Peace In Their Time

Episode 129 - Just Along for the Ride

The damage caused by the Great Depression was not confined to the big economies of the world, and today I'll take a look at the instability and civil conflict that resulted from it in a trio of Central European nations. That's right, it's back to the future battlegrounds of Europe and the smaller states caught between the giants. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Berend, Ivan Decades of Crisis: Central and Eastern Europe Before World War II University of California Press 1998
2. Lampe, John Yugoslavia as History: Twice There was a Country Cambridge University Press 2000
3. Glenny, Misha The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers 1804-1999 Penguin Books Ltd 1999
4. Beaton, Roderick Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation University of Chicago Press 2019

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 128 - Collateral Damage

The quest for absolute power in Italy was always one on Mussolini's mind, but the Depression forced the Fascists into overdrive. With the economy falling apart, the state swooped in to both clumsily rescue the situation, as well as expanding its hold over the economy. And the crisis in general started opening up very big possibilities for expansion that had otherwise been denied in the 20s. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Bosworth, RJB Mussolini's Italy Penguin Group, 2005
2. Whittam, John Fascist Italy Manchester University Press, 1995
3. Morgan, Phillip Italian Fascism 1919-1945 St. Martin's Press, 1995
4. Gooch, John Mussolini and His Generals Cambridge University Press, 2007
5. Schmitz, David F. The United States and Fascist Italy, 1922-1940 The University of North Carolina Press 1988
6. Migone, Gian Giacomo The United States and Fascist Italy: The Rise of American Finance in Europe Cambridge University Press 1980

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 127 - Gallic Mentality

For France, the Great Depression came late, but also refused to go away. On account of being one of the few winners of the Gold Standard, France's economy was booming so much by 1929 that it took until 1932 for the downturn to take effect. But when it did, it proved intractable, critically undermining the legitimacy of the shaky Third Republic. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Adamthwaite, Anthony Grandeur and Misery: France 1914-1940 Arnold, 1995
2. Wright, Gordon France in Modern Times, 4th Ed WW Norton Company, Inc, 1987
3. Fortescue, William The Third Republic in France 1870-1940 Routledge, 2007
4. Weber, Eugene The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s WW Norton & Company Inc 1994
5. Jackson, Julian France: The Dark Years 1940-1944 Oxford University Press 2001

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 126 - Sound as a Pound

Today we begin our Depression European tour and take a look at the UK. That nation had already been suffering a prolonged recession through most of the 20s, so the Great Depression only added to the nation's woes. While the politics of the nation wouldn't go haywire like they would elsewhere, it did doom the Labour-Liberal coalition that held power in late 1929, and created the conditions for a decade of Conservative dominance. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Taylor, AJP The Oxford History of England, Vol 15 Oxford University Press, 1978
2. Moway, Charles Loch Britain Between the Wars Methuen & Co, 1972
3. Hattersley, Roy Borrowed Time Little, Brown, 2007
4. Floud, Roderick and Paul Johnson The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain Volume II: Economic Maturity 1860-1939 Cambridge University Press 2004

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 125 - Killing Time

The year 1932 was a special low point of the Great Depression in the US not just because of the material devastation for people, but also because how little was done to address the crisis. The Hoover administration revealed how incapable the traditional Conservative orthodoxy was at repairing the nation, and the year became a grim waiting game for FDR and the resurgent Democrats to takeover. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999
2. Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Age of Roosevelt: The Crisis of the Old Order 1919-1933 First Mariner Books 2003
3. Whyte, Kenneth Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times Vintage Books 2017

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 124 - Goldbugs

At first it looked like the Great Depression would be just another run of the mill recession. But the bubble that was the US economy popped right at the same time much of Europe was entering a general fiscal crisis, which in turn undermined the Gold Standard system most nations were a part of. The imbalances created by the Gold Standard proved unsustainable, and its collapse led to a free for all as every nation had its own answer to the crisis. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Clavin, Patricia The Great Depression in Europe, 1929-1939 St. Martin's Press 2000
2. Hall, Thomas E. and J. David Ferguson The Great Depression: An International Disaster of Perverse Economic Policies University of Michigan Press 1998
3. Rothermund, Dietmar The Global Impact of the Great Depression 1929-1939 Routledge 1996
4. Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999
5. Moser, John E. The Global Great Depression and the Coming of World War II Routledge 2016

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 123 - Onset of Depression

Season 2 kicks off here with an introduction to the early days of the Great Depression! Fun! Nothing did more to undermine to world order fitfully constructed during the 1920s like this mother of all economic disasters. And what really made this crisis of Capital so severe was the financial sector's implosion in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929. Suddenly, the very thing that underpinned the entire system stopped working.

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Galbraith, James K. The Great Crash 1929 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 2009
2. Hall, Thomas E. and J. David Ferguson The Great Depression: An International Disaster of Perverse Economic Policies University of Michigan Press 1998
3. Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999
4. Robert E. Gallman The Cambridge Economic History of the United States Volume III: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 2000

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 122 - End of an Era

It's the end of Season 1 and I take stock of what's been covered up to this point, big trends, takeaways, that sort of thing. See you in three months! 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Please see the previous 121 episodes. 

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 121 - Crashing

Today the United States miniseries goes out with the bang of the 1929 stock market crash. It was a confluence of bad decisions, inaction, greed, and terrible timing all coming together to create the great economic crisis of our times. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Galbraith, James K. The Great Crash 1929 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 2009
2. Hall, Thomas E. and J. David Ferguson The Great Depression: An International Disaster of Perverse Economic Policies University of Michigan Press 1998
3. Miller, Nathan New World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America Da Capo Press 2003
4. Robert E. Gallman The Cambridge Economic History of the United States Volume III: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 2000
5. Whyte, Kenneth Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times Vintage Books 2017

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 120 - Roaring

The 1920s became a legendary time in America as the consumer economy took center stage, and a dizzying array of goods heralded a new era in how people lived their lives. What was less legendary about the era was the dependence of consumers on credit, and the short-sightedness of the country's elites. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Miller, Nathan New World Coming: The 1920s and the Making of Modern America Da Capo Press 2003
2. Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M The Age of Roosevelt: The Crisis of the Old Order 1919-1933 First Mariner Books 1957
3. Kyvig, David E Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940 Ivan R. Dee 2002
4. Engerman, Stanley L. and Robert E. Gallman The Cambridge Economic History of the United States Volume III: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 2000
5. Shlaes, Amity Coolidge Harper Collins 2013
6. Whyte, Kenneth Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times Vintage Books 2017

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com