The great depression of the early thirties is one of the most important turning points in the history of the twentieth century. It has to date been a unique phenomenon in the history of economic crises as regards its length, its depth and its spread to practically all the countries forming part of the world economy. In many states it led to sharp political crises in whose wake there followed shifts in the structure of party politics, and radical changes of course in domestic and foreign policy as well as formal or informal constitutional changes.

With the depression begins a new epoch in the history of capitalist or market economies. From this point so-called Globalsteuerung (macro economic policy) became the duty of the state. In particular, the goal of a high level of employment, not to say full employment, received practically the status of a constitutional requirement. This is one of the most important consequences of the great depression — throughout the whole world. But for the Germans, the consequences went even further. In their country there was something additional that allowed the economic crisis to become an event of exceptional historical significance: the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise to power of National Socialism.