The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a time in history that no one will ever forget or have the chance to not hear about it. This era is talked about in history classes around the world because it turned into a global nightmare. People’s lives’ changed for the worst right before their eyes and could do nothing about what was happening or what was to come.

In October 1929 the stock market crashed, wiping out 40 percent of the paper values of common stock (Modern American Poetry 2008). This was one of many events as the depression deepened and many people lost their life savings; making it nearly impossible for them to provide for their families. It was a very common thing to see folks on the streets begging for money or food for their children. Hundreds of businesses were shutting down, the banks were failing, and by 1932 approximately one out of four Americans was out of work (Modern American Poetry 2008). American people were at a loss and thought that no end was in sight. The nation had never seen anything like this before and rumors were sailing of all kinds of bad news.

The ensuing time period was ranked the longest and worst period of national unemployment and extremely low business activity. So many people had now come to depend on the government and charity to provide for their families and there were many, many more to follow. Across the world, trade with other countries had come to a near stop as each was trying to protect their own industries and products to do whatever good could be done within the country. If anyone had money they were not spending it at all. Money was saved for the even harder of times than they were dealing with at that point in time.

The Great Depression came to an end finally from another major tragedy in our countries history known as World War II. All countries had to increase the production of war materials to keep up with the war at hand. All of this rapid increase of production provided jobs and put large sums of money back into the economy for circulation. Thus, lifting the United States out of The Great Depression.

References
Modern American Poetry, 2008. A Look at the American Depression—an Overview. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/overview.htm