The World Since 1914
Part 2—1929-1934 Worldwide Depression and On to War Again
“IF EVER fortune seemed to smile upon the United States it was on that day.” So historian David A. Shannon describes the day in 1929 on which U.S. president Herbert Hoover took his oath of office. Shannon explains: “It was a year of peace, no war clouds were on the horizon, and American wealth was actively expanding overseas and changing conditions in less economically fortunate parts of the world.”
But by the end of Hoover’s presidency, “the national mood had utterly reversed. Instead of optimism there was pessimism, desperation, a heavy measure of despair.” What had happened?
‘Black Thursday’—End of an Era
On Wednesday, October 23, 1929, a number of speculators for no apparent reason began selling overpriced stock on the New York stock market. The next day, Thursday, anxious to sell before their stock lost more in value, stockholders set off a stampede that within a week wiped out over $15 billion in stock value and within the next few months many billions more. Thus began the Great Depression.
Economists and historians have many theories as to what went wrong. But, as one of them points out, it is evident that the Depression’s many causes “were deeply embedded in the prosperous twenties.” Since their prosperity “had been built on a shaky foundation . . . , the stock market crash . . . suddenly revealed the economic rot underlying [them].”—The United States in the Twentieth Century, pages 10, 12.
At any rate, the heady years of the Roaring Twenties were gone. Gone also were the heady hopes they had engendered. “The great stockmarket crash of 1929 pricked the bubble,” say historians F. Freidel and N. Pollack. “As abundance ebbed, leaving millions suffering privation, the twenties seemed no more than an unreal interlude or a cruel joke—an immoral jazz age, the era of the golden calf.”—American Issues in the Twentieth Century, page 115.
Suddenly millions were unemployed. People in debt lost what they had purchased on credit, including their homes. Families doubled up to save expenses. As stock prices plummeted, fortunes were wiped out overnight. Businesses folded. A wave of suicides shocked the nation as thousands of U.S. banks closed their doors. One comedian got big laughs when he said that he was used to having checks returned marked “no funds.” But now he was getting them back marked “no bank.”
The economic collapse was worldwide in scope and far-reaching in its effects. In fact, the book The United States and Its Place in World Affairs 1918-1943 claims that “this economic tragedy touched every country and every side of life, social and political, domestic and international.”
Meanwhile, in Japan militarists were also using the economic situation to their advantage. Says The New Encyclopædia Britannica: “The notion that expansion through military conquest would solve Japan’s economic problems gained currency during the Great Depression of 1929.” The instability of the early ’30’s allowed these militarists to gain such control that they were able—even without the approval of the civil government—to overrun Manchuria and to conquer it within just five months. Labeled an aggressor by the League of Nations, Japan answered, not by withdrawing from Manchuria, but by withdrawing from the League.
Me First!
By emphasizing pleasures and promoting materialism, the Roaring Twenties had fostered a me-first attitude that strangled spirituality. But “the economic earthquake that began in 1929,” as the above-mentioned history book The United States and Its Place in World Affairs 1918-1943 calls it, now made this attitude even more pronounced. How so? Because the Depression “destroyed any sense of community of interests that might have been growing up, and made each family intent on its own preservation, no matter what the effect on others. Each for himself, save our own skins, no matter who takes the hindmost!”
In individuals such an egotistical, self-centered, inconsiderate attitude is generally viewed with contempt. But under the guise of patriotism, a similar attitude on the part of national groups is often considered justified, at times even desirable. The Great Depression promoted such a spirit.
Historian Hermann Graml says that “the world economic crisis dealt the spirit of international understanding and cooperation manifested in the League of Nations a fatal blow,” and that this opened up the way for “an unscrupulous development of egotism on the part of individual nations.” He says “most nations were driven to the unreasonable—but understandable—inconsiderateness based upon self-preservation that causes a crowd to panic.”—Europa zwischen den Kriegen (Europe Between the Wars), page 237.
Perhaps nowhere was this attitude more bluntly expressed than in a speech delivered by Nazi Germany’s Heinrich Himmler some years later. “Honesty, decency, faithfulness, and comradeship,” he said, “must be shown when dealing with those of like blood but to no one else. What happens to a Russian, to a Czech, does not interest me in the slightest. . . . Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death like cattle interests me only insofar as we need them as slaves for our culture. . . . Whether 10,000 Russian females collapse from exhaustion while digging an antitank ditch interests me only insofar as the antitank ditch for Germany is finished.”
With both individuals and nations demonstrating such a me-first attitude and such a disregard for God’s law to love “your neighbor as yourself,” how could peace possibly be achieved or maintained? (Luke 10:27) “Abundant peace belongs to those loving your law,” says the Bible at Psalm 119:165. But since this love was lacking, the nations could easily be maneuvered into position for a new war. Significantly, both a lack of love and a me-first attitude were to characterize “the last days” of Satan’s wicked system.—2 Timothy 3:1-5; Matthew 24:3, 12.
In Whom Should Man Trust?
Did the obviously deteriorating world situation cause people to turn back to the God upon whom they had turned their backs during the Roaring Twenties? In some instances, it did. Many people became responsive to the message being proclaimed by Jehovah’s Witnesses, the name adopted in 1931 by Christians associated with the Watch Tower Society. But the nations as a whole were unresponsive, placing their trust not in God but in “great” men.
For example, at the start of the 1930’s Mohandas Gandhi was gaining increased support in India for his intensified nonviolent campaign of civil disobedience. Many hoped that the independence from British rule that he was seeking would lead to a stable and peaceful India. Did it?
That same year Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek became a member of the Methodist Church. Many hoped that his conversion to Christianity would open the way for a close alliance between China and Western so-called Christian nations. Did it?
In 1932, at a Vatican-held ceremony, Mussolini celebrated his tenth anniversary in power. Many hoped that the papal blessing there bestowed would ensure pious Italians, their duce, and their land lasting security and protection. Did it?
Also in 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt, newly elected president of the United States, promised his countrymen a New Deal to get things moving again. A year later he outlined U.S. disarmament plans and appealed to the world to abolish all offensive weapons. Many hoped that this New Deal would lead to an end of unemployment and poverty as well as to peace. Did it?
In 1933 Hitler became Germany’s new chancellor. Shortly thereafter, in his so-called Peace Speech, one of the most effective he ever delivered, he downgraded war as “unlimited madness” that would “cause the collapse of the present social and political order.” He stressed Germany’s willingness to disarm, in harmony with Roosevelt’s proposal, saying: “Germany is prepared to agree to any solemn pact of nonaggression, because she does not think of attacking but only of acquiring security.” Many hoped that this policy would restore the honor and dignity of the German nation and by peaceful means guarantee its dynamic leader’s regime for a thousand years. Did it?
And then there was that “great” organization, the League of Nations. Of it the Watchtower magazine of May 15, 1932, said: “The kings of the earth, upon the advice of the clergy, . . . join together in a League of Nations and trust in that and in the ingenuity of man to deliver the perplexed and suffering world out of its present dilemma.” Many hoped—although Jehovah’s Witnesses were not among them—that the League would indeed deliver the world out of its dilemma. Did it?
Over two thousand years ago, the psalmist wrote: “Rely not upon great men—mere mortals who can give no help.” With the benefit of hindsight, would you not agree with the wisdom of these words?—Psalm 146:3, Moffatt.
Had There Been No Depression . . .
“It would be a foolish oversimplification to place all the responsibility for the events and trends of the thirties at the door of the depression.” So say the authors of the book The United States and Its Place in World Affairs 1918-1943. “Yet,” they admit, “the widespread want and insecurity of the lean years did set the stage, supplied the actors with some powerful lines, added big scenes to the tragic plot, and gave the audience new heroes to applaud or new villains to hiss.” They conclude that had there been no depression, it is very possible that there would have been no second world war.
But there was a world depression, and there was a second world war. So obviously, despite religious backing, the League of Nations failed to achieve the peace it was designed to maintain. From its very beginning the League was doomed. But it would not die quickly. It would slowly stagger to its death. Read about it in our next issue.
[Box on page 26]
Other Items That Made the News
1929—Awards by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars) given in Hollywood for the first time
1930—The planet Pluto discovered
Uruguay first winner of soccer’s World Cup
1931—Flood in China leaves over 8,000 dead and 23 million homeless
Over 2,000 die in earthquake in Nicaragua
Tallest building in the world at that time, New York’s Empire State Building, completed
1932—Discovery of the neutron and of deuterium (heavy hydrogen) help bring nuclear physics into being
1933—Germany withdraws from League of Nations; Hitler proclaimed chancellor; first concentration camp, in Dachau, opened; concordat between Germany and Vatican signed; public burning of undesirable books in Berlin
1934—FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) organized in United States to fight gangsterism
Chinese Red Army of some 90,000 soldiers begins its Long March to Yenan
[Picture on page 25]
In just a short time, millions were left jobless
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A. Rothstein/Dover