Social Studies: The Great Depression

In Social Studies, we learnt about the 'Great Depression' and its massive impact on the economy, such as unemployment rates, incomes, plummeted prices, and all sorts of things. I also learnt about extended information such as the war, the 'Treaty of Versailles', the impact on different countries like New Zealand, Japan, the US, Latin America, and Germany.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression erupted from late 1929 up to 1939. It was the longest-deepest and worst economic downfall in history that affected countries across the world. Overproduction, executive inaction, bank closures, bankruptcies, fall in demands, lack of credit and many more of these triggered “The Great Depression”. These events made a devastating impact on the economy, such as unemployment, homelessness, debt, bankruptcies, suicides, poverty, hunger, job loss, evictions, wage cuts, and dejection. These led to the despair of local communities, businesses, and people. The United States and Europe were particularly affected the most during this crisis, mild hit in Japan and Latin America. The country that suffered more damage was Germany during the Great Depression; due to its major factor, which was the “Treaty of Versailles”.

The "Treaty of Versailles" was signed by several major countries in 1919. The countries before-mentioned were France, Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary, Japan and the USA. The purpose of the treaty was to achieve peace between nations. Although Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, they did not participate because of indignancy; They did not believe they started the war. Germany had no choice but to sign the treaty and accept the guilt for commencing the war. People claimed that the treaty “had stabbed Germany in the back” by ending the war. The terms and conditions of the treaty were unfair on Germany's side as they are very damaging to the country and its economy. The terms included a reduction of German troops, territories stolen, and many more.

Hitler’s dominion, along with his Nazi movement national party, and the stock market crash on Wall Street, New York stocks began to fall rapidly; shares of prices plummeted, which led to further “panic-selling” (A situation where people begins to sell their company stock in fear of its value declination), consequently, American investors withdraw their loans to Germany. Germany’s debt was amounted to around an estimation of 29 billion dollars. By 1932, 24% of the German workforce were unemployed during the Great Depression. The percentage of unemployed Americans are about the same numbers as the Germans.

From 1930 to 1933, New Zealand agricultural export prices began to plummet by 45%. New Zealand suffered from a short yet deep depression. When the prices changed, demands for goods and services fell. Approximately, 12% of unemployment fell in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Within two years, export prices in New Zealand fell by 45% and the national income dropped by 40% in three years. These disheartening circumstances were truly unbearable.

Resources:

https://www.britannica.com/story/causes-of-the-great-depression

https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history

https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/great-depression/

http://www.american-historama.org/1929-1945-depression-ww2-era/causes-of-great-depression.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-end-of-the-republic

https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Great_Depression

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zsrwjxs/revision/4

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+panic+selling&rlz=1CAUHAI_enNZ782NZ783&oq=what+is+panic+selling&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i59j0i271j69i60j69i65j69i60j69i61l2.2214j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/g5/cs2/background.htm

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/the-new-zealand-legion/origins

https://spartacus-educational.com/GERunemployment.htm

https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/history-economic/page-7