The Great Depression

What caused the Great Depression, and why did its effects spread worldwide? These classroom-ready resources will help you guide students through the causes, global impact, and lasting consequences of the greatest economic collapse in history.

How to Teach the Great Depression

World History Lesson Guide: The Great Depression

The political and social fallout from the Great Depression spun the world into chaos. Show students how a stock-market crash in the United States shook the globe and set the stage for bigger conflicts ahead.

Try a “Puzzling” Approach to the Global Great Depression

Teachers riff on a fresh idea: drop puzzle pieces on student desks with the five causes of the Great Depression, then have them find peers holding their missing pieces.

Teaching the Interwar Period with Images

Hook students with images to illustrate global economies and sneak in some writing practice and historical thinking when they caption each photo.

Sourcing

Getting blank stares when students read about The Great Depression? Primary sources give us a front row seat to what it was like to live through this turbulent time, and we have the tools to teach students to mine sources for meaning.

Blog: How do historians find their sources?

Professional historians share some hot tips for reading and evaluating the sources they use in historical inquiry.

Teach Tomorrow: Lessons on The Great Depression

The Great Depression shook societies across the globe. This lesson illustrates how the US stock-market crash spiraled into a worldwide economic disaster.

c. 1900 to the present

The Economy in the Interwar Period

The 1929 US stock-market crash triggered a global depression due to growing economic interdependence. Nations reacted differently, with many states gaining power and some turning toward authoritarian rule.

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