The final days of the 1920s marked the beginning of what would be the worst economic disaster ever seen. The effect that the Great Depression had on capitalist countries such as Germany and the United States was that their stocks and shares plunged, leaving businesses unable to trade and poverty throughout the country. In the case of France, the depression did not initially lead to a sharp decline in the economy as it did for more industrialized countries. Although relatively unscathed at first, by 1931 the ripple effect had hit France, resulting in the economic downturn of the French economy. As France followed the gold standard, the economic downturn lasted much longer than other affected countries. The lack of international trade between nations caused by protectionism affected the revenue the French economy needed to fully recover from the end of World War I and during the Great Depression. The end product of the Treaty of Versailles was that Germany was primarily responsible for the destruction of the war and was forced to pay reparations from which France benefited financially. In 1932, Germany was again unable to pay these reparations and reduced payments from thirty-eight million marks to three million marks (Bury, 1969, p. 271). Furthermore, the effects of extreme German influences on socialism and communism led France to believe that "the problem of disarmament was going to be even more difficult" at a time when France was truly grappling with economic crisis (Bury, 1969, p. 272). . Following the boom in global economies following the First World War, France experienced an increase in the value of the franc with an increase in GDP...... middle of paper ......es of economic crisis, but being the least industrialized country, it experienced a much longer period of depression than Germany and the United States. The problem of protectionism across the world during the Great Depression led France to use its own resources for itself, which effectively left a revenue gap, previously filled by exporting products.BibliographyBury, J ( 1969). France 1814-1940. London: Methuen & Co LTD. Jackson, J (1988). The Popular Front in France. Cambridge: University of CambridgeJames, H (2003). Europe reborn a story, 1914-2000. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. McMillian, J (2003). Modern France. Oxford: Oxford University Press Tint, H (1970). France since 1918. London: BTBatsford Ltd. Journals-Beaudry, P. (2002). The French depression of the 1930s. Review of economic dynamics. 5 (1), 73-99.