3-2-1

Three things that I learned during the study of this chapter were:
1) I learned about the meaningless yet intriguing art work of the Dada Movement.
2) I learned that Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921 due to his contributions to science like the Theory of Relativity.
3) Another thing I learned about this time period was that the reason the stock market was so prosperous before the crash was that people actually didn't have money invested into the stock. The money was all borrowed so the stock had no value.

Two things that I found interesting about this chapter were:
1) Mussolini marched on Rome with 30,000 fascists and gained power legally without a major uprising.
2)Another thing I found interesting was that Vice President Dawes won the Nobel Peace for his reports from Germany and the Dawes plan that gave money to Germany to pay war debts.

One question that I still have is; I wonder if countries like Italy and Germany no what they're getting themselves into when they allow dictators like Hitler and Mussolini come to power. They lead their countries into even worse economic times than where they started.

Spotlight on the Rise of Facism

After WWI most European nations were in very poor economic situations, but most of these countries that could not deal with this event through civilized Democratic means. For example Italy looked to Benito Mussolini for help when they came upon troubled economic times. Mussolini advocated an extreme form of Nationalism emphasizing loyalty to the state of Italy and obedience to its leader. Then in 1922 Mussolini marched on Rome with over 30,000 fascists and demanded control of the government and King Victor Emmanuel III consented. After gaining power Mussolini banned all political parties other than fascism, censored the radios and prohibited strikes. He also set his eyes on the African nation of Ethiopia to be part of a new "Roman Empire". Italy under the control of Mussolini would become a strong axis power and Germany's main ally during WWII.

Beck, , Black, Krieger, Naylor, and Shabaka. "Mussolini comes to Power in Italy." Modern World History. Boston: McDougal Littell, 2003. Print.

United States Events

After WWI America was one of the only countries to prosper. Advances in technology were made and automobile could be purchased at much lower cost. They were no longer owned exclusively by the rich, but now the middle class could take part in the luxuries offered by the automobile. Some of the benefits of owning a car was traveling, families could take trips and it also allowed them to live outside of cities and commute to work. Woman also changed dramatically and shifted away from traditional stereotypes. One of these changes was that women got jobs. During WWI many women went to work in factories to support soldiers, but after the war they continued to work. They also cut their hair short, began to wear makeup and wore looser clothing.

A connection across to the booming culture of the time is how much of a staple the car is in our daily lives. We use it for the exact same reasons and many more. Think of how different your life would be if you didn't have a car. Woman are not only workers in society, they also own companies and hold high political offices. The times were good, but they almost seemed to good to be true. Sad fact of the matter was that it was to be good to be true. Hard times were just around the corner.

One of the most devastating events in American History was the Stock Market Crash in 1929. The Stock market crash was also a leading cause of the The Great Depression, when one fourth of all Americans were unemployed. The Stock Market crash was mainly due to people buying stock on margin. The large amounts of Stock people owned were essentially worthless because they bought the stock on margin. So when people started to sell, it snowballed into everyone selling at once with no buyers. The crash effected everyone from the rich to the poor. The rich closed their businesses and the poor were left without jobs when the businesses closed.

A connection across time would the current recession we are in today. Our recession is not nearly as bad as the Great Depression, but many of the same things are reoccurring over 70 years later. Of course it was much more severe, but unemployment has recently increased and businesses are in tough financial situations. Business owners' solutions are to lay people off or close that position all together. These kind of events were also present during the Great Depression.

People in the News

Albert Einstein was one of the most well known and forward thinking scientists of all time. Something that he did to achieve this notoriety is his theory of relativity. This theory proposed that Space and time can change when measured relative to an object moving near the speed of light. This theory and the combined efforts of his other research earned Einstein the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html




Jack Dempsey, a boxer, was one of the first athletes to emerge as a sports superstar. Dempsey captured the world heavyweight championship in 1919 after defeating Jess Willard. Dempsey also starred in two boxing movies during his lifetime.

http://www.cmgww.com/sports/dempsey/facts.htm




Charles Dawes received much of his notoriety through the status of Vice President under Calvin Coolidge. However, he also traveled to Germany and received worldwide attention when he reported on their reparation plans. The Dawes plan was a loan from the United States to Germany so they could repay war debts. This money was not lost in Europe, but found its way back to America through industry and other country's purchasing American goods. This is just one of many of Dawes' contributions to society that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1925/dawes-bio.html

Art Work of Surrealism

This painting by Salvador Dali is a great example of a surrealist painting. This work, The Dream shows the time period well because non of the scenes painted are realistic. A fish is eating a one of two flying tigers and an elephant in the background has extremely long legs.

http://www.leninimports.com/salvador_dali_dream.html

Beck, , Black, Krieger, Naylor, and Shabaka. "Painters Break Away From Tradition." Modern World History. Boston: McDougal Littell, 2003. Print.

Art Work of the Dada Movement

One might ask, what is this a painting of? That is the point of the Dada Movement. This painting titled Celebus, by Max Ernst shows many odd things like what appears to be a large boiler, with legs and a hose being led by a headless person. More generally the painting shows nonsense objects which are absurd and meaningless.

http://www.students.sbc.edu/evans06/presentation.htm

Beck, , Black, Krieger, Naylor, and Shabaka. "Painters Break Away From Tradition." Modern World History. Boston: McDougal Littell, 2003. Print.

Art work of Cubism

This painting is a fine example of Pablo Picasso's use of Cubism. This painting, Harlequin, was actually auctioned off for about $30 million in November of 2008. This shows the popularity of Picasso's works and the fine artistry of this time period. Cubism was founded in 1907 in Spain by Picasso himself and was influenced by African art. Cubism uses sharp angles and edges, as you can see in this painting in parts of the man's nose, sleeve and hat.

http://www.wikio.com/article/72919497

Beck, , Black, Krieger, Naylor, and Shabaka. "Painters Break Away From Tradition." Modern World History. Boston: McDougal Littell, 2003. Print.

Art Work of Expressionism

This Painting, Visual Music, by Paul Klee is a great example of Expressionism. In Klee's painting we see him using a variety of colors using red but still using yellows, and then blues fading to blacks. The art of this time period broke away from traditional styles and instead of portraying realistic objects the artists used the themes of the imagination, which allowed the painting to be viewed differently from each person's point of view.


http://iris.meccahosting.com/~a0005789/gpage5.html


Beck, , Black, Krieger, Naylor, and Shabaka. "Painters Break Away From Tradition." Modern World History. Boston: McDougal Littell, 2003. Print.

Introduction to Chapter 15

In this blog, the prelude to WWII, I will discuss the causes of WWII and how this was brought upon by WWI. After WWI much of the world was left in ruins. Economy's were devastated, Governments were losing the trust of their people, and millions of civilians and soldiers were killed. It is times like these when cultures require change and governments demand reform. The changes may be for good or bad, but the effects of these changes will be felt for years to come. In this blog I hope to expand your cultural knowledge of the time period between the two World Wars and the reasons how and why some of the most powerful dictators of all time came to power.