ABSTRACT
Between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II, Europeans made futile efforts to recapture the prosperity and optimism of the pre-1914 era. Americans, meanwhile, concluded that their participation in the First World War had been a mistake, and they attempted to avoid involvement in any future European conflicts. The Great Depression began in the United States with Black Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Governments could have tried to spend their way out of the crisis, but the fear of inflation made this seem too risky. Instead, many national governments responded to the Great Depression by instituting tariffs—that is, special taxes on imported goods. Throughout the interwar period, the British struggled vainly to recapture their financial preeminence. During the interwar years, while the Royal Navy still commanded the seas, the British Empire began to decline.
