Paris between the Wars (1919-1939)

After the end of the First World War in November 1918, there was jubilation and profound relief in Paris, but soon unemployment surged, prices, soared, and rationing continued; Parisian households were limited to 300 grams of bread per day, and meat only four days a week. A general strike paralyzed the city in July 1919. The old fortifications surrounding the city were useless, and were torn down in the 1920s. They were replaced by tens of thousands of low-cost, seven-story public housing units, that were filled by low-income blue-collar workers. Paris struggled to regain its old prosperity and gaiety.

The French economy boomed from 1921 until the Great Depression reached Paris in 1931. This period, called Les années folles or the "Crazy Years", saw Paris reestablished as a capital of art, music, literature and cinema. The artistic ferment and low prices attracted writers and artists from around the world, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and Josephine Baker.

Between 1919 and 1939, Paris hosted the 1924 Olympic Games, major international expositions in 1925 and 1937, and the Colonial Exposition of 1931, all of which left a mark on Paris architecture and culture.

The worldwide Great Depression hit home in 1931 bringing hardships and a more somber mood. The population declined slightly from its all-time peak of 2.9 million in 1921 to 2.8 million in 1936. The arrondissements in the center lost as much as twenty percent of their population, while the outer neighborhoods, gained ten percent. The low birth rate of Parisians was compensated by a new wave of immigration from Russia, Poland, Germany, eastern and central Europe, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Political tensions mounted in Paris with strikes, demonstrations and confrontations between the Communists and Front populaire on the extreme left and the Action Française on the extreme right.

1919 in Paris was a time of celebration and optimism. An enormous military parade was held on July 14, 1919 from porte Maillot to Place de la Republique to celebrate the victory in the Great War. World leaders, including President Woodrow Wilson, arrived in Paris to join the celebrations and negotiate the terms of the new peace and a new map of Europe. Wilson was the first American President to visit Paris while in office; he remained in Paris from December 1918, returned to the States for three weeks, then came back to Paris and stayed until June 1919, when the Treaty of Versailes was finished.

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