Overview
The Great Depression was the deepest economic downturn of the Western industrialised world and last for ten years. It occurred on 1929 to 1939, beginning with the collapse of the New York Stock Market on Wall Street. Due to the decline in economic activity, millions of people were in poverty and left 28% of the population in the US without an income. It mainly affected the middle class families rather than the rich class who were oblivious to the situation.
Causes
Before the Great Depression, there was a period of time in the 1920s known as the Roaring Twenties where many opportunities expanding and the stock market rose leaving a feeling of optimism due to the high salaries and new products being produced. Many believed the stock market would rise from here but this only lead to the eventual market collapse.
One of the main causes is the stock market crash of October 1929, which marked the official beginning of the Great Depression. Two months after this crash, stockholders lost more than 40 billion dollars and thousands of investors were wiped out. The decrease in people spending and investing caused the production and construction of factories and business to slow down or fail and many began to fire their workers. Those who still remained employed got lower wages. Though the end of 1930 regained some losses from …show more content…
One of these effects was the unemployment rate which was severe. This caused many people to lose their jobs and homes. With up to 11 million people in the United States looking for work in 1933, this was considered the worst year of the Depression. Due to the lack of money, the crime rate went up when the unemployed had to resort to theft to manage their lives. Divorce rates dropped sharply as it was too expensive to pay the legal fees and support the two households with no income. As women became desperate for a way to pay for the bills, they resorted to