In a few months, the markets rallied to early 1929 levels. In fact, financial recovery looked hopeful for some time after. The crash, however, wasn’t the single cause of the depression. Over night, the world confronted the kind of capitalistic fall from grace, which reminded the international stock exchange that boom can, and will, lead to bust. From the excess of the ‘ Roaring Twenties’, people suddenly found themselves with nothing. The ‘Black Tuesday’ of 29 October 1929 remains the single greatest financial disaster in US history. The credit crunch: “It’s a story of hubris followed by a fall”ĭid the Wall Street Crash trigger the Great Depression?.The Wall Street Crash: the day the bubble burst.Economist Milton Friedman argued that it was this that caused the depression, rather than the crash itself. On Black Tuesday (29 October) the market lost $14 billion, making the total loss that week $30 billion.Īs news of the stock market crash spread, customers rushed to their banks to withdraw their money, sparking disastrous ‘bank runs’. On the following Black Thursday, bankers bought up blocks of stocks to try and stabilise the market but, by Monday, it was in freefall. What was the Wall Street Crash?Īfter weeks of decline, stock prices fell sharply on Friday 18 October. The might of the US was crucial to success for the Allies in World War I, but while the 1920s presented a new era of capitalist boom and personal freedom – even decadence – for many, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 brought a severe shock to the world. ![]() What led to America’s financial failure?Īfter the Americans wrested their independence from Britain and went through their own civil war, the newly minted United States expanded to become the world’s most prosperous powerhouse.Īs a cohesive nation, with few nearby competitors and vast natural resources, it was perhaps reasonable to assume that the former ‘colonies’ would overtake their European antecedents and become industrially and financially superior. Although America had furthest to fall, the effects were felt everywhere. The decade-long global economic downturn began in the United States in 1929 after the Wall Street stock market crash. ![]()
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