Coming of the Depression

• The Depression


  Economic downturn in the 1930s
• Main causes of the Depression

  • Decline of traditional industries due to competition from abroad, new markets, and obsolete methods
  • Impact of the Wall Street Crash and its effect on industry in Britain
• Decline of traditional industries

  • Competition from abroad - Britain relied on selling goods abroad, but foreign countries like USA and Japan were producing goods for less money
  • New markets - Difficult to find new markets for British goods as products were more expensive
  • Obsolete methods - USA had developed mass-production methods to produce goods such as cars, but Britain was slow to move to new, quicker and more efficient methods of production
• Impact of the Wall Street Crash on industry in Britain

  1. Business confidence fell dramatically

  2. International trade declined - Exports from Britain fell by half between 1929 and 1931

  3. Britain's balance of trade was badly affected - Trade deficit of £114 million in 1931 compared to a trade surplus of £104 million in 1928

  4. Unemployment numbers increased rapidly - From 2 million in 1930 to 3 million in 1932
• Wall Street Crash took place in the US


  29 October 1929
• "When America sneezes, the whole world feels it"