The Great Depression lasted roughly a decade, from 1929 to about 1939. It began with the Wall Street stock market crash in October 1929 and persisted through the 1930s, with the worst economic conditions occurring between 1931 and 1933. Recovery started to take hold around 1940, coinciding with the buildup to and involvement in World War II
. In the United States, the nadir of the Depression was between 1931 and 1933, when unemployment peaked and the banking system collapsed, but the economic downturn extended across the globe and lasted nearly ten years overall
