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100-611: In the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the subsequent worldwide economic crisis, the Empire of Japan pursued an expansionist policy against its weakened neighbors in the Far East . On 18 September 1931, Japan staged the Mukden Incident using it as a pretext for its invasion of Chinese Manchuria . Japan went on to transform the north–east of China into a puppet state under

200-676: A Chinese request the Soviets also agreed to provide military advisors and volunteer pilots. The first group of military advisors arrived in China in early June 1938. By February 1939, 3665 Soviet military specialists headed by Mikhail Dratvin had been deployed. In October 1937, some 450 Soviet pilots and technicians assembled in Moscow , subsequently traveling to Alma Ata to bring 155 fighter aircraft, 62 bombers, and 8 trainers into China. The Soviets arrived as private citizens and initially wore civilian clothing,

300-535: A better field of fire. From 1940, the dorsal gun position was replaced by an enclosed turret, while the ventral gun position, which was difficult to use, was also modified. The aircraft was also progressively fitted with improved engines. At first it was equipped with the Klimov M-100, a license-built version of the Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs engine, but this was soon replaced by the more powerful M-100A, and from 1938 by

400-515: A constant string of modifications, some 400 SBs were delivered by the end of 1936—a number of these being diverted to Spain—and 24 VVS squadrons were in the process of working up with the new bomber. Giving excellent performance in the Spanish Civil War, it acquired the popular name " Katyusha " (Catherine). In 1937, negotiations were concluded between the Soviet and Czechoslovak governments, for

500-506: A daily rate of 133 in 1931). The 1929 crash brought the Roaring Twenties to a halt. As tentatively expressed by economic historian Charles P. Kindleberger , in 1929, there was no lender of last resort effectively present, which, if it had existed and been properly exercised, would have been key in shortening the business slowdown that normally follows financial crises. The crash instigated widespread and long-lasting consequences for

600-535: A further 16 SBs purchased from Germany, which had captured them during the initial weeks of the invasion of the Soviet Union. These SBs employed the first air-dropped depth charges used in combat. Finland lost seven SBs to accidents during the Continuation War, with none being lost in combat, with Finnish SBs claiming three Soviet submarines and a 4,000 ton merchant ship sunk. After Stalin's post-war cleanup in

700-620: A mass of 250 million bushels of wheat to be "carried over" when 1929 opened. By May there was also a winter wheat crop of 560 million bushels ready for harvest in the Mississippi Valley. The oversupply caused such a drop in wheat prices that the net incomes of farmers from wheat were threatened with extinction. Stock markets are always sensitive to the future state of commodity markets, and the slump in Wall Street that had been predicted for May by Sir George Paish arrived on time. In June 1929,

800-482: A practice of suspending trading when prices fell rapidly to limit panic selling . Scholars differ over crash's effect on the Great Depression, with some claiming that the price fluctuations were insufficient on their own to trigger a major collapse of the financial system, with others arguing that the crash, combined with the other economic problems in the U.S. at the end of the 1920s, should be jointly interpreted as

900-508: A serious setback to industry when industrial production is for the most part in a healthy and balanced condition?" They argued that there must be some setback, but there was not yet sufficient evidence to prove that it would be long or would necessarily produce a general industrial depression. However, The Economist also cautioned that some bank failures were also to be expected and some banks may not have had any reserves left for financing commercial and industrial enterprises. It concluded that

1000-445: A stage in the business cycles which affect all capitalist economies. The " Roaring Twenties ", the decade following World War I that led to the crash, was a time of wealth and excess. Building on post-war optimism, rural Americans migrated to the cities in vast numbers throughout the decade with hopes of finding a more prosperous life in the ever-growing expansion of America's industrial sector. Scholars believe that declines in

1100-536: A strategy used during the Panic of 1907 . This encouraged a brief recovery before Black Tuesday. Further action failed to halt the fall, which continued until July 8, 1932; by then, the stock market had lost some 90% of its pre-crash value. The United States Congress responded to the events by passing the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass–Steagall Act), which separated commercial and investment banking . Stock exchanges introduced

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1200-603: A successful offensive until a cease-fire was signed in September 1939. On 30 November 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the conflict that became known as the Winter War , with the forces deployed against Finland including several hundred SBs. Losses were heavy, with bomber formations often un-escorted, and forced to operate at low level, where they were vulnerable to Finnish anti-aircraft fire and fighters. While in 1936 in Spain,

1300-478: A temporary countermeasure. The League of Nations remained silent on the issue of Japanese imperialism, pushing China to reactivate its unofficial communication channels with its only remaining potential ally. The Anti-Comintern Pact , signed on 25 November 1936, erased the last doubts held by both sides regarding the ongoing reconciliation efforts. On 7 July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident marked

1400-468: A total of 236 Soviet pilots were killed in action or in accidents. There are a total of 70 monuments to the Soviet aviators in China. The most notable of which being Jiefang Gongyuan (Liberation Park) in Wuhan , which was built in 1956 and houses the remains of 15 Soviet pilots. The Liberation Park Memorial was renovated in 2008. Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street crash of 1929 , also known as

1500-470: Is considered the most devastating in the country's history. It is most associated with October 24, 1929, known as "Black Thursday", when about 12.9 million shares were traded on the NYSE in a single day (as compared to an average of 4 million), and October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday", when some 16.4 million shares were traded. The " Roaring Twenties " of the previous decade had been a time of industrial expansion in

1600-763: The Battle of Wuhan . Losses were heavy, forcing the Chinese SB units to be temporarily withdrawn from combat. The Soviet units operating the SB over China re-equipped with the Ilyushin DB-3 in 1939, allowing their SBs to be transferred to Chinese units, but the Chinese made limited use of these reinforcements. The Soviet Union supplied a further 100 SBs in 1941, just before it signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact . The SB

1700-573: The Great Crash or Crash of '29 , was a major stock market crash in the United States in late 1929, beginning in late October with a sharp decline in prices on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and ending in mid-November. The crash, which began a rapid erosion of confidence in the U.S. banking system and marked the beginning of the worldwide Great Depression , which lasted until 1939,

1800-544: The National City Bank , would provide $ 25 million in credit to stop the market's slide. Mitchell's move brought a temporary halt to the financial crisis, and call money declined from 20 to 8 percent. However, the American economy showed ominous signs of trouble. Steel production declined, construction was sluggish, automobile sales went down, and consumers were building up large debts because of easy credit. Despite all

1900-479: The National City Bank of New York . They chose Richard Whitney , vice president of the Exchange, to act on their behalf. With the bankers' financial resources behind him, Whitney placed a bid to purchase 25,000 shares of U.S. Steel at $ 205 per share, a price well above the current market. As traders watched, Whitney then placed similar bids on other " blue chip " stocks. The tactic was similar to one that had ended

2000-502: The Panic of 1907 and succeeded in halting the slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered, closing down only 6.38 points (2.09%) for the day. On October 28, " Black Monday ", more investors facing margin calls decided to get out of the market, and the slide continued with a record loss in the Dow for the day of 38.33 points, or 12.82%. On October 29, 1929, " Black Tuesday " hit Wall Street as investors traded some 16 million shares on

2100-520: The Pecora Commission was established by the U.S. Senate to study the causes of the crash. The following year, the U.S. Congress passed the Glass–Steagall Act mandating a separation between commercial banks , which take deposits and extend loans , and investment banks , which underwrite , issue, and distribute stocks , bonds , and other securities . Afterwards, stock markets around

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2200-890: The Petlyakov Pe-2 . A total of 5,695 were built at Factory No 22 at Moscow before it was evacuated to Kazan , while Factory No 125 built a further 1,136 at Irkutsk. Three prototypes were built at the Tupolev design bureau, while Aero Vodochody and Avia in Czechoslovakia built 45 and 66 respectively, giving a total of 6,945 built. The SB was an all-metal monoplane powered by two Klimov M-100 12-cylinder water-cooled engines (license production version of Hispano-Suiza 12-Yrds engine) which drove fixed-pitch two-bladed metal propellers . The engines were provided with honeycomb-type frontal radiators enclosed by vertical thermostat -controlled cooling shutters . At an early production stage,

2300-644: The Soviet Union and probably the most formidable bomber of the mid-1930s. It was produced in the Soviet Union and was also built under license in Czechoslovakia . Many versions saw extensive action in Spain , the Republic of China , Mongolia , Finland and at the beginning of World War II against Germany in 1941. It was also used in various duties in civil variants, as trainers and in many secondary roles. Successful in

2400-597: The Spanish Republican Air Force , which at first was mainly manned by Soviet volunteers and under Soviet control. The SB could outpace the Fiat CR.32 and Heinkel He 51 biplane fighters of the nationalist forces, and was therefore difficult to intercept, with dives from high altitude being the only way to intercept the SB. On 29 May 1937 two SBs attacked the German pocket battleship Deutschland , mistaking it for

2500-667: The non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany in 1939. As a result, the Chinese turned to the United States, which authorized the creation of the American Volunteer Group Flying Tigers . Distinguished pilots who fought in the unit include Fyodor Polynin , Pavel Rychagov , Sidor Slyusarev , Timofey Khryukin , Stepan Suprun , Grigory Kravchenko , Konstantin Kokkinaki , Georgi Zakharov , Grigory Tkhor and Pavel Zhigarev . Between 1937 and 1940,

2600-468: The ticker tape in brokerage offices around the nation was hours late, and so investors had no idea what most stocks were trading for. Several leading Wall Street bankers met to find a solution to the panic and chaos on the trading floor. The meeting included Thomas W. Lamont , acting head of Morgan Bank ; Albert Wiggin , head of the Chase National Bank ; and Charles E. Mitchell, president of

2700-486: The uptick rule , which allowed short selling only when the last tick in a stock's price was positive, was implemented after the 1929 market crash to prevent short sellers from driving the price of a stock down in a bear raid . The stock market crash of October 1929 led directly to the Great Depression in Europe. When stocks plummeted on the New York Stock Exchange , the world noticed immediately. Although financial leaders in

2800-600: The 1950s, many ANT-40s that survived the Second World War were scrapped. In the late 1970s, however, Vozdushni Transport (A Soviet aviation newspaper) sent an expedition led by Evgeny Konoplev to survey an ANT-40 that was forced to land during a snow storm near the Yuzhne Muiski mountain range in the Baikal region. Konoplev considered what they found encouraging, with the aircraft being in fairly decent condition, in turn leading

2900-427: The Dow closing at 198.60. The market then recovered for several months, starting on November 14, with the Dow gaining 18.59 points to close at 217.28, and reaching a secondary closing peak ( bear market rally ) of 294.07 on April 17, 1930. The Dow then embarked on another, much longer, steady slide from April 1930 to July 8, 1932, when it closed at 41.22, its lowest level of the 20th century, concluding an 89.2% loss for

3000-798: The Far East until 1945. Many Soviet SBs crashed or force-landed on Finnish soil during the Winter War, with the Finns salvaging as many aircraft as possible, with those in the best condition being sent to Valtion lentokonetehdas for possible repair for use by the Finnish air force. By the time of the Continuation War against the Soviet Union, five SBs had been repaired (with a further three added later), being used to equip Lentolaivue 6 , flying maritime patrol and attack missions. These aircraft were supplemented by

3100-509: The Great Depression. True or not, the consequences were dire for almost everybody. Most academic experts agree on one aspect of the crash: It wiped out billions of dollars of wealth in one day, and this immediately depressed consumer buying. The failure set off a worldwide run on US gold deposits (i.e., the dollar) and forced the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates into the slump. Some 4,000 banks and other lenders ultimately failed. Also,

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3200-467: The London Stock Exchange. In the days leading up to the crash, the market was severely unstable. Periods of selling and high volumes were interspersed with brief periods of rising prices and recovery. Selling intensified in mid-October. On October 24, " Black Thursday ", the market lost 11% of its value at the opening bell on very heavy trading. The huge volume meant that the report of prices on

3300-474: The M-100 engine gave place to an improved M-100A engine, driving ground-adjustable three-pitch propellers, with speed being boosted to 423 km/h (263 mph) at 4,000 m (13,000 ft). Because of its broad, high aspect ratio wing, that gave it a good altitude performance – Soviet crews nicknamed the SB the " Pterodactyl ". There were a number of foreign customers for the SB. They were mostly satisfied with

3400-722: The Nationalist cruiser Canarias , killing 31 and injuring an additional 83 German sailors. In June–July, a second consignment of 31 SBs were received, allowing Grupo 12 to return to full strength, and a new unit, Grupo 24, to be established. The delivery of Messerschmitt Bf 109s to re-equip the German Condor Legion meant that the SB could no longer evade Nationalist fighters by sheer speed, and losses rose. A third and final batch of 31 SBs arrived in June 1938, allowing operations to continue, although losses continued to be high. By

3500-603: The New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Around $ 14 billion of stock value was lost, wiping out thousands of investors. The panic selling reached its peak with some stocks having no buyers at any price. The Dow lost an additional 30.57 points, or 11.73%, for a total drop of 68.90 points, or 23.05% in two days. On October 29, William C. Durant joined with members of the Rockefeller family and other financial giants to buy large quantities of stocks to demonstrate to

3600-531: The SB continued, meanwhile, with revisions being made to reflect the lessons of early operations in Spain. As problems were encountered in converting pilots to fly the SB, a trainer version, the USB was built in September 1937, with a modified nose with an open cockpit for an instructor and dual controls. Problems were also encountered with the armament, the nose guns having limited traverse and so being little use against head-on attacks and later aircraft were modified with

3700-452: The SB could outpace enemy fighters, by now it was vulnerable and poorly armed. SBs were fitted with skis for operation from snow covered airfields, slowing the aircraft and making them more vulnerable, while the need to wear heavy winter clothing made the gunner's job even harder. By the end of the 15-week war, at least 100 SBs had been lost, with the Finns claiming nearly 200 shot down, 92 of them to Finnish fighters. When Germany invaded

3800-854: The Soviet Air Forces by 1 July 1936, this did not stop the new Tupolev bomber being amongst the first shipments of military equipment sent by the Soviet Union to support the Spanish Republicans when the Spanish Civil War broke out on 17 July 1936. An initial batch of 31 SBs arrived in Cartagena aboard the Soviet Freighter Komsomol in October 1936, flying their first mission, a bombing raid by four SBs against Tablada airfield, Seville on 28 October. The SBs were used to equip Grupo 12 of

3900-526: The Soviet Union in June 1941, re-equipment with more modern aircraft such as the Pe-2 had begun. Still, 94% of the Soviet operational bomber force was equipped with SBs, with 1,500–2,000 SBs deployed along the Western border districts of the Soviet Union. The Luftwaffe started Operation Barbarossa with co-ordinated strikes against 66 major Soviet airfields, destroying a large proportion of Soviet air strength on

4000-421: The Soviet forces received heavy losses, two Regiments of SBs were deployed to Mongolia in June, flying their first missions on 26 June. SBs were used heavily against Japanese forces when they attacked in early July. The Soviet SB regiments consisted of a mixture of early and later SBs, whose differing speeds caused problems in maintaining formation, while Japanese Nakajima Ki-27 fighters proved adept in exploiting

4100-557: The Soviets described them as a "museum of antiquity", and were manned by less than 600 men. Morale was low and the improvement of the situation was hampered by corrupt officials who bought outdated foreign equipment in return for bribes. The Japanese outnumbered the Chinese in the air by a 13:1 ratio and were better trained. Moreover, the Japanese aircraft were faster and equipped with such novelties as night vision devices and radios, easily outmaneuvering and overpowering any opposition. Although

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4200-664: The Spanish Civil War because it outpaced most fighters present (composed mostly of biplanes), the aircraft was obsolete by 1941 as faster fighters (such as the Bf-109 ) had by then been introduced. By June 1941, 94 percent of bombers in the Red Army air force ( VVS RKKA ) were SBs. In 1933 the Soviet Air Force ministry (UVVS) issued an outline requirement for a high-speed bomber. Work on this proposal at TsAGI began in January 1934. The SB

4300-675: The U.S., and much of the profit had been invested in speculation , including in stocks. Many members of the public, disappointed by the low interest rates offered on their bank deposits, committed their relatively small sums to stockbrokers . By 1929, the U.S. economy was showing signs of trouble; the agricultural sector was depressed due to overproduction and falling prices, forcing many farmers into debt, and consumer goods manufacturers also had unsellable output due to low wages and thus low purchasing power . Factory owners cut production and fired staff, reducing demand even further. Despite these trends, investors continued to buy shares in areas of

4400-520: The UK, protests often focused on the so-called means test , which the government had instituted in 1931 to limit the amount of unemployment payments made to individuals and families. For working people, the means test seemed an intrusive and insensitive way to deal with the chronic and relentless deprivation caused by the economic crisis. The strikes were met forcefully, with police breaking up protests, arresting demonstrators, and charging them with crimes related to

4500-647: The United Kingdom, as in the United States, vastly underestimated the extent of the crisis that ensued, it soon became clear that the world's economies were more interconnected than ever. The effects of the disruption to the global system of financing, trade, and production and the subsequent meltdown of the American economy were soon felt throughout Europe. In 1930 and 1931, in particular, unemployed workers went on strike, demonstrated in public, and otherwise took direct action to call public attention to their plight. Within

4600-427: The United States. Historians still debate whether the 1929 crash sparked the Great Depression or if it merely coincided with bursting a loose credit-inspired economic bubble. Only 16% of American households were invested in the stock market within the United States during the period leading up to this depression, suggesting that the crash carried somewhat less weight in causing it. However, the psychological effects of

4700-722: The aircraft operated by volunteers against the Japanese over China, SBs were used in combat against the Japanese during the Fighting near Lake Khasan on the eastern sector of the China–Russia border in July–August 1938, one SB being lost. Fighting between Soviet and Japanese forces broke out again at Khalkhin Gol in Eastern Mongolia in May 1939. While SBs were not involved in the May air battles, where

4800-511: The aircraft's defects prior to a visit by Sergo Ordzhonikidze , the Commissar for Heavy Industry. On seeing these placards, Ordzhonikidze summoned Tupolev to a meeting at the Kremlin to discuss these shortfalls. When Tupolev stated that most of the defects were trivial, Joseph Stalin said: There are no trivialities in aviation; everything is serious and any uncorrected 'triviality' could lead to

4900-501: The aircraft's performance. There were some complaints about the high noise level, cramped crew compartments, hard undercarriage suspension and in particular about the front gunner's position, which could be reached only through a hatch under the fuselage, preventing the gunner from escaping in the event of a ditching or belly landing . Czechoslovakia signed an agreement to produce the ANT-40 as Avia B-71. While only 54 SBs had been delivered to

5000-883: The beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War . On 21 August, China and the Soviet Union signed a non–aggression pact. Although the pact made no mention of Soviet military support, it de facto established a tacit understanding that the Soviets would provide both military and material aid. In September 1937, a secret decree issued by the Soviet Orgburo ordered that 225 aircraft, including 62 Polikarpov I-15 , 93 Polikarpov I-16 and 8 Yakovlev UT-4 trainers, be sent to China. In March and July 1938 as well as in July 1939, China received loans of 50, 50 and 150 million $ respectively, with an annual interest of 3%. The loans were to be repaid through exports of tea, wool, leather and metals. Upon

5100-543: The crash reverberated across the nation as businesses became aware of the difficulties in securing capital market investments for new projects and expansions. Business uncertainty naturally affects job security for employees, and as the American worker (the consumer) faced uncertainty with regard to income, naturally the propensity to consume declined. The decline in stock prices caused bankruptcies and severe macroeconomic difficulties, including contraction of credit, business closures, firing of workers, bank failures, decline of

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5200-409: The crash, economist Irving Fisher famously proclaimed "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau". The optimism and the financial gains of the great bull market were shaken after a well-publicized September 8 prediction from financial expert Roger Babson that "a crash is coming, and it may be terrific". The initial September decline was thus called the "Babson Break" in

5300-415: The economic warning signs and the market breaks in March and May 1929, stocks resumed their advance in June, and the gains continued almost unabated until early September 1929 (the Dow Jones average gained more than 20% between June and September). The market had been on a nine-year run that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average increase in value tenfold, peaking at 381.17 on September 3, 1929. Shortly before

5400-505: The economy where output was declining and unemployment was increasing, so the purchase price of stocks greatly exceeded their real value. By September 1929, more experienced shareholders realized that prices could not continue to rise and began to get rid of their holdings, which caused share values to stall and then fall, encouraging more to sell. As investors panicked, the selling became frenzied. After Black Thursday, leading bankers joined forces to purchase stock at prices above market value,

5500-445: The end of September, the market had dropped 10% from the peak (the "Babson Break"). Selling intensified in early and mid-October, with sharp down days punctuated by a few up days. Panic selling of massive proportion started the week of October 21 and intensified and culminated on October 24, October 28, and especially October 29 ("Black Tuesday"). The president of the Chase National Bank, Albert H. Wiggin , said at

5600-431: The face value of the stocks that they were buying. Over $ 8.5 billion was out on loan, more than the entire amount of currency circulating in the United States at the time. The rising share prices encouraged more people to invest on the hope that share prices would rise further. Speculation thus fueled further rises and created an economic bubble . Because of margin buying , investors stood to lose large sums of money if

5700-411: The first Hispano-Suiza powered prototype (ANT-40 1 ), which featured a larger wing, flew on 30 December 1934, demonstrating superior performance. The second Hispano-Suiza powered aircraft, the ANT-40 2 was considered a production prototype, and its performance was impressive. It was however plagued by teething problems, leading unhappy test personnel to cover the ANT-40 2 with placards listing

5800-411: The first six months of 1929, of 36.6% over 1928, itself a record half-year. Iron and steel led the way with doubled gains. Such figures set up a crescendo of stock-exchange speculation that led hundreds of thousands of Americans to invest heavily in the stock market. Many people were borrowing money to buy more stocks. By August 1929, brokers were routinely lending small investors more than two-thirds of

5900-437: The former temporary capital of Nanjing fell to the Japanese, turning the aerodrome of Xiangyang into the main Soviet base. 200 Soviet pilots took part in the defense of the new capital, Hankou, flying in mixed squadrons along with Chinese pilots. On 23 February 1938, the Soviet Volunteer Group conducted its first operation outside Chinese borders, with 12 and 28 bombers departing from Nanjing and Hankou, respectively. The target

6000-432: The front lines of the Spanish Civil War where the Soviets also had a sizeable military mission. Of the aircraft supplied, half were turned over to the Chinese Air Force and half were flown and maintained by Soviet personnel. The Soviet air units were stationed at bases near the cities of Nanjing , Hankou , and Chongqing , and at Lanzhou in China's northwest at the terminus of the Soviet supply route. On 13 December 1937,

6100-412: The ground or air on the first day of the invasion. The SBs that survived the carnage of the first day continued to be poorly used, many being frittered away in unescorted low-level attacks against German tanks, where the SB's relatively large size and lack of armour made it highly vulnerable to German light Flak , while German fighters continued to take a heavy toll. Within a few days, losses forced most of

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6200-462: The ground, port facilities and hangars were destroyed while several ships sustained minor damages. On 28 April, the Japanese launched a massive air raid on the Wuhan military airport with the intent of celebrating the birthday of emperor Hirohito . At 10:00 a.m. they were met by 60 Soviet I-15 and I-16 fighters. In the largest air battle at that point of the war the Japanese lost 21 aircraft, while Soviet losses were limited to 2. Among those killed

6300-481: The index in less than three years. Beginning on March 15, 1933, and continuing through the rest of the 1930s, the Dow began to slowly regain the ground it had lost. The largest percentage increases of the Dow Jones occurred during the early and mid-1930s. In late 1937, there was a sharp dip in the stock market, but prices held well above the 1932 lows. The Dow Jones did not return to its peak close of September 3, 1929, for 25 years, until November 23, 1954. In 1932,

6400-496: The largest financial crisis of the 20th century. The panic of October 1929 has come to serve as a symbol of the economic contraction that gripped the world during the next decade. The falls in share prices on October 24 and 29, 1929 were practically instantaneous in all financial markets, except Japan. The Wall Street Crash had a major impact on the U.S. and world economy, and it has been the source of intense academic historical, economic, and political debate from its aftermath until

6500-412: The latter were never used in combat. Apart from the aforementioned I-15, I-16 and UT-4, the Soviets also supplied Tupolev TB-3 , Tupolev SB , and Ilyushin DB-3 bombers. Over 1,200 aircraft had been sent to China by the end of 1941. At the time of the arrival of the first Soviet volunteers, the Chinese Air Force had been reduced to less than 100 serviceable aircraft. These were machines so outdated that

6600-421: The loss of an aircraft and its crew. The first production aircraft, designated SB, rolled off the production line before the end of 1935, and before ANT-40 2 had completed its flight test programme. The aircraft entered full production in 1936 , and was produced in two plants, State Aircraft Factory No 22 at Moscow and No 125 at Irkutsk until 1941. Despite the fact that the assembly lines were plagued with

6700-594: The market turned down or even if it failed to advance quickly enough. The average price to earnings ratio of S&P Composite stocks was 32.6 in September 1929, clearly above historical norms. According to the economist John Kenneth Galbraith , the exuberance also resulted in a large number of people placing their savings and money in leverage investment products like Goldman Sachs 's "Blue Ridge trust" and "Shenandoah Trust", which crashed in 1929 as well, resulting in losses to banks of $ 475 billion in 2010 dollars ($ 663.68 billion in 2023). Good harvests had built up

6800-512: The mission remaining a secret even from their closest relatives. They were instructed to avoid using the term comrade , and in the event of their capture they were to claim that they were former members of the White movement permanently residing in China. Prior to each mission, the pilots changed into Chinese uniforms, whilst their planes were marked with Chinese Air Force insignia. By 1941, the Soviet-built aircraft sent to China would amount to 885, including two-engine and four-engine bombers, though

6900-492: The money supply caused by Federal Reserve decisions had a severely contractionary effect on output. Despite the inherent risk of speculation , it was widely believed that the stock market would continue to rise forever. On March 25, 1929, after the Federal Reserve warned of excessive speculation, a small crash occurred as investors started to sell stocks at a rapid pace, exposing the market's shaky foundation. Two days later, banker Charles E. Mitchell announced that his company,

7000-406: The money supply, and other economically depressing events. The resultant rise of mass unemployment is seen as a result of the crash, although the crash is by no means the sole event that contributed to the depression. The Wall Street Crash is usually seen as having the greatest impact on the events that followed and therefore is widely regarded as signaling the downward economic slide that initiated

7100-466: The name of Manchukuo . In the plans of the Japanese general staff, Manchukuo was to serve as a stepping stone for the future conquest of the rest of China. Facing increasing pressure China strengthened its ties with Germany . Starting from 1933, a German mission headed by Hans von Seeckt provided crucial military support to the government of Chiang Kai-shek , reorganizing the army and providing training and modern arms. German aid began to wane in 1937 and

7200-481: The nose and similar weapons were provided for the dorsal and ventral stations. 60 aircraft were to be flown to Czechoslovakia by mid-1938. The planned licensed production program took a decidedly leisurely course, despite the increasingly dangerous political situation. By 15 March 1939, when the German Wehrmacht occupied Bohemia and Moravia , not one Czech-built aircraft had been delivered. Development of

7300-611: The performance of the SB, which by 1939 was becoming obsolete, the development of two second-generation versions were authorised, a direct replacement for the SB and a specialised dive bomber. The level bomber, known as the SN-MN or MMN, had a new wing of reduced wing area and was powered by more powerful Klimov M-105 engines. Performance was little better than the standard aircraft and it was abandoned. The dive-bomber, designated SB-RK (later redesignated Arkhangelsky Ar-2 after its designer, with Tupolev having been imprisoned and being in disgrace)

7400-645: The personnel were briefed on the situation in China and the importance of their participation in the fight against Japan, they were not volunteers; Soviet Air Force commander Aleksandr Loktionov and his deputy Yakov Smushkevich selected the personnel for the Soviet Volunteer Group. At its peak the Soviet Volunteer Group numbered 3,665 personnel, including doctors, drivers, mechanics, meteorologists, cryptographers, radio operators, airfield managers and pilots. 2,000 of these were pilots and 1,000 took part in combat missions. Some of them had been sent directly from

7500-412: The poor defensive armament of the SB, with the radio operator operating both the dorsal and ventral guns. To minimise losses to Japanese fighters, the Soviets changed tactics, flying SB missions at over 6,100 m (20,000 ft) where it was difficult for the Japanese to intercept. SBs continued to be used against the Japanese as the Soviets and Mongolian forces commanded by Georgy Zhukov carried out

7600-669: The position of the banks was the key to the situation, but what was going to happen could not have been foreseen. Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz 's A Monetary History of the United States , argues that what made the "great contraction" so severe was not the downturn in the business cycle, protectionism , or the 1929 stock market crash in themselves but the collapse of the banking system during three waves of panics from 1930 to 1933. Tupolev SB The Tupolev ANT-40 , also known by its service name Tupolev SB ( Russian : Скоростной бомбардировщик – Skorostnoi Bombardirovschik – high speed bomber) and development co-name TsAGI-40 ,

7700-602: The position was saved by a severe drought in the Dakotas and the Canadian West, as well as unfavorable seed times in Argentina and eastern Australia. The oversupply was now wanted to fill the gaps in the 1929 world wheat production. From 97¢ per bushel in May, the price of wheat rose to $ 1.49 in July. When it was seen that figure would make American farmers get more for their crop that year than in 1928, stocks went up again. In August,

7800-529: The present day. Some people believed that abuses by utility holding companies contributed to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. Many people blamed the crash on commercial banks that were too eager to put deposits at risk on the stock market. In 1930, 1,352 banks held more than $ 853 million in deposits; in 1931, one year later, 2,294 banks failed with nearly $ 1.7 billion in deposits. Many businesses failed (28,285 failures and

7900-538: The press. That was the start of the Great Crash, but until the severe phase of the crash in October, many investors regarded the September "Babson Break" as a "healthy correction" and buying opportunity. On September 20, 1929, top British investor Clarence Hatry and many of his associates were jailed for fraud and forgery, leading to the suspension of his companies. This may have weakened the confidence of Americans in their own companies, although it had minimal impact on

8000-453: The price had fallen to $ 1.31 per bushel. Other important economic barometers were also slowing or even falling by mid-1929, including car sales, house sales, and steel production. The falling commodity and industrial production may have dented even American self-confidence, and the stock market peaked on September 3 at 381.17 just after Labor Day, and it started to falter after Roger Babson issued his prescient "market crash" forecast. By

8100-407: The public their confidence in the market, but their efforts failed to stop the large decline in prices. The massive volume of stocks traded that day made the ticker continue to run until about 7:45 p.m. After a one-day recovery on October 30, when the Dow regained 28.40 points, or 12.34%, to close at 258.47, the market continued to fall, arriving at an interim bottom on November 13, 1929, with

8200-541: The remaining SBs to switch to night attacks. SBs continued to be used, in the defense of Leningrad and Moscow , mainly at night by attacking German artillery. By December 1941 almost all of the SBs had either been replaced or lost, although it remained in large-scale use until March 1942 in the North against Finland. SBs continued in use for non-combat roles such as supply dropping, glider towing and training, and continued in use in

8300-595: The remaining SBs were used for occasional training flights until withdrawn and scrapped in 1948. In July 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out. The Soviet Union signed the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact on 21 August 1937, and as part of this agreement, supplied large amounts of military equipment to the Chinese Nationalists , as well as deploying complete air force units, nominally manned by Soviet volunteers. An initial delivery of 62 SBs

8400-514: The situation as its territory now housed a colony of 40,000 Soviet citizens working on the Chinese Eastern Railway . Although the Soviets refused to officially recognize the new state, they sold the railway to the Japanese in March 1935, at a cut-rate following a series of Japanese provocations. The Soviets felt unready for a new confrontation with Japan, opting to improve relations with China as

8500-565: The supply of SB bombers and a licence for local production, in exchange for the right to produce the Škoda 75 mm Model 1936 mountain gun . The version of the SB to be supplied to, and subsequently license-built as the Avia B-71 was the SB 2M-100A but fitted with the Avia-built Hispano-Suiza 12-Ydrs engine. A single 7.92 mm vz. 30 machine gun supplanted the twin ShKAS machine guns in

8600-623: The time the Civil War ended in April 1939, 73 SBs had been lost, 40 of them to enemy action. Nineteen SBs were taken over by the Nationalists, and used to form a bomber squadron. Although some were re-engined with French Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs engines to aid maintenance, they were still subject to spares shortages, and in April 1943 only three were airworthy. When Junkers Ju 88s were received in December 1943,

8700-401: The time: We are reaping the natural fruit of the orgy of speculation in which millions of people have indulged. It was inevitable, because of the tremendous increase in the number of stockholders in recent years, that the number of sellers would be greater than ever when the boom ended and selling took the place of buying. Together, the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression formed

8800-468: The violation of public order. There is a debate among economists and historians as to what role the crash played in subsequent economic, social, and political events. The Economist argued in a 1998 article that the Depression did not start with the stock market crash, nor was it clear at the time of the crash that a depression was starting. They asked, "Can a very serious Stock Exchange collapse produce

8900-467: The wheat price fell when France and Italy were bragging about a magnificent harvest, and the situation in Australia improved. That sent a shiver through Wall Street and stock prices quickly dropped, but word of cheap stocks brought a fresh rush of "stags" (amateur speculators) and investors. Congress voted for a $ 100 million relief package for the farmers on the hope of stabilizing wheat prices, but by October,

9000-506: The world instituted measures to suspend trading in the event of rapid declines, claiming that the measures would prevent such panic sales. However, the one-day crash of Black Monday , October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6%, as well as Black Monday of March 16, 2020 (−12.9%), were worse in percentage terms than any single day of the 1929 crash (although the combined 25% decline of October 28–29, 1929,

9100-530: The yet more powerful M-103. While the engine installation of the SB 2-M103 initially retained the drag inducing frontal radiators of the M-100 powered aircraft, an improved engine installation was developed with the radiators slung under the engines. On 2 September 1937 M.Yu. Alexeev set an official altitude record of 12,246 m (40,177 ft) with load of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) in an M-103 powered SB. He had earlier set an unofficial record of 12,695 m (41,650 ft). In an attempt to further improve

9200-462: Was Soviet pilot Lev Shuster, who performed an aerial ramming after running out of fuel and ammunition. On 31 May, 18 Japanese bombers approached Wuhan for a second time, covered by 36 fighters. At the conclusion of the fight, the Japanese bombers missed their targets and 14 of them were shot down by Soviet fighters. By May, Soviet pilots had destroyed 625 enemy aircraft and damaged 150 military and civilian ships. The Soviet squadrons were withdrawn after

9300-421: Was a high speed twin-engined three-seat monoplane bomber , first flown in 1934 . The Tupolev design was advanced but lacked refinement, much to the dismay of crews, maintenance personnel, and Stalin , who pointed out that "there are no trivialities in aviation". Numerically the most important bomber in the world in the late 1930s, the SB was the first modern stressed skin aircraft produced in quantity in

9400-468: Was cut completely in May 1938, as Adolf Hitler realigned himself with Japan and Manchukuo instead. Sino– Soviet diplomatic ties had been cut following the Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) . At the time the Soviet Union was undergoing a country wide program of mass industrialization in preparation for a potential war on two fronts (with Germany and Japan respectively). The establishment of Manchukuo complicated

9500-626: Was designed and developed in the Tupolev KB ("Design Bureau") by a team led by A. A. Arkhangelski . Two versions were planned – with Wright Cyclone radial engines (ANT-40 RTs), and with the Hispano-Suiza 12Y liquid-cooled V12 engines (ANT-40 IS). The skills gained in the design of the MI-3 and DI-8 aircraft were widely used. The first two prototypes were designed as ANT-40.1 and ANT-40.2. The Cyclone powered prototype flew first, on 7 October 1934, while

9600-548: Was gradually phased out of front-line operations against the Japanese with the delivery of more modern American bombers from 1942, being partly replaced by Lockheed Hudsons and B-25 Mitchells . Limited numbers of SBs continued in non-combat use, including operations against opium plantations, before being used against the Communists when the Chinese Civil War flared up in 1945, being finally withdrawn in 1946. As well as

9700-463: Was larger than that of October 19, 1987, and remains the worst two-day decline as of October 7, 2024 ). The crash followed a speculative boom that had taken hold in the late 1920s. During the latter half of the 1920s, steel production, building construction, retail turnover, automobiles registered, and even railway receipts advanced from record to record. The combined net profits of 536 manufacturing and trading companies showed an increase, in

9800-568: Was made in September–October 1937, with combat operations by Soviet forces starting in December with attacks on Japanese ships on the Yangtze River . On 23 February 1938, to celebrate Soviet Army Day , Soviet SBs carried out a long range attack on Japanese airfields on Taiwan, claiming 40 Japanese aircraft destroyed on the ground. A further 60 SBs were delivered to China in early 1938, these being heavily used to attack Japanese forces during

9900-501: Was similar to the MMN but was fitted with dive brakes and it was ordered into production. Even though the SB was no longer a state of the art aircraft, production continued to increase through 1939 and 1940, as the Soviet Union tried to build up the strength of their air forces to compete with the growing threat of Nazi Germany, with almost 4,000 being built in these two years. The SB was phased out of production in early 1941, being replaced by

10000-480: Was the island of Taiwan , the main base of the Japanese Air Force , which also housed a wide array of cargo ships containing fuel and spare parts intended for the base. Flying at high attitude and approaching the island from the north, the bombers remained undetected until they dropped their payload, safely returning. As a result of the raid the Japanese lost a large shipment of fuel, 40 aircraft were destroyed on

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