Post War UncertaintyPost War Uncertainty

What changes does the world see after World War I?

The Roaring 20s: ScThe Roaring 20s: Science & Literatureience & Literature World War I shattered Enlightenment ideas like progress and reason Unconventional styles become popular 1920s as people question “traditions”

Albert Einstein offered new ideas about space, time, and energy – no absolute lawsSigmund Freud argues that human behavior is irrational, weakening the idea of reasonWriters like F. Scott Fitzgerald & Ernest Hemingway were part of the “lost generation”Many went from city to city searching for the meaning of lifeExistentialism, the belief that there is no universal meaning to life becomes popularExistentialists argued that people make their own life choices and that religion & democracy have stifled individual creativity

Science

Literature

The Roaring 20s:Revolution in the ArtsThe Roaring 20s:Revolution in the Arts Surrealism was a movement that linked dreams with real life

Salvador Dali Pablo Picasso•Jazz & blues were a loose and free style that broke with the traditional methods

King Carter Jazz Band Louis Armstrong Bessie Smith Muddy Waters

The Roaring 20s: Improving LivesThe Roaring 20s: Improving Lives Women became more independent in the 1920s, abandoning restrictive hair

styles & clothing

•Technological advances also began to improve people’s lives •Travel was easier with planes & cars

•Radio & movies entertained the masses

•Household appliances improved the way people live in their homes

Refrigerator Washing Machine

Electric Iron

1930s: A Worldwide Depression1930s: A Worldwide Depression

Germany’s new Weimar Republic found it very difficult to govern

Because of its huge war debts, Germany is spending more money than it is taking in

The Weimar Republic then prints more money to solve the problem

This actually causes German money to lose value US starts loaning Germans money through the Dawes Act

End of the 20s: US Economy starts collapsing

Bad investments, stock market crash, run on banks create Great Depression

US demands immediate repayment of foreign loans

Most countries can’t pay back US – especially Germany who will be hit hardest by the worldwide depression