To what extent did the failings of Nazi economic policy contribute to the defeat of Germany in the Second World War? There were several different factors that all had an impact on the defeat of Germany during the Second World War and the extent of which the failings of the Nazi economic policy contributed can be argued. The meagre state of the economy, through insufficient planning, did put strains on the government and this limited the full potential of the army, the production of weapons and high demand for labour. No doubt, the economy did hinder the progression of the war however I believe that there were more significant factors that contributed to the defeat of Germany. Hitler’s strategy incompetence, the Allied bombings and losing the Battle of The Atlantic were all also important factors in the defeat of Germany.
“German defeat in the Great War is predominantly attributable to the mistakes of the Prussian-German military elite.” Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement. The Great War was supposed to be a short, victorious war for Germany, one that would be over by Christmas but despite Germany’s early successes in the First World War she eventually suffered defeat in 1918. It is a popular argument that this defeat was due to the weaknesses and incompetence of the German military elite and there is much to support this. However there are other factors such as weaknesses shown by Germany’s allies, the strength of the Entente and the growing discontent of the Germans at home, that can also be attributable to Germany’s failure. German defeat in the Great War was largely down to the incompetence and mistakes of the German Military Elite.
Hitler used propaganda, elimination of the opposition, and a cult of personality to gain the support and trust of the German people in a time of economic crisis to his benefit and the rest of the world's loss. Single party states arise from a crisis, and Germany was suffering from a very large one at that time. The end of World War I in 1918 had left the economic state in shambles, and the loss struck the German people hard. Furthermore, the Treaty of Versailles the following year resulted in the demilitarisation and many cuts from German land and territory. Hitler criticized the carving up of Europe by the "Big Four" (the US, UK, France and Italy), stating that the Germans were the "master race".
Explain why Germany was bankrupt by 1923. At first, Germany’s main problem was that its government was bankrupt. The cost of the war was so great that that all of the German gold reserves had been put towards the cause. After the Weimar Republic had made the decision to surrender, The Treaty of Versailles had made things considerably worse. It deprived Germany of wealth-earning areas, such as the coalfields in Silesia.
One of the reasons why the economy weakened after the Second World War was because of the resources Britain needed for warfare. Three industries which were the “engines of power”, cotton, coal and engineering, were declining (Darwin, 1988: 60). Without the means to modernize her industrial technologies Britain’s influence in the world declined. Furthermore, many factories, houses and shipping ports were destroyed during the bombing. According to Darwin (1988: 65), twenty five percent of the national wealth was needed for war supplies, restoration of industries and reconstruction of the buildings.
Germanys list of problems at this time was only growing. Losing WW1 caused many problems in itself as one might expect, never mind the Treaty of Versailles that was to follow. The most prominent socio-economic effects were most naturally the casualties, 2 million Germans were killed and a further 6 million were injured, also the increasing number of civilian deaths due to hypothermia and starvation. The reason these deaths increased, was due to food and fuel shortages caused by the cold winter of 1916-17. In these winter months there were signs of the country’s morale and unity breaking, it was not helped when Germany was hit with an influenza epidemic, wiping out 20-40 million, the resistance to the disease was lowered due to decline in living conditions.
These terms included Germany having to pay reparations to the Allies, Germany having to accept the war guilt, the seizure of German territories and colonies to the allies, limits on German armed forces, and the establishment of the League of Nations. The following essay will discuss the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and analyse how fair the treaty really was. The first term of the Treaty of Versailles was the huge sum of money that Germany had to pay to the Allies - £6600 million to pay for the damage done to the infrastructure of both countries by the war. This amount of money was well beyond Germany’s ability to pay and Germany was hugely affected as a result. A huge sum of money was being taken out of the German economy, which made it extremely difficult for Germany to compete in the trade market.
Also, Germany were restricted to an army only 100,000 strong, which lead to mass unemployment, making the lives of many Germans very difficult. Lastly, they weren’t allowed an air force and had a small navy which made them vulnerable also, when airplanes were beginning to be used commercially, the Germans weren’t able to have this luxury. On the other hand, I disagree with the statement as the Germans were one of the main reasons for the first war and although they weren’t completely to blame, they still were a big reason for the war. The German forces caused a huge amount of damage to France and Belgium and it would be unfair for these countries to have to pay for the repairs completely themselves through their population’s taxes. Also, if Germany were still allowed a full army force the Germans could restart another war or attack a country, which is what they want to prevent.
How far was the Treaty of Versailles justified at the time? The Treaty of Versailles was an agreement between 32 nations deciding the fate of Germany. It was needed badly as war torn Europe was in turmoil. France had been devastated by the effects of war and sought to cripple Germany. The British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, realised the severe implications that this could have and so wanted a more lenient peace treaty.
Naturally, the people demanded the Germans to disarm and to lose her colonies and industries such as the “Saar” that was rich in coal. However, David Lloyd George, the prime minister of Britain at that time, wanted a just and fair treaty that was not too harsh on Germany as he wanted to safeguard the sustainability of Britain’s trading relationship with