exacerbated their difficulties. In politicsthe depression strengthened the extremes of right and left, helping Adolf Hitler to powerin Germany and swelling left-wing movements in other European countries. Thedepression was thus a time of massive insecurity among peoples and governments,contributing to the tensions that produced World War II. Ironically, however, the massivemilitary expenditures for that war provided the economic stimulus that finally ended thedepression in the United States and elsewhere. ...
