Black Thursday: The Great Depression of 1929 and the Collapse of the World Economy

In our previous posts, we examined how empires fell, how maps were redrawn at conference tables, and how new superpowers emerged in the Far East. Actually, I had briefly touched upon this dark era when writing about American Culture and Literature in my previous blogs, because this massive collapse in 1929 did bankrupt the economy, as well as it profoundly shaped the spirit and the literary works of the period. However, in this specific blog series, we will leave the literary analysis aside and focus entirely on the historical context.

The 1920s were a golden era for the United States, famously known as the “Roaring Twenties,” a time of jazz music, endless parties, and boundless consumerism. Everyone believed the stock market would go up forever, and people recklessly bought stocks with borrowed money. That is, until that dark day... October 24, 1929, went down in history as “Black Thursday.” In just a few hours, billions of dollars vanished into thin air, banks closed their doors, and the world plunged into an economic crisis of unprecedented scale: The Great Depression

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The roots of the 1929 crash actually lay in the massive destruction left by World War I and the distorted economic order established in its aftermath. Even the European countries that seemed to be the victors of the war were economically exhausted. For instance, Britain, “once the empire on which the sun never sets,” was struggling just to pay the interest on the loans it had taken from America during the war. With its exports melting away day by day, Britain was forced to borrow from the US once again just to survive.

However, the real tragedy was unfolding in defeated Germany. Unable to pay the massive war reparations demanded by the Allies, which the US expected to be repaid in turn, Germany resorted to printing unbacked money. The result was one of the most terrifying hyperinflations in history. The German Mark became so worthless that people started burning stacks of money in their stoves instead of wood just to keep warm.

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The Dawes Plan

Realizing that the total collapse of the European economy would jeopardize its own receivables, America stepped in and proposed the Dawes Plan in 1924. According to this plan, a perfect yet highly dangerous cycle was established: America would provide massive loans to Germany for its reconstruction; once its factories were running, Germany would pay its war reparations to Britain and France; and these countries, in turn, would use that money to pay off their war debts to America.

The system worked wonderfully, but it had a fatal flaw: The entire world’s economy was now dependent on America keeping the financial taps open. If America sneezed, the whole world would catch a cold.

German External Loan, issued 15 October 1924

Black Thursday and the Market Crash

Until the beginning of October 1929, the New York Stock Exchange was living a dream, bringing unprecedented profits to its investors. However, on October 3, 1929, partly due to the reflection of the fragile economic issues America had with Germany and Britain, the stock prices of some giant holding companies, once seen as unshakable pillars of trust, began an unexpected decline.

This minor tremor turned into an avalanche on October 21, when panicked foreign investors rapidly started selling off their shares. And when the calendar turned to Thursday, October 24, 1929, the dreaded moment arrived: On the day forever etched in history as “Black Thursday,” the stock market hit rock bottom. In just a matter of hours, billions of dollars were wiped out, and the life savings of thousands of people turned into absolute nothingness.

As cash literally evaporated from the market, the economy came to a standstill, and people became unable to meet even their most basic food needs. Facing starvation, thousands tried to survive by growing and selling fruits and vegetables in their own yards. The desperation caused by the absence of cash reverted the system centuries back; people resorted to a barter (exchange) economy just to survive. The devastating impacts of the Great Depression brought nations to the brink of bankruptcy and dragged humanity into the darkest depths of poverty, which would persist until the outbreak of World War II triggered a new era of industrial and military mass production.

Crowd gathering on Wall Street after the 1929 crash

Roosevelt and the “New Deal” Era

In the darkest days of the crisis, a political earthquake occurred in America in 1933. Franklin D. Roosevelt came to power promising radical changes to this collapsed economic system and a new pledge, launching his massive project known in history as the “New Deal.” Roosevelt's plan meant breaking a huge taboo for American capitalism. The traditional “laissez-faire” (let them do it) free-market mind-set was set aside, and for the first time, the state intervened in the economy so comprehensively and directly.

To rebuild the public's completely shattered trust, the first major surgery was performed on the banking system. The structure of the Central Bank (FED) was strengthened to regulate the system, and strict laws were passed to prevent banks from making speculative investments. They even introduced state insurance for bank deposits to secure people's money. Roosevelt's statist and interventionist "New Deal" not only saved America from the brink of collapse but also laid the foundations of the modern state concept in the lead-up to World War II. 

In our next post, we will focus on the dark shadows rising from this economic wreckage: The Establishment of Totalitarian Regimes in Europe. We will explore how Mussolini's Fascism in Italy, Hitler’s Nazism in Germany, and Franco’s rise in Spain dragged the world step-by-step toward a devastating second global war. See you then!

Science and Culture in the Shadow of Crises

The period between 1918 and 1939 was not merely a political transition phase where empires fell and fascist dictatorships rose. On the contrary, those same years witnessed a kind of “renaissance” where the human mind and creativity pushed their absolute limits, laying the very foundations of the modern world.

While new theories in physics were radically overturning our perception of the universe, radios were taking centre stage in living rooms, sound cinema was mesmerizing the masses, and modern art movements were unlocking the doors of our subconscious. Furthermore, giant leaps in medicine were creating miracles that would save millions of lives. But as the world outside was rapidly drifting toward a political catastrophe, what kind of future were scientists and artists building behind closed doors?

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It was an era where human intelligence pushed its absolute limits. Emerging from the destruction of war, the world was practically being rebuilt in laboratories and art studios.

Inventions Changing Daily Life and the Communication Revolution

During this period, technology created a revolution not only in factories but also in the homes of ordinary people:

Ø 1920: The first radio broadcast began in the USA, taking mass communication to a whole new dimension.

Ø 1923: Electric traffic lights, which changed the flow of streets, were developed, and the very first refrigerator was produced.

Ø 1924: A breakthrough in the food industry occurred with the beginning of frozen food production.

Ø 1925 - 1935: Electric audio recording devices were developed, followed by the invention of magnetic tape for audio recording by the German company AEG in 1935.

Ø 1926 - 1936: John Logie Baird successfully transmitted the first television image. Exactly ten years later, in 1936, the first TV broadcast was made in the UK.

Ø 1927: Cinema broke its silence, and the first sound motion picture hit the silver screen.

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Giant Leaps in Science, Space, and Medicine

News coming from laboratories was both extending lifespans and unlocking the secrets of the universe:

Ø Medical Miracles: The tuberculosis (TB) vaccine was developed in France in 1921. While Vitamin C was discovered in 1928, Alexander Fleming found penicillin in the exact same year, rewriting the history of medicine.

Ø The Golden Age of Physics: The secrets of the atom began to unfold with the discovery of the proton in 1919 and the neutron by James Chadwick in 1932. Albert Einstein, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922, laid the definitive foundations of modern physics.

Ø Military and Civil Technology: In 1926, American Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket, heralding the space age. The electron microscope was built in 1933. Radar, which would change the fate of aviation, was developed in 1935, and Russian engineer Igor Sikorsky built the first helicopter in 1939. The most chilling development was the discovery of nuclear fission (the splitting of the atom) in 1938.

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

New Horizons in Art, Architecture, and Literature

The chaotic mood the world was experiencing shaped art and literature:

Ø In architecture, the famous Bauhaus movement, which combined functionality and aesthetics, was born.

Ø Surrealism and Expressionism, art movements focusing on the human inner world and subconscious, emerged. The greatest genius of surrealism in painting, Salvador Dali, reflected the approaching footsteps of war on canvas with his masterpiece Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War).

Ø The literary world also mirrored the economic collapses of the era. John Steinbeck's unforgettable novel, The Grapes of Wrath, documented the socio-economic misery in the US following the Great Depression of 1929, securing its place in history as one of the most striking literary testimonies of the time.

In the next part of our series, we turn to the event that made the catastrophe inevitable: The Great Depression of 1929, the economic earthquake that shook the foundations of the global order and opened the door to the deadliest conflict in human history.

Japan's Meiji Restoration and the Birth of a Modern Empire

In our previous chapters, we examined how European powers redrew the maps of the Middle East and how the Soviet Union transformed Central Asia. Now, we turn our gaze to the Far East to an isolated island nation that defied the fate of colonization and instead became a formidable global power.

For over two centuries, Japan had locked its doors to the outside world. But in the late 19th century, the arrival of foreign warships forced a dramatic awakening. This sudden shock triggered the Meiji Restoration, one of the most astonishingly rapid modernizations in human history. How did a feudal society of samurai and shoguns transform into an industrialized, modern empire in just a few decades?

Portrait of Emperor Meiji in 1880

The year 1867 marked the beginning of a special 45-year reign under Emperor Mutsuhito, known in history as the Meiji Period. Unlike his isolationist predecessors (the Shoguns), the young emperor realized a harsh truth. He understood that if Japan did not open its doors to the West and implement radical reforms, it would inevitably become a colony of imperialist powers, just like many other Asian nations.

Rejecting this dark fate, Emperor Mutsuhito initiated a massive and unprecedented transformation to modernize his country. The term “Meiji,” which translates to “Enlightened Rule,” became the ultimate symbol of how an isolated island nation rapidly evolved into a formidable global power.

Emperor Meiji travels from Kyoto to Tokyo, late 1868.

The Charter Oath and the Collapse of the Traditional Order

Lasting from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912, this era saw Japan rapidly modernize and rise to a powerful status on the world stage. Radical changes were announced by issuing the historic “Charter Oath” (Five-Article Oath) in 1868, a declaration that would alter the destiny of the nation forever.

With this oath, the entire structure of the state was redesigned:

• The centuries-old feudal land system (the Shogunate domains) was completely abolished.
• A new, modern national school system modelled after Western standards was established.
• A Western-style cabinet system was adopted in the government.
• Taking a massive step towards the rule of law, the Meiji Constitution was enacted, and a national parliament was created.

A Japanese print depicting the arrival of Perry's fleet (1854)

Samurai Resistance

However, such a massive and radical westernization process was not painless. These reforms were initially met with fierce anger and armed rebellion from segments of the public and, most notably, the Samurai, the traditional aristocratic warrior class, who had stood at the top of society for centuries. Stripped of their stipends and their exclusive right to carry swords, the Samurai revolted to protect their ancient traditions. Despite this fierce resistance, the Meiji government maintained a decisive, uncompromising stance. Facing a newly formed, modern-equipped conscript army, the traditional resistance was crushed, and the reforms were successfully implemented.

The Meiji Restoration was literally a total mobilization for national development. The incredible speed and scale of this miraculous transformation can be best understood through these concrete steps:

Industrial and Infrastructure Revolution: While the construction of the first railway began in 1870, this network was built at an astonishing pace, reaching thousands of kilometres in length by 1890. Furthermore, in the critical 30-year period between 1868 and 1898, exactly 2,190 new factories were established, turning the country into an industrial giant.

Administrative and Political Transformation: In 1871, the feudal domain system ruled by the Daimyo was officially abolished, and the country was reorganized in a modern administrative manner. In 1889, a new constitution was proclaimed, carefully modelled after the German state structure and the French legal system. During this process, a national parliament (Diet), political parties, and an advisory council were created.

Education and Society: The strict, centuries-old "caste" (class) system was abolished to ensure social equality. Major reforms were carried out in the land and tax systems, and the country's first daily newspaper was published in 1871. As one of the most critical steps, a law passed in 1872 made primary education compulsory for all children.

A Modern Military: The swords of the Samurai were replaced by modern weaponry. With the conscription law passed in 1873, a professional national army was established up to Western military standards.

Allegory of the New fighting the Old, in early Japan Meiji, around 1870

Culture, Religion, and a New Capital

While Japan absorbed Western technology, it took strict measures to preserve its soul. Shintoism, the ancient and national faith of the Japanese, was promoted as the state religion, while foreign-influenced Buddhism was actively suppressed. The heart of the country, along with the imperial palace, was moved from Kyoto to its new home, Tokyo.

Daily life also experienced a massive transformation. The traditional calendar was abandoned in favour of the Gregorian calendar, and the dress code for government officials was completely redesigned according to Western styles. To support the booming economy, a modern banking system, mirroring those in Europe, was rapidly developed.

The Tokyo Koishikawa Arsenal was established in 1871.

The New Superpower of the Far East

Having modernized its conscript army, Japan sent its officers to Western military and naval academies for elite training. However, this rapid industrialization brought a massive crisis: Japan was an island nation, severely lacking in raw materials. To feed its factories and sustain its growth, it had to adopt an expansionist (imperialist) policy towards the Asian mainland.

·      Setting its sights on Chinese-ruled Korea, Japan achieved a decisive victory in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). However, under heavy political pressure from Western powers and Russia, Japan was forced to return some of the territories it had won. This diplomatic humiliation sparked deep outrage in Japan.

The time for reckoning came soon enough. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) ended with a result that shocked the entire world. The modern Japanese army and navy utterly decimated the Russian Empire, a massive European power. Following this monumental victory, Japan officially annexed Korea. It had emerged not just as an Asian power, but as a new, terrifying global superpower.

In the next part of our series, we are going to search the “Great Depression of 1929” the economic collapse that shook the entire world to its foundations and changed the course of history forever.

World War I: How It Reshaped the Middle East

In our previous blog, we explored how the Soviet Union reshaped Central Asia with artificial borders and strict assimilation policies. However, they were not the only ones drawing lines on a map. At the exact same time, Western imperial powers were executing a similar “divide and rule” strategy in the Middle East.

Today, to understand the endless conflicts, border disputes, and political crises we see on the news every day, we must look back to the aftermath of World War I. The Middle East we know today was not formed by natural historical progression, but by the pens and rulers of European diplomats. 

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During the depressed days of World War I, Britain, France, and Tsarist Russia had already drawn the map of the Middle East behind closed doors. They divided the region among themselves through secret treaties (especially the Sykes-Picot Agreement). However, an unexpected storm broke out: Russia withdrew from the war due to the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The new Soviet government created a massive diplomatic crisis by exposing these secret imperialist plans to the whole world.

When US President Woodrow Wilson published his Fourteen Points (which explicitly opposed colonialism), the perfect plans of Britain and France took a heavy blow.

The San Remo Conference

However, these obstacles were not enough to stop the Western powers. The USA, disappointed by European politics, returned to its famous Monroe Doctrine (Policy of Isolation). This massive shift left the Middle Eastern stage entirely to Britain and France. Breathing a sigh of relief without the pressure of the USA, these two powers found a new disguise to achieve their goals: The Mandate System. Consequently, at the San Remo Conference in 1920, this new version of colonialism was formalized. They reached a strict consensus to officially divide the Middle Eastern territories under mandate regimes.

After the resolution on 25 April 1920, standing outside Villa Devachan, from left to right: Matsui, Lloyd George, Curzon, Berthelot, Millerand, Vittorio Scialoja, and Nitti. Enhanced by AI

Middle East Map

According to the official excuse of the League of Nations, some regions were not yet capable of “governing themselves” or “protecting their lands from attacks.” Therefore, it was argued that these nations should be managed by a “developed” state until they reached a certain level of maturity.

By the early 1920s, the Middle East was divided between two major imperial powers:

• France: Took Syria and Lebanon under its mandate. It also strengthened its control over Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa.
• Britain: To protect its trade routes to India and secure oil fields, it brought Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, and Kuwait into its mandate system. It also took strategic points in the Arabian Peninsula under its protection.

It was an announcement that the future of millions of people would be decided by others.

Emir Faisal's party at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919; left to right: Rustum Haidar, Nuri al-Said, Prince Faisal (front), Captain Pisani (rear), Lawrence, Faisal's servant (name unknown), Captain Hassan Khadri

Empty Promises and the Spark of Resistance in Egypt

While Britain and France were dividing the Middle East on paper, they needed to soften the inevitable anger of the local people. To do this, they issued a joint declaration on November 7, 1918, promising Arab nations the right to “establish their own democratic governments.” However, it soon became clear that these promises were nothing more than a stalling tactic.

The first major crack in this colonial system appeared in Egypt. Britain's attempt to establish total dominance clashed heavily with Egyptian nationalists. The Wafd Party, founded by Saad Zaghloul in early 1919, led a massive resistance movement, organizing strikes and protests throughout the country. Britain tried to extinguish this fire by exiling Zaghloul and other leaders, but this move backfired and only fueled the public's anger.

Stepping Back: The Winds of Independence

Faced with a growing and unstoppable crisis, Britain was forced to declare Egypt's independence with a declaration on February 28, 1922. The ruler of the time, Khedive Fuad I, accepted this declaration and took the title of King (Melik). At the end of this long struggle, Egypt completely abolished capitulations in 1937 and became a member of the League of Nations.

It wasn't just Britain; France also had to bow to the resistance in the region. Due to increasing nationalist pressures, France was forced to sign treaties paving the way for independence for Syria in 1930 and Lebanon in 1936.

The Middle East we know today was manufactured in European conference rooms. Sykes-Picot, San Remo different names for the same ambition. However, the wounds never healed. In our next post, we turn eastward to Japan, and the Meiji Restoration.

The Basmachi Movement: Against the Soviet Empire (Part II)

In the first part of this series, we explored the collapse of Tsarist Russia, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the birth of the Soviet Union. If you haven't read it yet, you can find the following: The October Revolution:Bolsheviks (Part I)

Stalin’s most controversial and devastating move was the Collectivisation Policy, the forced seizure of peasants’ private lands and their compulsion to work on massive state-controlled farms known as Kolkhozy. This provoked enormous outrage and resistance among a population unwilling to surrender the land they had worked for generations.

The result was an unmitigated disaster. As peasants boycotted production, agricultural output collapsed, leaving millions face to face with the threat of starvation. Yet Stalin's eyes were blind to this human cost. He redirected the resources forcibly extracted from agriculture into heavy industry and military technology. Though this ruthless policy transformed the USSR into a great industrial and technological power in a remarkably short time, it left behind a vast humanitarian crisis and a trail of suffering that refused to be silenced.

Negotiations with Basmachi, Fergana, 1921

Red Imperialism: The Soviet Policy Toward Central Asia and Turkestan

The Soviet Union had come to power championing “the brotherhood of peoples” and equality at least on paper. Yet when the Red Army’s dominance reached Central Asia, known by its ancient name Turkestan, this romantic rhetoric gave way to a ruthless project of cultural and ideological transformation. Moscow’s fundamental objective was clear: to make the state’s iron authority felt throughout the region and to integrate this land, which had lived independently for centuries, into the Soviet system. To achieve this absolute dominance, the Soviets first pursued policies that would render the region entirely dependent on Moscow economically. But the most devastating blow was struck against geography and identity.

Turkestan, a land that had shared a common culture, language, and history for centuries, was deliberately carved into artificial fragments through borders drawn at a desk, under the Soviet framework of nationalities. The aim was to prevent the awakening of a shared “Turkestan” or “Greater Turkic” consciousness.

To isolate the region from the broader Turkic and Muslim world, the Moscow leadership resorted to the following merciless methods of assimilation:

• The Erasure of Cultural Memory: All traces of Central Asian Turkic culture and deep-rooted history were systematically targeted for elimination. By severing ties with the past, the Soviets sought to manufacture the profile of a “New Soviet Man.”
• The Massacre of the Intellectuals: Writers, poets, and intellectuals deemed capable of awakening national consciousness were arrested, sent into exile, or executed. Freedom of thought and expression was utterly destroyed.
• The Alphabet Game (Divide and Rule): In a cunning move to prevent Turkic peoples from communicating in writing, building a shared literary language, or developing a common press, each group, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and others, was forced to adopt alphabets containing different characters, severing the linguistic bond between them.
• The Suppression of Faith: Islamic cultural institutions and places of worship were targeted to break the spiritual and social fabric of the region. Religious education was banned, and mosques and historic madrasas were closed or repurposed beyond recognition.

These crushing policies of assimilation and identity erasure would not go unanswered. Rather than submit, the people of Turkestan were about to take to the mountains and launch one of the crucial resistances in history.

The Leader of Rebellion, Enver Pasha

National Awakening

The flame of freedom in Turkestan had not been lit by the Soviets; it had been burning long before, kindled against the oppressive rule of Tsarist Russia. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Tsarist policies of assimilation and exploitation set the Turkic peoples in motion, just as they had so many other nations within the empire.

The revolution that erupted in 1905 was not fought by warriors alone; intellectuals who fought with their pens played an equally decisive role. Under the leadership of İsmail Gaspıralı and Yusuf Akçura, a great cultural and political awakening began.

• The First Steps onto the Political Stage: On August 15, 1905, the unofficial “First Congress of Russian Muslims” convened. The Muslim Union Party (İttifak-ı Müslimin), founded as a result of these efforts, succeeded in sending representatives to the Russian parliament, the Duma, making the Turkic voice heard from an official platform for the very first time.
• The Search for International Recognition: As Tsarist pressure intensified once more, the Turkic peoples established the “Society for the Protection of the Rights of Muslim Turkic Peoples of Russia,” seeking to bring their just cause and the oppression they suffered to the attention of the international arena.

The 1916 Rebellion

The peaceful demands of the Turkic peoples, for their political and cultural rights, for the right to live as equal citizens, were met with a harsh refusal by the Tsarist regime. In 1916, the Turkestan National Independence Uprising broke out in response to mounting exploitation and forced conscription. As events unfolded rapidly, the Turkic peoples, now strengthening their political organization, convened the First All-Russia Muslims’ Congress in Moscow between May 1–11, 1917, resolving to act in unity.

Enver Pasha and Mustafa Kemal (the founder of Modern Türkiye). Enhanced by AI

Bloody Clashes with the Red Army and the Arrival of Enver Pasha

By 1919, ferociously bloody clashes were erupting between the Basmachi and the Red Army. Leveraging its superior firepower, the Red Army succeeded in occupying the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara in 1920. Yet the resistance refused to die.

The movement entered an entirely new and far more intense phase when Enver Pasha, the former Ottoman Minister of War, arrived in Turkestan on November 8, 1921, and assumed command of the resistance. Through his military genius and organizational mastery, the Russians began suffering devastating losses. Soviets were compelled to sue for peace on April 19, 1922. Enver Pasha, whose ultimate goal was nothing less than full independence, refused the offer outright.

The Basmachi Movement suffered a crushing blow in August 1922 when Enver Pasha fell as a martyr on the battlefield. Though resistance continued in scattered pockets, the Soviets, with ever-increasing military reinforcements, finally succeeded in suppressing the movement decisively by 1935. The final stage of the assimilation policy was then set in motion: on December 5, 1936, Western Turkestan was completely dismembered and divided into artificial republics under the USSR, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.

Flag of Basmachi Movement

Why Did the Basmachi Movement Fail to Achieve Victory?

• Lack of Leadership and Unity: The Turkestani resistance leaders, known as “Korbashi,” were unable to forge a unified military force or establish a single central authority among themselves.
• A Devastating Technological Gap: While the fighters often lacked even a functioning machine gun, the Russians deployed tanks, warplanes, heavy artillery, and even poison gas, the most merciless weapons of mass destruction of the era, to crush the resistance.
• The Absence of External Support: Completely isolated from the outside world, the Basmachi fought virtually alone, without a single drop of military, logistical, or political aid from beyond their borders.

Note: One of the most significant figures of this national awakening was the renowned historian and statesman Ord. Prof. Dr. Zeki Velidi Togan, who led the Bashkir movement before arriving in Turkey in 1939 at the invitation of the then-Minister of National Education. There, he founded the Chair of General Turkish History at İstanbul University, leaving the history of this vast geography to us as an enduring academic legacy.

The very same “divide and rule” strategy the Soviets applied in Central Asia for their own interests was, at that same moment, being engineered far more ruthlessly by Western imperialists in another corner of the world.

With that, in the next part of our series, we turn our gaze southward: MandateRegimes in the Middle East.

We will trace the roots of those bloody conflicts still playing out on our television screens today, exploring how the maps of Iraq, Syria, and Palestine were drawn behind closed doors, through secret agreements, at a table far from the lands themselves.

History continues to shape the present.

See you in the next part!