The Great Depression

Abstract

The prospect of preserving the world order established at the end of the First World War, and of preserving Britain’s position within that order, turned to a very large extent upon the maintenance of economic stability. For a long time there seemed a fair chance that this would happen, but on 24 October 1929 the financial world was horrified to learn of the ‘Wall Street Crash’ — an exceedingly widespread collapse of prices on the New York stock market. Some people argue today that signs existed long before October 1929 which showed that all was not well with the American economy, and that disaster was bound to come sooner or later. Scholars still discuss how far the crash was the ‘cause’ of other economic evils which followed swiftly afterwards. Such arguments are important, but they must be left firmly out of the present story. What matters here is that the drama which commenced on the New York Stock Exchange in the autumn of 1929 was followed by a long series of economic disasters, affecting all nations and all classes. This was the beginning of the Great Depression; and its consequences, direct and indirect, would prove almost limitless.