The Time Period of the Great Depression - Coursework Example

The two world wars stand as the events of the twentieth century that changed the outlook of world in terms of the political sphere, the great depression in contrast was an event that changed the social, political, economic outlook of the states across the world. The aftermath of the event which was economic in its nature had its impact on the all round existence and dynamics of the global community. The great depression took place under the circumstances that were succeeded by the First World War events and it itself was the predecessor to the Second World War. In other words, it is even termed as an igniting factor towards the occurrence of the Second World War (Temin, p .1). The time period of the Great Depression was not particularly limited to a couple of years, it rather hit the different parts of the world in different phases. While the major blow came about in late 1920s, its impacts, its repercussions showed about in a timely manner until the days when the world was formally engaged into the Second World War. Number of events and factors are investigated for the real cause of the occurrence of the global menace. The ambit of the global economic dark cloud are narrated as factors ranging from policies on individual level to the policies and the counter actions taken by the other states in response to the American industries collapse as well as the war oriented policies. The Black Tuesday: The first blow came about in 1929 when stock market in United States and New York crashed. It was a blow so huge it would impact the rest of the world in a phase wise process. The fact that United States of America was undergoing a phase of industrial development and manufacturing developmental phases, the blow so suffered showed up on the global markets of production and automobile industries. It was an era where people and societies were bracing for using their own transportation means. While the Black Tuesday was the major blow that took place in 1929, the Fickle Fed was one other major event that had shown its traces and was first of its kind. It took place in 1907 and had led to the reserves running short and impacting the New York. It was perhaps a sign of events to come in two decades time which itself took place in 1929. The Europe’s contribution: Europe had tasted the long war spanning up to as many as four years. Its impact fell on the overall investment and the overall attitude towards the banking sectors. The banks did not enjoy heavy investment; they were struggling to cash on the trust of people. The automobile industries and other manufacturing industries also went wary after New York faced its dreadful existence in those days in terms of economic strength and stability. The Central powers mindset: The central power in the form of Germany and Italy were driven by the war ambitions. They had built on immense armament and military might establishment. Japan was also under their influence. Having spent billions of dollars on the military might, it impacted the development and economic aspect of the society in parts of Europe as a whole. Great Britain in response to the buildup of the Central powers also got pushed into making arrangements for strengthening its naval dimension ((Petteice, 2012, p. 277). Internal policies by the United States administration as well the attitude of the then president Roosevelt was also termed as an aiding factor towards the occurrence of the Economic recession and the blow the stocks suffered in that phase. The flawed banking system has been termed as one of the contributing factor towards the overall trouble faced by Europe. With the elements of credit system and cash deposit deficiency rising up in the early 1930s, people’s demand from the banks strangulated them and the government owned banks had to seek bail out schemes from the budget which had a direct impact on the development fund and other dedicated amounts that would otherwise be spent on the economic progress and prosperity as a whole. Apart from the man made and man contributed factors, the parts of United States was hit by the droughts in those days. These conditions led to reduced production of grain and reduced crops profits. For example Mississippi was one similar account of example in United States that got hit by the drought and as a result the impacts told upon the people’s life styles. Impact: The impact of the Great Depression fell upon both the individuals and the governments as a whole. The individuals who had seen the First World War uprooting their progress that had been made in form of a quiet 19th century were disturbed. The inflation rates rose to an unprecedented manner (Knoop, 2009, p 148). People lost their jobs, many were removed from industries as the industries themselves failed to continue working. Romer (Roger, 2014) has tried to analyze the manner in which the economic crunch hit the individuals. According to the findings and investigations the unemployment led to the state of homelessness and jobs loss at the same time. The middle class and the lower middle class suffered directly and they found it hard making both ends meal. The United States of America that became the rock bed towards the initiation of the global crisis came about with possible remedial solutions. These solutions included the idea of New Deal (Kronenfeld, 2004, p 101)under which certain industries were focused for progress and bail out, however despite such moves, the government could do little to stop the jungle fire and it went on beyond the borders and hit the European continent with itself. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was one similar move oriented towards relieving the crippled economy. The indirect impact: With the industries virtually seizing and no practical opportunities available to the masses, the people were forced to join the military occupations. The mindsets like Hitler and Italian military junta benefited from it and established a strong army consisting of over a million troops. All this was used to their own objectives of building heavy military might and overcoming the rivals from the First World War in the Second World War. Hence the event was an element of precipitation towards the ignition of the Second World War. Conclusion: It was an event that had an impact even on the psyche of the people from all parts of the world. Depression, short sightedness and other similar symptoms showed up on the account of Great Depression leading people to believe in the non ideological ideas. The impact of Great Depression was so immense that it even led to the believing in the ideas of the rise of Fascism, Communism and Nazism where people were misguided into believing that they will provide the individuals with a solution against the capitalist system. The capitalist system was badly exposed and people started distrusting the institutions under the banner of capitalist governments. Wise Counsels, the realization of the global community to bring out a collective common change in the economic and the political spectrum were few of the options and solutions that provided a bail out in the broader perspective. The establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were two accounts of counter actions and remedial policies based on which the world drove itself out of the jinx of the Great Depression and the dark clouds of depression as a whole on the global community and societies. References: Knoop, T. A. (2009). Recessions and Depressions: Understanding Business Cycles: Understanding Business Cycles. ABC-CLIO Kronenfeld, J. J. (2004). Healthcare Reform in America: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO Petteice, I. S. (2012). Soundoff. AuthorHouse Roger, C. D. (2014, August 8). Great Depression. Retrieved from Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/243118/Great-Depression Temin. (1992). Lessons from the Great Depression. MIT Press Top 5 causes of the Great Depression by Kelly M. Retrieved from www.americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/new_deal_programs.htm Read More