The Great Depression of the 1930s was considered to be one of the worst economic disasters ever. But what was it? It was basically a time when nobody had money, jobs were hard to find, and banks were failing.
What caused the great depression? This depression was caused by overinflated prices and overleveraged investments. Investors could buy stocks for little down and take out a loan for the rest. When the market crashed people lost their life savings because they were simply overleveraged in it. Banks and other businesses failed because of the panic that formed because of it. When people panicked and tried to take their money out of banks the added pressure caused banks to fail, which led to more fear.
How did it end? The depression ended because of government spending to create jobs. Governments around the world created new jobs and started deficient spending to help fix their economies. When World War 2 hit that also created more jobs and dealt the knockout blow to the depression by providing even more jobs.