One thing the Germans were not happy in the treaty of Versailles is the War Guilt Clause, take blame for the war. Because of this they had to the reparation to the big three. The German government didn’t have the money to pay for the reparation as the country just lost a war and the factory are destroy and the environment is in a poor state. So then the USA banks lend Germany government loans. Its was all going well as Germany was getting in a better state and they are paying their reparation until 1929.
They included Jews, anti-Nazi Germans, and the Slavic people. As in 1933, the documents show how the US State Department continued with its restrictive policy on foreigners. This is because the stock market had crashed, there was rising unemployment and everybody felt that the country lacked resources to continue accommodating new immigrants (Abzug 145). Despite this, natives of some American states reflected the growing attitude of anti-Semitism at that time. According to him, as recorded in the New York Times, American anti-Semitism although it had not reached the level of the Nazi Germany, pollsters estimated that they were being unfavorable to them (Abzug 25).
This was due to events like the devastating 1923 hyperinflation, and of course the Treaty of Versailles, which had tainted Weimar’s reputation from its inception. The Reichstag was in a constant state of flux as the parties struggled to create and maintain coalition governments, and this added to the public’s negative perception of a democratic republic. The economic slump from 1928-32 was undoubtedly responsible for the NSDAP’s rise in support, as it was the cause of social and political problems within Germany. Even prior to the Wall Street Crash in October 1929 the economy was in trouble – economic growth was uneven throughout the 1920s. Trade was in debt as imports exceeded exports; this was because Germany was
Subsequently this caused the Ruhr Crisis, as the Germans were unable to pay the reparations on time so the French decided to invade Ruhr, as it was a major coal-mine of Germany providing a lot of their economy at the time. Hyperinflation in Germany made it impossible for them to pay reparations, this is where the currency is inflated at a very high rate and in order to try combat this the Germans printed more and more money, this however did not help the hyperinflation and actually made it worse. This made the French angry so they decided to invade the Ruhr to take their coal as to pay for the money needed from the late reparation payments. The Ruhr Crisis was during the mid 1920s when Germany was unable to pay their reparations on time and therefore France invaded the Ruhr, which was the biggest coal-mine in Germany at the time. The French thought that the German workers would work for them.
Describe the effects of hyperinflation on Germany in 1923. (9) The Weimar government was short of money after the First World War and so began to print more and more banknotes. The sudden flood of paper money into the economy, on top of the general strike - which meant that no goods were manufactured, so there was more money, chasing fewer goods - combined with a weak economy ruined by the war, all resulted in hyperinflation. Prices ran out of control, for example, a loaf of bread, which cost 250 marks in January 1923 had risen to 200,000 million marks in November 1923. German's currency became worthless.
The failure of the Weimar Republic to fix the increasingly pressing problems of Germany consequently contributed massively to their downfall, as it demonstrated their weakness. By the early 1930s the German people were resentful of their government because of the economic issues caused by the Great Depression and Wall Street Crash. For example industrial production in 1930 had dropped by 13% of what it was in 1928, and by 1932 it had dropped by 42%. This combined with the fact many Germans still had the effects of the economic problems of the early 1920s fresh in their minds caused declining support for moderate parties and therefore the Republic. This can evidently be seen from the election results as in 1928 the SPD had 29.8% of the vote and by 1932 this had dropped to 20.4%.
6) Hoovervilles were named after Herbert Hoover because he was the president at the time of the great depression. The American people felt like he was to blame for the terrible economy because he raised taxes when he promised that he wouldn't as well as creating the Smoot Hawley tariff which eventually cut America off from foreign trade, tightening the grasp that the depression already had on the U.S. The negative view that the American people had of Hoover was not fair because he put forth more effort than any other president before him to pull America out of a
The treaty of Versailles greatly humiliated Germany forcing it to accept soul responsibility for the war. Another fault in this treaty was that it did not work as intended. The idea that Germany could ever afford to pay the reparations to full amount was ludicrous as it was already suffering from the defeat of war. These reparations caused runaway inflation throughout Germany. But perhaps the biggest problem of all was that those who created it themselves did not enforce
What came along the effects of The Depression was the soaring unemployment rate as well as the poor living and working conditions that much of the population had to endure, this caused the people of Germany to look to the government for support. When the republic failed to help their people, the citizens of Germany turned away from the government and instead turned to the the Nazi party, with its nationalistic ideology which seemed promising and an appealing alternative to the Weimer
Hitler got away with this because Britain had sympathy for Germany and in 1935 signed a naval agreement with them. France was angry that Germany was re-army but there was little they could do as most countries were doing the same, especially after the disappointment of the Disarmament conference.. The failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s also contributed towards the outbreak of war. It was powerless throughout the 1920s as it was more interested in trying to keep good relations with the other countries so it would have allies against Hitler if he ever attacked. The League also didn’t work because America didn’t join and it was the American President Woodrow Wilson who created it and it would never have worked unless all the nations were allowed to join.