Practice Flashcards
What are the two main categories of causes of the Great Depression that Paper 3 requires you to explain?
Track your progress — Sign up free to save your progress and get smart review reminders based on spaced repetition.
All Flashcards in Topic 19.12
Below are all 24 flashcards for this topic. Sign up free to track your progress and get personalized review schedules.
19.12.112 cards
What are the two main categories of causes of the Great Depression that Paper 3 requires you to explain?
Political causes (e.g. Republican low-regulation, low-tax, high-tariff policy under Harding/Coolidge) and economic causes (overproduction, unequal wealth, credit/margin buying, weak banks, farm depression).
What is 'buying on margin'?
Buying shares using mostly borrowed money, putting down only a small deposit — this multiplied both gains and losses, making the 1929 stock market crash far more damaging.
Give an example of a chain of causation from overproduction to bank failure.
Overproduction → unsold goods and falling prices → factories cut jobs and profits fall → some turn to stock speculation instead → Crash wipes out margin investors → banks that lent for speculation or held falling investments collapse.
What was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930) and what effect did it have?
A law raising US import taxes on over 20,000 goods, meant to protect US industry. Other countries retaliated with their own tariffs, so world trade collapsed, deepening the Depression globally.
What philosophy guided Herbert Hoover's response to the Depression?
Voluntarism and 'rugged individualism' — the belief that private charity, local government, and voluntary business cooperation should solve the crisis, not direct federal relief to individuals.
What was the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932)?
Hoover's main intervention: a federal agency that lent money to banks, railroads, and insurance companies to stop them collapsing. Criticized for rarely reaching ordinary unemployed families.
What was the Bonus Army incident (1932) and why did it matter?
WWI veterans camped in Washington DC demanding early payment of a promised bonus; Hoover had the army forcibly clear them. The harsh scenes badly damaged Hoover's public image before the 1932 election.
What are the '3 Rs' of FDR's New Deal?
Relief (immediate help for the unemployed and poor), Recovery (getting the economy growing again), and Reform (fixing structural weaknesses so it couldn't happen again).
Name two New Deal agencies focused mainly on Relief, and two focused mainly on Reform.
Relief: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Works Progress Administration (WPA). Reform: Social Security Act (1935), Wagner Act (1935).
Why did the Supreme Court strike down the NRA and AAA?
The Court ruled in 1935 (NRA, Schechter case) and 1936 (AAA) that these programmes were unconstitutional over-reach by the federal government into areas beyond its powers.
Name one critic of the New Deal from the political left and one from the right.
Left: Huey Long ('Share Our Wealth'), who said it didn't redistribute wealth enough. Right: the American Liberty League, business leaders who said it was pushing the US towards socialism.
Did the New Deal fully end the Great Depression by 1939?
No. Unemployment fell from about 25% (1933) to about 14% (1937), but a recession hit in 1937–38. Full recovery only came with wartime production spending from 1941.
19.12.212 cards
Who was Canadian PM until 1930 and believed relief was a provincial, not federal, responsibility?
William Lyon Mackenzie King (Liberal)
Who was Canadian PM 1930–1935 whose tariffs deepened the Depression before a late 'New Deal'?
R.B. Bennett (Conservative)
What was the On-to-Ottawa Trek?
A 1935 protest where relief-camp workers rode boxcars toward Ottawa demanding better conditions; stopped violently at the Regina Riot
Define Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI).
Building domestic factories to produce goods that were previously imported, used by Latin American states when imports became unaffordable
What triggered the 1930 coup against President Yrigoyen in Argentina?
Economic collapse and falling export revenue discredited his government, leading to a military takeover and the 'Infamous Decade'
How did Getúlio Vargas come to power in Brazil, and what did his rule become?
Seized power after a disputed 1930 election; later ruled as dictator under the Estado Novo from 1937
Process: how did export dependence lead to political instability in Latin America?
Export prices collapsed after 1929 → government tax revenue fell → states couldn't pay debts/workers → public anger → coups/authoritarian takeovers
How did African Americans experience New Deal relief programmes?
They suffered the highest unemployment and faced discrimination in relief programmes (e.g. unequal CCC pay), despite being a target of some aid
What were the Federal Art, Theatre, and Writers' Projects?
US New Deal programmes that paid unemployed artists and writers to create murals, plays, and guidebooks
Compare: Canada's response to the Depression vs the USA's under FDR.
Canada (King then Bennett) was slower and more limited due to divided federal/provincial power and political caution; the USA under FDR intervened boldly and quickly with the New Deal
What is Mexican muralism, and who is its key example named in this micro?
Large public murals celebrating workers and national identity; Diego Rivera is the named example
What percentage of Canadian workers were unemployed by 1933?
About 27%
Topic 19.12 study notes
Full notes & explanations for The Great Depression and the Americas (mid 1920s–1939)
History exam skills
Paper structures, command terms & tips
Want smart review reminders?
Sign up free to track your progress. Our spaced repetition algorithm will tell you exactly which cards to review and when.
Start Free