Essay

Even worse were the social problems left by the loss of the war that led to low morale and distrust of the government. Everything took a turn for the worst when in October 14, 1929 when the New York stock-market crashed. This affected Germany because it was short-term American loans that had helped their economy pick back up after the war. Unemployment soared to 3 million in 1930, 4.35 million in 1931, and finally to an astounding 6 million in 1932 (Spielvogel and Redles, page 58). According to an original German table when income began to fluctuate in 1929 which lead to a disproportionate impact on both luxury goods and everyday goods (Course of the Great Depression (1929-1936) http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=4423). This economic downturn pushed people like the middle class to become apprehensive and fear for their stability and position in society. Here is where the Nazi’s swooped in and provided “simple but understandable reasons for the economic collapse,” according to Spielvogel and Redles (58). The Nazi’s accused pretty much everyone from the Weimar system, communist, big businesses, to the Jews and their Marxist views. In 1931 the economic situation was further exasperated by the banking crisis of Danatbank and Dresdner Bank. This bank

Following the Second World War, Germany was rebuilt out of practically nothing into one of the richest countries of the world. This well-known transformation is known as the "Wirtschaftswunder" (wonder of economics). Yet in the recent reunification of West and East Germany, German leadership has ignored crucial lessons from this successful period of transformation. Three problems highlight this claim:

East Germany had been struggling economically since the end of WWII. There were food shortages because of the lack of resources and money to import goods. Also this was a result of the war because of the bad economy and lack of land to grow crops on. Additionally, many intellectuals were emigrating out of East Germany, because of that and this hurt the economy. Plus, small and major businesses were not evolving and only closing because of high taxes. This led to Germans losing jobs which hurt the economy even more than it already was. An main reason for the failing economy was the Soviet Union was declining and not able to support East Germany. The Soviet Union was declining because Europe was mostly democratic/capitalists and this was hurting any country that had a communist government.This led to and was a reason for the

When the American Stock Exchange collapsed in 1929, Democratic Germany collapsed because America called in all of her foreign loans. America had been supporting Germany by giving them two massive loans in 1934 and 1929 to help support the Weimar Republic. After the German market crashed, they were unable to get money from France and Britain, as they were still recovering from World War I. America was the only country that could have helped them, but the country was bankrupt from the Stock Market Crash. The lack of money in the Germany caused many businesses to close. The number of unemployed people in Germany reached around six million, and many of them tried to turn to communism. This scared the wealthy individuals of Germany, so they financed Hitler’s campaigns.

The Great Depression shook the the whole world and few countries were unaffected by its consequences, with Germany being one of the worst hit. It was also one of the main causes for the rise of the Nazis which then led to Second World War. The depression can be traced back to the Wall Street Crash or Black Tuesday, October 29th 1929, where the stock market plummeted in America. Germany heavily relied on American loans, and when they were taken away, the Weimar Republic couldn’t do anything which ultimately led to its collapse. Other factors will also be explored such as how the Nazi government played the people’s feelings to get into power, German population and how it affected the different classes and German economy before and after the Great Depression.

After the war, Germany’s economy took a plunge from debt imposed on them by the Treaty of Versailles. Desperate to get the country’s economy up again, the government produced a surplus of money which only lead to hyperinflation. Money became of lesser value than before the war, and eventually even bread cost a fortune to buy. Adolf Hitler soon came into the picture, vowing to relieve Germans of their economic struggles by proposing to raise prices of produce for local farmers to give them more money for necessities, also making up for losses incurred during the Great Depression. He also promoted the ideas of forming jobs to build public buildings, restore the profits of small business, and remove communism threats. Due to the Germans being in extreme financial stress, Hitler rapidly gained support. In Document 4, Heinrich Hauser stated that “unskilled young people, for the most part, who had been unable to find a place for themselves in any city or town in Germany, and who

Economic difficulties during the Weimar period can also be considered central to change. In 1923, Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic reached its highest. It portrayed the Weimar Government in a negative light and undermined their status as the governors of Germany. This directly made German citizens turn to the radical parties of the time which were the Left Wing Communists and Right Wing Nazis. This occurrence is a strong illustration of how German economy was crucial to change as it handicapped the premature democracy. Furthermore, The Wall Street Crash between 1928 and 1929 is also an indication that economic problems were central to change. Germany was severely hit by the depression as American loans to help rebuild the German economy were stopped. Unemployment soared and so many turned to extremists parties. Hyperinflation and The Wall Street Crash therefore strengthened the support for radical parties such as the Nazis and helped lead to their eventual ascension to power.

The first major issue was that Germany was split into different zones, with industries in the West and much of the agriculture in the East. The people of the West German zones had to ration their food because of the low amount of crops produced (“Allied Occupation and the Formation of Two Germanys”). While the citizens in the Eastern zones did not have much money to live on. Money became worthless due to mass production which caused the inflation rate to rise. German citizens did not work as many hours as they had previously worked because money had no value, so instead, they bartered for money (“German Economic Miracle”).

In 1933, German economy was in turmoil. Due to the previous economic structure of the Weimar republic, German economy had never been worse. Having a democracy that the society couldn’t pay for and didn’t want in the first place, caused many issues. As Hitler rose to power, he gave Germans a sense of hope and national pride. Hitler’s aim to controlling Germany however was not economic growth. He was more intrigued with improving the living standards and ending unemployment, in the end there was not a single consistent Nazi economic program.

In the early 1930s, Germany was very gloomy. Germany was so gloomy due to the world wide "Great Depression." This country was hit especially hard. millions were poor and out of work. Adding on to all of the hardships, Germany just over a decade ago had previously lost the First World War which also caused plenty of economic difficulties and distrust politically.

The economy appeared to have stabalised with the introduction of the Dawes Plan. Before 1924, Germany was experiencing hyperinflation. The old Papiermark was rapidly depreciating and so Germany had to print more and more of it to pay reparations. By December 1922

However, the strike in the Ruhr Crisis had heavily affected its industry. The consequence of the strike was inflation. Germany had no goods to trade so it couldn’t repay the debt. Therefore, the government printed more money causing hyperinflation. Poor people suffered but middle classes suffered the most. This is an extremely unstable and hard time for Germany. Then, the new Chancellor Stresemann resolved these problems. He renegotiated the period for the payment of debt and borrowed loans from the US. The Dawes Plan worked successfully and the Germans economy recovered until 1929. In addition, it was a time of political stability,

Germany has quite an interesting (and difficult) economic development history from World War II and the Nazis into the modern EU power house it is today. Problems set into place by poor government management and an effects of war such as price controls and inflation set by Hitler in 1936 left the German economy in shambles after World War II (Henderson). These policies were typical during war times (also done by the United States and the United Kingdom), but had detrimental effects on the population. The end result was a currency that was almost worthless, there was a mass shortage of goods because the suppliers did not find it worth their time to produce when they face price controls that keep their products

The Great Depression was triggered when the stock market collapsed on Wall Street on Tuesday, October 29, 1929. This event’s effects were felt globally as many countries around the world were economically dependant on the US. The German economy was especially vulnerable since most of its economy was built on foreign capital, mostly loans from the USA. When the stock market crashed, US looked inwards to stabilize its own economy through recalling all foreign investments. Overnight, the middle class standard of living many German families enjoyed was ruined. Many were left homeless and poverty ran rampant throughout the streets of Germany, people needed a solution, any solution. Adolf Hitler saw this as an opportunity for his Nazi party to benefit

Subsequent to World War One, the German people were angry towards the government and economy. Their anger was rightly provoked by the War Reparations, Great Depression, and hyperinflation. The greatest contributor to Germany’s failing economy was the Versailles Treaty; while previewing the treaty, Germany knew the consequences would be great,