NIki Bizoukas-TKAM-The Great Depression

The Great Depression The Great Depression was an economic slump North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world. It began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest depression ever experienced in the industrialized Western world. The U.S. economy had gone into a depression six months earlier. The Great Depression was said to have begun with a collapse of stock-market prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929. Over the next three years the stock prices continued to fall. The Great Depression ruined many thousands of individual investors. The Great Depression also great strained banks and other financial institutions. By 1932 U.S. manufacturing output had fallen to 54 percent of its 1929 level. Unemployment had risen to between 12 and 15 million people. The Great Depression began in the United States but spread to many countries. It turned into a worldwide economic slump. Once the American economy slumped so did the European one too. By 1932 the total value of world trade had fallen by more than half. Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in late 1932. He introduced a number of major changes to the American economy. Despite this intervention, mass unemployment and problems with the economy continued. About 15 percent of the work force was still unemployed in 1939. The depression ended completely after the United States entry into World War II in 1941. Source- Encyclopedia Britannica Online- About the Great Depression (http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm)