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from The History Channel.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 occurred on Friday, October 29, 1929, when Wall Street investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. In the aftermath of that event, sometimes called “Black Tuesday,” America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression, the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world up to that time.

What Caused the 1929 Stock Market Crash?

During the 1920s, the U.S. stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929 after a period of wild speculation in the Roaring Twenties. By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value.

Among the other causes of the stock market crash of 1929 were low wages, the proliferation of debt, a struggling agricultural sector and an excess of large bank loans that could not be liquidated.

Black Tuesday

Stock Market Crash: Photos — On October 29, 1929, Black Tuesday hit Wall Street as investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. Shown: the interior of the New York Stock Exchange on Black Friday, October 25, 1929.

Investors rush to withdraw their savings during a stock market crash, circa 1929. — By 1933, nearly half of America’s banks had failed. Investors rushed to withdraw their savings during a stock market crash.

Apple sales were an organized attempt to get unemployed men back to work during the Great Depression.

Stock prices began to decline in September and early October 1929, and on October 18 a big drop in stock prices began. Panic soon set in, and on October 24, Black Thursday, a record 12,894,650 shares were traded. Investment companies and leading bankers attempted to stabilize the market by buying up great blocks of stock, producing a moderate rally on Friday.

On Monday, however, the storm broke anew, and the market went into free fall. Black Monday was followed by Black Tuesday—October 29, 1929—during which stock prices collapsed completely and 16,410,030 shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day.

Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading.

Effects of the 1929 Stock Market Crash: The Great Depression

After October 29, 1929, stock prices had nowhere to go but up, so there was considerable recovery during succeeding weeks. Overall, however, prices continued to drop as the United States slumped into the Great Depression, and by 1932 stocks were worth only about 20 percent of their value in the summer of 1929.

The stock market crash of 1929 was not the sole cause of the Great Depression, but it did act to accelerate the global economic collapse which it was also a symptom.

Stock prices continued to drop through 1932 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average—a widely-used benchmark for blue-chip stocks in the United States—closed at 41.22, its lowest value of the 20th century, 89 percent below its peak.