Why did the democratic government in Germany face disaster in 1923?
The democratic government faced major problems in 1923. One of these problems was the result of hyperinflation, which affected all Germans. Hyperinflation could have been prevented, however due to the democratic nature of the government it may seem they reacted carelessly to the situation. Although it could be argued that these sort of catastrophic events occurred because of previous events. It may of seemed that the had lost a battle before it even started.
A real problem the German government faced was its economical issues. The intense demands of reparations from the French and the British caused Germany problems as the reparations stated in the Treaty of Versailles” were too high for them to pay and led to the “Invasion of the Ruhr”. The falling behind in reparations inflicted the occupation of the Ruhr by the French army. The French took over Germanys main industrial area and used the funds generated by production as reparation methods. This meant Germany’s trading was put to a halt and no export income was available to pay off outstanding reparations. This left the German government facing dilemmas because if they rebelled against the occupation it would destroy any foreign relations and there would have been a more likely chance of being invaded. If they accepted the occupation then that would of led the country into great economical hardship and would mount great pressure from the right and left wing onto the current government. The invasion of the Ruhr was inevitable as the ridiculous amount of reparations the treaty of Versailles stated meant that the countries annual budget would have to be allocated to reparations itself which would inflict a lot of crisis on the government.
