By: Paarvana Sree, Research Analyst, GSDN
The Great Depression was one of the most terrible events that started in the United States in 1929 and has lasted since 1939. Historians are of the view that Great Depression certainly was one of the triggering reasons that caused the Second World War.
The US stock market cracked in 1929. Before the crash, people’s financial situations were way better than they ever had. It was much easier to get credit, which meant that there was a lot of spending on things that were luxury items. Prices rose, as people began to spend more. The heavy industries that emerged to build the things needed for the First World War were still producing iron and steel. There was an increase in building cars because more people could afford them and car manufacturers needed to hire workers.
Farmers were producing more food than they actually could sell, so at one point they began throwing away vegetables, eggs, milk, wheat and rice instead of selling it cheaply. The US economy could not maintain these expensive spending. When the stock market crashed, the country slid into a major economic crisis.
By the crash it is meant that major stocks dropped to their lowest levels. Most of the companies were closed during this time because they did not have sufficient money to pay salaries. As a result people lost their jobs at most of the people were unemployed. Banks were also closed as a result people lost any money that they had in stocks or savings account.
Lot of Americans lost all their jobs. People stopped their spending which caused many business that supplied goods and services to close. Putting food on the table was a challenge for many Americans. As a result there were wide spread food riots scattered across the country and some large cities reported that some families died from starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. The entire country plunged into panic. Countries all over the world had similar experiences.
Most of the people were hungry and homeless all over the world. Countries in Europe were all struggling to recover from the huge damages that happened to their countries during the war. There citizens were disappointed and this led to the import of food and raw materials from other countries. By the mid 1930 there was slight improvement in economic condition, but total recovery was not accomplished until the end of the decade.
At the end of the great depression in Europe a large number of politicians took the opportunity to give rise to power. In addition to people struggling in US, people in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK and USSR were basically tired of being poor and hungry. They were in a mind to follow and support leaders who promised to bring their countries to prosperity and greatness. Adolf Hitler in Germany, Stalin in USSR, Francisco Franco in Spain and Mussolini in Italy started getting popular.
These men became dictators who ruled their countries by force, once there were in power. They never made life of the people better. They began taking total control over the way people lived and made decisions about how they could live with their lives. Citizens slowly began losing their rights to freedom of speech and religion. People who disagreed with the dictators were sent to concentration camps to forced labour camps. This made countries to build their military strength and create plants to take control of the neighbouring countries. Leaders began promoting ethnic pride, military might and importance of national prestige.
Between the period of 1920 and 1930, the European authoritarian government had adopted two different types of political systems: communism and fascism. Although the Great Depression was not the main reason for the Second World War, it definitely affected what happened in countries or over the world. When the first world war ended, European Nations who had been badly damaged by all the wars and what they could to live in peace. One major thing they all agreed on was that it was important to keep Germany happy and under control. This was called “appeasement”.
Unfortunately, that Treaty of Versailles did not produce the desired result. Italy was unhappy and they were not given enough money or territories to make up for what they had lost. France was unhappy because they wanted Germany to be harshly punished. The Soviet Union had not even been invited to the peace conference. Spain had remained neutral throughout the war and all the people were split in support, and Spain did not officially support either side.
The policies of appeasement that Germany was supposed to follow in turn actually made Hitler bolder and gave him more time to build up a massive Army. The German people were insulted that Germany had to take responsibility for starting the war, hated the situation they were living in.
The country had huge fines they knew they could never pay. Lots of territory all over the world had been confiscated and divided up among other countries. The Great Depression made everything worse.
To conclude, it is evident that The Great Depression, though not the only reason for the World War II, had greatly contributed to its start. The worldwide economic crisis meant that economies and citizens everywhere were at their lowest points. Loss of jobs, loss of money and hardships created by the war all made them vulnerable. The great Depression was in fact a starting point for World War II.
