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Quiz about I Dont Remember This Do You
Quiz about I Dont Remember This Do You

I Don't Remember This, Do You? Quiz


The 1930s were a pretty rough decade, what with the Great Depression and all. My parents were small children then, so of course I don't recall what they endured. Let's review this era to find out how they and others survived these lean years.

A multiple-choice quiz by logcrawler. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
logcrawler
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
367,415
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
690
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Question 1 of 10
1. In which industrialized country did the Great Depression have its origins?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. One unusual phenomena of the Great Depression was what was termed a "run on the banks". What exactly did this term indicate? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Works of American literature abound that were written either about or during the time of the Great Depression, especially as it affected hard-hit areas of the U.S.
Which of the following books was NOT written with the backdrop of the Great Depression factoring into the storyline?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. The man who was president of the United States when the Depression began, Herbert Hoover, had several unflattering things named after him. Which of the following was NOT named in his "honor"? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The unemployment rate was higher in Australia than in the U.S. during the Great Depression.


Question 6 of 10
6. Spending fell, unemployment rose, government revenues plunged. The initial reaction of governments was to try to balance the budget, but this merely created a vicious circle. In one European country, deeply divided and heavily in debt (especially to U.S. banks) already before the onset of the Depression, the effects of this policy were particularly devastating, with unemployment reaching 25% plus. By mid 1932 the country seemed to be lurching towards civil war. Coping with the effects of the crisis while retaining its democratic structures seemed impossible as the political system failed. Which country was this that became a dictatorship in 1933? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. The dangers of having a "one-trick pony" as an economic engine probably could not have been made more clear in any country on earth as it was in Brazil during the Great Depression.

What was the major product that Brazil relied far too greatly upon for trade, which was totally insufficient to sustain its economy once the Depression really settled in worldwide?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Which of the following "New Deal" programs introduced during the Great Depression in the U.S. was responsible for the planting of trees, and may have been the most popular of the varied government work programs of the times? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. It seemed as if a combination of drought, soil erosion, and high winds had all conspired to exacerbate the already existing woes of the national economy of the United States when the Dust Bowl of the American heartland wiped out farms, adversely affecting the livelihood of thousands of farmers.
Which of the following U.S. states was not directly affected by the wind-driven dust storms of the era?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. There are many ways in which U.S. entry into WW2 was credited with helping to bring the Great Depression to an end.
Which of the following has NOT been suggested as a possibility that helped end the ill effects of Depression?
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In which industrialized country did the Great Depression have its origins?

Answer: The United States

The Great Depression came about as a result of the sudden "crash" of the stock market in the United States. October 29, 1929 became known as "Black Tuesday", since it was the date that the crash began to take its devastating toll on the industrialized world's economies.

Eventually, most nations on earth felt its effects as production of goods ground to a halt; banks failed due to generalized panic; farming began to cost more than profits were able to offset. In general, there was no "quick fix" to the problems, with the economies of many countries suffering horrific losses.

Let's not forget; people were suffering in all sorts of ways, up to and including loss of jobs, with its resultant loss of quality of life and in a myriad of different ways, not the least of which was deprivation or even starvation of some of the most poverty-stricken.

While economists still disagree on the major causes of the Great Depression, one thing is certain - the effects of it were felt worldwide for most of the decade of the 1930s and even beyond.
2. One unusual phenomena of the Great Depression was what was termed a "run on the banks". What exactly did this term indicate?

Answer: that people rushed to the bank to withdraw savings and funds

A bank run generally occurred when people rushed to withdraw their savings and deposits for fear that the banks would run out of money. This was a self-fulfilling prophecy, since the more people demanded their money, the less banks had to give out, thus causing the eventual collapse of the banking institution itself.

Bank runs were not unique to the Great Depression, however. Previous events had caused other panic runs, such as the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s, during which ridiculous pricing of tulip bulbs as a commodity caused the economic downturn of that nation.
The 1720s British "South Sea Bubble" was another instance of overpricing that eventually led to economic woes. In this case, speculative trading practices were to blame.
3. Works of American literature abound that were written either about or during the time of the Great Depression, especially as it affected hard-hit areas of the U.S. Which of the following books was NOT written with the backdrop of the Great Depression factoring into the storyline?

Answer: "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" by Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder's novel, "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" was published in 1927 prior to the Great Depression. The fictional story concerned five people who died when a rope bridge collapsed in Lima, Peru. A Franciscan monk, Brother Juniper, who witnessed the collapse attempted to find an explanation for the collapse from a spiritual perspective, interviewing a number of people who knew the five victims.

Each of the other choices were either written during the Depression or else were written about some aspect of it, and they each attempted to show how it affected the mindsets of those who endured its harshness and sometimes capricious cruelties. All of these books are fictional works.
4. The man who was president of the United States when the Depression began, Herbert Hoover, had several unflattering things named after him. Which of the following was NOT named in his "honor"?

Answer: Hoover ovens

"Hoovervilles" (shanty towns made of whatever materials were readily available), "Hoover flags", (empty pockets turned inside out) and "Hoover blankets", (newspapers used to cover up with) were terms coined by U.S. Democrats to deride the unpopular president.
(To my knowledge the term "Hoover ovens" was never used by anyone other than me.)

Also in vogue at the time were the terms "Hoover leather", denoting pieces of cardboard that were sometimes used to line a shoe after the sole wore off, and "Hoover wagons", which were merely automobiles with the engines removed and pulled by horses or mules because fuel was unaffordable.

In Canada, these former automobiles were known as "Bennett Buggies", since the Canadians blamed THEIR prime minister, Richard Bennett for the Depression!
5. The unemployment rate was higher in Australia than in the U.S. during the Great Depression.

Answer: True

While the unemployment rate in the U.S. peaked at around 25% in 1934, Australia's economy sputtered and dropped even more alarmingly, with a 1932 level of unemployed workers peaking at nearly 30%.

Since Australia was a dominion of Britain at the time of the Great Depression, British policies and the ill effects and shortages caused by the Depression that affected Britain were almost always felt to even greater degree in faraway Australia, due to its dependence on trade with Britain.

In northern industrialized areas of Britain, for example, some unemployment figures at the time put the rate in some localities at an astonishing 70%!
6. Spending fell, unemployment rose, government revenues plunged. The initial reaction of governments was to try to balance the budget, but this merely created a vicious circle. In one European country, deeply divided and heavily in debt (especially to U.S. banks) already before the onset of the Depression, the effects of this policy were particularly devastating, with unemployment reaching 25% plus. By mid 1932 the country seemed to be lurching towards civil war. Coping with the effects of the crisis while retaining its democratic structures seemed impossible as the political system failed. Which country was this that became a dictatorship in 1933?

Answer: Germany

Heinrich Bruning, the Chancellor of Germany from 1930-32 believed that he had to combat the effects of the Great Depression by implementing draconian cuts. (He was not alone in this way of thinking: Britain had also initially responded to the crisis in a similar manner, but it was a long-standing democracy and the political system didn't fail).

Adolf Hitler simply loved the situation in Germany and is quoted as expressing his pleasure at Bruning's disastrous policies: "Never in my life have I been so well disposed and inwardly contented as in these days, for hard reality has opened the eyes of millions of Germans."

Sweden started launching public works programmes on a large scale in 1932. The Soviet Union did not trade much with the rest of the world and was largely unaffected by the Great Depression but had problems of its own. Italy was hit hard but had become accustomed to government intervention in the economy already in the 1920s.
7. The dangers of having a "one-trick pony" as an economic engine probably could not have been made more clear in any country on earth as it was in Brazil during the Great Depression. What was the major product that Brazil relied far too greatly upon for trade, which was totally insufficient to sustain its economy once the Depression really settled in worldwide?

Answer: coffee

Since 1889 coffee had proven to be the most profitable commodity in the Brazilian economy. With the onset of the Great Depression, demand decreased at an alarming rate, thereby directly affecting export rates. In fact, coffee prices rapidly fell from around 22 cents per pound to about 8 cents per pound.

Had Brazil been more economically diverse, perhaps the economic devastation felt by its people would not have been quite so dire.

At one point, the Brazilian government, in what can only be termed acts of sheer desperation, used loans to buy up excess coffee and either put it into storage, used it to pave roads, or sometimes even burned it in an effort to reduce worldwide supply, largely to no avail.

Luxury items were hit particularly hard during the Great Depression, and coffee was simply a commodity that most people learned that they could live without; opting to feed and clothe their families as best they could, instead of enjoying things that were unnecessary for their survival.

Other examples of Latin American countries having grown too dependent on a single economic engine prior to the onset of the Great Depression include nations like Chile (exports of copper) Ecuador, (exports of cocoa) and Cuba (exports of sugar).
8. Which of the following "New Deal" programs introduced during the Great Depression in the U.S. was responsible for the planting of trees, and may have been the most popular of the varied government work programs of the times?

Answer: CCC

The CCC or Civilian Conservation Corps, was put into place in 1933 as a part of America's efforts at relieving some of the pain of the Great Depression, with only single males who were between the ages of 18 and 25 accepted into the Corps.

Despite these limitations the program proved to be immensely popular and many unskilled laborers planted over 3 billion trees throughout the U.S., while other workers constructed and upgraded state and federal parks, built public roads in remote parts of the country, with the program operating as a nature conservancy on a grand scale.

Over 3 million young men were involved in the program during its 9 years of operation, and while they earned a small income of $30.00 per month, they were required to send $25.00 of it back home to help their families.
9. It seemed as if a combination of drought, soil erosion, and high winds had all conspired to exacerbate the already existing woes of the national economy of the United States when the Dust Bowl of the American heartland wiped out farms, adversely affecting the livelihood of thousands of farmers. Which of the following U.S. states was not directly affected by the wind-driven dust storms of the era?

Answer: Mississippi

While it could be argued that every state was at least indirectly affected by the Dust Bowl of the 1930s because of reduced crop output, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas bore the brunt of the cruelties dished out by both nature and poor economic performance.

Mississippi was not a part of the drought stricken region, but many other states also faced the wrath of weather gone wrong. South Dakota, for example, experienced devastating dust storms on November 11, 1933. This was followed in 1934 with dust storms blowing off the Great Plains all the way into Chicago, Illinois. Two days later, the same winds and dirt plowed into New York, Washington D.C. and other East Coast cities.

In the winter of 1934-35 red snow (possibly colored by the dust of the plains) even fell on the New England states!

There were three major dust storms in the early 1930s, and many more minor storms that all took their toll on the soil, on the ability to produce crops, and sometimes even led to deaths by starvation of both man and beast alike.

It is no great wonder that the era became known as the "Dirty Thirties".
10. There are many ways in which U.S. entry into WW2 was credited with helping to bring the Great Depression to an end. Which of the following has NOT been suggested as a possibility that helped end the ill effects of Depression?

Answer: sympathy with Allied and Axis powers' economic situations

While many credit U.S. entry into WW2 as the defining factor that signaled the beginning of the end of the Great Depression, other economists argue that the nation was already in recovery mode without having to crank up its war machinery. Of the options given, sympathy with the plights of other nation's economies had little or no bearing on the recovery of the U.S. economy.

Most of the world's other countries were also intently focused on their own problems and had their hands full with caring for their own populations as best they could.
Source: Author logcrawler

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