The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn of the modern industrial world, beginning in the United States with the Wall Street crash of late October 1929. Share prices collapsed, banks failed in large numbers and production and trade fell sharply around the world, helped by tight money, tariffs such as the Smoot-Hawley Act, and the constraints of the gold standard. At its worst in the early 1930s about a quarter of American workers were unemployed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a programme of public works, bank regulation and social insurance. The hardship contributed to political extremism in Europe, including the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and recovery was completed only with the rearmament and war production of the Second World War.
Before and after
- 28 September 1929Construction of St. Vitus Cathedral
- from 3 October 1929 to 29 November 1945Kingdom of Yugoslavia
- 21 October 1929Birth of Ursula K. Le Guin
- from 24 October 1929 to 29 October 1929Wall Street crash of 1929
- from 29 October 1929 to 1 January 1941Great Depression
- 7 November 1929Construction of Museum of Modern Art
- 9 November 1929Birth of Imre Kertész
- 12 November 1929Birth of Grace Kelly
- 15 November 1929Birth of Ed Asner
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from 11 November 1918 to 11 September 1939Interwar period
- from 10 March 1919 to 24 August 1991Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
- from 28 April 1920 to 18 October 1991Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
- 1922Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are excavated
- from 12 December 1925 to 1 April 1979Pahlavi dynasty
- 11 February 1929Founding of Vatican City
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.