A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

Economic and Social Instability 977

had secretly agreed, in return for loans, to grant Japan a full concession to
build railways in the northeast province of Shandong (Shantung). When
the Allies publicly agreed to Japanese claims, demonstrations and riots
erupted in China. The May 4 (1919) movement in China, named for the
day of the first major demonstrations in Beijing against the Treaty of Ver­
sailles, accentuated the development of Chinese nationalism and resent­
ment against foreign domination.
The United States, eager to protect its interests in Asia and wary of the
alliance between Japan and Britain, which was determined to maintain its
empire, agreed to join the Washington treaties of 1921-1922. These called
for “consultations” between the three powers, as well as France, when
events in Asia required them. A subsequent Nine-Power Treaty that included
Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Italy, as well as China, guaranteed
Chinas independence and territorial integrity.

Economic and Social Instability

Because of the relief and—for the victors—exhilaration with which many

Europeans greeted the end of the Great War, the 1920s has often been

described as “the roaring twenties.” Europeans thrilled to quests for record

speeds or landmark travel by air and automobile. They gathered around

radios, lined up to attend movies, dressed in more casual clothing styles than

ever before, crowded into cabarets and clubs, and danced late into the night.

However, the two decades following the Great War were above all marked

by tremendous economic and social instability. The continent was wracked

by inflation and unemployment, factors that exacerbated international ten­

sions and rivalries and poisoned domestic political life—particularly in Ger­

many, but also in a number of other states reeling from the impact of the

war. In Western Europe, after the long, bloody war finally ended and with

the Russian Revolution fresh in mind, workers (and some women’s groups as

well) put forward demands for better living conditions. At the same time,

economic and social elites were determined to overcome the challenge to

their power launched by organized labor and the political parties of the left.

But one of the results of the long ordeal of a war that had necessitated the

mobilization of virtually all of the economic resources of the combatant pow­

ers was a growing determination among the parties of the political left that

states ought to increase the services they provided their citizens. The origins

of the welfare state may in part be traced to the immediate post-war period.

Social Turmoil

The staggering economic disruption caused by the war contributed to the

international disorder that ensued at its end. Soaring inflation and unem­

ployment destabilized European political life. The conflict cost more than