Today we began with a review and evaluation of Anna's HW assessment on the Meiji Restoration in 19th century Japan. We then resumed our study of WWI. Last class, we reviewed the causes of WWI, new weapons of warfare and the Armenian Genocide. Anna was asked many review prompts and questions about these topics. We then noted Russia's withdrawal from WWI before the war's conclusion. (This was due to the Russian Revolution.) The U.S. enters WWI in 1917. We reviewed the effects of WWI, including, but not at all limited to: 1. widespread destruction of Europe - especially France, 2) Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. 3) New countries and borders that change the maps of Europe and other parts of the world. 4) The 1919 Treaty of Versailles: establishes conditions that will lead to WWII in another 20 years, Germany loses its colonies and 15% of its European territory, Germany is forced to pay reparations to the Allies, Germany's military is greatly minimized and restricted, Germany had to assume full responsibility for WWI, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire produces a new map of the Middle East with British and French mandates. There is an intensified struggle for Indian independence. The U.S. emerges as the world's dominant and most powerful country following WWI. We then turned our focus to the Great Depression between the wars. Issues covered: the stock market crash on Oct. 24, 1929... the collapse of the American economy and unprecedented unemployment rates which soared above 30% by 1932. We touched upon general reasons for the stock market crash: supply exceeded demands for goods in 1920s America. Post-WWI enforced German reparations placed financial strains on many countries - including the US. We discussed speculation in the stock market and buying stocks on margin. We will pick up with the Great Depression in our next class on Wednesday, 4/22/20.