The Great Depression - Social Studies

 In social studies we are learning about The Great Depression and how Germany was effected. We were given 3 different questions to answer using lawyer paragraphs and 2 hours to complete these tasks. Some information was put in a slide on our teaches website but it didn't have all of the answers so it took a lot of researching to complete them.

Why was Germany hit hardest during the depression?

The Great Depression was a worldwide severe economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s. The Great Depression was particularly hard on the United States and Europe. Before The Great Depression Germany had been forced to sign The Treaty of Versailles so they would have less power and it was supposed to settle the arguments and the fighting that Germany had started. Two of the things that Germany had to agree to was paying for the damage from the war and reducing their army from 6 million to 100 thousand. This caused all of the people who left the army to have to get other jobs but because The Great Depression hit right after the treaty was signed, these people couldn’t find jobs or ways to get paid. Despite this, Germany as well as everyone else managed to get back on their feet. In the end Germany only managed to pay off the war by 2010. 6 million people in Germany were unemployed but when compared with the United States at its lowest points with 15 million unemployed people, it doesn't seem like a lot. When looking at the percentages, 20% of Americans in the United States were jobless where in Germany 24% were unemployed. Germany may have more people unemployed but because of the percentage of people in their state compared to the United States I think that they were hit the hardest.

What had Germany agreed to when they were forced to sign The Treaty of Versailles?

1 year after WW1, 1919, Germany was forced to sign a treaty that is widely known as the Treaty of Versailles. It was a peace treaty between France, Britain, Austria-Hungary, Japan, USA, and while Germany was involved the German Government did not participate. The choice for the Germans was either for them to sign the treaty or be occupied by allied troops. Even though Germany was angry because they thought that they didn’t start the war and decided that therefore it wasn't their fault, They signed the Treaty of Versailles under protest. Because the treaty was made so the Germans had less power, after it was signed the Germans army was reduced from 6 million to 100 thousand, it got rid of their submarines, military aircraft/ artilleries, and lessened their navy to 6 small battleships. Even after all of that they also had to pay for all of the costs of the war. (They only managed to pay this off in 2010 which was 91 years later). Though this treaty was used to help bring the Germans power down, I think that it only made them hunger for more.

How was NZ affected by The Great depression?

New zealand was an agricultural country which meant that we would sell most of our goods overseas. When The Great Depression hit, people couldn’t buy the goods that we would send out which meant that we lost a lot of our money for that was where most of our income came from. New zealand wasn't hit immediately but from 1930, export prices began to plummet, it managed to fall 45% by 1933. While sales were falling, so were the prices for they needed to sell their products before they went off. The money they would get before the great depression with their sales would be brought back to help pay for the products that they would need for the next sale. Because the great depression caused them to bring down their prices they would have barely been able to pay for more products to sell. New Zealand managed to start to get back onto their feet by 1935 but as like all of the other countries, they were barely making it by.