not influence events in Paris. Soon the defeat of Commune was achieved by Thiers. Thereafter there was an orgy of violence. Anyone who had fought for the Commune was summarily shot.
Troops patrolled the streets picking up poorer people at will and condemning them death. It is estimated that between , and , were killed. Of the , communards (members of the commune) arrested, of them were sentenced to be deported and another , to imprisonment. Karl Marx had this to say on the Commune: “It represented the greatest challenge the new world of capital had yet faced and the greatest inspiration to the new class created by capital in opposition to it.” The Long Depression ( – ) The world witnessed an unprecedented economic boom during – .
The unification led to a phenomenal boom in Germany between and . During this period new companies were established. It was unparalleled in the history of Germany. The railway system almost doubled in size between and .
Tens of thousands of Germans invested in stock for the first time to demonstrate both their patriotism and their faith in the future of the new German Empire. After the end of Civil War, the United States too underwent an economic transformation, marked by the proliferation of big business houses, and the massive development of agriculture attended with the rise of national labour unions. The period from the 1870s to in the USA came to be called the Gilded Age. The rapid expansion of industrialisation led to a real wage growth of % between and .
The average annual wage per industrial worker (including men, women, Europe in Turmoil and children) rose from $ in to $ in . However, the Gilded Age was also an era of abject poverty and inequality, as millions of immigrants – many from impoverished regions – poured into the United States. The high concentration of wealth in a few hands was becoming more visible. Then came the Depression.
It was signalled by the