Impact of World War I on Germany

Question: What effect of World War 1 leads to the collapse of Germany in the 1920's and who is it so important? Answer: The impact of World War I on Germany can be described as devastating. When the World War I was going on, the government of Germany made its people believed that they were going to win the war. For this purpose, government propaganda was used to great effect. In the short run, the effect of World War I on the economy of Germany was particularly significant. Once, Germany was the most powerful economy of Europe but after World War I, it became the most impoverished nations of Europe (Fischer, ed. 2010). The first thing that had a great impact on the economy of Germany was the money that had been spent as the cost of war, mobilizing the troops providing clothes and food to the troops, appropriate shelter and building equipment. According to an estimate, the government of Germany had spent nearly 37,775,000 US dollars of that time as the cost of war. At the same time, a lot of money was also required to be spent in actually maintaining the country (Marks, 2003). As most of the establishe d a skilled laborers of Germany had gone to fight the war, most of these jobs have to be done by women and children, which resulted in even lower wages than that was being paid to the skilled laborers. As the long-run effects of World War I on Germany, after the end of the war and at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, it was agreed by all the allied forces that Germany and her selfish agendas were responsible for the war and during which, one of the most deadly conflict in the history of mankind took place (Parsson, 1974).). The result was that Germany, having no representation in the treaty, was order to pay for the damage that was caused by the Great War. In this way, according to the treaty, Germany had to pay nearly $31.5 billion. This was a huge amount of money in those times, particularly after facing such a large-scale war. As a result of this payment, the national currency of Germany, the Gold Marks was caused to hyper inflate and by 1923, the currency was reduced to 1 million/millionth of its original value. This hyperinflation of the currency of Germany was also among the main arguments that had been used by the Nazi's to seize power in Germany so that they can make it a prosperous country which again plunged the nation into another World War (Widdig, 2001). It is also believed by many historians that the Treaty of Versailles can be described as a crippling blow to the financial system of Germany. According to these historians, this treaty did not benefit the world at all but it only resulted in paving the way for another World War between the same nations and for the same purpose that was the nationalistic hunger for power. But it can be true that Germany was forced to make these payments so that it is no longer in a capacity to finance any other war in the future for a long time and as a result, the enormous debt was imposed on Germany (Balderston, 2002). However even this purpose could not be achieved as the World War II could not be prevented by it. In this way, while by 1914, Germany was considered as the most powerful economic and military power of Europe, and it was second only to the United States, as a result of the four long years of warfare, by 1918, the economy of Germany was in ruins. This process was further escalated by the debt that was imposed on Germany after its defeat in World War I. As a result, Germany was not allowed to import or export industrial goods and it was only allowed severely restricted trade. It was also ordered by the Treaty of Versailles that Germany was to be large amounts of money to the Allies in reparations (Evans, 2003). In 1921, when Germany could not pay the amount, the troops from France and Belgium invaded Germany and occupied Ruhr to take away goods and raw materials. In 1923, Germany was forced to print more money to pay its striking workers. The result hyperinflation and as a result the value of the savings of the people was wiped out. This proved to be the major effect of World War I which resulted in the collapse of Germany. References Balderston,(2002). Economics and politics in the Weimar Republic, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. Evans, Richard J. (2003). The Coming of the Third Reich, New York City: Penguin Press Fischer, Wolfgang Chr., ed. (2010). German Hyperinflation 1922/23: A Law and Economics Approach. Eul-Verlag Kln Marks, Sally (2003). The Illusion of Peace, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Parsson, Jens O. (1974). Dying of Money: Lessons of the Great German and American Inflations, Boston: Wellspring Press Widdig, Bernd (2001). Culture and inflation in Weimar Germany, Berkeley: University of California Press