The Great Depression was a terrible worldwide economic slump that lasted from 1929 to 1939. It brought massive unemployment and poverty, factories shutting down, and lots of banks failing. It started in the US with the famous stock market crash of 1929. Many countries suffered badly, especially the US, UK, and Germany, where people lost their jobs and homes.
Before the Depression, there was a flashy 1920s boom ("Roaring Twenties"), but much of the money was risky gambling, like on the stock market. This made inequality worse. Things started going wrong in 1929, with falling spending and rising unemployment. The stock market kept dropping after the crash, making people lose faith. Soon, a quarter of Americans were unemployed, banks collapsed, and farming was disaster.
The government didn't help much at first, and a protectionist law passed in 1930 actually made things worse. People voted for FDR, who introduced the New Deal to try and fix things. In Germany, the Depression helped the Nazi party grow. The whole world's economy took a huge hit, with factories stopping, farm prices falling, and trade collapsing. WWII eventually ended the Depression by creating jobs.
