According to Document 2 “In the period following the end of World War 1, Germany experianced a disastrous perioid of inflation. The German governemnts method of financing the war by borrowing heavily and printing large quantities of unbacked currency began th inflationary spiral. This lead to political violence.” The german economy was in ruins at the time, one us dollar was equivilant to 4,200,000,000,000 German marks at one point. This helped Hitler Rise to power because the people felt that their economy was very very weak because of the government, and they wanted a new upgraded government.
The total reparations were set at $55,000,000,000, a number that many saw as excessive and unfair (Document 1). Germany’s economy was already struggling from the war, and the reparations only made things worse. The payments were very difficult to make due to the high levels of inflation and the fact that Germany had to pay in gold or foreign currency, which it did not have. These terms, combined with the disruption caused by the war, led to a period of hyperinflation in Germany during the early 1920s. They printed large amounts of paper money in order to make the payments, creating an inflationary spiral.
Hyperinflation became so grave that it became more economically viable for German citizens to burn German Marks to fuel their furnaces instead of buying real fuel, as four trillion German marks were equivalent to one U.S. dollar (Doc. 6-7). These economic troubles did not stay contained in Germany, for Germany consistently defaulted on its payments to countries relying on German reparations to keep their economy afloat, resulting in many other large European countries falling into extreme debt (Doc. 6). The Treaty of Versailles had no plan to preserve the economy of Europe (Doc. 3), rather only a very flimsy idea to make Germany fix everything, showing once again that its impacts did far more harm than good on the overall economic and political stability of Europe. The Treaty of Versailles also had no plan to stabilize the newly created countries of Europe or make Germany and its allies “into good neighbors” (Doc. 3, 8), all of which led to extreme instability and unpredictability in Europe, as well as the German government itself, a mistake which paved the way for the rise of Hitler and the Nazi
[Doc 1]. This responsibility forced Germany into massive debt, as they had to pay large sums of money while their economy was still in ruins from the war. This plight initially led to the weakened economy described
The debt cycle continued on between Germany, Great Britain, France, and the United States until the Great Depression caused the economy to collapse. Germany made an abortive attempt to solve the problem by printing more money to pay off its debts. Consequently, this worsened the situation; hyperinflation in Germany devastated the lives of the entire German population, people were helpless and in poverty, many even used the worthless currency to cook and make fire (“Konwinski Binder”). In fact, Germany was not able to pay off its war debts until a century later (Smith), emphasizing the lasting impact of war. Not only did the economic crisis cause the German citizens to panic, when Kaiser Wilhelm II fled to exile after the Treaty of Versailles was signed, an unstructured political organization spread fear throughout Germany.
One of the main factors was hyperinflation. This is when prices increase while value of money decrease. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, hyperinflation caused a depression, which undermined, “the stability of the German economy.” Jobs were hard to find and didn’t pay enough even when you had one. This caused the people of Germany to be in desperate need of help from anyone who could offer it.
According to Mcelvaine (2004), the crash accelerated the downward spiral of the economy wiping out the paper wealth investors and altering the previously euphoric outlook of so many people into one pessimism, which made them more cautious of their spending and their investments and due to this they needed further demand. The money supply had major effects on the economy as well. If there is no money, then prices would have to fall and this could cause deflation, which is what caused the Panic of 1893, before the Great Depression took place. Germany dealt with hyperinflation and this contributed to the Depression. One way was that it wreaked havoc on the German economy and several European countries and they never fully recovered (Mcelvaine, 2004).
In the aftermath of World War 1 (WW1), many affairs led the Germans looking for a way to return Germany to its previous acclaim. This paved the way for Adolf Hitler to become the individual to lead the Germans out of this state of depression and havoc. Many things were taken from the Germans due to WW1 and this enraged them. Later on, entering the depression causing Germany to lose wealth and have the financial burden of assessing its people. Not only did they have to find a solution to this economic crisis but Germany had to pay the allied powers a sum of money causing them to be deeper in the economic crisis and have an enormous debt.
The US loans could be called at short notice which could cause destruction to the German economy. Unemployement was an issue. 6 percent of the working population was unemployed by 1928. Small businesses, shopkeepers both were threatened by large department stores and businesses. Most of the time, peasant farmers didn't have enough demand for their food so they usually couldn't keep up with their
The average German worker had supported Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party because both Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party had appealed to what the average German workers had wanted. After World War I, Germany had experienced a hyperinflation as a result of all the war reparations. The entire German population had become crazed as they were trying to make money in order to purchase food and other basic necessities.
By Hindenburg and Von Papen giving Hitler the role of Chancellor – thinking that Hitler can be easily manipulate. Furthermore, without the Great Depression and its world-wide economic crisis, the Nazi party would have remained a small political group without much of a say in the government like it had been from 1924 – 1928. During this period, Germany was slowly but surely recovering from the hyperinflation period. The Nazi fed off this Depression a gain a foothold in the
Finding truth in the news these days is quite difficult. The supposed to be news channels are giving biased opinions on topics. Most people now, get their news through social media. So how do we find the truth?
Hyperinflation : In 1923, French and Belgium troops invaded Germany's most industrialized area the Ruhr, French Troops took over the iron and steel factories following with the coal mines and railways. As Germany could not afford to pay
However German government printed more money to pay off the debt but it caused inflation. The government had 300 million papers and work 24 hours a day to pay a huge amount of debt. Germany wasn’t earning money properly, so it didn’t affect their wealth, which means they were still poor while they are keep making money. So prices of goods and education and services rose quickly. So many people didn’t go to the hospital, because it was too
This was extremely harsh because they were already experiencing economic problems. The payments were around 5% of Germany’s national income. As Germany could not afford to pay this, they had to borrow allot of money from the USA. This led to currency decline, which then led to hyperinflation.
