Chapter 12: The Great Depression (1929-1933)30 Questions
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1. The Great Depression began with the crash of which stock market?
A. London Stock Exchange
B. New York Stock Exchange (Wall Street)
C. Tokyo Stock Exchange
D. Paris Stock Exchange
Answer: B. New York Stock Exchange (Wall Street)
Explanation: The Great Depression started with the devastating crash of the Wall Street stock market on 24 October 1929 (Black Thursday).
2. In which year did the Great Depression begin?
A. 1928
B. 1929
C. 1930
D. 1931
Answer: B. 1929
Explanation: The economic collapse began in October 1929 and lasted throughout the 1930s, affecting the entire globe.
3. What was the main cause of the Wall Street Crash?
A. Inflation
B. Overproduction and speculation in shares
C. High taxes
D. Foreign imports
Answer: B. Overproduction and speculation in shares
Explanation: Excessive speculation, buying stocks on borrowed money, and industrial overproduction created a massive economic bubble that burst.
4. Who was the US President who implemented the 'New Deal'?
A. Herbert Hoover
B. Franklin D. Roosevelt
C. Woodrow Wilson
D. Calvin Coolidge
Answer: B. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Explanation: FDR was elected in 1932 and initiated the 'New Deal', a series of massive economic relief and reform programs.
5. The Great Depression severely impacted which country's economy, leading to the rise of Nazism?
A. France
B. Italy
C. Germany
D. Britain
Answer: C. Germany
Explanation: The Great Depression devastated Germany's fragile economy, causing massive unemployment and political extremism that paved the way for Hitler.
6. What was the name of the American economic policy of massive government spending to create jobs?
A. The New Deal
B. The Great Society
C. The Square Deal
D. The Fair Deal
Answer: A. The New Deal
Explanation: FDR's New Deal involved government-funded infrastructure projects, social security, and financial reforms to lift the US out of depression.
7. How did the Great Depression impact global trade?
A. It increased global trade
B. It caused a collapse in international trade
C. It had no effect
D. It pushed trade to Asia
Answer: B. It caused a collapse in international trade
Explanation: As economies crashed, countries imposed heavy tariffs, causing international trade volumes to plummet by over 65%.
8. The term 'Dust Bowl' refers to what ecological disaster during the Depression?
A. A major drought in the American Plains
B. A flood in the Mississippi
C. An earthquake in California
D. A hurricane in Florida
Answer: A. A major drought in the American Plains
Explanation: Severe drought and poor farming practices caused devastating dust storms in the Great Plains, ruining farmers and displacing them.
9. Which US president was in power when the stock market crashed in 1929?
A. Franklin D. Roosevelt
B. Herbert Hoover
C. Calvin Coolidge
D. Warren G. Harding
Answer: B. Herbert Hoover
Explanation: Herbert Hoover was the US President when the Wall Street Crash occurred, but his policies were largely blamed for failing to stop the depression.
10. The Great Depression caused unemployment in the USA to peak at roughly what percentage?
A. 10%
B. 25%
C. 40%
D. 50%
Answer: B. 25%
Explanation: Unemployment in the US soared to nearly 25% by 1932, with over 12 million Americans left jobless.
11. What happened to the German economy during the Great Depression?
A. It remained stable
B. Hyperinflation and massive unemployment returned
C. It became the strongest in Europe
D. It was taken over by France
Answer: B. Hyperinflation and massive unemployment returned
Explanation: US loans to Germany were recalled, causing bank collapses and an unemployment rate over 30%, which fueled Nazi extremism.
12. The British government responded to the Great Depression by doing what?
A. Establishing the welfare state
B. Imposing high tariffs and leaving the Gold Standard
C. Invading other nations
D. Implementing communist policies
Answer: B. Imposing high tariffs and leaving the Gold Standard
Explanation: Britain tried to protect its economy by passing tariff acts and abandoning the Gold Standard in 1931.
13. What were 'Hoovervilles'?
A. Large houses for the rich
B. Makeshift shanty towns for the homeless
C. Government offices
D. Farm barns
Answer: B. Makeshift shanty towns for the homeless
Explanation: These were massive shantytowns built from scrap materials by displaced, homeless citizens, named bitterly after President Hoover.
14. Which economic theory was widely challenged by the Great Depression?
A. Keynesian economics
B. Laissez-faire (free market) capitalism
C. Socialism
D. Mercantilism
Answer: B. Laissez-faire (free market) capitalism
Explanation: The Depression proved that unregulated free markets could fail disastrously, leading to government intervention in the economy.
15. The US government created the 'Tennessee Valley Authority' (TVA) to do what?
A. Provide jobs and electricity to a poor region
B. Destroy industrial plants
C. Manage the stock market
D. Import cheap goods
Answer: A. Provide jobs and electricity to a poor region
Explanation: The TVA was a New Deal program that built massive dams, providing cheap electricity and thousands of jobs to the depressed Tennessee Valley.
16. How did the Great Depression impact agriculture in the USA?
A. Farm produce prices tripled
B. Farm prices collapsed drastically
C. It was largely unaffected
D. Farming became highly profitable
Answer: B. Farm prices collapsed drastically
Explanation: Farmers produced too much food for a population that could not afford to buy it, causing the prices of corn and wheat to crash.
17. Who founded the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) during the New Deal?
A. FDR
B. Herbert Hoover
C. Henry Ford
D. J.P. Morgan
Answer: A. FDR
Explanation: The FDIC was created by FDR to insure bank deposits, preventing the bank runs that had caused massive financial panic.
18. The Great Depression severely weakened which major colonial European power?
A. Great Britain
B. France
C. Spain
D. Portugal
Answer: A. Great Britain
Explanation: The global economic collapse devastated British industry and exports, fundamentally weakening Britain's ability to hold onto its colonies.
19. How did Japan respond to the Great Depression?
A. By promoting peaceful trade
B. By expanding militarism and invading Manchuria
C. By isolating itself
D. By joining the League of Nations
Answer: B. By expanding militarism and invading Manchuria
Explanation: Deprived of trade, Japan turned to military expansionism to acquire resources, leading to the invasion of Manchuria in 1931.
20. The term 'Black Tuesday' refers to which event?
A. The day the US stock market crashed hardest
B. The day the German market crashed
C. The day Britain left the Gold Standard
D. The day the New Deal began
Answer: A. The day the US stock market crashed hardest
Explanation: Black Tuesday, 29 October 1929, was the most devastating day of the Wall Street crash, with mass panic selling of stocks.
21. Which American social welfare program was established under the New Deal to support elderly and unemployed citizens?
A. Social Security Act
B. The Homestead Act
C. The Civil Rights Act
D. The GI Bill
Answer: A. Social Security Act
Explanation: The 1935 Social Security Act created a federal pension system for the elderly and provided unemployment insurance.
22. What did the 'Smoot-Hawley Tariff' of 1930 do to the US economy?
A. It helped the economy recover
B. It raised tariffs, sparking a global trade war
C. It lowered tariffs
D. It promoted free trade
Answer: B. It raised tariffs, sparking a global trade war
Explanation: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff raised US taxes on imports, causing other countries to retaliate with their own tariffs, deepening the depression.
23. During the Great Depression, what happened to millions of ordinary American bank accounts?
A. They became highly profitable
B. Bank runs caused them to be wiped out
C. They were transferred to the government
D. They were converted to gold
Answer: B. Bank runs caused them to be wiped out
Explanation: As banks collapsed, millions of Americans lost all their life savings, sparking panic and severe poverty across the country.
24. The Great Depression had a profound psychological impact on America, often characterized by what?
A. Extreme optimism
B. Massive insecurity, despair, and hopelessness
C. Religious revival only
D. New technological excitement
Answer: B. Massive insecurity, despair, and hopelessness
Explanation: The collapse of the economy shattered the American dream, leading to widespread psychological despair, broken families, and homelessness.
25. Which part of the US was hardest hit by the 'Dust Bowl'?
A. The East Coast
B. The Great Plains (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas)
C. The West Coast
D. The Deep South
Answer: B. The Great Plains (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas)
Explanation: The Dust Bowl primarily affected the Great Plains, displacing hundreds of thousands of "Okies" who moved to California.
26. How did the Great Depression contribute to the rise of dictators in Europe?
A. By proving that democracy works
B. By creating instability that extremist parties exploited
C. By strengthening the League of Nations
D. By promoting free elections
Answer: B. By creating instability that extremist parties exploited
Explanation: Economic hardship and fear made desperate populations turn to aggressive leaders like Hitler and Mussolini who promised solutions.
27. What major infrastructure project was built during the New Deal to provide massive employment?
A. The Panama Canal
B. The Hoover Dam
C. The Brooklyn Bridge
D. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline
Answer: B. The Hoover Dam
Explanation: The construction of the massive Hoover Dam on the Colorado River began in 1931 and employed thousands of workers.
28. The British economist John Maynard Keynes proposed that governments should do what during a depression?
A. Cut all spending
B. Spend heavily to boost demand
C. Raise taxes
D. Abolish the currency
Answer: B. Spend heavily to boost demand
Explanation: Keynes argued that governments should use deficit spending to inject money into the economy and revive consumer demand.
29. The global economic crisis of the 1930s was finally only completely resolved by what?
A. The New Deal
B. The start of World War II
C. The invention of computers
D. The formation of the UN
Answer: B. The start of World War II
Explanation: It was the massive military spending and industrial mobilization of WWII that finally ended the lingering effects of the Great Depression.
30. What fundamental change to the US financial system did the New Deal introduce?
A. Abolition of private property
B. Separation of investment and commercial banking (Glass-Steagall)
C. Banning all banks
D. Nationalization of heavy industries
Answer: B. Separation of investment and commercial banking (Glass-Steagall)
Explanation: The Glass-Steagall Act separated risky investment banking from safe savings and commercial banking to prevent future crashes.
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