Big Era Eight: Landscape Unit 8.3

Why This Unit?

In the late 1920s, a deep economic depression engulfed much of the world. Its scope and severity were unprecedented. Although commonly associated with the United States, countries as different as Indonesia and Canada, Peru and Japan, Great Britain and the Belgian Congo reeled from devastating losses. Few experienced a full recovery until the onset of World War II ten years later. This “Great Depression,” as it came to be known, had profound repercussions for world history. The increasingly interdependent global economy of the early twentieth century splintered as governments raced to erect tariff walls and devalue currencies. In the face of high unemployment rates and declining revenues, economic nationalism prevailed over international cooperation. The catastrophe also produced a significant shift in political allegiances, both to the left and to the right of the ideological continuum. With large numbers of people enduring misery and hardship, populist politicians and movement leaders rallied support by targeting scapegoats, promising improved conditions, and promoting government intervention in every aspect of life. Although outwardly incongruous, national welfare programs, fascism, labor strikes, and anti-colonial protests all resulted from the depression.

This unit on the global impact of the Great Depression works on two levels. First it provides students with a comprehensive overview of what happened. They learn not only about the causes and consequences of this event but also about national similarities and differences. In addition, students will discover how governments turned inwards or undermined each other in the midst of the crisis, gain some appreciation for what it meant to live during the 1930s, and realize how the Great Depression fractured the modern world system and contributed to the outbreak of World War II. Third, this unit challenges the historical thinking of students. By utilizing a comparative framework, it underscores how United States history is intricately connected to the history of the rest of the world. The American experience did not unfold in isolation. The unit uses primary materials and online research to reveal the interplay of economic, political, and social history, for example, how global events influenced and reflected the actions of Vietnamese rice farmers or Canadian autoworkers. Finally, through discussion and debate, the unit reveals the complexities of history—that patterns of development are not straightforward, predictable, or uni-causal.