Mrs. Ruland's U.S. History Class Project
Role of the US in Worldwide Depression
Jonathon B., Grace K., Ellie A., Sarah S.
The Great Depression was a period of time after World War 1, when the entire world's economy crumbled. If one looks at the depression in individual countries, many happened gradually, and all are interrelated. Out of all of the countries, the American depression had the largest impact, because after the war America was in a better state than most of the European countries. For example, Germany was in a depression before America , but since they were already in a horrible state to begin with, their depression had a smaller impact on their society than the American depression had on the American society. At the time, the world ran on an international monetary gold standard system. Since all the countries were so closely interrelated through this money system, when it failed in one country, it caused a chain reaction throughout the rest of the world. When America crashed, due to economic instability and the stock market crash, it experienced a dramatic drop in the money supply. As a result, the US started imposing high tariffs on imported goods, halting trade with Europe . The US also attempted to collect war payments from European countries, but this didn't work because the European countries did not have enough money to pay the debts. Another international problem that occurred was that Europe attempted to retrieve their money out of American banks, but this also failed since America no longer had that money. This international depression was not caused solely by one country, but was a cause of actions by various countries.
Websites to Reference:
Germany and the Great Depression
This website gives an accurate description of Germany's Great Depression after World War I, and its turn to Adolf Hitler during its vulnerable period of economic downfall.
Economic Depression: Cause and Effects
Written by Paul Alexander Gusmorino, this website talks about how the depression started in Europe and spread to other parts of world. It also talks about some of the things the United States did during the depression, and the effects it had on other countries in the world.
This website is a chronological timeline of events that happened leading up to, and during the Great Depression. It includes international problems that occurred, and how individual effects in some countries affected others millions of miles away. Along with those events, it also includes statistics of unemployment and national bank situations.
This link will give you information about the effect of the Depression worldwide, and how some historians say that the international monetary system began the chain reaction. Aimed towards the farming class of the American 1930's, the site discusses the tariffs and other obstacles that they faced during the Great Depression.
Main Causes of the Great Depression
Although a large portion of this website is about the causes of the depression in America, it also talks about America's important role as a world power right after the war, and how this made the fall for America very dramatic. This website also discusses the similarities between the causes for depression in different countries.
What Caused the Great Depression of the 1930's?
This website discusses the causes of America 's depression, and how it affected America. On top of this, it showed graphs, statistics, and talked about how international trade slowed down during the Great Depression. This website also mentioned the various tariffs that were passed, and contributed to the international economic decline.
This site gives information on the economic depression in Europe and the United States. It describes the fall of the United States economy, through the Stock Market Crash. It describes the economic troubles in other countries in Europe and how they recovered. The article describes the methods the new president Franklin Roosevelt used to attempt the slow recovery out of the Great Depression.
This link is a good site for looking up information on the underlying causes of the Great Depression. It describes the reasons the United States economy failed. It shows the Depression worldwide by using maps and graphs for different areas. It also describes the ending of the Depression and the post Depression period.
This site explains how many Americans showed optimism at the beginning of the depression, and how they were soon wrong. It explains the fall in the economy nationally. The site shows the efforts Franklin Roosevelt took to bring the nation out of the Great Depression though not successful until WWII.
Refers back to the original question that everyone wants to know: What produced the world depression of 1929, why was it so widespread, so deep, and so long? Discusses the initial conditions of the many countries that were affected by the economic crash, and the government influence on the downfall.
Causes of the Great Depression of the 1930's
James Devine a college professor in the Economics Department at Loyola Marymount College, describes his views on the Great Depression and how the U.S. economy collapsed, advancing in to the world wide depression.
Last updated March 28, 2007
© Marcella Ruland 1998-2008, All rights reserved
