Starting Point of Investigation in the Great Depression

             The introduction of the discussion will focus on the origins of .

             the Great Depression and the escalating events that led to it. This.

             will provide adequate foundations to bring up questions and attempt to .

             answer them in an objective fashion as to why and how the Depression .

             affected different industrialized countries in different ways.

             The core of the debate will consist of detailed comparable .

             analyses of the consequences of the Depression with an emphasis on.

             the economic aspects. The conclusion will provide a brief overview of .

             the ways used by the different governments to get out of that dark .

             episode of world economic history.

             When studying the Great Depression and it's effects, it is not .

             unusual for historians to choose World War I as a starting point for .

             their investigation. The reason for that is the importance of the .

             repercussions the conflict had on the economies of all the countries .

             that were involved in it.

             First of all, the War made it impossible for Europe to .

             maintain previous levels of production. For example, before the War,.

             France, the U.K. and Germany accounted for about 60 percent1 of the .

             world's exports of manufactured goods, a share of the market which .

             they could not sustain during the conflict. Consequently, Europe took .

             many of its markets to the U.S. and Japan. The stunted growth of the .

             European economies meant a lower demand for raw materials, which in .

             turn lowered the demand for European exports.

             In agriculture, things didn't look any better, as it was the .

             sector which employed the most people. At the end of World War I,.

             Europe was forced to import food from the U.S. Moreover, these .

             transactions were conducted on a credit basis since Europe could not .

             afford to pay for its purchase at that time.

             Clearly, the U.S. was going from being a traditional debtor of .

             Europe before World War I to becoming its creditor: America had .

             financed the war and it was issuing loans for its reconstruction.

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