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Great Depression In Germany

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The outbreak of World War Two was the product of many influences. The Great Depression was certainly a contributing factor, but other occurrences at the time, including The Treaty of Versailles and the failure of Appeasement, also played starring roles. The biggest influence was the rise of the Nazi Party and German expansion, as it caused the most conflict between Germany and the Allies.
The extent to which the Great Depression contributed to World War Two was that it caused economic distress which led to the rise to power of new governments, in particular the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany.
After the armistice that ended World War One in 1918, many countries were willing to do anything they could to prevent another war in the future. …show more content…

It began in America in October 1929 after the New York stock market crash. Consumer spending and investment dropped, which led to a decline in the production of goods and services and rising levels of unemployment as companies began to go bankrupt. The Depression spread to many other industrialized countries across the world through the relationships America had with them. The hardest hit nations were the ones who had the most debt to pay to The U.S., these were Britain and Germany. Mass unemployment in Germany caused great anger, so ruling governments lost their power. This lead to the rise in power of Hitler and the Nazi party. To stay in power during these hard times, politicians turned people's attention to foreign affairs and directed their hatred toward other countries. This resulted in aggressive nationalistic attitudes. The reduction in exports in order to save money also created national conflict and tension. The tension and economic distress of the Great Depression was not particularly a major cause of the outbreak of war, but it did lead to other important events including Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. Therefore if can be shown that The Great Depression was not directly a cause of war but it led to other more important events, so it was one cause, but to a much lesser extent than other events in the lead up to World …show more content…

Many events that occurred allowed Hitler to rise to power and gain control of Germany. These events included the Great Depression, and the Treaty of Versailles. Mass unemployment and economic instability due to the Great Depression in Germany meant people became angry and lost faith in the ruling government. The Nazi Party criticized the government and began to win elections. In January 1933, Hitler was appointed as the German Chancellor, and in a short space of time, the Nazis came to control all aspects of German life. Once Hitler had the power, “he directed Nazi Germany’s foreign policy toward undoing the Treaty of Versailles and restoring Germany’s standing in the world” (author, year). People supported him because they believed the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh, and that Germany had the right to a powerful status in the western world. Hitler breached the terms of the Treaty of Versailles by rebuilding armed forces beyond what was permitted. He argued against the Treaty’s redrawn map of Europe and said it denied Germany “Anschlüss” or “living space”. Hitler wanted to expand horizons. So he decided to invade and reoccupy German Rhineland in March 1936, an area taken from Germany after World War One. In March 1938 the Nazis annexed Austria, then later that year they went on and demanded that Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland be incorporated into Germany.

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