400, 000 civilians died from it in less than a year. 186, 000 soldiers died at the same time.
The coal shortage lead to public buildings being closed, such as cinemas and libraries. This caused public morale to drop, considering the civilians would then be stuck in freezing cold houses with little to eat and disease spreading quickly. The coal shortage was also an economic problem. The country was loosing money, and loosing money fast. The loss of territory was also a major issue economically. Germany had a lot less land, but also socially it was a humiliation.
The only crops available after a few months were turnips, so the poor had to live on these vegetables, often with nothing else to eat.
The unemployment soon developed on to a larger scale, with thousands not working and starving to death. This meant the country had thousands of workers not working, so meant less work was being done. Again, another lack of money being produced.
The hyperinflation was perhaps the most socially effective issue. It was the impact of the hyperinflation that reached the public. Their money was worthless, their life savings amounting to practically nothing. Prices rose by thousands every day, and the public were forced to get rid of their money by the hour. Fixed incomes meant the elderly would be getting barely anything as they couldn’t change the amount received each month. Workers had to be paid twice a day as to get to the shops in time, with enough to buy merely a loaf of bread.
Economically, the hyperinflation was also one of Germany’s worst crisis’s. The country was literally left in ruins when millions became worthless, due to the government over-printing money. Because Germany could not afford to pay back reparations because of this, French troops invaded the Ruhr, the country’s biggest source of industry. The invasion again left the public humiliated, and the government ordered the workers to respond to this with a non-violent strike. When this didn’t work, they were forced to co-operate. Yet more humiliation.
The other social problems Germany had to face were the effects of World War One. The blockade was kept, which meant that little supplies were allowed through in to the country, and Germany couldn’t trade overseas with other countries. The Government were disliked by most for getting Germany in to this mess, though mostly for signing the treaty of Versailles. It was an unfair contract which bound Germany to years of discrimination. From the war guilt clause to the amount of reparations paid, the treaty was too harsh by far. Ebert’s government was dubbed ‘the November criminals’, and were frowned upon for agreeing to the armistice also, which lead on the Versailles treaty.
The German public felt humiliated by France, Britain and the U.S.A, and had to live with the severe consequences of the Versailles treaty up until the late 1980’s, when the last reparations were finally paid off.
The public were also submitted to revolts in the city, and often walked in danger on the streets of Berlin. This was due to the political dangers of revolutionists such as the Spartakists. They were a Communists party who hated Ebert’s government, and were lead by Rosa Luxemburg. She caused a political uproar, and was soon murdered by Government troops.
Then there was the Kapp Putsch, and the Munich Putsch.
