The Great Depression

In the mid-1930s, famine stalked the dust-choked fields of the American heartland. Across the ocean, banking crises fueled popular unrest, allowing the Nazi Party to assume control of the German state. What caused the Great Depression? Did the world’s interconnectedness increase its vulnerability? And could it happen again?

Cookie Policy

Our website uses cookies to understand content and feature usage to drive site improvements over time. To learn more, review our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Featured Materials

Global Great Depression
African-American flood victims lined up to get food & clothing from Red Cross relief station
Article

Global Great Depression

The Great Depression was a global catastrophe that affected the lives of billions around the world. It brought authoritarians to power and helped cause the Second World War.

Primary Sources – Economy in the Interwar Period
Women and children queue for rations handed out from a train carriage.
Article

Primary Sources – Economy in the Interwar Period

How did different nations attempt to overcome economic crises? The primary sources in this collection will help you formulate a response to this question.

Contextualization – The Great Depression
Activity

Contextualization – The Great Depression

Students will investigate the context for the Great Depression, which will deepen their understanding of how both capitalism and globalization played a role in the depression.

Understanding the Consequences of the Global Depression
Activity

Understanding the Consequences of the Global Depression

Just how “great” was the Great Depression? Using data collected from around the world should help put this era into perspective.

Explore the lesson plans

Totalitarianism or Liberal Internationalism
Lesson 7.1
1750 to Present
Interwar and World War II
Totalitarianism or Liberal Internationalism
The terrible losses of World War I and the Great Depression led to economic despair. Two movements arose in this atmosphere: internationalism, which calls for global unity, and fascism, its opposite, which puts nation and race above all.
View Lesson
The Road to War
Lesson 7.2
1750 to Present
Interwar and World War II
The Road to War
The Great Depression and bitterness over World War I—the supposed “war to end all wars”— were the backdrop for the emergence of authoritarian regimes in Russia, Japan, Germany, and Italy. Hope for lasting peace fell away as political tensions rose.
View Lesson
From World War I to World War II
Lesson 7.3
AP®
Global Conflict
From World War I to World War II
The interwar years were difficult for much of the world. The global depression and the Great War cast a long shadow. Fascism, communism, and authoritarianism offered solutions to deep-rooted problems, but at a great price.
View Lesson

More topics