What was the Great Depression?

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That was a period of severe economic downturn and disruption which began in 1929 and lasted until 1939. It affected the entire world to one degree or another. Here in the United States economic production declined by almost 50% and unemployment rose to 30%. Between 1929 and 1932 the stock market lost 80% of its value. For many people it was a time of desperate poverty. Read "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck to get an idea of what it was like to be poor in those days. Michael Montagne

The U.S. began recovering from the Depression in the mid-1930s. The recovery moved by leaps and bounds when World War II broke out in Europe. We began making and selling war materials that helped create jobs.

I disagree that Germany was affected by our U.S. Depression. Germany had been crushed at the end of World War I, and the penalties imposed on the Germans by the nations of Europe and Asia were nearly impossible for the Germans to tolerate. They were forbidden to make war materials, and they were not allowed to possess any armaments for even self-defense. The lands they had over-run during the war were returned to the nations that had formerly owned them. Germany had been so absolutely crushed at war's end that the heart of the people was lost--beaten down. It did not take very much to convince the German people to begin re-arming themselves. That is the reason they accepted and listened to the militant ravings of Adolph Hitler. (If Germany had been a flourishing economy with strong leadership, Hitler would never have been allowed to approach a public microphone!) Germany had been humiliated and spit upon by all of Europe. They wanted revenge, and they had a lust for war!

Italy was in financial straits, having just defended themselves from the Germans. (I say, "just defended themselves" when the first World War ended in about 1918. But the war had been fought on the lands of Italy, France, Belgium, Poland, etc. Their economy had been devastated by that war, and farming the soil was still a way off.) The lands had been torn apart from war, and the people and the land had not recovered fully when the Fascist Mussolini began pushing for war. A rift developed between the Fascists and the Socialists, and the young men everywhere were planning war.

No, the Europeans were not affected by the Depression in the U.S. They were suffering from other problems of their own in Europe. The Germans began their aggression in Europe that was the prelude to World War II during the 1930s, slowly moving into attack position. Part of the preparation for war consisted of bombing Guernica in Spain--dropping bombs on completely unsuspecting and totally innocent civilians (testing their planes and bombs on people who could not retaliate). Picasso tried to show the world the horrors that were coming with his stark painting of the murders titled "The Scream". People everywhere ignored the horror and brutality of that bombing event. No, I disagree that anyone in Europe or Asia was affected by the American Depression. Cathy Williams [Minor edit: Picasso's historic painting is Guernica. The Scream is by Edvard Munch.] Spelvin

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1929 - 1933 Although it's argued that the depression only ended when the 2nd world war started.

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Again the question assumes that The Depression was an American experience, only, when in fact it was a WORLD WIDE economic situation.

Many countries were affected by the Depression, not just the USA.

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The Great Depression was a time in the 1920's and early 1930's that the Stock Market lost a lot of money. Consequently, most people lost their jobs and had difficulty paying their bills. Proverty was everywhere, I recall my dad working for $0.50 per day and was glad to receive that. It was a time when some people in the Stock Market lost everything and killed themselves. A lot of banks closed and they didn't have FDIC as they do now. If you had money in the bank and they closed you lost your money.

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As usual, the above answer forgets that this was a world wide problem, not just an American one.

The only people who made out OK in the depression were those who could grow their own food, and were mostly self-supporting, and they are called farmers.

The US mid-west had a number of years of drought with little rain fall, but in other parts of the world the harvests were better than usual. The most hard hit were those with out a marketable skill, or trade. That is why in 1941, after pearl harbour, so many young men joined the US military, for 3 meals a day, and a place to sleep at night. For many of them it was their FIRST paying job since they left school, as many as 10 years before.

Social up-heaval during the Depression was huge, with many cities being virtually run by criminal gangs, with corrupt city officials looking the other way, after accepting bribes, to do nothing. Wide open places like Chicago were full of poverty and right along side were those who were making millons thru crime and corruption.

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Many aspects of the depression - and it was global - were unusual. There had been depressions before, but generally they had not lasted that long. In the case of the Great Depression, it seemed by 1932 that the economies of most countries affected had regained equilibirium but at a much lower level than in 1928-29.

The political consequences in Europe were disastrous: one country after another turned into a dictatorship ... The best known example is of course Germany, but there were many others, too. Early in 1934 in France, Fascists tried to storm the National Assembly ... In 1935 the Left responded by forming the Popular Front, which meant co-operation between mainstream socialists and the Communists. Spain erupted into civil war, and France became a deeply divided country.

Germany and Britain pulled themsevles out of the depression by massive rearnmament. In 1938 average living standards in Britain were higher than in 1928, before the depression. However, this average conceals huge differences.

It's worth adding that in some countries the very low interest rates helped the economy to emerge from the depression. Unusually low interest rates made it possible for people in some occupations, such as primary school teaching, to build and buy their own houses.

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To say that Europe was not affected by the US depression is ridiculous. US loaned $10 billion to European allies during and after WW1 and loaned money to Germany after the War. This created the "money-go-round" as the money loaned to germany went to paying war reperations which were used to pay back US loans. When the Stock Exchange crashed, the Germans could not pay the reperations. This led to conflict in Europe e.g. France's occupation of the Ruhr etc. Also the massive unemployment led to the rise of facsism in Europe in particular the Nazi's who concentrated their political attacks at governemnts unable to stop the rampant unemployment. Also it was on similar grounds that Mussoulini rose to power, and the Italians did a lot worse to the Ethiopans that the Nazis did in Guernica.

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