Germany after World War I
School 2086
Mazinova Polina
Natalia Evgenievna Borodina
The Economy of War
2016
I chose Germany after World War 1. (German Economy in the 1920s) I'm going to refute that this war benefited Germany's economy, political and social life. I was always interested in the reasons which forced the wealthy and stable country like Germany to start being manipulated by someone like Adolf Hitler. I think,the country should be in a deep crisis to be able to get in such regime. And i'm going to prove that the first World War had caused this crisis and led to the IIId Reich nightmare.
I'm going to discover some new facts about German economy in the 1920th. I guess, after this research my view on the World War 1 consequences will be more wide.
Germany by the beginning of World War 1.
At the beginning of World War 1 the level of industry in Germany was very high. Germany was on the second place after the USA. The development of industry was followed by the growth of employment level( before the war there was 7,4 mln workers). Such forms of the industry as agriculture, military production and trade were also highly developed. Main trade partners of Germany were England, France, Russia and other countries, which confronted Germany ,when the war began. I can remark that Germany's dependence on those countries was really high: 67% of export and 80% of import. So, at the beginning of 20th century Germany was a strong and powerful country. It had wealth, it had stability and it's main aim was to expand it's area. Germany started to insist on the recognition of the equality of the rights for the colonies. German parliament was also concerned about the establishment of Antanta. So, basically Germany's wish of the economic and political domination in Europe led Germany to war. The economic voice of war
After World War 1 Germany was economically devastated. Due to the Versailles treaty in 1919, Germany was forced to pay reparations to France and Great Britain and also Versailles treaty forced Germany to give up thirteen percent of its land. In the west Germany returned Alasce-Lorraine to France, Belgium recieved Eupen and Malmedy, and Denamrk recieved some lands. Germany couldn't afford the reparation payments, so the authorities began printing huge amounts of money, which threw Germany into inflation. Big manufactures were destroyed, the small ones couldn't survive with the inflation increase. That's why a big wave of unemployment covered Germany. The growth of the taxes started to be a big issue. That's why a big wave of unemploymeny covered Germany. The growth of taxes started to be a big issue. Germany wasn't anymore allowed to have an army, which could consist more then of 100 thousands soldiers. Of course, it gave the country the feeling of insecurity. The trade connection with the ex-partnenrs was also broken, so the income from trade awfully decreased. Germany's politics The Versailles treaty was humiliating for Germany and it was obvious that many radical movements would appear . The Waimar State, which appeared on the ruins of the Second Reich wasn't able to solve the old problems. It hadn't a strict political line and it couldn't include all the new political parties. The Waimar State couldn't survive longer than fifteen years floating between Second Reich traditions and new radical mood.
Social sphere in Germany after War.
Main social consequence of the World War I was the appearance of strict revolutionary moods. The unfortunate result of the war, the economy collapse and hunger led to the military and working-class revolution in 1918 and then to the rebellion in 1919. This mood existed till the appearance of Hitler. The great dispair and dissapointment in the after-war reality can be considered as main reason for this mood. Old European system of values collapsed. It was the beginning of the new era, the new self-identification of the country. The traditional values such as The State, The King, The family lost thier weight and they didn't provide the feeling of safety and stability anymore. People strated to need the new authorithy and the new system which was able to give them back those feelings.
According to my research, we can definetly see that the changes in Germany's economy were more negative than positive. Of course, we can consider every war as a new beginning for the development of the country. But in my opinion, the price for this new beginning is too high. Germany lost it's authority among other countries. People were dying from hunger, suffering from diseases, they were miserable, unemployed, dissapointed.Strikes, deaths, fights- those were main consequences of war. So, for me this hypothesis is definitely false: the war isn't beneficial for the country. I've learned a lot about the situation in Germany after WWI and i think i have met my goals: i found a lot of proofs for my theory and i can protect my opinion in any discussion.
list of references: 1)German Economy in the 1920sBy Daniel Castillo (author page) http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/1920s/Econ20s.htm
2) Military-economic basis of Western European countries before and during the First World War of 1914-1918. http://militera.lib.ru/research/shigalin_gi/03.html
3) Germany and The First World War http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/ru/education/courses/history_of_shoah_ext/pdf/lesson3_1.pdf
4) Textbook on the history of the 9th form (Shubin)
