The Great Depression was caused by multiple events. One event that could have directly caused the Great Depression was the bank system collapse. Thousands of banks closed and people couldn’t access the money they had deposited. The stock market crash didn’t directly cause the Great Depression, but it was a sign of an unstable American economy.
The collapse of the American banking system was a major influence in starting the Great Depression. The stock market crash made people nervous about America’s financial system, so they started pulling their money out of banks (“Bank Run”). This only made the situation worse. The banks didn’t have enough money in reserves to handle this rush of withdrawals.