The Great DepressionThe Great Depression was hands down the worst economic failure around the world, as it affected the United States, France, Germany, and so on. East Yankeedom was definitely no exception. States, like Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania were absolutely destroyed by The Great Depression.
The Cause of The Great Depression is a bit more complicated than at first sight. Many may point to the stock market drop to be the start of The Great Depression, however, The Great Depression, started to lean its ugly face much earlier during the 1920s. One factor came from a larger use of credit purchasing of new American Products, which when paired with too much ambiguity in economic uncertainty, leads to disaster. A second factor would've been the economic expansions westward from farmers, who had to pay a lot of money, and take huge loans from banks, only to end with high supply, and low price, and low demand, equaling little to no profits. Figure 8 - Crash of 1929, New York Stock Exchange #
The Savior of the Great Depression, World War IIEven though there were many factors that lead to the exit of The Great Depression, hands down the introduction of World WAR II. World War II offered jobs to the many who didn't have them, although most of them very risky, at the time being a very good pay off. Though a massive amount of Americans entered into the military and had gone off to war which meant A great amount of empty slots to be filled in, especially in the New England Industries. Though a solution was seen at hand.
Based on "The Italian Service Units of World War II", after the USA successfully invaded part of north Africa, they landed troops in southern Italy and overruled the dictatorship, which resulted in the newfound leader of Italy to declare war on Germany. After the USA heard of the declaration of war on Germany by Italy, they began to see their Italian POWs as allies and help fight against Germany. This led the USA government to broker a deal with the Italian POWs an opportunity to join the Italian service unit, which was a newly created civil unit to please both sides. The Italian POWs who wished to volunteer to be a member of the Italian service unit were given jobs, money, and freedom. Out of the 51,000 Italian POWS only 45,000 signed the deal with the USA, the remaining few were relocated to isolated camps in Texas and Arizona.
|
Figure 7 - High unemployment #
Crash of the marketsAs mentioned earlier, states nationwide in America experienced The Great Depression, Though when it came to markets crashing the New England area was front and center for it. According to "Stock Market Crash Heralds Great Depression", in October 1929, markets in Boston, New York, and other major cities in the United States completely fell apart in one day, and by 1934, Massachusetts cities "were places of desperation". The massive New England industries were in ruin, and many people committed suicided, lost their job, homeless, and living on no money every day.
Figure 9 - Italian service units working in Boston (picture from Jessie Kratz's "The Italian Service Units of World War II in Boston") #
|
Sources for this page
1) Mass moments, Stock Market Crash Heralds Great Depression, accessed April 15th 2023, www.massmoments.org/moment-details/stock-market-crash-heralds-great-depression.html
2) National Archives, Jessie Kratz, The Italian Service Units of World War II in Boston, July 21 2020, accessed April 15th 2023, www.weebly.com/editor/main.php#/
2) National Archives, Jessie Kratz, The Italian Service Units of World War II in Boston, July 21 2020, accessed April 15th 2023, www.weebly.com/editor/main.php#/