Chapter 22-2 question #3

Conditions for men, women and children during the great depression varied greatly. Men had trouble psychologically with the depression because of the lack of work: this humiliated many men. Men were prone to abandon their families out of fear or shame caused by unemployment. Women suffered just as much, but would never leave their children. They were also less likely to ask for help, more likely to simply starve. Children would often give up their education. Many teenage boys also left their families for adventure and a different sort of life somewhere else.

Chapter 22-3 question #3

Hoover believed that hard times economically would bring out the best in people and cause them to work for themselves until they were better off. One reason why he believed this was because he came from a poor background himself. As such, hoover tried to have the government interfere as little as possible with the depression. In some cases hoovers idea may have worked: in this case it didn't. The reason why was that people were too discouraged to work themselves out of depression, and without government intervention it would be impossible to anyway. An example of this would be New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, where people were to discouraged to work, and decided to wait on the government instead.

East Africa economy summary #1

East Africa is struggling economically. Very little real progress has been made by East African governments economically. Projects are put up here and there: Kenya fixes up a prominent railroad. But most projects are fueled by loans from non third world countries. Kenya, for example, recently took a 200+ million loan. These lateral moves will not really help third world countries in east Africa in the long term. What I found most disturbing though was the surplus violence and corruption. East Africa bank robberies are common, and weapons are considered as necessary as food itself. Corruption is common. I know this is expectable, but it bugs me, because we are trained as a society to be surprised when poverty creates greed. This might just be me, but I have always been taught that rich people are never content, and poor people are. I personally think that this is so people will be loose with their money, since you can never be happy with it, and so that we wont help poor people. This way we buy junk we don't really need. This might be me being cynical though. Anyway, despite these difficulties, private, non government touched businesses do well, so there is hope for east Africa. Altogether though I think east Africa will be stuck in its depression for a long time to come.

22-1 #4

How important to the economy is the confidence of the participators as shown by the great depression?

A: i think that the confidence of an economies participators is important, but not as important as how aware people are of the economies condition. Before the great depression, people were taking out loans and using credit without thought to what this did to the economy: confidence was too high. Now at least I am very aware of the use of imaginary money, and my lack of use of it will help the economy. My trust in it doesnt matter. Ultimately I think the trouble with the great depression was that everyone felt the economy could not be fixed, so their trust in it went down. Confidence or lack of confidence is simply the result of prior knowledge, therefore knowledge of the economy is more important than confidence in it.

21-1

5: Do you think the scopes trial and Volstead act were genuine triumphs of traditional values?

A: I think that the roaring twenties reform acts were not triumphs for traditional values because Traditional values were being challenged at all. Unlike earlier generations, the twenties generation tried to get as close as possible to crossing the line socially. Whether or not prohibition or the scopes trial rulings held up was irrelevant. The fact that such ideas were being challenged at all was an incredible change in moral values in in the culture of the united states.

21-4

How did the Harlem renaissance change society?

A: The Harlem renaissance changed society in two major ways. The first and most important way it changed American society is that it gave African Americans pride, identity, and a voice. A culture withing a culture emerged just as Harlem was a city withing a city. New musical styles, such as jazz, emerged. The Harlen renaissance also inspired future African Americans to fight for their civil rights in the future.

Were americans justified in their post WWI nativism?

A: I ultimately think that Americans were not justified in their nativism. The russian revolution was not a realistic goal. The capitalist system was thriving, and was not about to be overthrown. I could see why one would fear a german takeover after WWI: many today fear muslims and those of arabic descent because of 9/11. But ultimately any form of racism or nativism is living in fear, and to me that ultimately seems like a waste of energy.

Why was the U.S. closer to the Allies than the Central powers?

A: The U.S. had many ties with the allies. First, the U.S. had history. Whether friends or foes, the U.S was familiar with France Britain and Russia. The U.S also shared heritage with Britain. On the other hand, Germany was an arriving power that the U.S was not yet accustomed to dealing with. America also felt obligated to protect the democracies on the side of the allies, while there was not a single democracy on the central powers' side. Germanies unorthodox style of invasion also stirred sympathy in the U.S for the allies.

Why did Germany spike its U-boat attacks during 1917?

A:Germany increased its U-boat attacks for several reasons. One main one was militarism. The Germans had spent the last few years building and refining its U-boats in order to secretly attack the British to compete with the British navy. In order to move along this supremacy, Germany began attacking ally ships left and right.Germany also did U-boat raids as an act of desperation. The British blockade was destroying the German economy and causing thousands of German deaths by starvation. The U-boats allowed Germany to use guerrilla warfare in order to get back at the British. In this way Naval WWI warfare became a war of attrition.

How did WWI represent a new mentally scarring kind of warfare?

A: World War one was unlike any war before it because of the new technology involved. War became a calloused, gruesome affair that left men numbed. The introduction of the machine gun allowed the killing of other men without a second thought. The use of chemical weapons also tortured men in mass. Few men left the great war unscathed. One reason was the appearance of shell shock, an emotional collapse caused by war in which men sometimes never recovered. Mass amounts of disfigured men also never let soldiers forget the horrors of war.

How did the war affect government power?

A: The war caused government power and control to soar. The government soon had control over private businesses, and geared them towards mass production and the building of supplies needed for war. The president could now regulate and control prices in the economy, and to nationalize certain war related companies. The president could also send any man who spoke against the war or slowed the war effort to jail. Such massive spikes in power set precedents for wars afterward.

Did the war have a positive or negative affect on American society?

I think that ultimately, for the time and place, the changes in American society were good for the World War One effort. If such changes remained however, it would have been a serious blow to human rights and liberty. Suspicion of recent immigrants and laws that increased government power and decreased human liberty work for supporting a war effort. Had such trends continued though, the very freedom of the United States would have possibly been put in Jeopardy over time.

How did the treaty of Versailles fail to provide lasting peace?

A: The treaty of Versailles failed to provide peace because it failed to create any accomodations for the Non-Allied Europeans. All of Austria Hungary was cut into tiny pieces, regardless of those living there, and was expected to rebuild itself. Germany was allowed to continue to exist only if it claimed responsibility for the war, gave up its army, and paid off all of the war debt of the other countries. These unfair terms set the stage for the equally large and bloody WWII.

Predict Germanys reaction to the treaty of Versailles.

A: I think that the German reaction to the treaty of Versailles would be negative, and would soon lead to conflict. The unfair terms of the treaty lost Germany pride, land, and money. Many German war veterans, such as Adolf Hitler, felt that the treaty was one sided, and felt that they were punished for putting their life on the line for their country. The result of these treaty terms would set the stage for WWII.