The Great Depression was the worldwide economic downturn from 1929 to 1939, starting in USA and spreading to Europe. The economic disaster led to people turning to extreme leaders, eventually resulting in Hitler taking power in Germany. Thus, we can argue that the Great Depression was the key factor behind WWII.
It started in USA, where the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, resulted in a domino effect throughout the world. Because of Black Tuesday, several investors were ruined due to their investments losing value drastically. Banks could not collect their debts and by 1933, 11 thousand of the 25 thousand banks in USA had collapsed. As the economy in USA worsened, consumers were spending less, to save up for the bad times. Production in industries were cut because of the reduced buying of goods. Consequently, people lost their jobs as companies reduced their production. By 1932, US manufacturing output fell to only 54% of the 1929 level, and unemployment rose to 25-30% of the workforce.
In Europe, Germany was hit the most badly. Because USA was facing great economic difficulties, they cut their loans to Germany. Germany, under the Weimar Republic, thus could not rebuild after WWI. With increasing unemployment and economic problems, the people turned to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis for extreme leadership as a solution.
In France, the situation was much better, with only some rioting, because the Treaty of Versailles had provided France with the means to support themselves.
In Britain, unemployment doubled, and trade fell by 50%. However, the Conservative Party managed to replace the Labour-led government, instead of an extremist party.
The Great Depression, thus, led to the Second World War, because the economy in Europe, and especially Germany, was crippled. The result was people turning to extreme parties for leadership, and the rise of Hitler, and with him, the beginning of WWII.
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This is a pretty good effort, I have to say. I can see the effort put into research and organisation. John, you can put this in the group blog now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the effort put in!