The Great Depression was the longest and greatest stock market crash in the history of the western world. It lasted over 10 years, from 1929-1939, which is the longest and widest depression in western history. A depression in economics is, “A sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies.” -According to wikipedia.
On October 29, 1929, Wall Street crashed which led onto more than 10 years of The Great Depression. This day was called, “Black Tuesday”. Black Tuesday was caused by consumers getting scared
of spending their money, which led to unsold goods stocking up, which led to factories slowing down production and investors took away their money. So prices began to rise dramatically and less people spent money and the stock market crashed. To make matters worse, a severe drought in America caused a shortage of crops, which made food prices rise dramatically. Millions of Americans who were too scared to spend money had to pay the price, and were severely affected.
Millions of Americans lost their life savings and jobs because of The Great Depression. Most working men were fired from their jobs and could not pay for food for their families. Unemployment rates raised from 4% to 25%. When the people of America got angry at Herbert Hoover they elected Franklin Roosevelt to help them through The Great Depression. Roosevelt soon created the Civilian Conservation Corps, which helped a great part in rebuilding the american economy. However, it was not just The United States that was effected.