Marked by global instability and the Great Depression, the 1930s contended with several consequential European and Asian outbreaks of war, leading up to catastrophic World War II in 1939. Other conflicts during the decade which affected the stock market included the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War, the 1935-1936 Second Italo-Abyssinian War, the Soviet-Japanese Border War (1939) of 1939 and the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937. On top of that, the United States dealt with a painful recession in Recession of 1937-1938 which temporarily brought economic recovery to a halt. The List of largest daily changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the index, 15.34%, happened on March 15, 1933, in the depths of the 1930s Market trend when the Dow gained 8.26 points to close at 62.10. However, as a whole throughout the Great Depression, the Dow posted some of its worst performances, for a negative return during most of the 1930s for new and old stock market investors. For the decade, the Dow Jones average was down from 248.48 points at the beginning of 1930, to a stable level of 150.24 points at the end of 1939, a loss of about 40%.. How many years did the Spanish Civil War last?