Pushed by industrialization and invention in the United States, Cars, increased from 500,000 to 7 million from 1914 to 1939. Gramophones and bicycles also spread throughout the continent. The peasant and small shop owning class throughout Europe suffered due to the importation of cheap grain and other foodstuffs and the rise of the larger store (as well as economic fluctuations). Although largely overlooked by the government in favor of the larger cities and big businesses, local businesses, shops and small manufacturing employed 4 million people in both Germany and France. Economic stagnation and high levels of unemployment threatened local businesses.

Figure 7: The Modern

Figure 9: A Modern Street Corner in Zurich

Peasants and the small shops owning class throughout Europe suffered due to the importation of cheap grain and other foodstuffs. Their economic situation was made even worse by the rise of the larger stores and unstable economic environment. Although largely overlooked by the government in favor of the larger cities and big businesses, local businesses, shops and small manufacturing employed 4 million people in both Germany and France. Economic stagnation and high levels of unemployment threatened local businesses. Cheaper imported products and large scale industry, praised during the industrial revolution and seen as a panacea up through the 1910s, were now seen as too much change too fast. The populace realized they were destroying the connections between master and worker, they thrifted small businesses, and threatened intraclass unity. Small farmers who thrived in the best of times were now chronically in debt, on the verge of starvation or otherwise struggling to survive. Between 1900 to 1939, a rapid shift continued away from the countryside. In 1900, over 60% of the population in Europe were peasants but by 1939, the number had reduced to less than 33%. This trend continued throughout the 19th Century.

The result was that support grew, especially from small businessmen, traders and farmers for more extremist political parties (much more so than the working class on the right). In Germany, this support accounted for about 45% of the Nazi representatives in 1933.

Antisemitism was another common theme and a result of the economic chaos. In Hungary, more than 3,000 Jews were killed in 1922 and Czechoslovakia also experienced anti-Jewish pogroms. Ukraine saw over one thousand anti-Jewish actions that resulted into the death of over 50,000 people. The Polish government passed a series of anti-Jewish laws in the 1930s. Hungary drastically reduced the number of Jewish students admitted to universities and further alienated the Jewish community be expelling any Jew who entered the country after 1914. Overall, antisemitism was increasingly linked to anti-communism, which made the feelings more acceptable and was connected to the rising nationalists of that era.

Figure 4: Germany at the End of the First World War, Including Scenes of the German Revolution, 1918-1919. The placard held by one of the marchers reads, ‘We shall fight against any illegal seizure of power by Right or by Left.’

Further radicalizing people was the hyperinflation that set in. It impoverished those with small savings accounts, especially those in the middle class. The poor continued to struggle to purchase food, but had little savings to lose; while the rich actually benefited by taking loans, knowing that they would pay back a far smaller sum. The only benefit realized by all the three groups was that German exports become cheaper and the German workers benefited; until inflation outpaced wage increases. For the middle-class, those with savings and the unemployed, a strong leader was the answer to these issues.

Figure 5: German Hyperinflation

Additionally, the system of repayment of war reparations in the early 1920s punished Germans and wrecked the German economy. Germany struggled with payments to France and the United Kingdom and had to borrow from the United States and pay back with high interest. A German default in 1923 led to the French occupation of the Ruhr industrial valley. Further inflaming tensions, France used French-African soldiers to lord of the Germans and to reverse the imperial hierarchies. . There were increased accusations of rape and brutality which led to the build-up of resentment towards France. These resentments served to mobilize the German population to rise up against such actions.

Figure 2: Europe in 1923

Throughout Europe, the poor, especially ex-soldiers or the families of the dead, struggled to survive. Huge numbers of Poles were starving, suffering from disease, or if they were lucky, receiving some minimal unemployment assistance. The handicap and wounded from the war, including those struggling with psychological issues-continued to suffer. The number of people who died in the war ranged from 10-16% of the total population. For the rest of the interwar period, Europeans struggled to make sense of the war and come to terms with its enormous psychological, physical and economic cost.