Unit 13

• The Great Depression was caused by a dramatic fall in share prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929, leading to the collapse of thousands of American businesses
• The effects of the Great Depression were felt worldwide, with banks trying to collect back huge loans made to overseas industries, the US Government imposing higher tariffs on foreign imports, and businesses shutting down or sacking workers due to a fall in demand
• The Wall Street Crash was caused by over-valuation of companies by the stock market, leading to a sharp decline in stock prices in October 1929 and financial ruin for millions of people
• The impact of the Great Depression included businesses being unable to borrow money, people having less to spend, banks going bankrupt, factories shutting down, mass unemployment, and widespread poverty and homelessness
• During the Great Depression, President Hoover and the Republican Party in Government initially did not spend public money on creating new jobs, leading to public discontent and the eventual election of Franklin Roosevelt, who implemented the New Deal to revive the economy
• The Great Depression led to a sharp rise in unemployment in American and Western Europe due to economic downturns, which resulted in businesses closing and laying off workers
• Multicellular organisms require specialised exchange surfaces for efficient gas exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen due to their larger distance for substances to enter cells
• Mussolini became dictator in 1922 when he organized the 'March on Rome' and persuaded the King to appoint him as Prime Minister
• Mussolini's unexpected rise to power was due to Italy's weak coalition governments
• The basic idea of Fascism was that the government should control the whole of a person's life
• Once in power, the Fascists killed democracy in Italy by abolishing the Italian Parliament and replacing it with the Fascist Grand Council, and forcing all workers and professional people to join corporations instead of free trade unions
• The strongest opponents of the Fascist regime were Socialists and Communists
• The Fascists dealt with their opponents by imprisoning or forcing them to flee the country
• Mussolini acquired international recognition as a skilful diplomat and statesman through the Lateran Treaty he signed with Pope Pius XI in 1929 and his involvement in the Berlin-Rome Axis with Hitler in 1936
• Mussolini's regime did not achieve Italy joining the League of Nations and reducing the power and influence of the Sicilian Mafia
• Mussolini's involvement in foreign policy included:

  • Abyssinia: Mussolini ordered the invasion of Abyssinia in 1935
  • The Berlin-Rome Axis: Mussolini met Hitler in 1936 and signed a treaty for cooperation
  • The Spanish Civil War: Mussolini and Hitler supported General Franco in the Spanish Civil War, helping him become the Fascist dictator in Spain
• Mussolini's fall from power in September 1943 changed Italy's involvement in World War II by leading to the country switching sides from the Axis to the Allies
• Mussolini's political career came to a tragic end in April 1945 when he was captured and executed by Italian partisans
• Mussolini's political career came to a tragic end in April 1945
• In the case of single-celled organisms, substances can easily enter the cell due to a short distance, while in multicellular organisms, a larger distance is present due to a higher surface area to volume ratio
• Multicellular organisms require specialised exchange surfaces for efficient gas exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen
• Hitler's rise to power in Germany involved stages such as the Munich Putsch, writing Mein Kampf, organizing the Nazi Party, becoming Chancellor, the Reichstag burning, passing the Enabling Law, the Knight of the Long Knives, and finally becoming Führer
• The Nazis, like the Italian Fascists, had their private army, the SA (Brownshirts), which played a significant role in their rise to power
• Hitler's control in Germany included Nazism in theory and practice, the Nazi system of control involving censorship, the SS and Gestapo, and concentration camps, as well as support through rallies, youth movements, and propaganda
• Hitler's achievements before 1939 included reducing unemployment through directing Germans into specific jobs, undertaking government building schemes, creating a National Labour Service, conscripting men into the armed forces, improving agriculture, expanding industry, and producing weapons and armaments
• Hitler's foreign policy aimed to undo the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, leading to actions like occupying the Rhineland, the Anschluss with Austria, the Sudetenland crisis, the Polish Corridor issue, and signing the German-Soviet Pact
• Hitler's foreign policy steps included occupying the Rhineland, annexing Austria, supporting the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia, and invading Poland, leading to the outbreak of World War II
• Poland was the next victim of Hitler's aggression
• Britain and France declared they would protect Poland if attacked
• German forces invaded Poland on 1 Sep. 1939
• The British and French Governments demanded the withdrawal of German forces
• When the demand was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II
• A few days before the invasion of Poland, Germany and Russia signed a Non-Aggression Pact
• The Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and Russia promised not to fight each other and agreed to divide Poland between them at a future date