The State of a nation’s economy, can often be a fundamental factor in the route to aggressive military action. A strong economy, providing the country with a prosperous industry, would be a strong foundation, for the construction of a vast military force. Yet economic stability usually co-insides with political stability, thus having a non-threatening society, where most of the population are happy to wallow in wealth that their nation provides, rather than looking to go to war, in order to improve a nations standard of living.
The other way that an economy may influence a route to war, was taken up by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The high levels of unemployment was a huge factor in the nations discontent with the existing government. This gave rise to public votes going to less conventional, and generally radical extremist groups, eventually putting Hitler in power, giving his party the ability to send the nation to war.
It therefore can be argued, that a strong, stable economy, in post 1945 Europe, was not a major threat. The question lies with just how strong and stable was Germany after the Second World War? Obviously the Germany of 1945 was in a dire state, but unlike the post WWI period, the Allied forces helped to put her back on her feet.
In 1950, Germany had unemployment at a level of 12%, which was over two million. Added to this, the national currency (the Reichsmark) had become almost worthless, as the Soviets printed enormous quantities of money in order to buy German goods in the west. Before these all to familiar factors had a chance to empower another extremist government, the wirtshaftswunder or German economic miracle, was under way, with domestic production in 1960 rising by 250% on the 1950 figures. West Germany at this point, were the second highest exporter of goods, behind the USA, who it can be argued, were the instigators of the ‘miracle’, as they invested heavily in W. Germany.
The large German industrial firms, such as Volkswagon and Bosch were booming with international trade at extremely high levels. This came about through a devaluation of the currency, making imported goods more expensive, yet foreigners saw W. German products as very cheap. The high levels of production was also helped by the influx of refugees, providing much needed labour.
From a European point of view in 1960, I would regard W. Germany as a non-threating society, as the economy was more than stable, thanks to Konrad Ardenauer’s ‘prosperity through competition’ and a helping hand from the Marshall Aid programme.
The German Military
The German Voters
A number of key factors emerged after 1945, in an attempt to ensure that the extreme, right-wing, political parties never had the same power or influence of Hitler’s Nazis.
Firstly, the post war purges by the western superpowers saw around five thousand Nazis put on trial, with six-hundred and sixty eight death sentences handed out. This meant that any re-formation by the extremists in the near future, would see the party without a proper hierarchal structure, as the leading figures had been put to death and sentenced, thus being less politically effective, and therefore less of a threat.
Secondly, the ‘Grundgesetz’ or basic constitution gave the government the ability to outlaw far right factions. For example, the Sozialisticke Reichspatel or SRP were known to attract many ‘former’ Nazis, and they managed to gain 11% of the seats at the regional elections of 1952, but were subsequently banned by the authorities.
A third, and perhaps the most crucial factor, could be the rise, stability and prosperity of the West German economy, from the 1950’s to present. West Germany became a major global economic force in the 1960’s, and was the second highest exporter behind the USA. Hitler managed to seize power at a time when there was mass unemployment and political unrest in Germany, yet the state of West Germany after WWII, compared to the 1930’s, was unbelievably different. Unemployment was very low due to the economic boom, there was less ill feeling among the Germans towards the Allies (due to a less heavy reparations payments), better international political relations , and a relatively stable government.
All these stated factors, seem to be the main reasons why the Nazi regime has never managed to rear its ugly head, since Hitler was defeated in 1945.
