Question

_________ was able to escape the impact of the Great Depression?
A. USA
B. England
C. USSR
D. Germany

Answer 1

Hint: The country which was able to escape the impact of the Great Depression was because its economy was not integrated and linked with that of the western countries. The depression took place mostly in the 1930s and it began from the west. It affected the entire world.

Complete answer: USSR was the only communist state at that time and it had minimal trade contact with the rest of the world. Due to this the Soviet economy did not take a hit like the capitalist countries.
The Soviet economy actually benefited from the Great Depression. To fuel their industrialization the USSR hired specialized labour, particularly from the USA. Farmers, engineers and industrialists were brought in to develop the backward agrarian economy into an one that was urbanised and industrialised.
Economically the Soviets were trading huge quantities of grain for machinery from the West and as the Great Depression lowered the demand for machinery in the West, therefore the Soviets were able to buy it at much lower price.Politically the Soviets were able to point to the stability of their economic system in contrast to West’s capitalist economy.

Therefore the correct answer is option C. Rest of the three countries suffered because of the Great Depression.

Note: The Great Depression affected the industrialized powers at different times and in different ways. We can say this because some suffered steep whereas some suffered small. Despite these differences no major industrialized market economy escaped significant economic losses from the Great Depression/Slump of the 1920s and 1930s.