The Great Depression was an austere economic depression that began in the late 1920’s and spanned until the late 1930’s. It was the longest and most widespread economic downturn in the history of America. It was characterized by the devastating effects it had on the United States. Personal incomes, tax revenues, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plummeted by more than 50% and unemployment rose to 25%. People all over the country were all impacted by this prolonged recession. Many people slumped into poverty and became homeless and unemployed citizens. This immense downturn was due to overproduction, the Wall Street crash, and the weak banking system, the European recession, the Gold Standard and the policies implemented by the Hoover administration. The depression lasted for over a decade before an economic upturn began to take hold. This marked the end of the Great Depression in the 1930’s. The end of the depression was due to World War II, the New Deal and new monetary policies implemented by the Federal Reserve Bank. Through close analysis of all these factors, it will be clear as to what caused and ended the Great Depression.

The causes of the Great Depression are vast and are not singular; as many different things added up cohesively to champion and start the Great Depression. Firstly, one of the crucial faults that lead to the depression was overproduction. This was from the agricultural and industrial markets over flooding of products in the