ABSTRACT
By the mid-1920s, France seemed to have recovered from the most immediate effects of the war. The country was once again enjoying prosperity and economic growth. France not only shared in the general surge of prosperity in the western world from 1924 to 1929, but, according to many statistical measures, for the first time since the start of the industrial revolution, the country outpaced its rivals in terms of industrial growth. From 1922 to 1928, France enjoyed a positive trade balance with Germany, a rare phenomenon in the two countries’ relations. Through the 1920s, France’s colonial empire provided a profitable captive market that helped to promote the country’s prosperity. The modernization of some parts of the French economy was often seen as part of a phenomenon of “Americanization,” the penetration into France of production methods and values pioneered in the United States.
