The Wall Street Crash of 1929 began in America. But the Great Depression devastated economies thousands of miles away.

Why did banks collapse in Europe? Why did factories close, unemployment explode, and international trade contract across the world?

The answer goes far beyond the stock market crash.

During the 1920s, countries became deeply connected through international lending, trade, banking, and a monetary system built around gold.

When the American economy began to collapse, those connections helped transmit the crisis across borders.

Foreign loans dried up. Banking systems came under pressure. Governments struggled to defend their currencies. And the international gold standard made it harder for many countries to respond.

Then protectionism and collapsing global trade made the disaster even worse.

In this documentary, discover the hidden financial machinery behind the Great Depression — and why a crisis originating in the United States became a worldwide economic catastrophe.

From Wall Street in 1929 to the banking crises of the early 1930s, the gold standard, international debt, and the struggle for economic recovery, this is the story of how the world's financial systems helped spread one of history's greatest disasters.

FAMOUS HISTORY. HIDDEN MACHINERY.

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CHAPTERS

0:00 Berlin
0:54 national to global
1:36 a cheat
2:20 a flaw in the wiring
3:31 deflation
5:02 a thin plank
6:54 the rule-breakers rewarded
8:36 nobody in charge
10:21 gold drains away
12:09 January 1933
13:38 a fast recovery
15:36 April 1933 off gold
17:34 leave early, recover early
19:40 gold carried the shock
21:21 1936, gold is gone
23:10 when the belief broke
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RESEARCH & FURTHER READING

• Federal Reserve History — The Great Depression

• Barry Eichengreen — Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919–1939

• Ben S. Bernanke — Essays on the Great Depression

• Peter Temin — Lessons from the Great Depression

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THE FACT ARCHIVE explores the hidden systems behind famous history — money, trade, inventions, cities, technology, and the forces that quietly changed the world.

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