LC HISTORY - german economy

german national debt at the end of the first world war

150 billion goldmarks

what did germany lose economically in the treaty of versaille

75% of its iron ore deposits, 28& of its coal and 15% of its arable land

How much did the german govt pay in reperations , what did they do that did NOT help them

6600 million

• tried prinited money, causing the greatest inflation in german history

What did JM keanes have to say about the scale of the amount the german government had to pay back

• said this couldnt be paid

• predicted reperations would ruin their economy in 1920

Three interwar dates with currency exchanges between the goldmarks and pounds

January 1922 - 760 marks = £1

January 1923 - 72,000 marks = £1

November 1923 - 16,000,000,000 = £1

Steps to recovery before the Crash

• Stresemann years (1923 - 1929)

  • recovered a lot by using american loans and restructuring reperation payments through two plans

  • Dawes plan (1924)

  • Young plan (1929)

What was the dawes plan

• 1924

• set new schedule for repayment of the reperations

• 50 million per year for five years, 125 million from 1929 onwards

What was the Young plan

• 1929

• Payment reduced from 6600 million dollars to 2000 million dollers

  • Hitler opposed this plan

When was the wall street crash

1929

hitler unemployment quite

“history will judge us according to whether we have suceeded providing work”

Who did the nazis leave the task of rebuilding the german economy to

Dr schacht - president of the reichsbank

Things schacht did to help the german economy

• provided money to assist industry (income tax concessions for replacing outdated machinery)

• public works programme, rearmment and conscription reduced unemployment from 1935 onwards

• 1936 - four year autarky plan was made

• failed to make the agricultural sector strong

How did schacht introduce autarky

• 1936

• substitutes for petrol, wool and rubber

Schachts fight against the agricultural sector

• nazis put huge emphasis on virtue of rural life (blood and soil)

• remained week

• 1933 - law on the new formation of german peasantry

  • failed to break up large estates

• labourers earnt about half the wage of those in industry/change in 1930s

Schachts acheivements

• GNP grew by 102% between 1932 and 37

• unemployment fell from 6 million in 33 to 2 million in 36 to a shortage of labour in 1939

• figures paint a false picture - most jobs in armenments and construction

• germany also lacked oil (meaning it had to invade the soviet union)

• agriculture neglected more and more