Germany: How accurate is it to say that in the years 1933-89 the government of Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany was stable and successful?

Introduction

• Was only truly successful during the FRG

• 1933-39

• 1939-45

• 1949-69

• 1969-89

Paragraph 1

• Unemployment fell from 6m in 1933 to 1m in 1936

• Rearmament created 3-4m jobs 1930-35

• By 1939, 70% German govt expenditure was devoted to rearmament

Paragraph 2

• Military spending reached 23% of GDP by 1939

• Around 7m foreign labourers and prisoners were being used

• Germany suffered 8m military and civilian deaths by 1945

Paragraph 3

• West German industrial production rose to 2.5 times its 1936 level by 1958

• FRG achieved economic growth rates of 8% during the 1950s

• By 1961, unemployment had fallen to 1%

Paragraph 4

• In 1972, voter turnout reached 91%

• West Germany = third largest economy by 1980s

• By 1989, FRG’s GDP per capita was 2x that of GDR