THE GREAT WAR AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION: THE LOST LINK
THE GREAT WAR AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION: THE LOST LINK

Summary/Abstract: The Great Depression of 1929-1933 determined, besides its economic effects, a number of political, social and collective thought changes. Hence, the economic crisis issue is of great importance because a better understanding of this phenomenon could lead to a more efficient management and control of it. The Great Depression occurred during a certain historical, political and economic context, which is the interwar period. However, in addition to the immediate causes of its manifestation, discussed by historiography, we can pull focus to one major and singular cause from which all the others could evolve, namely the First World War. The military conflagration brought about changes in economic thought such as economic nationalism and state intervention at the expense of the traditional liberal principles of laissez-faire and free trade, changes which continued to be obvious even after the war, all the way through the 1920s. In a European background still generally liberaldemocratic albeit in an evident fast decline, exacerbated statism and economic nationalism disrupted the proper functioning of the „free market” mechanisms – which acted as regulatory factor for the economic processes. Therefore, this paper explores the Great Depression’s causes, regarding them as a trend and consequence of the First World War.

• Details
• Contents