The Great Depression in Germany began due to the connections that Germany had with the US, due to the large amount of money, particularly in trade bonds, they had been given as part of the Dawes Plan. The Great Depression was caused by the Wall Street Crash within the United States, which began on October 24th, 1929, also known as Black Thursday. After the US stock prices had begun to rapidly fall on October 18th, 12,894,650 shares were traded in a single day, a record at the time. The reason that prices had begun to fall was due to unsustainable growth within the stock market. Between 1923 and 1929, the average earning per share rose by 400%, and due to this drastic rise in prices many people bought shares, often borrowing from others to buy …show more content…
Nearly 15 million US citizens were unemployed by 1933, or roughly 30% of the workforce, and the GDP fell by 30%. Drastic consequences also occurred worldwide, with the crash within the United States spinning off to other nations, particularly ones within Europe, due to interconnected economies. This resulted in the Great Depression having a world wide affect on other major economies. The impact on Weimar Germany was much greater, as they were incredibly dependent on the loans that were provided by the United States to them as part of the Dawes Plan and later the Young Plan. Germany had a very weak economy, due to their recent hyperinflation and before that, the consequences of World War One. When the Wall Street Crash did occur, the United States asked Weimar Germany to start returning the loaned money within 90 days. Weimar Germany were unable to do this, as due to their weak economy and no nations being in a position to help them due to their own financial struggles, Germany quickly began to go bankrupt. Unemployment rose at a massive rate, particularly in regions such as the Ruhr, who were incredibly dependent on production and industrial