Political Responses To The Great Depression

Improved Essays
The Great Depression contributed to economic sufferings that led to the outbreak of World War II. The stock market crashed in the United States in October of 1929, and in turn caused the global economy to collapse. Financial instability led to the decline of production in many countries. Unemployment was widespread, and it was directly linked to the need for large-scale government spending. Many countries were negatively impacted by the depression, and in turn had various political responses that followed. These countries included: Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, and Scandinavia.
Each country experienced different impacts from the depression, which directly impacted the political responses that would follow.
…show more content…
In many places, this resulted in the people supporting radical attempts that would deal with the crisis, whether this was putting Democratic leaders in place or looking for a dictator to lead their country out of the depression. The leaders of the country influenced the political responses of the countries to the depression. Great Britain abandoned the gold standard and concentrated on their national market rather than the international market. In the United States, Franklin Roosevelt enacted the New Deal, as well as the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which created over a hundred new federal agencies. A national social security system was also enacted. In Germany, the voters were promised economic, political, and international salvation if they voted for Hitler. He became a dictator, then put the enabling act in place, and turned the country toward Nazism. This led to racial homogeneity, persecution (of Jews Slavs gypsies Jehovah Witnesses Communists and homosexuals), and what became known as Hitler 's Final Solution, however, it did leave the country towards economic recovery. Mussolini, the leader of Italy, shifted the nation towards fascism, and put repressive measures in place. He focused on gaining personal power. He made the Lateran agreement, showing Pope supported Mussolini. A popular front formed, which was meant to follow the example of the New Deal, so social and economic reforms were enacted and social welfare benefits were increased. The popular front collapsed due to divide among the Italian government. Japan began to invade and occupy large parts of China to power industrial growth. They were the quickest to recover, due to quick action of the civilian democratic government, but their military leader toppled over the civilian authorities. The French turned against their parliamentary democracy, and instead some looked to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    One of America’s darkest times in it’s history is known as the Great Depression. Isaac Asimov, a historical writer, once stated, “No one can possibly have lived through the Great Depression and not be scared by it. No amount of experience since the depression can conceive someone who has lived through it that the world is safe economically.” (Isaac Asimov) The country really struggled during this time, as jobs and money were scarce, impacting everyone throughout the nation.…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    New Deal Dbq Analysis

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During the late 1920s to the late 1930s, the United States was impacted by the Great Depression, in which the US economy reduced the amount of job opportunities and increased the amount of poverty in the nation. The Great Depression was an economic depression that affected the US economy severely during the 1930s. The Stock Market Crash of 1929, Overproduction in farms and factories, Conflicts with the international economy and the Inequality of income in the US were all key parts that caused the Great Depression. The Depression took place at the end of Herbert Hoover’s presidency and carried into Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. FDR stepped into office with several problems that affected everyone in the nation.…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Depression was a dark time for America that had disastrous economic, political and social effects. The collapse of the financial market led to the continual downwards spiral of the Depression. American banks gave out loans to those investing in the stocks using speculation, with many hoping to sell their shares for more than they purchased it for, paying off the bank and making a profit. Prices however began to fall quickly as investors tried to sell their stocks, unable to sell with the increasing numbers of shares. Companies were not selling as many goods, company profits fell and people became less willing to buy.…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal in response to the beginning of the Great Depression, the Great Depression started on October 29, 1929. The Stock Market crashed and millions of Americans lost their jobs and had to live on the streets desperately searching for jobs with little hope of being accepted into a new job. Nearly 15 million Americans were unemployed and almost half of the country’s banks have failed. Franklin D. Roosevelt helped ease the matter of the Great Depression in the 1930’s by his administration passing legislation that aimed to stabilize industrial and agricultural production. It helped create jobs and stimulate recovery of the nation so the people would not have to live in poverty.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Great Depression Dbq Essay

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Also less homes were being constructed, so other companies like steel and wood lost business and money. Another long term cause of the Depression was failure in agriculture. After World War I, the demand for goods from the USA to Europe dropped 40%. This caused farmers…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Great Depression DBQ

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”-FDR. After a prosperous time referred to as the progressive era, many circumstances came about that affected the nation as well as the American citizens. From the start of the stock market crash of 1929, the United States was dragged into an abyss of economic crisis known as the Great Depression. The changes and transitions that came about lead the United States to a state of turmoil as numerous citizens became desperate. What President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said might have acted as a piece of relief for several people at some point but the problems that Americans faced during the Great Depression were just too unburnable.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Great Depression Dbq

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the late 19 century, U.S faced its biggest challenge known as the great depression since the revolution. The unemployment rate skyrocketed, the stock market crashed. The nation not only experienced economic problems moreover it also the social lives of the Americans changed. The nations political condition of the nation from republicans hands to Democrats led by FDR.Many transformations such as social lifestyle, political shifts and role, economic modification, and issues occurred by the great depression.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Response to the Depression The great depression started after the market crash of October 1929 leaving the nation devastated and desperate for a solution. It took two Presidents to take on the economic issue America was facing. President Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) both had very distinct methods in which they presumed to resolve the issue. Their different means of assisting the matter was both seen in Hoover’s “rugged individualism” and FDR’s three New Deals; these different methods had many differences as it did similarities, yet, the results in the end eventually led to the reconstruction of the economy.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Starting in 1929, the Great Depression took place in the USA but affected the entire world. Many were left on the streets and without jobs. Herbert Hoover made no progress to effectively save the country. In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to be president and helped to pass 15 major bills within the first hundred days of his presidency. This is known as the New Deal, which included these three plans: relief, recovery, and reform.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Identification and description of the policy Entry into World War II led to a rapid expansion of the U.S. economy that had ended in the 1930’s with The Great Depression. According to Romero (2003), by 1940 unemployment was still high with 14 %. Not starting the war with having much to fight with, the U.S. used all of its available resources. Men and women of all ages worked by day and night in the factories and the healthier and strong young people were sent to the frontlines.…

    • 1687 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Depression Spreads The cause of Depression spreading in the United States internationally was, the catastrophic collapse of stock market price in 1932 ever since then everything went downhill. In 1933, banks started to lose all their money and go downhill just like everything else. All this caused people to go homeless, go into debt, and become unemployed, (1, 6)“unemployment had risen to between 12 and 15 million workers, or 25-30 percent of the work force”. All this caused depression and loss of confidence in the United States completely.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The two parts of culture that were heavily impacted by this devastating event were the economy and the government. The element of culture that was impacted most by The Great Depression was the economic part. To begin with,…

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Depression shook the United States when it began in 1929. The effects of the downfall not only affected the Western economies, but also affected other nations as a whole. The Great Depression developed in the United States and because of this, the United States experienced the worst effects. The Great Depression started in August 1929. A progression of budgetary emergencies punctuated the constriction.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hitler was greatly involved in making Germany strong that “He aligned himself with several ambitious rulers such as Benito Mussolini of Italy and Francisco Franco of Spain” (Adolf Hitler). He thinks highly of himself when it comes to him being in charge and putting economic policies in action. One of his economic policies was to reduce employment by giving a lot of people jobs, however, if people did not take the job, he would put them in concentration camps. This helped some Germans because as more people got jobs, they were able to support their families and it would be a start in making Germany a better place to live in. Another one of his economic policies was to make Germany self sufficient, which is also known as autarky().…

    • 1772 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The crash of 1921 sent the United States of America in an economic decline. The S&P Index keeps going up up up and dropped dramatically. The banks went bankrupt and people lost all their money if not most of it, which caused many people to lose their homes and just had terrible lives for about the next 10 years. The great depression did not change immediately but quickly turned around when Franklin D. Roosevelt became president of america.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays