Main article: International relations (1919–1939) By the middle of the decade, prosperity was widespread, with the second half of the decade known as the Roaring Twenties. Thus, when Germany could no longer afford war reparations to Britain, France and other former members of the Entente, the Americans came up with the Dawes Plan and Wall Street invested heavily in Germany, which repaid its reparations to nations that, in turn, used the dollars to pay off their war debts to Washington. The United States gained dominance in world finance. There were numerous new or restored countries in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, some small in size, such as Lithuania or Latvia, and some larger, such as Poland and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The period ended at the beginning of World War II.įollowing the Armistice of Compiègne on 11 November 1918 that ended World War I, the years 1918–1924 were marked by turmoil as the Russian Civil War continued to rage on, and Eastern Europe struggled to recover from the devastation of the First World War and the destabilising effects of not just the collapse of the Russian Empire, but the destruction of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, as well. The territorial ambitions of the Soviets, Japanese, Italians, and Germans led to the expansion of their domains. During the Great Depression, countries in Latin America nationalised many foreign companies, most of which were American, in a bid to strengthen their own economies. In the Middle East, both Egypt and Iraq gained independence. Ireland was partitioned between the independent Irish Free State and the British-controlled Northern Ireland after the Irish Civil War in which the Free State fought against "anti-treaty" Irish republicans, who opposed partition.
The Russian communists managed to regain control of the other East Slavic states, Central Asia and the Caucasus, forming the Soviet Union. The western parts of the Russian Empire, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland became independent nations in their own right, and Bessarabia (now Moldova and parts of Ukraine) chose to reunify with Romania. The Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and German Empires were dismantled, with the Ottoman territories and German colonies redistributed among the Allies, chiefly Britain and France. The empires of Britain, France and others faced challenges as imperialism was increasingly viewed negatively in Europe, and independence movements emerged in many colonies for example the south of Ireland became independent after much fighting. China was in the midst of half-a-century of instability and the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party. Politically, the era coincided with the rise of communism, starting in Russia with the October Revolution and Russian Civil War, at the end of World War I, and ended with the rise of fascism, particularly in Germany and in Italy. The indulgences of the era subsequently were followed by the Great Depression, an unprecedented worldwide economic downturn that severely damaged many of the world's largest economies. Automobiles, electric lighting, radio, and more became common among populations in the developed world. Petroleum-based energy production and associated mechanisation led to the prosperous Roaring Twenties, a time of both social mobility and economic mobility for the middle class. The interwar period was relatively short, yet featured many significant social, political, and economic changes throughout the world. In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War.
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