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The Impact of the Depression on the League of Nations

Exam code: 2147
Written by: Ashika|Reviewed by: Caroline Carroll|Updated 2 July 2026

The Wall Street Crash

The Wall Street Crash

  • Throughout the 1920s, the USA experienced a boom in their economy

    • Britain and France were repaying their wartime loans to the USA

    • As a result, the USA had a surplus of money in their economy

  • The USA’s economy was growing at such a rapid rate that, by October 1929, stockbrokers began to speculate that the market would decline

    • Americans from all areas of society had bought shares in the 1920s. Working-class Americans could not afford for their share prices to drop too far

    • Share prices began to fall

    • Shareholders rushed to sell their shares before their value dropped too significantly

  • Between 24th and 30th October 1929, the USA’s economy collapsed

    • The worst day was ‘Black Thursday’

      • People sold 13 million shares

      • Prices plummeted due to the amount of shares available

    • Shares that were worth $20,000 on the morning of 24th October 1929 were worth $1,000 by the end of the day

    • By 30th October 1929, investors had lost $4 billion

  • This event is called the ‘Wall Street Crash’ as Wall Street is where the Stock Exchange is based in New York

Impact of the Depression

Impact of the Depression

  • The Wall Street Crash caused a worldwide depression in the 1930s because:

    • The Dawes and Young Plans connected the US economy to European countries

      • To save their economy, the US recalled all of their loans

      • Germany’s economy could not cope without US intervention

    • Trade between countries slowed

      • Leaders encouraged their populations to buy domestic products to boost employment

      • Governments increased trade tariffs for foreign products

      • Reduced trade caused more damage to worldwide economies 

A world map showing how different countries were affected by the Great Depression: USA: 30% of adults were unemployed Nearly one-third of American banks closed Britain: Economy depended on exporting goods from the British Empire 2.75 million people were unemployed Germany: Nearly 6 million unemployed Government struggled to deal with the problems caused by the Depression France: Not hit as badly as other countries Around 5% unemployment Japan: Huge drop in demand for silk, its biggest export Relied heavily on trade to buy food and raw materials
A map showing how the Great Depression impacted different nations across the world
A horizontal bar chart titled "Change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the United States and European Countries, 1929–1932". It shows how much each country’s economy shrank during the Great Depression: USA: GDP fell by 28% (largest drop shown) Germany: GDP fell by 15.7% France: GDP fell by 11% Italy: GDP fell by 6.1% Britain: GDP fell by 5.8% USSR: GDP increased by 5% (the only country with growth)
A graph showing the changes to global GDPs, 1929-1932

Extremism and Militarism

Extremism and Militarism

  • Due to economic issues, many people began to turn against their governments

A graphic showing how the Great Depression led to a rise in extremist political parties. Left (black and grey box): Fascism Symbol: Swastika (Nazi symbol) Biggest victory for fascism: The Nazi Party in 1932 gained +40% of the vote. Global impact: People voting for fascist parties increased by +6% worldwide. Right (red and pink box): Communism Symbol: Hammer and sickle (Communist symbol) Biggest victory for communism: The Bulgarian Communist Party in 1931 gained +11% of the vote.
A graphic showing the increase in popularity of Fascism and Communism during the Great Depression

Why Did Extremism Increase in the 1930s?

  • People blamed their governments for the economic crash

  • Extremist parties offered alternatives to government policies during the Great Depression

    • The Nazi Party promised to reverse the Treaty of Versailles and make Germany strong again

  • A rise in dictatorships

    • By 1939, there were four key dictators in Europe:

      • Mussolini (Italy, 1922)

      • Stalin (USSR, 1924)

      • Hitler (Germany, dictator by 1934)

      • Franco (Spain, 1939)

    • Some populations believed a strong, autocratic leader could rebuild the economy better than a democratic government

Why was Extremism an Issue for the League of Nations in the 1930s?

  • Extremist parties promised their citizens radical solutions

  • Extremist leaders only cared about their own country

    • Fascism and communism are opposite opinions

      • Fascist and communist dictators are less likely to work together

    • To prioritise their country, extremists adopted an aggressive foreign policy

      • They had no respect or interest in the League of Nations

  • Non-extremist leaders began to ignore their duties to the League of Nations

    • They prioritised protecting their people from the threats of communism and fascism

    • They wanted to strengthen their country through nationalism

A Solution to the Great Depression - Militarism

  • Militarism is the belief that a country must have strong armed forces

  • Militarism distracted countries from the Depression because:

    • It created employment in the rearmament businesses

    • It made civilians feel proud of their country again

Country

How did the country pursue militarism?

Italy

Rearmament

An expanded empire in the Mediterranean and Africa

Germany

Breaking the Treaty of Versailles’ military restrictions

Creation of the Luftwaffe

‘Guns, not Butter’ approach to the economy

Japan

An expanded empire to secure much-needed raw materials. The Japanese army wanted to restore national pride

Britain and France

Rearmament in the late 1930s in response to growing militarism 

Why was Militarism an Issue for the League of Nations in the 1930s?

  • Militarism went against the League’s core aim of disarmament

  • The League would have to stop aggressive actions from countries who:

    • Threatened others using their large armed forces

    • Invaded countries to expand empires

    • Started wars

  • The League lacked the USA’s military force

    • France and Britain were unwilling to spend money to stop international aggression

      • They were still recovering from the Great Depression

    • Countries knew that the League was weak in the 1930s

      • A strong military would scare the League to rule in the country’s favour

Rearmament and Unemployment

Rearmament and Unemployment

  • In Germany, the Nazis used rearmament to reduce unemployment

    • In 1933, Germany left the League of Nations over Europe’s refusal to disarm

      • Hitler felt this gave him the right to rearm Germany

    • In 1935, Hitler introduced compulsory conscription 

    • By 1938, Germany spent 20% of their GDP on rearmament

      • This created millions of jobs for the unemployed

Impact of Rearmament to Nazi Germany

Year

Unemployment

1933

4,800,000

1934

2,700,000

1935

2,100,000

1936

1,500,000

1937

900,000

1938

500,000

1939

300,000

A visual comparison of how Germany’s military strength increased from 1933 to 1939, broken into three sections: the Army, the Luftwaffe (Air Force), and the Navy. Army: 1933: Number of fully trained divisions ready for war: 7 1939: Number of fully trained divisions ready for war: 52 Luftwaffe (Air Force): 1933: No air force existed (red X symbol shown) 1939: Over 4,000 planes Navy: 1933: Warships: 4 1939: Submarines: 54 (a grid of submarine icons shown)
A diagram showing the expansion of Germany’s armed forces between 1933 and 1939
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