Great Depression

What caused the Great depression and what were its effects?

The Great Depression refers to the world economic crisis which lasted from 1929-33. The crisis started In USA but soon engulfed almost every country except Soviet Union.

REASONS

• Overproduction : The factories were overproducing through out the period which was much higher than the demand. This led them to realize that they need to reduce production. The reduced production led to throwing away workers from jobs
• Less wage : While the profits of industries increased, the wages did not increased in the same manner. This led to lesser consumption by the workers. This led to lesser demand and consequently firing of the workers. Thus a vicious circle started
•  Speculation : To augment their incomes a lot of people started investing in the stock markets. Great deal of speculation started where banks, people with all the savings started investing. But once the crash began, it engulfed everyone.
• Exports began to fall : The other countries imposed barriers on the American goods as America had itself imposed barriers on its goods.This further reduced the demands for the goods.

EFFECTS

• A lot of banks closed
• Industrial production fell and was reduced to half in 1933 of what it was in 1929.
• People lost their savings in the stock markets.
• Workers were laid off from the factories. Unemployment rose and reached 14 million.
• It also affected a lot of countries in Europe.Short term loans were cancelled.There were political effects as well and right wing governments came in power in many states like Germany and Italy. 

Industrial revolution

What was Luddism? What were there demands?

Luddites were 19th-century English textile workers (or self-employed weavers who feared the end of their trade) who protested against newly developed labor economizing technologies, primarily between 1811 and 1816.

The reasons why it began are:

•  Post Industrial Revolution in England, land became a necessity for establishing factories. This led to the Enclosure Movement where land from peasant class was taken and consolidated to establish factories. The people who were traditionally dependent on agriculture for their livelihood now began to seek work in industries. It also led to mass scale urbanization where there people lived in abject poverty and squalor. This led to dissatisfaction amongst the worker class 
• Industrial Revolution was based on the principle of enhancing productivity and the era led to invention of several machines such as introduction of machines in the cotton industry etc which threw several workers out of work. 
• These workers also did not enjoy basic rights such as right to vote, minimum wage, good working condition, safety at workplace which enhanced dissatisfaction amongst them. When they went to strike, force was used against them. This led to feelings of desperation amongst the workers and they started destroying powerlooms in Lancashire which they believed had affected their livelihood. There was also resistance to the introduction of machines in the woolen knitting industry, destruction of shearing frames by croppers etc. 

Luddism thus came into being. Luddism was not just a backward looking assault on machines. Its participants demanded

• a minimum wage,
• control over labour of women and children, 
• work for those who had lost their jobs because of machines, 
• right to form trade union so that they could legally present their demands. 

Historians today agree that Luddism was not just a movement against machines but was married to the larger goal of improvement in the lives of workers.

World History Japan

What were the changes introduced in Japan after the Second world war?

POLITICAL

• Japan was demilitarised and a new constitution introduced. This had Article 9, the so-called ‘no war clause’ that renounces the use of war as an instrument of state policy
• Political parties were revived and the first post-war elections held in 1946 where women voted for the first time.
• Ministers has to be member of the Diet

ECONOMIC

• Agrarian reforms were carried out by the Americans
• the re-establishment of trade unions and an attempt to dismantle the zaibatsu or large monopoly houses that dominated the Japanese economy were also carried out
• Japanese goods were allowed in the American markets on favorable terms and USA supplied new aid and equipment,

What led to the rapid recovery of Japan post War?

• American help was vital which favored the Japanese goods
• Korean war generated demands for arms and supplies and later the Vietnam war. American firms began to cooperate with the Japanese in the development of new industries.
• Profits from exports were ruthlessly ploughed back in to the industry.The wages were kept low which resulted in competitive goods.
• Stable governments were formed which resulted in rapid recovery.
•  the Japanese had a historic tradition of popular struggles and intellectual engagement with how to broaden political participation. The social cohesion of the pre-war years was strengthened, allowing for a close working of the government, bureaucracy and industry.