used, with the episode instead being referred to by other terms, such as the "Great Recession". Notable depressions The General Crisis of 1640 The largest depression of all time occurred during the General Crisis. The Ming Empire of China went bankrupt and the Stuart Monarchy fought a civil war on three fronts in Ireland, Scotland, and England. Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, created the first recorded explanation of the need for a universal Social Contract in his 1652 book Leviathan based on the general misery within society during this period. Great Depression of 1837 This depression is acknowledged to be a worse depression in the United States than the later Great Depression of the 1930s. This depression ended in the United States due to the California Gold Rush and its tenfold addition to the United States' gold reserves. As with most depressions, it was followed by a thirty-year period of a booming economy in the United States, which is now called the Second Industrial Revolution (of the 1850s). Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was an American financial crisis, built on a speculative real estate market. The bubble burst on 10 May 1837 in New York City, when every bank stopped payment in gold and silver coinage. The Panic was followed by a five-year depression, with the failure of banks and record high unemployment levels. Long Depression Starting with the adoption of the gold standard in Britain and the United States, the Long Depression (1873–1896) was indeed longer than what is now referred to as the Great Depression, but shallower in some sectors. Many who lived through it regarded it to have been worse than the 1930s depression at times. It was known as "the Great Depression" until the 1930s. Great Depression The Great Depression of the 1930s affected most national economies in the world. This depression is generally considered to have begun with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and the crisis quickly spread to other national economies. Between 1929 and 1933, the gross national product of the United States decreased by 33% while the rate of unemployment increased to 25% (with industrial unemployment alone rising to approximately 35% – U.S. employment was still over 25% agricultural). A long-term effect of the Great Depression was the departure of every major currency from the gold standard, although the initial impetus for this was World War II (see Bretton Woods