The Great Depression of the 1930s was the economic event of the 20th century. The history of depression is fascinating because it is a reference point for economic misery and fear. The Great Depression began on October 1929, when the stock market in the United States dropped rapidly. Thousands of investors lost large sums of money, and many were wiped out and lost everything. The "crash" led us into the Great Depression. The ensuing period ranked as the most prolonged and worst period of high unemployment and low business activity in modern times. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of Americans jobless, homeless, and penniless. Many people came to depend on the government or charity to provide them with food.
             The Depression became a worldwide business slump of the 1930s that affected almost all nations. It led to a sharp decrease in world trade as each country tried to protect their industries and products by raising tariffs on imported goods. Some nations changed their leader and their type of government. In Germany, poor economic conditions led to the rise to power of the dictator Adolf Hitler. The Japanese invaded China, developing industries and mines in Manchuria. Japan claimed this economic growth would relieve the depression. This militarism of the Germans and the Japanese eventually led to World War II (1939-1945).
             It would be easy to say that the stock market crash was the leading cause of the Great Depression. But there was still an underlying economic weakness left over from the previous decade. For starters, workers and consumers, by and large, received too small a share of the enormous increases in labor productivity. Farmers were affected because they were never able to regain their prosperities of the World War I years. Prices of their crops declined, a drop in exports occurred, and large amounts of debt arose because of wartime expansion.
             The most important weakness in the economy w...