On October 29, 1929, the United States stock market crashed in an event known as Black Tuesday. This began a chain of events that led to the Great Depression, a 10-year economic slump that affected all industrialized countries in the world.

The 1920s had been a time of wealth and excess in the United States of America, and stock prices had risen to unprecedented levels. This encouraged many people to speculate that the market would continue to rise. Investors borrowed money to buy more stocks.

As real estate values declined during the late 1920s, the stock market also weakened. When stock prices started to slide on October 29, people rushed to sell their stock and get out of the market, which drove prices down even further. This cycle led to more and more “panic selling,” until the stock market fell to its lowest point in history.