Economy: boom to bust and recovery; structural weaknesses and impact of New Deals and Second World War
The US economy soared in the 1920s, then collapsed in the Great Depression. Government programmes called the New Deals, and then the Second World War, pulled it back to strength.
Real World
US unemployment fell from 14.6% in 1940 to under 2% by 1943 as war contracts flooded factories — evidence that it was wartime spending, not the New Deal alone, that ended the Depression.
Exam Focus
Identify structural weaknesses (overproduction, credit dependency, agricultural decline) separately from trigger causes (Wall Street Crash) — examiners credit this distinction.
Essay Framework
Use PEEL to structure every paragraph. Tap each step for guidance and an example.
How well did you know this?