Franklin. D Roosevelt

By immediately responding to the public, he restored the peoples' confidence. He also signed the New Deal, something that would help pull the US out of the Great Depression.

U.S. Flag

Type of Government: Constitutional Republic & Presidential System

The Crash of 1929: Also known as Black Thursday, began on October 24th, 1929. This was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. This signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. After an economic boom post World War 1, many people invested their money into stocks. When the market crashed, so did the invested people's lives.

Keynesian Economics:
An attempt to understand why the Great Depression was happening with a theory that economic output is strongly influenced by how much money is being spent into the economy. This is especially prevalant in the Great Depression. Since people had no money to put into the economy, it would be extremely difficult for the economy to recover.

Vladimir Lenin

Believed that the industrial working class did not have the skills necessary to lead effective political action. Caused trouble to force Russia to withdrawal from WW1.

Joseph Stalin Russian nationalist who had an unchallenged dictatorship of the Soviet Union during its time of depression.

Soviet Union Flag

Type of Government: Totalitarianism and Communist State

Bolshevik Revolution: Originally Initiated by Vladimir Lenin, launched attack against the Duma's provisional government. Lenin aimed for a Soviet government ruled specifically by soldiers, workers, and peasants. Eventually, Lenin became the dictator of the world's first communist state.

War Communism: The name given to Russia's economic system during its time of depression. This was first introduced by Lenin in an effort to halt the economic issues brought on by the civil war. Banks were nationalized, and foreign trade became a state monopoly. Discipline and hard work were stressed, as Linen believed these were the keys to a revolution. Private businesses were expropriated, and the industry was nationalized. This negatively impacted agriculture and industrial production.

New Economic Policy: Created by Lenin after he revised Russia's original economic policy. Because of this new policy, peasants were allowed to sell a portion of their produce for profit, and small traders were allowed to run businesses. These measures returned agriculture and retail trade to private ownership. Money was reintroduced to the economy. This gave stability to the economy and allowed the people of the Soviet Union to recover from war and government mismanagement.

Five Year Plans: Implemented by Stalin, was a way to create economic growth by using quotas. This focused on heavy industry and organization of agriculture, at the expense of minimizing consumer goods. Military strength was emphasized, which angered western powers. Stalin's goal was to quickly transform the Soviet Union, no matter the cost. His aim was an industrialized state. However, his goals were unrealistic and not attained in the time being.

Collectivization: The way the Soviet Union planned to transform traditional agriculture and reduce economic power of peasants. Peasants were forced to give up their farms and join collective farms. This gave the government more control of not only peasants, but also the agriculture being grown in the Soviet Union. These peasants were forced to sell a large amount of their produce at low prices, allowing the state to gain the capital necessary to industrialize.

The Great Purge:

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler seized the opportunity to gain power after the German population went into poverty and deep misery. Hitler changed tactics used by the Germans and the Nazis after rising to power.

German Flag

The Nazi Party: Founded in 1919, was started by Anton Drexler and shortly after dominated by Hitler. This caused the Germans to abandon the Treaty of Versailles, as was specifically meant to gain support from the working class. The Great Depression in Germany brought the Nazi Party to its nationwide relevance. Dropping employment rates gave more support to the Nazi Party. Eventually, majority of Germany was part of the Nazi Party.

National Socialism: With massive unemployment and economic drought in Germany during the Great Depression, the German government, specifically Hitler, launched ways to combat this. Industrial production in Germany was diminishing. Hitler's proposal was a way that he believed would restore the nation's economy by overcoming unemployment. Businessmen were encouraged to invest and hire, while consumers were encouraged to spend. The number of unemployed citizens strikingly dropped, and the economy was on its way to recovering.

Hitler's Rise to Power: After Germany's defeat, Hitler began work in the political field. With widespread discontent in Germany after war and economic difficulties, Hitler saw his opportunity to gain power. Hitler began working himself up in the Deutsche Arbeiterspartei party, which later became the Nazi party. Since Hitler was a public speaker, he demanded that he become the party leader. Eventually Hitler's power increased as he gained more support after nationwide discontent.

The Racial State: The Nazi party held many different racial laws, announced in Nuremberg in 1935, which were named the Nuremberg Laws. These included prohibitions against German Jews, preventing them from having relations to people of German heritage. Though many races were targeted, it was specifically Jews put under pressure, leading to the outbreaks that caused World War 2. Jews in Germany were defined as anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents. Consequently, many people who converted from Judaism to other religions were still considered Jews, and thus discriminated against.

Nazi Eugenics: Hitler viewed the "Nordic Race" as ideal, and attempted to make Germany a cohesive nation that excluded anyone whose genes were seen as "less valuable." Public health measures were taken to control reproduction in an effort to strengthen the national body. They attempted this by eliminating biologically "non-ideal" genes from the population. Specifically, Jews were purged from basic rights and places.

Kristallnacht: A wave of violent anti-Jewish programs throughout Germany, and other areas dominated by Germany. Synagogues were burned, Jewish businesses were destructed, Jewish people were killed, and many other Jewish buildings and places were destroyed. 30,000 German Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. This began what would turn into the root cause for WW2.