The History Of World War II

After World War II Germany was left devastated and in ruins. There had been massive destruction of the country’s infrastructure (Bessel 2011), it lacked political structure and economic activity had plummeted. There was a scarcity of food, fuel and housing and Germany was in no condition to clothe or feed its population (O’Dochartaigh 2003).

After World War One, Germany was thrown into downward spiral. They were left with a monstrous amount of

the financial and military help they had received from the colonists during the war. All these

To pay for the enormous war debts, massive taxes were imposed on the people. The farmers wanted the revision of the poll taxes because they were based on head counts and they wanted it to be based on income, equivalent to one third of the people’s income. The prosperity of the northern states was largely based on a profitable trade with the West Indies but the British government ended the trade. The constant withdraw of gold and silver to pay war debts and no of it, gold and silver grew

This was a tax, also to get revenue from the colonists, on glass, lead, paper, tea and paint imported into the

First, colonists were taxed for the use of paper, certain goods, and required colonists to cloth and feed the soldiers that were sent to the

To pay for the war, the Confederate government issued a vast array of paper currencies at least seventy different types of currency, totaling more than 1.5 billion dollars, an incredible sum at that time. Making things even more confusing, state governments issued their own currencies  as did banks, insurance companies, and businesses.

Meant that they had to go to a special stamp tax office to purchase the stamped paper. Not only that, the tax was to be paid in silver coin--a scarce commodity in the colonies. (DiBacco et al. 83)

With so many resources being reserved for soldiers fighting in the war, the resources back on the home front were in very low supply. To evenly distribute these resources and limit the amount being supplied to the general public, the government issued a book of stamps with details as to what each stamp is used for. When you purchased a rationed item – such as canned food, meat, sugar, clothing, shoes, rubber, metal, and gasoline – you gave one of these stamps to your supplier.

Germany emerged from World War I with huge debts incurred to finance a costly war for almost five years. The treasury was empty, the currency was losing value, and Germany needed to pay its war debts and the huge reparations bill imposed on it by the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war. The treaty also deprived Germany of territory, natural resources, and even ships, trains, and factory equipment. Germany’s population was undernourished and contained many widows, orphans, and disabled veterans living in poverty. The new German government struggled to deal with these crises, which had produced a serious hyperinflation.

that went along with the Agricultural Adjustment Act that had required a tax were also

Due to an increase in social welfare spending, local authorities took advantages and used loans to embark on vast public housing schemes. The balance of trade was an economic indicator of the stability. Unfortunately for the economy of Germany the successfulness of the country was largely supported by foreign funding. Although this gave Germany stability it was not a secure way to live, if any communication went wrong with another country, then that country would stop funding.

In this paper I will show that the German Government did have other options to finance its expenditures

Historians have come to believe that had Germany’s economy not been disrupted by the world depression, their political system would not have been so vulnerable. Aside from the United States, Germany was hit the hardest by the world depression. The economic crisis led to “unemployment of six million

Germany’s quality of life can be measured by its HDI which ranks it sixth in the world. The HDI measures life expectancy, education and standard of living. To this end, Germany’s life expectancy rate has increased since 1980 by 7.4 years, it’s expected years of school has risen by 1.8 years and GNI per capita increased by a whopping 69%. This is illustrated in Table A, below. This figure also illustrates how the decentralisation of wages in Germany brought it forward economically on an international scale. Now, it is seen as a key player in the international economy, this being due to the influence of globalisation. The standard of living in Germany is in the top 1o in the world therefore making it an attractive economy which furthers its economic