Synopsis of Commanding HeightsDuring World War I, major economic theories were unearthed by two friends but intellectual rivals and are still used today. John Maynard Keynes believed that during difficult economic times, market economies would become excessive and the market would not function. This is where the government should intervene. Freidrich von Hayek believed that Keynes' idea of ​​government intervention was a threat to freedom and that the market would eventually balance itself. Keynes' theory held sway for decades until the end of World War I, when the world market disappeared until about eighty years later. When the war ended, people realized how fragile governments and economies were and they were looking for something different; something more stable. The Russian revolution led by Lenin was inspired by Richard Marx's theory that a state-controlled economy would break capitalism and prevail. They banned trade, commerce and private property. They also set wages and prices. But it would soon prove to be a disaster predicted by Ludwig von Mises. He said that a price system is not intended to send signals to consumers and producers about the value of a product, and that this is the heart of what makes an economy work. works. Lenin saw the disaster happening, changed his mind, and tried to change his policies, but was refused and ridiculed on the grounds that it was a betrayal of capitalism. When he died a year later, his successor, Joseph Stalin, took over the Communist Party and socialism. He implemented central planning where the government controlled all aspects of the economy. During the Roaring Twenties, Germany and Austria were forced to pay war reparations. The result was hyperin...... middle of paper ...... helped boost the economy (Amadeo). Conclusion This video series is one of the most informative and well-written series I have seen. This really makes the history of our economy very easy to understand and I feel that I understand the theorist's mindset when he was proposing the ideas of economics. It also makes it easy to connect past economic issues to our current times. Then, looking from the past to the present, you really see the business cycles and how the theories presented emerge from those cycles. Works Cited Amadeo, K. (2013, September 10). What was the recovery plan? About.com American Economy. Accessed November 25, 2013, from http://useconomy.about.com/od/candidatesandtheeconomy/a/Obama_Stimulus.htmCommanding Heights. (nd). PBS. Retrieved November 25, 2013 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/index.html