The Depression Chapter 29

1. The Depression Chapter 29 Bavaresco, Stephanie Period 1 AP World History (http://13.media.tumblr.com/RbKNX8Fwrkuyar77CFR0L2Mko1_500.gif)

2. The Depression Although the United States had experienced several depressions before the stock market crash on October 27, 1929, none had been as severe nor as long lasting before "Black Thursday" struck Wall Street. . Millions of investors lost money, so did banks and brokers from which they had borrowed the money. People with savings accounts rushed to make withdrawals, causing thousands of banks to collapse. (Bulliet 769) (http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1443/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1443-646.jpg)

3. Economic Crisis • What began as a stock-market crash soon turned into the deepest and most widespread depression in history.(Andrea 332) • As consumers reduced their purchases, businesses cut production. Companies laid off thousands of workers, throwing them onto public charity.(Bulliet 769) • Business and government agencies laid off their female employees, arguing that men had to support families while women worked only for "pin money.“ (Spodek 606) • Men that didn't have jobs deserted their familes.(Spode 606) • As farm prices fell small farmers went bankrupt and lost their land.(Bulliet 772) • By mid-1932 the American economy had shrunk by half, and unemployment had risen to an unprecedented 25 percent of the work force.(http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/great-depression.htm) • Many observers thought that free-enterprise capitalism was doomed.(Bulliet 772) • In 1930 the U.S. Government, imposed the Smoot-Hawley tariff, hoping to protect AMerican industries from foreign competition. It was the highest import duty in American history. (Bulliet 772) • In retaliation, other countries raised their tariffs in a wave of "beggar thy neighbor" protectionism. (Bulliet772) • The result was crippled export industries and shrinking world trade.(Spodek 606) • While global industrial production declined by 36% between 1929 and 1932, world trade dropped by a breathtaking 62%(Spodek 606) (http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/04/0426_dow/image/2_great_depression.jpg)

4. Depression in Industrial Nations • Frightened by the stock-market collapse , the New York banks called in their loans to Germany and Austria. (Bulliet 772) • Without American money, Germany and Austria stopped paying reparations to France and Britain, which then couldn't repay their war loans to America.(Bulliet 772) • By 1931 the Depression had spread to Europe.(Spodek 606) • Though their economies went down, France and Britain weathered the depression by making their colonial empires purchase their products rather than the products of other countries.(Bulliet 772) • Nations that relied on exports to pay for imported food and fuel, in particular Japan and Germany, suffered much more. (http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm) • In Germany unemployment reached 6 millions by 1932, twice as high as Britain. (Bulliet 772) • In Japan the burden of the Depression fell hardest on the farmers and fishermen, who saw their incomes drop harsh. (Bulliet 773) • Nationalists everywhere called for autarchy, or independence from the world economy. (Bulliet 773) • In the U.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932 on a “New Deal” platform of government programs to stimulate and revitalize the economy. (Spodek 606) • Although the American, Britain, and French governments intervened in their economies, they remained democratic. (Spodek 606) (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.earthfiles.com/Images/news/D/Depression1929AmericanBankNYC.jpg)

5. The Depression in Nonindustrial Regions • The depression also spread to Asia, Africa, and Latin America, but very unevenly.(Bulliet 773) • Countries that depended on exports were hard hit by the depression. (Andrea 333) • Sugar from the Caribbean, coffee from Brazil and Colombia, wheat and beef from Argentina, tea from Ceylon and Java, tin from Bolivia, and many other products. (Spodek 607) • Malaya, Indochina, and the Dutch east Indies produced most of the world’s rubber, devastating their economies. (Spodek 607) • Egypt’s economy depended on cotton exports and they were also affected. (Bulliet 773) • Throughout Latin America unemployment and homelessness increased. (Bulliet 773) • During the 1920’s Cuba had been a fun place for Americans who relaxed in the sun and drank liquor forbidden at home by prohibition. (http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm) • When the Depression hit, the tourists vanished and left with Cuba’s prosperity.(http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm) • Other than the USSR only southern Africa boomed during the 1930’s. As other prices dropped, gold became relatively more valuable. (Spodek 607) • For Africans it was a mixed blessing. Mining provided jobs and cash wages to men while women stayed behind in the villages, farming, herding, and raising children without their husbands’ help. (Bulliet 773) (http://www.infoplease.com/images/lange.gif)

6. Bibliography • Alfred, Andrea J. The Human Record. 5th ed. Vol. I. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005 • Beecher, John. "About the Great Depression." The Great Depression. Sept. 2005. Cary Nelson. 30 Mar. 2009<http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm>. • Bulliet, Richard W. The Earth and its Peoples. 3rd ed. Boston, Ma: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. • Spodek, Howard. The World's History. 2nd ed. Vol. Combined. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.