One of the causes of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 was over-speculation, people were putting prices on stocks that weren't even close to their actual price, and eventually people figured out that their stocks really weren't worth anything. This problem was made bigger because of the lack of regulation of the stock market, insider trading was allowed, the rich people helped the rich people, and they controlled all of the money. Another cause was over-production of goods; there were too many goods, and not enough buyers. Buying on margin was also a problem because people would buy things with credit cards, but would never pay the actual money.
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was also probably the biggest cause of the Great Depression. There were also tariffs that discouraged people from buying or selling to other countries, except they had trouble finding anyone to trade with. There were also taxes that benefited the rich and made the poor that much poorer.
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression sparked the New Deal Programs which made the federal government much larger. Many of these programs lasted only until the end of WWII, but some are still around today. The U.S. government began spending money they didn't have, and communist leaders came to power all around the world because the Great Depression was world-wide.
The U.S. government under President Hoover did many things to help alleviate the problems of the Great Depression. They set up Hoovervilles which were shanty villages outside of cities that anyone could stay in. They also set up breadlines and soup kitchens to give food to starving people. Some New Deal Programs under President Franklin Roosevelt were the Federal Emergency Relief Act and the Works Progress Administration. The FERA and the WPA provided money and opportunities to work for the unemployed.
The Great Depression had an enormous long-lasting effect on the world because it indirectly caused communist leaders to come to power, but it also caused the New Deal Programs to pop up. Some programs still around today are the Social Security Act, and the Wagner Act, which allowed company workers to organize trade unions.
The Treaty of Versailles was a big part of the reason WWII took place. It stripped Germany of nearly everything it had, more money than they could pay off during terrible economic times, and their military was also reduced down to nearly nothing. They couldn't have tanks, submarines, or an air force. Much of their land was also taken, or split up. Hitler came to power in the early 30's, and took all of this back. He ignored the orders to have a small military, and he took back all the land he had lost. Eventually after several German invasions of surrounding countries the League of Nations gave Hitler an ultimatum, which he, of course, ignored by invading Poland, causing the War in Europe to begin.
The U.S. had a great impact on WWII, without the U.S. the Allies surely would have lost. The U.S. went into Europe, and also the Pacific. Their great military power was ultimately unstoppable. The U.S. had too many supplies and too many troops for the Axis powers to handle, and eventually the U.S. won the war for the Allies.
The U.S.'s primary goal during the Cold War was to stop the spread of communism. They also focused on building up their nuclear missiles and their military in general, but their main goal was the containment of communism.
Some of the major events of the cold war were: the Berlin Blockade and Airlift, Cuban Missile Crisis, Red Scare, Space Race, Bay of Pigs, and the Berlin Wall.
Following WWII Germany was split into four sections owned by different Allied forces. Berlin was in the Soviet Union’s territory, but it was controlled by the Allies. The Soviet Union blockaded Berlin to prevent the Allies from bringing their own supplies in, so the Soviet Union could do it themselves, and take control of the city. The Allies continued to bring supplies into Berlin by air, and it was still just as effective, so the Soviet Union removed the blockade.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was when the Soviets brought nuclear missiles in Cuba. There was an almost two week long negotiation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to try to keep peace. In the end the U.S.S.R would remove their missiles if the U.S. promised to never invade Cuba and to take their missiles out of Turkey. There was a telephone line set up so that the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. would be able to communicate better if another crisis such as this took place.
Many people in the U.S. were afraid that communism would spread to the U.S. This was called the Red Scare. Senator McCarthy went as far as to accuse numerous people of being communist, many of whom were famous. Eventually people began to see that his accusations were not true and stopped believing in him. Those who had been accused and questioned had had their careers virtually ruined.
The Space Race was the advancement of technology by the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. in the effort to make it to space and the moon. Both countries were worried that the other was going to put nuclear weapons in space first.
The Bay of Pigs was an invasion of Cuba, by a U.S. trained and funded group in Cuba. The U.S. hoped that the group would be able to get the citizens on their side so they could overthrow the communist leader Fidel Castro. This was not the case, however, and the group was defeated by the Cubans within three days.
The Berlin Wall was a wall made by East Germany, separating West Berlin from East Berlin. East Germany said that it was created to protect the east from fascists in the west, but in reality, all it did was prevent anyone from emigrating from either side. In 1989 the East became somewhat of a democracy, and people were again allowed to cross over. The wall was weakened by people taking souvenirs, and was eventually completely destroyed and removed by the government.
The U.S. went to war in both Korea and Vietnam for the same general reason: to contain communism. The U.S. eventually withdrew from both of these countries without ever actually winning.
Reagan was very famous for being the president that pushed to end the cold war. Reagan met several times with Gorbachev the leader of the Soviet Union at that time. They discussed the reduction of the amount of nuclear arms that either of the countries had. They also discussed diplomacy and peace in their meetings. By the end of Reagan’s presidency the Cold War was ended.
On November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, President Kennedy was shot twice by an unknown gunman. Kennedy died half of an hour later. Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of killing Kennedy, but before he could be tried, he was killed by Jack Ruby. Ruby was convicted of killing Oswald, and died of cancer four years later.
On June 17, 1972, five men were caught breaking into Democratic Party Headquarters at the Watergate office hotel complex trying to expose the Democrat scandals. The FBI confirmed that Nixon’s people had attempted to sabotage the Democrats. Many of Nixon’s people began resigning because they faced prosecution. Nixon was charged with obstruction of justice, and eventually resigned from the presidency.
The Iran Hostage Crisis was when 52 Islamic students were taken hostage in Iran for 444 days. There was a failed attempt to rescue these people.
The Persian Gulf War started in August of 1990. Iraq invaded Kuwait because of oil. American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia to keep Iraq from invading for the oil. There was another invasion of Kuwait which eventually caused Iraq to withdraw, and the Kuwaiti infrastructure to crumble.
The U.S. put up a No Fly Zone in certain parts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia to protect the people there. Weapon inspectors came in to make sure the Iraqis were not creating WMD’s. Saddam Hussein kept them out, but then let them back in. He wanted people to think he had WMD’s, and the U.S. believed it. The U.S. never left the area to try and take control of the people, and the resources, and the people living there wanted the U.S. out, which led to 9/11.
Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan to try to rid the country of Al-Qaeda and their leader Osama bin Laden.
In 2003 the U.S. suspected that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so the U.S. invaded. Hussein was killed quickly, but the U.S. didn’t withdraw until 2011 because of terrorist attacks, and Al-Qaeda moving into Iraq.
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