1. What were the causes of the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression?
Causes of the crash: uneven sharing of wealth (top 1% of the US controlled the money.) wages couldnt keep up with the production, heavy increase of gambling and buying stocks. The business cycle- contraction, expansion, peak, recession. tight money policy- cut off credit and raise intrest rates (forces people to buy less which makes the companies lose money and people would lose jobs) Buying on margin- buying on credit for stocks. giant gap between the rich and the poor. overexpansion of buying on credit. banks used peoples money to invest in the stock market. debt- quit spending money. overproduction of farm goods, prices lowered, farmers lost money. gov't used a laissez-faire approach, stayed out of all of the businesses- didnt regulate the stock market. overspeculation: led to stock prices overpriced. gov't did not regulate the stock market in the 20s.
great depression- period of time were the stock market ccrashed and caused an economic crisis. Stock market crash in 1929, banks were failing, reduction in purchasing, american economic policy with europe- tarriffs were created on goods from europe (record high) europe also put tarriffs on their products- used to protect american companies but didn't help. eliminated trade around the world. , drought conditions- farmers couldnt produce anything, everyone left the region of texas, kansas, nevada. also known as the dust bowl. Reduction in purchases- people lost their jobs so they couldnt buy things, businesses werent getting money so they had to raise prices and lay people off, then more people couldnt buy things- vicious cycle. taxes benefitted the rich which made them richer and the poor go poorer.
2. What impact did the stock market crash and Great Depression have on the lives of people in the United States?
homelessness- mortgages were foreclosed(bank would take the houses because people weren't paying) and left millions of people homeless, led to people building small villages of shacks called hoovervilles. starvation and illness- people couldnt afford food, went to dumpsters to look for food, not many deaths from starvation but didn't get enough food, led to soup kitchens and stuff like that. Unemployment- at an all time high, 25% in the US and 33% in some other countries. many people had to steal food, many committed suicide because they had nothing.
impact of the stock market- bank failure, business failure, no economic growth. people would try to get their money from the bank but they didnt have it. 40% of banks collapsed. by 1933 people lost 140 billion dollars.
all of Europe was affected by our great depression, especially GB. Some countries were put into a depression of their own.
dust bowl- made it worse, caused by major drought. people had to wear masks whenever they went outside.
3. What did the United States government do to help alleviate the problems the Great Depression brought to our country?
New Deal Programs:
RFC- created by Hoover, gave loans to banks, gov'ts, and businesses, used to create jobs for people
CCC- most popular new deal program, aimed at helping young men get jobs.
FERA- provided work for people, direct relief measures, provided many relief programs.
WPA- largest organization, created jobs for people. presented concerts and works of art. helped artists/musicians
NYA- helped young people stay in school, get jobs, included women.
Emergency Banking relief Act- passed five days after taking office, closed down banks and reopened the bank when it was stable. - successful
Federal Security Act- made the stock market a safer place, companies had to be truthful about their profits.
FDIC- insures peoples money in the bank- still around today
SEC- regulates stock market, still around today.
AAA- helped farmers, paid them to plant less.
TVA- in tennessee, dams were built to prevent flooding, provided jobs for people.
REA- provided farms with electric lighting and power.
FSA- gave smaller farmers money to buy farms and tractors and other equipment,
HOLC- made it so people could keep their homes, smaller payments, stretched out payment times, longer loans.
FHA- also helped people get homes- still around today, helped people get loans
NLRA- aka Wagner Act, strengthened labor unions, helped get better wages
FLSA- minnimum wage, gauranteed overtime pay, child labor laws, 40 hour work week.
Social Security- get money when you retire
IRA- helped native americans, helped created jobs on the reservations, still around today
See Powerpoint
4. What long lasting impact did the Great Depression have on the US and world?
after the crash banking methods became strict- SEC: enforces security laws and protects investors and keeps the markets secure. FDIC: protects money in banks by insuring the money will be there. social security was created which we still have today. relief programs were introduced.
short term: crime rate rose, sports and movies were popular to distract from the great depression. communist dictators came to power throughout the world.
Still around: created by FDR: Securities and Exchange Commission- helped make sure that people would follow the law dealing with stock. , Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Labor Relations Board, Tennessee Valley Authority- provided navigation, flood control, electricity, fertilizer, and economic dev. in Tenn. built lots of dams., Social Security Administration.
gov't became much larger after the GD.
radio became big in the great depression because people could listen to sports and news around the world. first clothes washer was invented at this time. first oven. and the fridge. sports were also used to get people's minds off of the economy.
5. What were the causes of WWII?
The Invasion of Poland- germany invaded poland because they wanted to get their land back that was taken away by the treaty of versailles. beginning of WWII. polish people had a lot of casulaties. germans won. all of the death camps were located in poland. russia also invaded poland- they wanted to get all of their land back as well.. invaded finland at the same time.
Pearl Harbor- Dec 7, 1941. japan sent planes over to hawaii and caused as much damage as they could. we had an airforce base in hawaii at pearl harbor. the japaneese planes killed as many people as they could then crashed the planes. bombing attack, werent planning on crashing planes but ended up having to do so. successful for the japaneese but not as successful as they hoped. US declared war the day after.
6. What impact did the United States have on WWII?
US in Africa: US was in north africa, a lot of tank battles. very open area, desert area. the bad french, germany, and italy were against US, britain, australia, canada, and the free french. started in 1940, we didn't get involved in 42, ended in 43. decided to invade africa instead of france because it was the weakest area for the germans.
battle of coral sea- first battle in history fought by only airplanes taking off from aircraft carriers on the sea. moral victory for the US. gave us a moral boost because we stopped japan.
midway- japan tried to plan another sneak attack but we found out about it. shortly after coral sea. victory for the united states. navy sunk 4 japanese carriers and japan only sunk one of ours. wanted midway to extend their defense perimeter.
iwo jima- d-day style invasion. japan let us onto the beaches easily but they were waiting for us in the mountains. lost just under 7,000 people. lost a lot of people on these islands.
Philippines- attacked on the same day as pearl harbor. the japanese defeated us. baton death march- US soldiers that were captured were forced to march to a new camp 100 miles away. many died of lack of medical attention, dehydration, starvation. we wanted to take it back. macarthur didnt want to leave the phillippines, so he promised to come back, and he did.
okinawa- longer battle, very big island, lasted 82 days. japanese island. didn't end until japan surrendered. very bloody battle. over 100,000 casualties.
J Robert Oppenheimer- communist that created the atomic bomb.
manhattan project- development of the atomic bomb. general groves was in charge of it and didn't want to be. wanted to be on the front lines. los Alamos, new mexico was where it was developed. Alamogordo, new mexico was the first place that an atomic bomb ever went off. most people that were there actually had no idea what they were doing. once you went there you couldn't leave until it was over. trinity was the code name. was dropped from a tower, not an airplane.
hiroshima bombing- "little boy" killed 90-166,000 people. half of the deaths occurred within the first two days. 90% of doctors died within the first 2 days. died of radiation, fires, falling buildings. the plane missed its target by 800ft. were told only to drop the bomb if they could see their target. had a couple different possible cities to hit.
nagasaki bombing- wasn't the #1 place they wanted to bomb. 5th choice. didn't want to bomb a cultural or religious city. "fat man" a lot like hiroshima but didn't do as much damage. 40% of nagasaki was destroyed. 87,000 people died. weighed 10,000 pounds. the plane that dropped it ran out of gas just as it was landing. almost everything went wrong on this mission.
yalta conference- february 1945. three months before germany surrendered. 1. germany would be broken into four occupation zones, US GB France and USSR would each control one zone. 2. stalin promised free elections in eastern europe. 3. stalin promised to join the war against japan after war with germany was over. 4. have a conference at san francisco to set up the united nations.
7. What were the goals for the US during the Cold War?
STOP THE SPREAD OF COMMUNISM!
Causes of the cold war- different political systems, both thought their system was better and distrusted the others intentions. Stalin despised capitalism. Stalin broke his promise at the yalta conference: eastern europe became communist, we feared they would attack us, they feared we would attack them, USSR feared the atomic bomb. big problems in germany. USSR wanted communism to spread around the world. lack of communication and a lot of distrust.
8. What were some of the major events that took place during the Cold War?
-Berlin Blockade/airlift- took 300 some days and took stuff into west berlin to help people, brought supplies, Cuban Missile Crisis- soviets had missiles in cuba and we wanted them to take them out so we would be safe, Red Scare/McCarthyism, Space Race, Bay of Pigs-a body of water in cuba. US wanted to overthrow the Castro- the communist dictator in Cuba. Trained cubans to invade cuba. did that in 1961 at the bay of pigs. kennedy promised to help them with air support and we didn't, it was a fiasco., Berlin Wall, End of the Cold War
9. Why did the US go to war in Korea and Vietnam and what were outcome of those wars?
Korean War- korea was split after world war 2. we pulled our troops out of south korea and USSR controlled N. Korea invaded the south. south korea wasnt doing well in the war. looked like south korea was going to lose then the United Nations stepped in and helped south korea take over north korea. then china got involved and push SK back down to where the countries were split. settled by an agreement to stop fighting, a peace treaty has never been signed so technically they are still at war with each other. Today US troops walk along the DMZ (demilitarized zone) between the two countries. 1950-1953
vietnam:
Wanted to stop the spread of communism. the french connection- during world war 2 the french controlled indochina, france didn't give vietnam their independence after WWII, so war broke out between vietnam and france. vietnam won. powerful countries met at the geneva conference and decided the country would be split at the 17th parallel. communist north, non-communist south. didn't gain independence like they hoped. an election was supposed to be held to vote for a leader of the whole country, but both sides were not confident and the election never happened.
sides: US and south vietnamese against North vietnam and the vietcong
vietcong- guerilla warfare, communists in the south that fought against us. very difficult to find the enemy.
escalation- started with truman-johnson. the involvement in the vietnam war escalated through those presdients. truman- sent money to help the french fight the vietnamese. eisenhower also sent money and provided military advisors. kennedy- continued with money and advisors, also sent special operation forces (green berets). johnson- sent more and more combat forces.
gulf of tonkin resolution- a couple US ships were attacked by vietnam torpedoes. (questionable) was our declaration of war. congress gave johnson the power to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States." gave him the power to wage war in vietnam. only two people in congress voted against this.
tet offensive was a lunar new year in vietnam- important holiday- a major offensive by the n. viet and the vietcong. launched offensives in dozens of major cities. johnson had been sending more and more troops. the people believed that the US had been lying when they said the war was almost over. the war turned negative in 1968. up to this point the enemy had been using guerilla warfare, we liked the fact that they were using normal warfare tactics. they knew they had to use guerilla tactics to get rid of the US.
goes down in history as a loss for the united states but it is actually a very strong military win. this war was hard to get out of. "can't leave until the job is done"
nixon promised to end the war. said they were going to pull out of the war and let the vietnam people fight. (vietnamization). believed that we could leave honorably.
peace agreement didnt last. two years after we pulled out the north invaded the south. the south was not strong enough and was taken over. July 2, became one communist country. still communist today.
10. How did the Cold War come to an end?
the soviet union's economy was bad
11. Know these major major post-Cold War Events:
-JFK Assassination
assassinated during a parade. shot at 12:30 took a ten month investigation to find out who killed him and that he acted alone. he also killed a police officer. kennedy was going down there to help settle a dispute between gov. connley and another political member. assassin- lee harvey oswald
-Watergate
people were caught sneaking into the watergate hotel to listen in on a democratic convention, people believed nixon was in charge of this.
-Iran Hostage Crisis
-Persian Gulf War(1991)
persian gulf war- started when iraq invaded kuwait. sedan hussien led this- became a bad guy when he gassed his own people. iraq thought kuwait was using oil across the border. invaded in aug. 1990. Operation desert shield- sent 1000s of US troops to saudi arabia. hoped it would prevent invasion by iraq. we became a shield. hoped that it would send a message to sudan hussien to get out of kuwait. bombed iraq and kuwait for days, then invaded kuwait, within a month we won. our goal was to free kuwait from iraqi control. negative outcome- destruction of infrastructure. after the war was over, iraq had to agree to a no fly zone to protect the people in iraq. everyday US troops would be flying over those areas. the IAEA sent weapon inspectors to iraq to make sure they weren't making weapons of mass destruction with nuclear power. believed they had WMDs but we never found any.
-9-11
-War in Afghanistan
we went to war there. taliban was the leader of the country. went to war there because thats where al queda was training. took down their gov't very quickly. helped rebuild their infrastructure, helped draft a new constitution. hope to be out by the end of 2014. lost focus and started focusing on the war in iraq.
-War in Iraq
2003, went to war in iraq to get saddam hussein because we believed they had weapons of mass destruction. bush said if you dont allow weapon inspectors in by this date we will invade, they didn't do it so we invaded. captured saddam hussein in a hole. the new iraqi gov't put him on trial for crimes against humanity such as gas attacking his own people. al queda started moving into iraq, there was a civil war going on, had to deal with many problems in iraq during that time. when the war was most popular bush decided to send more troops, called the surge. worked perfectly. violence went down and things got under control. by the end of 2011 the war was over. terrorist attacks in iraq have gone up 50%.
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