Great Depression/Timelines

1850-1918

11 US recessions [1] including the panic of 1893

1914-18

First World War

1918

Treaty of Versailles: war reparations [2].

1919-21

UK:

Post-war recession [3].

1921-23

USA:

Post-war recession [4].

1923

Germany:

Hyperinflation [5]

France and Belgium invade the Ruhr [6].

The Schacht Rentenmark: price stability restored [7].

1924

USA:

Start of 1924-26 upturn [8]

Germany

Dawes Plan (for rescheduling of German reparations payments) agreed [9].

1925

UK:

Britain rejoins the gold standard.

1926

UK:

General strike [10].

1927 USA:

Long Island meeting of central bankers to discuss UK plea to help the £ by raising the US discount rate [11].

Federal Reserve Bank cuts its discount rate cut from 4% to 3.5% and makes large purchases US government securities [12].

Renewed economic upturn

1928

US:

Federal Reserve Bank raises its discount rate to 5%

1929

February

UK

Bank of England raises the bank rate fron 4.5% to 5.5%

August

USA:

Start of a downturn in economic activity [13]

Federal Reserve Bank raises discount rate to 6%.

Germany:

Collapse of Frankfurter Allgemeine Verischerungs AG and runs on savings banks

October

USA:

The stock market crash of 1929.

24 Black Thursday DJIA falls by 13%

28 Black Monday DJIA falls by 12.8%

29 Black Tuesday DJIA falls by 11.7%

1930-33

USA:

The "Great Contraction"

Banking crises

Three waves of panic create a progressive collapse of the United States banking system, with the failure of nearly half of the banks and heavy. losses by the others.

1930

USA:

Failure of the Bank of United States [14].

Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act [15][16]

GNP drops 9.4% from the previous year. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7%. By the end of the year, 1,350 banks have closed.

France:

Failure of Banque Adam and the Oustric Group.

Germany

2nd reparations conference at The Hague.

Young Plan (further rescheduling reparations payments but giving priority to the repayment of debts to the United States) agreed [17]. Bank for International Settlements created.

1931

USA:

Banking crisis, with the failure of over 1800 banks.

UK:

Sterling (£) Crisis [18].

Austria:

Failure of Creditanstalt

Germany:

Banking crisis. Closure of Darmstädter bank followed by general banking collapse and credit crunch.

France:

Failure of Banque Nationale de Crédit and bank runs.

World:

Britain, Sweden and Japan leave the gold standard [19]

1932

USA:

Chicago Banking Panic [20].

Revenue Act: income tax rates increased and allowances reduced [21].

Reconstruction Finance Corporation [22] created

Federal Home Loan Act [23]

Recorded unemployment reaches 25 percent.

World

Lausanne Conference agrees to the suspesion of reparations payments by Germany [24]

1933

USA:

Trough of depression and start of recovery [25]

Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president.

President declares a banking holiday and temporarily closes all U.S. banks using the Emergency Banking Act 1933[26].

The National Recovery Administration and the Public Works Administration created by the National Recovery Act 1933 [27]

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [28] created

Federal Emergency Relief Administration [29] created

Money supply is 40 percent lower than 1929.

Approximately 4,000 commercial banks fail.

1,700 S&Ls fail

Germany

Fall of Weimar government: Hitler gains power.

1934

USA:

Social Security Act: unemployment compensation introduced [30].

GNP rises 7.7 percent, and unemployment falls to 21.7 percent.

France:

Riots in the streets of Paris [31][32]

1935

USA:

GNP grows another 8.1 percent, and unemployment falls to 20.1 percent.

1936

1937

USA:

Recession of 1937 [33]: industrial production down 40 percent; unemployment rises by 4 million; stock market drops by 48 percent.

1938

USA: Start of upturn