What's so great about The Depression?

Answer 1

Great, you say, read your history book again my friend. My father was 18 years old, he hitched a train ride (riding the rails) to Northern Minnesota. To save the $18.00 fare the Government charged to get him to a work area, this time Isabella, Minnesota, cutting wood, putting up guard rails for the highway, they had to furnish their own clothes.
His $18.00 per month he saved went home to his mother, along with the other five brothers so they could support my five aunts.

My Grandfather was a car repairman for the very railroad my father stole a ride on.
They recently tore down the remains of the city by the river in Minneapolis where the derelicts lived, hundreds of them, there were no jobs, no food. To wait in line all day for a bowl of watery soup and a thin slice of bread.

No, my friend, it wasn't "Great" like you say, you probably never had a cold night by yourself, did you, have you ever gone with out eating for a day? You have a lot to learn.

Answer 2

As someone has already said, it suggests the huge extent of the Depression of the late-1920s--1930s. It was world wide, and much more extensive then the earlier large on in the 1890s. It may be overtaken by the current Depression brewing in USA.

World War I was known as The Great War until World War II, because of its size and extent. It still is called that by some, since the appalling horrors in France and Belgium eclipsed WWII in some opinions.

Answer 3

Not much. There's reason to believe the severity of the Great Depression has been overemphasized. There's a body of revisionist literature that addresses this. The important question is why that happened. In my opinon, the depression of the thirties has taken on mythic importance to Americans because of the role it plays in the grand narrative of twentieth-century American history. It's seen as the crucible in which the "Greatest Generation" was forged. Even modern treatments of the era like the Harvard professor Kennedy's "Freedom from Fear" tells a sweeping story of how a generation of Americans were tested by the deprivation of the thirties. It formed the basis of their values and selflessness and gave them the virtues and values needed to win the Second World War. It's a good story, but it's mostly about ego.

Answer 4

In this case as with the Great War, the Great Depression means:
Larger in size than others of the same kind.
Unusual or considerable in degree, power, intensity.
Important; highly significant or consequential.

It does NOT mean:
Very good; first-rate, in this case.

Answer 5

The term "great" has many different meanings. In the case of the Great Depression or the Great War (WWI) it means "big" , "widespread", or "generalized", not great as in "wonderful" or "fantastic".

Answer 6

Everything went on sale - great for people with cash... a few people became incredibly wealthy because of the "Great Depression".

Answer 7

Nothing...hence the word "DEPRESSION". But people who lived through it make a big deal of it because it shows their strong will to survive. They made do with next to nothing and did the best that they could. I applaud them.......if a depression on that scale hit today, lots of people would die because they are too ignorant (not stupid, there is a difference) to cope with it.

Answer 8

It's great as in big and wide-spanning.

Answer 9

nothing much. just another part of history and a lesson to be learned.

Answer 10

It was a really big one!