How stable was the Weimar Republic, in terms of its Economy, by 1924

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Ben Dunkley

History

Weimar Republic

How stable was the Weimar Republic, in terms of its Economy, by 1924?

In 1918 the German economy was on the verge of collapse. Germany had committed so much money to its armed forces during the First World War that it barely had enough to feed its people. This was without the complications of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 that crippled it further.

The treaty of Versailles demanded ridiculous sums of money from Germany in order to pay for damage done to Europe during the campaign. They asked the Germans for £6600 million to cover this cost. This was an enormous figure at the time and one that Germany would not have been able to pay.

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Due to the fact that the Germans had no goods or raw materials to trade, because the treaty of Versailles also took away a large proportion of their industry, the government thought that it would be a good idea if they just printed more money. This way they thought they could pay off their debts in worthless marks. This repayment also included their war debts. The great industrialists would also be able to pay off their debts overnight. This however started a chain reaction with money printing spiralling out of control.

To compare prices: a loaf of bread ...

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