OPPapers.com

Great Depression

The Great Depression was an economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. The Great Depression began in the United States but quickly turned into a worldwide economic slump owing to the special and intimate relationships that had been forged between the United States and European economies after World War I. The Depression hit hardest those nations that were most deeply indebted to the United States, Germany and Great Britain. Many of these countries unemployment rate rose dramatically.
In October 1929, the stock market in the United States dropped rapidly, Black Tuesday. Thousands of investors lost large sums of money and many were wiped out, lost everything. The crash led us into the Great Depression. The ensuing period ranked as the longest and worst period of high unemployment and low business activity in modern times. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of Americans jobless, homeless, and penniless. Many people came to depend on the government or charity to provide them with food. This lead to urban sprawls, where people spread to different cities to look for jobs. One major down fall to the depression was people started to buy on margin. That is when you buy stock by paying only portion of the full cost up-front with promises to pay the rest later.
The Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted about a decade. Its primary area of impact was on the southern Plains. The northern Plains were not so badly effected, but nonetheless, the drought, windblown dust and agricultural decline were no strangers to the north. In fact the agricultural devastation helped to lengthen the Depression whose effects were felt worldwide. The soil was now very brittle and dry in the framing lands. The grass and crops once held the soil into place but since they had a drought the soil...