How Did Ww2 Contribute To The Great Depression

371 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of World War II

WWII and the great depression were important economic events during the twentieth century(Tassava-para1). On September 1, 1939, France and Great Britain sent Adolf Hitler an ultimatum either to withdraw German forces from Poland, or they both would go on war against Germany(about education-para 14,15). In spite of the ultimatum, German forces didn’t leave Poland so the war had begun(about education-para 15). The U.S. tried to stay neutral, but supported France, England, and Soviet Union. However, when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan, the U.S. decided to join the Allies (France, England, and Russia) and join the war against the Axis Powers (Japan,Germany, and Italy). When the U.S. entered WWII, the Great Depression ended with the explosive spending during times of war(bill,- …show more content…

During the war, the unemployment rate declined, and the GDP increased because of producing war weapons(Tassava-table1 ). Also, the Lend Lease Act was an important economic action during WWII. The Lend Lease Act mostly means providing U.S. military aid to the allies during World War II(Lend-Lease-Act History.com-para 1). Under the terms of "lend-lease," these allies would repay the United States not in money but by using them in support of the cause, or by a similar goods(kimball-para 1). Wartime estimates, including the value of services and technological transfers, came to $50 billion (1945 dollars) of aid to America's wartime allies(Encyclopedia-para 7). Despite of the economic growth, the U.S. still needed money for the war. So the government extended the income tax and federal tax, 4 million in 1939 to 43 million in 1945. However, the extended taxed only covered 40 percents of the war cost, the Treasury Department also expanded its bond program to cover the rest 60

Show More
Related

  • America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience by Robert H. Zieger

    1764 Words  | 4 Pages

    After the election of 1920 America would return to its isolationism roots and watch as the nations of Europe headed down a path for another world war. As Americans watched Communism rise in Russia they questioned for the first time the patronage of their fellow Americans. Economic and social reforms that started up during the war were set to a status-quo mentality. The actions set forward from the Treaty of Versailles and stance the U.S. Congress took on the League of Nations would eventually lead the world in the worst depression ever and ultimately to a second world war in a mere twenty years.

    Read More

  • How Has Pearl Harbor Changed America

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    Third, during the war the US economy plummeted as we were still recovering from the great depression. We didn’t have much time since the great depression to the war. The unemployment rate since the great depression was low, but the war started to change that. “The United States was still recovering from the impact of the Great Depression and the unemployment rate was hovering around 25%”(Impact...KLRU). A lot of men were sent off to war so there jobs were not getting done and someone had to get them

    Read More

  • Cold War Domestic Policy Essay

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    and other countries.People may argue that the foreign policies made at this time were ineffective. The Marshall Plan spent a lot of the U.S. money to rebuild and help countries in Western Europe recover from the war. Americans may not have appreciated the fact that the U.S. government decided to give other countries money when it could have been used for something more important in the U.S. The Truman Doctrine let the U.S. be in a close distance to the Soviet union and their buffer contraries, therefore provoking them and creating more unneeded tension. The idea of communism needed to be stopped but these policies may not have been the correct approach. The U.S. should have been constantly trying to negotiate with them even if they did not want to. Besides the fear of communism, people may argue that the domestic affairs were overall very good in the U.S. The economy was striving and many people had enough money to buy houses, foods, supplies, cars, and other discretionary items. The women that took over men’s jobs during the war made good money and had a lot of savings. Therefore, when the war was over they were able to help support their returning partners or family members. From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, millions of children were born, known as the Baby Boom. Also, the G.I. Bill was passed to help anyone who fought in the war, worked in factories that made supplies for the war, and anyone who did anything to help the war effort start their new life. The G.I. Bill did not include women, African Americans or Jewish people only white men. The government paid for these people to go to college, get higher paying jobs, and even get new

    Read More

  • Baby Boomer Generation's Impact On The Environment

    578 Words  | 2 Pages

    The period after the war was thought by many to be a time of peace and prosperity, so it was a great time to have children around 77 million babies were born between 1946 to 1964 (History.com Staff). The ending and winning of the war direct influence on the on the increase of the population and reasonably a link to everything in our recent past since that time period. European countries on the other hand was in a disastrous state after the war. Countries economies were in a dire situation, so many took loans from the Unite States ( Sailus). The loans were not enough, as countries began printing money which caused inflation and their currency to become useless (Sailus). In the United States, the debate over the European economy was popular due to the ending of the Great Depression, men returning to work, and just ending an expensive war (Sailus). Many feared for the stability of the United States’ economy after loaning to Europe

    Read More

  • How Did Ww2 Affect The American Economy

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the American economy was gradually recovering thanks to the New Deal, Roosevelt decided to increase interaction with neighboring countries. When the Second World War began, Roosevelt saw it as an opportunity to increase production and boost America’s economy. During the 1930 to 1940s, the production of munitions greatly increased. The Second World War significantly increased American economic interaction with South America, Great Britain, and Canada. This lead to greater relations between Latin America and a faster victory as U.S. citizens began to see a shift in economic, political, and social ideals.

    Read More

  • 1920s: The Roaring Decade

    1722 Words  | 4 Pages

    World War I may not have made the world safe for democracy, but it did help to lay the groundwork for a decade of American economic expansion. The war began in Europe in 1914, and the United States entered the fray in 1917. The 1920s saw the growth of the culture of consumerism. A significant reason for United States involvement in the war was the nation’s economic links to the Allied Powers, and especially to Great Britain. American soldiers returned home in May 1919 with the promise of a prosperous decade (Baughman 197).

    Read More

  • U.S. Entry into WWII

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States, at the time of World War II, was facing an economic depression which concerned the American public and President Roosevelt because they knew that America’s involvement in the war was inevitable. Most resources state that “the United States entered World War II largely unprepared” (America and World War II 610). However, due to the fact that while preparing for the war there was an increase in economic growth, African Americans and women became more involved in industry and the military, and President Roosevelt incorporated several acts and embargos that encouraged Americans to produce more supplies as well as permitted Britain and France to purchase goods from the United States, it can be argued that America was in fact prepared for its entry into World War II. The external threads of continuity, such as economic, social, political, and geographic factors, had a greater impact on the United States preparedness for war, which resulted in the overall success of the Allied Powers. President Roosevelt was concerned that the American economy, which was in a state of depression, would prevent the United States from successfully preparing for war.

    Read More

  • War Of 1812 Essay Topics

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    in the post war period. It laid out the groundwork for economic expansion in three ways: First agricultural boost after the war increased the demand for cotton and Tabaco. Second, improvements of transportation increased the demand for better roads and canals to expedite goods smoothly across the nation. Lastly was the factory system growth which was caused by the Embargo Acts and the War of 1812. The war was a benefit to the domestic factor, providing a plentiful labor support.

    Read More

  • US Entry into WWII

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    Prior to the United States entering the war, the major problem in America was the Great Depression. As they watched the war spread, many maintained the “isolationist” mindset because of thoughts of World War I ("World War II."). Tragedy struck on December 7, 1941 when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor was the action that made the United States question their neutrality and was the last of the of the U.S’s isolation. Due to the tension between the United States and Japan preceding the war, the attack on Pearl Harbor was not much of a surprise ("World War II."). Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Now with the United States joining Britain in the fight against the Axis Powers industries began to produce military goods ("World War II"). Businesses increased because of the need for more people to work in the factories, so unemployment, caused by the Great Depression, lowered. The increase in businesses put an end to the Great ...

    Read More

  • The Constitutional Convention

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Americans bought bonds to help support the war and in return, would be repaid in full at an agreed-upon interest rate. A government refusing to repay its war debts, including the interest owed to bondholders, would seem untrustworthy to lenders. Citizens would hesitate to invest their savings in U.S. government bonds, or in new businesses, knowing that the government might break its promise to repay or might allow others to do so. In other words, the U.S. government was severely restricted in its capacity t...

    Read More

  • The U.S Budget Deficit

    1510 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the 1940's which would be the World War II and great depression era, there was an increase in debt. This was because of all the funding that went towards the war and New Deal policies. I...

    Read More

  • The Rise of the American Empire

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    Aside from national security interests domestic thirst for oil boomed. The war brought us out of the Great Depression. During the Depression a traditionally capitalist American society embraced a kind of socialism with the New Deal. WWII transformed the bear turned in a raging bull. Capitalism was back with a vengeance, charging forward stronger than it had ever been before. The heavy industry built up to sustain the war effort was retooled to meet the demands of the emerging consumerist culture of the 1950s. The new explosion of industrial output became so pervasive that the decade ended with President Eisenhower warning of the dangers of the growing “Military-Industrial Complex.”

    Read More

  • President Lyndon. B Johnson and the Vietnam War

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    As president, it was too difficult for Johnson to please two issues, social or military. Since Johnson tried to stay neutral and attempting to make both of them work, the United States economy suffered because spending was clearly increased. “President Lyndon,” he said. B. Johnson’s decision to finance a major war and the Great Society simultaneously, without a significant increase in taxation, launched a runaway double digit inflation and mounting federal debt that ravaged the American economy and eroded living standards from the late 1960’s to into the 1990s”(Oxford Companion 766). It is impossible to avoid economic problems with major spending increases without some tax increases.

    Read More

  • How Did The Great Depression Affect The Economy

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though the Allies and the Axis Powers had been at war since 1939, the United States remained neutral until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December. The civilian economies of both the Soviet Union and Great Britain shrank by nearly one-third during war time. In the United States civilian consumption expanded by nearly 15 percent. The war forever banished the Depression and ignited the economic after-burners that propelled the American economy to unprecedented heights of prosperity in the postwar decades. Roosevelt created ways to maximize the advantages at minimum costs. From ‘Ken Burns “The War,” Explore PBS Website,’ it says “American industry provided almost two-thirds of all the Allied military equipment produced during the war: 297,000 aircraft, 193,000 artillery pieces, 86,000 tanks and two million army trucks. In four years, American industrial production, already the world’s largest, doubled in size.” This shows the scope of American production, post-Depression, and the major turnaround of the American economy it caused. War production profoundly changed the American industry where industries were transformed. For example, making cars turned into making engines and other parts for airplane engines, guns, tanks, and other military purposes. The War also led to many social changes, including a women’s movement that would put women into previously male only

    Read More

  • The Causes Of The Great Depression

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Depression was a period of first-time decline in economic movement. It occurred between the years 1929 and 1939. It was the worst and longest economic breakdown in history. The Wall Street stock market crash started the Great Depression; it had terrible effects on the country (United States of America). When the stock market started failing many factories closed production of all types of good. Businesses and banks started closing down and farmers fell into bankruptcy. Many people lost everything, their jobs, their savings, and homes. More than thirteen million people were unemployed.

    Read More

More about How Did Ww2 Contribute To The Great Depression

Open Document