The Great Depression | Social Studies

Hi everyone! Welcome to another post, today for Social Studies, we learned about the Great Depression. Because of the fact that we have started learning about the Holocaust, we started by looking at the Great Depression the cause of it and why it was related to the Holocaust. Our task was to write three paragraphs answering questions on the impact of the Great Depression.

Why was Germany hit the hardest during the depression?

Germany was incapacitated the hardest during the Great Depression of 1929. The Great Depression is a relevant topic that displays the importance of money, banks and the stock pay market. After suffering a grand defeat from the first world war, Germany had to pay off the debt that was assigned t them from the allies due to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany did not have enough money to pay off its debt, making society treat money as if it wasn't worth as much much as a block of butter. banks weren't of much help either; it was very difficult for them as they experienced many downfalls where people would withdraw a hefty amount of money. This just shows how much damage the Great Depression did to Germany. 

Explain what Germany had to agree to by signing the Treaty of Versailles?

Germany was forced to acknowledge various amounts of terms by signing the Treaty of Versailles written by the Allies. The Treaty of Versailles was very damaging towards Germany as some of the terms included them losing a lot of money. The Treaty of Versailles which was an agreement written by the Allies included many clauses that the Germans hated the most because it blames Germany for starting the first world war. Germany also had to agree to pay reparation of £6.6 billion which Germany did not have. This caused the fall of Germany's economy and the beginning of the Great Depression. 

How was NZ affected by the Depression?

The Great Depression, like Germany, also affected many other countries outside of Europe which caused a huge fall in the economy worldwide. The appearance of the Great Depression did a lot of damage to Germany but also to other countries which created a big mark in the history books. During the Great Depression, many citizens lost their jobs in New Zealand due to the large economic fall. In just three years the national income fell by 40 per cent, which was further weakened by the burden of interest on the overseas debt. This caused the fall of New Zealand's economy which had affected the lifestyles of many citizens.