Explain Why Did Germany Suffer A Period Of Political Disorder From 1918-1923
Why did Germany suffer a period of political disorder from 1918 – 1923?
In my controlled assessment I will discuss how and why Germany suffered a period of political disorder from 1918 – 1923. At the end of WW1 the Allies were willing to end the war in exchange for Germany becoming a democracy and signing a treaty. The Kaiser refused to sign the treaty but the government did sign it due to the introduction of the USA in the war, the blockade of waterways and the promise of a fair peace treaty. On November 1918 the Kaiser was forced to abdicate and left the country. As a result of the signing of this treaty free elections took place but many felt it was a Diktat (a dictated peace) and because people knew what the Kaiser’s reign was like they …show more content…
The main cause for hyperinflation was the invasion of the Ruhr by the French because Germany failed to pay back compensation to the Allies. The Ruhr was Germany’s main source of income, especially after much of its land was stripped away under the Treaty of Versailles. As well as this the German mark was valued against precious metal and the Ruhr was a major mining area so it also acted as a way of keeping the value of the mark intact. When the French took the Ruhr away in 1922 the value of the currency dropped so much that it was practically worthless. For example in November 1923 there were 130 million DM’s to one US dollar. The government didn’t respond to the crisis well either by opting for quantitative easing to make the German public spend more and kick-startg the economy bu8t all this did was worsen the situation. Therefore many in the public viewed the Weimar republic as incompetent for not dealing with the crisis well and also weak for not responding to the French invasion of the Ruhr. As a result many fed up Germans voted for parties that claimed to ‘get the job done’ by more drastic
In my controlled assessment I will discuss how and why Germany suffered a period of political disorder from 1918 – 1923. At the end of WW1 the Allies were willing to end the war in exchange for Germany becoming a democracy and signing a treaty. The Kaiser refused to sign the treaty but the government did sign it due to the introduction of the USA in the war, the blockade of waterways and the promise of a fair peace treaty. On November 1918 the Kaiser was forced to abdicate and left the country. As a result of the signing of this treaty free elections took place but many felt it was a Diktat (a dictated peace) and because people knew what the Kaiser’s reign was like they …show more content…
The main cause for hyperinflation was the invasion of the Ruhr by the French because Germany failed to pay back compensation to the Allies. The Ruhr was Germany’s main source of income, especially after much of its land was stripped away under the Treaty of Versailles. As well as this the German mark was valued against precious metal and the Ruhr was a major mining area so it also acted as a way of keeping the value of the mark intact. When the French took the Ruhr away in 1922 the value of the currency dropped so much that it was practically worthless. For example in November 1923 there were 130 million DM’s to one US dollar. The government didn’t respond to the crisis well either by opting for quantitative easing to make the German public spend more and kick-startg the economy bu8t all this did was worsen the situation. Therefore many in the public viewed the Weimar republic as incompetent for not dealing with the crisis well and also weak for not responding to the French invasion of the Ruhr. As a result many fed up Germans voted for parties that claimed to ‘get the job done’ by more drastic