•What was the Great Depression about?

A worldwide economic downturn that began on Black Thursday in 1929 in the US and had a ripple effect throughout the world. It was the largest and most acute economic depression in modern history that ended at various times in the 30s or early 40s for different countries.

•What is Black Thursday?

On October 24, 1929, a Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average declined 2 per cent. The following Monday, it crashed 13 per cent, the next day a further 12 per cent. Over the next three years, the US stock market fell a staggering 89 per cent. It took over 12 years—until 1954—for the index to regain its 1929 position. On September 29 this year, the Dow fell nearly 7 per cent that day, a one-day drop that has been matched only 17 times since the index began in 1896. From its peak last October, the Dow has fallen more than 25 per cent.

•What was the impact on the world economy?

Devastating. International trade was affected, as were personal incomes, tax revenues, prices, and profits. Unemployment in the USA reached nearly 25 per cent and ‘bread lines’, where people queued up for free food, were a common sight. On March 6, 1933, US President Franklin Roosevelt declared a nationwide bank holiday (temporary statewide closures), from which 2,500 banks never returned. Economies of Australia, Germany, Canada, Latin American countries, Netherlands, South Africa and UK were hit hard. The impact in Asia was minor. France, with its relatively high degree of self-sufficiency, and the Soviet Union remained relatively immune to the Depression.

... contd.