your answer.

Answer 1

SECTION A

The Great Depression

The worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. Although it was originated in the United States, the Great Depression caused drastic declines in output, unemployment, and acute deflation in almost every country of the world. Its social and cultural effects were no less staggering, especially in the United States, where the Great Depression represented the harshest adversity faced by Americans.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Great Depression was not caused by the stock market crash of 1929. Rather the consensus among economists is what made the Depression great in the U.S. were the mistakes made by the Fed—especially by its decision, in 1931 and 1932, to allow so many banks to fail. In 1931, the Fed stuck to the principle that it should only lend to institutions facing a temporary shortage of liquidity and that propping up insolvent banks would be throwing good money after bad.

There were two problems with this- First, the distinction between liquidity and solvency had become meaningless. Many banks that were experiencing a temporary shortage of cash were forced to liquidate assets in a falling market at fire-sale prices which resultant them drove into insolvency. Second, allowing even insolvent institutions to go under has a very damaging effect on public confidence in the financial system.

Depositors were unable to know about which banks are solvent and which are not and so they pull their money out of all banks, good and bad, indiscriminately.

Unemployment in the Great Depression in the U.S hit twenty-five percent. Even under worst-case scenarios, unemployment in the U.S. is unlikely to go above ten percent. Government is a much larger factor in the economy now compared to the nineteen-thirties and will adopt mitigating factors such as the last year’s stimulus package. And there are automatic stabilizers in place—unemployment insurance, a more responsive tax system—that will mute the impact of the downturn.

In the Great Depression, the world was on the gold standard. The Fed has large amounts of gold reserves but was unwilling to act for the reasons. The central banks of the next two largest powers, Britain and Germany, we're unable to act because they did not have enough gold reserves, and in Germany’s case because of the overhang of reparations after the First World War. The fourth major economic power, France, had massive gold reserves but refused to adopt stimulative policies out of a combination of parochialism, selfishness, and economic illiteracy.

While everyone shares a common interest in preventing a meltdown, still we have arguments about who was to blame and how the costs of a recovery package are to be apportioned. The globalization of the financial system creates its own problems as well, since who is responsible for what is not always clear. Witness the current spat between Britain and Iceland over who is liable for the losses imposed by Icelandic banks operating in Britain. The British say it is the Icelandic authorities. Unfortunately, the balance sheet of Icelandic banks accounts for eight percent of the G.D.P. of Iceland, and the Icelandic government just cannot afford to take on that liability.

The Great Depression results in the assumption that we can avoid a repetition of the disasters of the deglobalization that occurred in the 1930s. There are several different problems related to the great depression, which confuses us when we conflate them there are lesson arises-
The first lesson is the face of a collapse in private demand, there is a need for new public sector demand or for fiscal activism.

The second lesson is the Depression was the result of the Fed’s policy failure in the aftermath of 1929. There was a massive monetary contraction, which was responsible for the severity of the downturn. In the future, central banks should commit themselves to provide extra liquidity in such cases.

Both lessons have been applied, consistently and quite successfully, not just to deal with the turmoil of 2007-08. Stock market panics in 1987, or 1998, or 2000-01, were treated with the infusion of liquidity. The fact that these anti-crisis measures were applied in many countries after 2007. The years 2007-08, and especially the dramatic aftermath of the Lehman collapse, brought a new challenge, in that it once again repeated one aspect of the Great Depression story that is different from 1929. That type of crisis demands a different set of policy debates. In 1931, a series of bank panics emanated from central Europe and spread financial contagion to Great Britain and then to the US, France and the whole world. This turmoil was decisive in turning a bad recession into the Great Depression. The improvement of regulation, while a good idea, is better suited to avoiding future crises than dealing with a catastrophe that has already occurred.

SECTION B

1)Korea-communist country,

2)Japan-fascist country,

3)The Cuba-experienced cold war.

1)Korea-communist country

At the end of world war II, the victorious nations divided up the territories of the defeated nations to be administered until the conquered nations were able to rebuild their governments and economies. Germany was divided into four-part administered by France, England, America, and the Soviet Union. Korea was divided into two parts the north under the administration of the Soviet Union and the south under the administration of the United States.

The Soviet Union supported a communistic government in the north and they controlled it whereas, Americans supported a democratic form of government in the south that America controlled. The United Nations-mandated that an election be held to determine the future of the Korean peninsula.

In the south elections were held but were not allowed in the north. The Soviet Union provided military training and materials to the north. America provided economic training and materials to the south. The North had a strong military. The south had a strong economy. The north and south remained under the control of their Russian and American sponsors.

North Korea used its military might to invade South Korea and unite the two parts back into one nation. America and the United Nations intervened to protect South Korea and then invade North Korea to unite the two parts into one nation. China intervened to protect North Korea and preserve the Communistic rule of the North driving the United States and United Nations back to original borders established at the end of World War II.

North Korea became communistic because of the influence of Russia after the end of World War II. North Korea remained communistic because of military intervention and Chinese influence during and after the Korean War., which still has never officially ended both sides still claiming control over the entire peninsula.

2)Japan-Fascist country

The failure of the democratic system was one of the main reasons why authoritarian regimes arose in japan. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I did not recognize the Empire of Japan’s territorial claims, which angered the Japanese and led to a surge in nationalism. Similar to European nations like Italy and Germany, nationalism and aggressive expansionism began to rise to prominence in Japan after World War I. Throughout the 1920s, various nationalistic and xenophobic ideologies emerged among right-wing Japanese intellectuals, but it was not until the early 1930s that these ideas gained full traction in the ruling regime. During the Manchurian Incident of 1931, radical army officers bombed a small portion of the South Manchuria Railroad and, falsely attributing the attack to the Chinese, invaded Manchuria. In 1932, a group of right-wing Army and Navy officers succeeded in assassinating Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi. International criticism of Japan following the invasion led to Japan withdrawing from the League of Nations, which led to political isolation and a redoubling of ultranationalist and expansionist tendencies. The plot fell short of staging a complete coup or bowl of state, but it effectively ended rule by political parties in Japan and consolidated the power of the military elite under the dictatorship of Emperor Hirohito.

All these factors led to a fascist in Japan.

3)Cuba-experience cold war

In 1962, a new trial of strength unfolded in Cuba: for two weeks,

In January 1959 Fulgencio Batista’s military dictatorship was over thrown, Cuba had been ruled by Fidel Castro. In the course of agricultural reform, Castro nationalised the Cuban property of American undertakings on the island, thereby incurring the wrath of Washington. As a result, the pro-Communist Cuban leader moved closer to the USSR, which was delighted to find a new ally in the western hemisphere and inside the American security zone. Agreement on trade and military cooperation was signed by The Cuban and Soviet regimes. In April 1961, the United States attempted to overthrow the new regime by arranging for anti-Castro exiles to land in the Bay of Pigs, Castro came in position as this operation failed. He enticed many Latin American revolutionaries to Cuba, which was the only Communist country in the Americas. Khrushchev decided to secretly provide the Cubans with intermediate-range offensive missiles that could pose a direct threat to the territory of the United States.

On 14 October 1962, after Soviet freighters carrying missiles had been identified on their way to Cuba, American spy planes also photographed launchers for Soviet intermediate-range rockets.

The US President, John F. Kennedy, therefore decided to impose a naval blockade, closing off access to Cuba. Any attempt by Soviet ships to force their way through could have ignited the powder keg, provoking open conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Europe, and in particular Germany, would inevitably have then become a theatre of war.

However, at the eleventh hour, and after repeated contact between Moscow and Washington, largely through the intermediary of the United Nations, a compromise emerged: the Soviet ships agreed to turn back, and the Americans undertook not to invade Cuba and to remove their rockets from Turkey. On 28 October, the world avoided nuclear war by a whisker and the two Great Powers returned to disarmament negotiations. In Europe, Franco-German links were strengthened by the crisis.