Wall Street Crash

Another infamous event that is cemented in America’s historical timeline is without question, the Wall Street Crash. Otherwise known as Black Tuesday, the Wall Street Crash took place in 1929, and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The crash saw the beginning of a 10 year Great Depression in America. Not only that, but because of America’s overwhelming influence on countless other western industrialized countries, they all suffered astronomically as well.

When looking at the causes of the Wall Street Crash, experts believe there are many. One of the main failures of the American economy at the time however was World War 1. Despite it occurring over a decade previous to the crash, its financial impact was still overwhelming. People felt good about winning the war, and so vast majorities of the population emigrated to larger cities within America, building on the post-war optimism ideology that had flooded the people of the states.

Despite its vast power and influence worldwide, even America’s economy showed signs of frailty and weakness. Throughout the 1920s it was evident that the stock markets were founded on shaky ground. Steel production declined, construction work wasn’t much better, luxury items weren’t selling as much either, all whilst customers acquired items on credit and accumulated their own debt. There wasn’t any sign of recovery either as people simply didn’t put the money back into the economy that was needed to keep it afloat.

Finally, panic can be blamed as another hugely contributing factor to the Wall Street Crash. People panic sold shares like they were going out of fashion, because effectively, they were. Over the course of 2 days the market lost $30 billion. As people continued to panic, they continued to dump sell shares and attempt to cut their losses, increasing the markets decline constantly.

The most noticeable impact from the Wall Street Crash was job loss. Over 20,000 companies went bankrupt as a result of the crash. Not only that, but 1500 banks went bankrupt as well. This combined together resulted in over 10 million people losing their jobs.

The American stock exchange didn’t reach the levels it was before the cash till 1954, 25 years later. The influence on the rest of the world was catastrophic, as America was one of the largest exporting countries worldwide. Many other countries were also in debt to the states, so were asked to pay their debts off quicker to help the USA that was in turmoil. For many of these countries however, this was physically impossible.

World War 1 1914-1918

Flash forward into the early 20^th century and we come to another American influenced event that shook the world. World War 1 was fought from 1914 to 1918, involving some of the world’s powerhouses at the time. Russia, Britain and France, known at the ‘Triple Entente’ teamed up to take on Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary, known as the ‘Triple Alliance’. Despite the Americans not appearing on one of the main sides, they joined the losing battles fought by the Triple Entente and had an instant effect.

Despite the fact America is unarguably one of the world’s most influential countries, they find themselves at war more than any other piece of land in the world. World War 1 was no exception. The allegiance they held with Britain was too strong, and they felt compelled to join the fight against the Germans in what looked like a losing battle. Many historians credit the Triple Ententes victory in World War 1 to the mass contributions of the states.

 

World War 1, other wise known as the Great War saw horrific conflicts resulting in the death of millions of soldiers on both sides of the battlefield. The USA lost 116,000 lives in the Great War, despite them only being in the fighting for less than a year. France however suffered losses of over 11% of its population.

 

America’s President at the time, Woodrow Wilson, was adamant that the states would remain neutral in the Great War until Germany began sinking American ships in the North Atlantic. Despite his attempt at been neutral, it’s worth noting that Wilson did offer huge loans throughout the war to both Britain and France to aid their efforts. Shortly after getting involved in the war, it was over. Germany’s efforts proved fruitless as the American influence proved as it always has, to be too strong.

Spanish-American War 1898

The Spanish-American War of 1898 was centred entirely on each party’s involvement in the Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898). America wasn’t directly involved in the Cuban War of Independence but decided to step in at the end after rumours of humanitarian atrocities attributed to Spanish forces against Cuban civilians.

America and Cuba became allies when fighting the Spanish

America stepped in and eventually declared war on Spain after the USS Maine was blown up in the Havana harbour by the Spanish. As for as the United States is considered however, the Spanish American War was a relatively short one, lasting a mere 4 months.

The Treaty of Paris
The war ended after 4 months thanks to the agreement treaty signed in Paris. Signed on the 10th of December, officially ending the Spanish-American War it’s unarguable to historians the real benefactors of the treaty – America.

As a result of the Treaty of Paris, Spain gave up control of Cuba, which was the reason they were there in the Cuban War of Independence anyway. Not only this, but the Spanish surrendered Puerto Rico, Guam, and for the sum of $20 million, the Philippines, all to the United States.

Philippine-American War
The domino effect continues with the Philippine-American War, as revolutionaries in the Philippines fought for independence following the Treaty of Paris. They had been fighting for independence since 1896 when the Philippine Revolution started, however they were now part of the United States and so fighting intensified.

Despite the war officially ending in 1902 with a United States victory, rebellious fighters didn’t stop until over a decade later in 1913, at the final Battle of Bud Bagsak. The Philippines were eventually promised independence, but not until the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1913, a president we will discuss in much greater detail in the forthcoming weeks.

In conclusion, whilst the Spanish-American War was over within 4 months, it has a great detail of history surrounding it’s build up, in terms of the Cuban Revolution and America standing up for the Cubans suffering humanitarian atrocities at the hands of the Spanish. Not only that, but it had huge knock on effects as well such as the Treaty of Paris, which granted America rights to Puerto Rico and Guam. Also. whilst the US did pay $20 million for the Philippines, the Spanish-American War could be attributed to the eventual independence of the Philippines years later.

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The Two Party System

‘The Democratic Donkey’

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The USA also has a two party system at the foundation of its democracy. This resides between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

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