Introduction
This investigation examines to what extent the economic failures of the Weimar republic led to the rise of fascism in Germany, especially in regards to the importance of the hyperinflation of 1923 and the Dawes plan in conjunction with the Great Depression. Beginning with the end of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, which set the foundation for the economic failure of the Weimar Republic, it will demonstrate the impact of other nations on Germany’s economy. However, it will also address internal factors which caused continuous inflation and only postponed the inevitable failure of the economy.
Through the comparison of these factors, it will be shown that the combination of internal struggles and failed foreign diplomacy, caused a situation of uncertainty and social misery in which extremist ideologies, such as fascism and communism, were able to gain increasingly more power and support. Therefore, this investigation will argue that the economic failures were a leading cause for the rise of the NSDAP in Germany and support this position using historical facts and perspectives. However, it will also be seen that non-economic factors such as political issues,
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During the July Crisis of 1914, when war seemed imminent, the German population withdrew gold coins worth 100 million marks in the last weeks of July, which resulted in the suspension of redemption of banknotes and coins into gold by the Reichsbank ( German national bank). In order to preserve the government's gold reserves, the gold standard was abolished by the Enabling Act of 4 August 1914. The circulating money supply quintupled from the beginning of the war in 1914 to 1918 to 33 billion marks, while at the same time the circulation of coins in the total amount of money fell to only 0.5 percent, compared to 56 percent in