Nazi Economic Policy.

Nazi Economic Policy In 1929, after the Wall Street Crash, came a severe depression, in which the American investors recalled their short-term loans from Germany. Without the help of the investors German economy was lost, it depended on those loans. In 1931, two years later one of Germany's three largest joint-stock banks collapsed. As a result of this economic disaster, unemployment rose steeply from 2 million in 1929 to 5.6 million in the early months of 1932. The democratic government failed to solve any of these grave problems, mass unemployment, inflation and industrial slump. With Hitler in power these problems were being solved, although perhaps not terribly well. Aims of the Nazi Economic Policy 1.To reduce unemployment. In 1955 it was six million. 2. To build up German armaments industry and to rearm and enlarge the German army, navy and air force. 3. To make Germany economically self-sufficient so it could not be blockaded in times of war. The exclusion of women and non Nazi supporters from the workforce was one method used by Nazis to reduce unemployment. Many people had to accept jobs that they didn't want or were not qualified for, for fear of being labelled an undesirable, or lazy. The Labour Service was also another method of creating jobs, although this was put into practise before Hitler came to power. This involved six months work for very low pay at

  • Word count: 667
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Nazi Economic Policy - revision notes.

Hitler & The Nazi’s Economic Policies Hitler’s Army . Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the German Army was unable to grow to more than 100,000 men. 2. One way that Adolf Hitler dealt with this issue was to allow the Sturm Abteilung (SA) to grow rapidly. 3. By 1934 the SA had grown to a force of over 4,500,000 men. 4. The growth in the importance of the SA worried other leaders in the National Socialist German Workers Party. 5. It also upset leaders of the German Army who feared that it would be taken over by the Ernst Rohm and the SA. 6. They were won over to the Nazis when Adolf Hitler ordered the Night of the Long Knives where around 400 leaders of the SA were murdered. Economic Recovery . Once in power, Hitler played little part in formulating policy or contributing to German economic recovery. He instead relied on a group of advisors, some of whom were non-Nazis, to form policy in line with his broad goals. 2. Hjalmar Schacht, a former member of the German Democratic Party who had been president of the Reichsbank during the late 1920s. 3. Robert Ley, was put in charge of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (or ‘German Labour Front’) which co-ordinated Germany’s workforce. 4. These men implemented economic reforms that achieved impressive results, at least on the surface. 5. Focused on work programs and re-armament 6. The Nazis initiated

  • Word count: 694
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

How Successful Was Nazi Economic Policy?

How Successful was Nazi Economic Policy? When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933 it had two main aims - to solve unemployment, and to make Germany as strong an economic and military power as possible, so that the humiliating and devastating defeat of the First World War could never happen again. In order to do this, several areas had to be tackled. Firstly, unemployment was huge and rising steadily - in 1933 six million people were unemployed. Secondly, the party had promised better conditions for workers, and this had to be balanced with continuing the good relationship that the Nazis had with businesses. In order to build up Germany's military strength after the under-funding and downsizing that Versailles imposed, large amounts of funding were needed for the armaments industry and the armed forces. Lastly, the Nazis wanted to create autarky - making Germany self-sufficient, so that if another war came it would not be dependent on outside goods. By 1938 it appeared that, due to the policies that the Nazis followed, Germany had solved most of her economic problems. In reality, however, Germany had begun to plunge into yet another economic crisis. Unemployment was tackled first, in a variety of different ways. Public expenditure and investments were increased in order to renew an industrial and business confidence in the economy, and propaganda campaigns were set up to

  • Word count: 1444
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Business Studies
Access this essay

Economic Policy of Nazi Germany

Hitler wanted Germany to regain the land lost in 1919 and to dominate Europe. To do this he knew that Germany had to recover its economic strength. . To reduce unemployment which had risen to 6 million by 1933. 2. To build up the German armaments industry and to rearm and enlarge the German army, navy and airforce. 3. To make Germany economically self-sufficient so that it could not be blockaded in times of war. When Hitler came to power he appointed Hjalmar Schacht to control the economy. Schacht devised what he called the New Plan. * He reduced unemployment by creating jobs (see below). * He made trade treaties with less developed Eastern European countries (eg. Hungary) whereby they supplied Germany with raw materials in exchange for manufactured goods. With these cheap raw materials and new export markets, German industry was able to recover from the Depression. The New Plan solved Germany's economic problems and enabled Hitler to rearm his forces. Although the New Plan was successful Hitler wanted to rearm much faster. He put Herman Goering in charge of the economy in 1936 and Schacht lost his power. Goering introduced the Four Year Plan. The aim of the plan was to prepare Germany for war within four years. * Massive orders were given to German industry for guns, tanks and planes, all of which meant huge contracts for industry. * The Four Year plan also

  • Word count: 740
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

To what extent was Nazi economic policy ideologically driven?

To what extent was Nazi economic policy ideologically driven? Nazi ideology was obviously a strong feature within the Nazi party and influenced many decisions that were made to do with foreign policy, domestic policy and arguably most importantly economic policy. For years now it has been debated as to whether or not Nazi economic policy was ideologically driven. It has been claimed that Schacht contributed as much as Hitler to the construction of the third Reich because he1 had "continued to support him even when prospects had not looked bright".The main aims that the Nazis had in terms of the economy were, autarky, militarisation, the increased importance of corporate over private business and the support of the Mittesland.It is clear to me that many Nazi economic policies were ideologically driven, however there were exceptions where economic policies were driven by other factors. Almost all of the Nazi pre-war economic policies had some element of ideology behind them. The other driving factors behind economic policy were support of the Mittesland, reducing unemployment and general economic stability. As you would expect many of the early economic policies were not ideologically driven because there was pressure on Hitler to deliver his pre-election promises. As the Nazi regime began to develop their economic policies became more ideologically driven because they

  • Word count: 3572
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Business Studies
Access this essay

success of nazi economic policy from 1936-1939

How Successful Was The Nazi Economic Policy 1936-1939? Hitler's main aim from 1936-1939 was war and other objectives within this aim were: * Rearmament * Morale and Self Sufficiency ) Rearmament was the main issue at this time because it was when Hitler believed was the right time to go to war with Poland and the other countries. Schacht tried to solve this problem in 1934 with the 'New Plan'. This plan had the government control all the exports and imports into Germany. It stopped Germany paying reparations from WWI, and tried to solve the imbalance by making agreements with South American countries and the Balkan states where they would buy goods from these countries if, in return, they would only import from Germany. This meant Germany could increase its exports while keeping a steady supply of imports. The New Plan was successful in balancing the import-export problem but it never achieved the figures envisaged by Schacht and Hitler. Eventually, Schacht realised that Hitler could not keep the economy going with the deficit financing strategy and told Hitler that he had to reduce the rearmament industry in order to avoid the economy collapsing again. Hitler did not want to do this and so in 1936 he hired Hermann Goring as his Economics advisor instead of Schacht. Goring was a Nazi that didn't have much experience in Economics but always agreed with Hitler which was

  • Word count: 970
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Was the Nazi economic policy a success or failure?

Was the Nazi economic policy a success or failure? The economic situation in Germany in the early 1930's was very grim. Unemployment was high (8.5 million in1931) and businesses collapsed alongside consumer confidence. Peasants were also desperate as agricultural prices collapsed between 1929 and 1933. The domestic economy was very weak before the Wall Street Crash, already in 1928 3 million were unemployed, and the depression made the situation worse. As the desperate situation of the economy was one of the reasons for the Nazis getting to power in the first place they knew that they would have to do something about it. Also one of their objectives was to create an economy with enough strength to sustain rearmament. The most important challenge facing the Nazis was reducing unemployment. Within their first year, legislation and initiatives were introduced which dealt effectively with the numbers of Germans out of work. The work schemes (Arbeitdienst) first used by Papen and Schleicher in 1932 and 33 were extended by the law to reduce unemployment (June 1933). These Arbeitdienst were part of an overall job creation plan which included the building of the Autobahnen. The so-called 'battle for work' was also extended by the government lending money to large companies so that they could create more jobs. Some 5 billion RM was invested into these Arbeitdienst. These schemes

  • Word count: 1312
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Business Studies
Access this essay

Lebensraum and autarky were the twin pillars of nazi economic policy?

Lebensraum and autarky were the twin pillars of nazi economic policy? To answer the above question I will first have to look at the nazi ideology of lebensraum and autarky. The political concept of Lebensraum "living space" was proffered by others in Germany decades before Adolf Hitler came to power. Adding living space was believed to strengthen Germany by helping solve internal problems, make it militarily stronger, and help make Germany become economically self-sufficient by adding food and other raw material sources. Hitler changed the concept of Lebensraum. Rather than adding colonies to make Germany larger, Hitler wanted to enlarge Germany within Europe. So, in Nazi ideology, Lebensraum meant the expansion of Germany to the east in search of a unity between the German Volk and the land (the Nazi concept of Blood and Soil). The Nazi modified theory of Lebensraum became Germany's foreign policy during the Third Reich. Autarky means self-sufficiency, in other words non-dependence on others. In Nazi Germany autarky was especially relevant for industries that were associated with armament production, notably iron and steel. Germany reflecting on their defeat in 1918, some Germans put much blame on the failure of economic preparation. Their conclusion was that in future war would be conflict not between armies but between economies as well. In consequence, in the 1920s, the

  • Word count: 1033
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

How successful was the Nazi' Economic Policy between 1933 and 1939

How successful was the Nazi' Economic Policy between 1933 and 1939 In order to examine the success of the Nazi' Economic policy I must first consider the ideas it contained. In 1932, 5.6 million people were unemployed. Hitler aimed to massively decrease unemployment in Germany and this was one of the most attractive aims, from the voters' point of view, on the economic policy. High employment would mean a boost in the economy. He also aimed to remove Jews from the economy, thus creating jobs for Aryans as well as excluding the 'aliens'. After World War 1, the Treaty of Versailles demanded that Germany pay reparations of 6600 million to the victorious nations. This was an enormous figure and because the treaty also removed Germany's most productive industrial areas from her, such as the Ruhr, she struggled to pay them. This was one element that caused Germany's economy to collapse; because she was unable to gain sufficiently from industry. Hitler therefore aimed to end the reparation payments, thus giving Germany a greater chance of recovering a successful economy because she would have more funds available to develop industry. The level of industrial production in Germany was very low compared to the glorious days of the Kaiser. Hitler planned to increase it in order to give Germany a chance in boosting her economy. If Germany could boost her levels of industry; she would

  • Word count: 1843
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

What during 1933-9 were the main aims of Nazi economic policy?

Question: What in the 1933-9 were the main aims of Nazi economic policy? The Nazi economic policy can be simplified into 3 categories Recovery, Rearmament and War. Each category has different aims of Nazi economic policies depending on what period it was carried out in. The category of Recovery was during 1933 to 1936. This was basically the stage in which the Nazi government was trying to mend the disaster of the economic depression. The Nazi's brought in Hjalmar Schacht who was a German economist and had helped Stressmann when Germany was having hyperinflation. The main economic policy during the recovery period was to reduce unemployment was an astonishing high of 6 million people when the Nazi's took over in 1932 because of the slumping German economy. The Nazi did successfully reduce unemployment by creating jobs in building homes and motorways. The most popular example of a famous job the Nazi introduced to reduce unemployment was the building of the Autobahn which was a motorway, this required lots over 100,000 labourers worked at construction sites all over Germany it not only reduced unemployment it also improved infrastructure, necessary for economic recovery efforts, the project was also a great success for propaganda purposes. Unemployment went from 6 million in 1932 to 302 thousand by 1939. This in my opinion was Nazi most successful policy as it was both

  • Word count: 1009
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay