Great Depression Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Germany=== {{Main|Weimar Republic}} [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-11008, Hamburg, Arbeitslose Hafenarbeiter im Hafenviertel.jpg|thumb|Unemployed men in Hamburg, 1931]] The Great Depression hit Germany hard. The impact of the [[Wall Street Crash]] forced American banks to end the new loans that had been funding the repayments under the [[Dawes Plan]] and the [[Young Plan]]. The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of the [[Credit Anstalt]] in Vienna in May.<ref name="William Ashworth 1962 pp. 237-244"/> This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil with the rise in violence of [[Nazism|national socialist]] and [[Communism|communist]] movements, as well as with investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies,<ref name="Isabel Schnabel 1931"/> investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, June 19β20. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for a moratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An international conference in London later in July produced no agreements but on August 19 a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures became more frequent in July, and spread to Romania and Hungary.<ref name="V. Hodson, 1938 pp. 64-76"/> In 1932, 90% of German reparation payments were cancelled (in the 1950s, Germany repaid all its missed reparations debts). Widespread unemployment reached 25% as every sector was hurt. The government did not increase government spending to deal with Germany's growing crisis, as they were afraid that a high-spending policy could lead to a return of the [[hyperinflation]] that had affected Germany in 1923. Germany's [[Weimar Republic]] was hit hard by the depression, as American loans to help rebuild the German economy now stopped.<ref>[https://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/about.htm About the Great Depression] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220090243/http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/about.htm |date=December 20, 2008 }}, University of Illinois</ref> The unemployment rate reached nearly 30% in 1932.<ref name="pbs"/> [[File:The Great Depression German Medal 1932, the Devil operating a Screw Press against a Workman, obverse.jpg|thumb|left|The [[devil]] operating a screw press against a workman, Nazi propaganda [[medal]], obverse]] [[File:The Great Depression German Medal 1932, the Devil operating a Screw Press against a Workman, reverse.jpg|thumb|The reverse of this medal supporting the German election Nazi campaigns of 1932]] The German political landscape was dramatically altered, leading to [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power]]. The [[Nazi Party]] rose from being peripheral to winning 18.3% of the vote in the [[1930 German federal election|September 1930 election]] and the [[Communist Party of Germany|Communist Party]] also made gains, while moderate forces like the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]], the [[German Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] and the [[German People's Party|People's Party]] lost seats. The next two years were marked by increased street violence between Nazis and Communists, while governments under President [[Paul von Hindenburg]] increasingly relied on [[rule by decree]], bypassing the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Bullock | first = Alan | author-link = Alan Bullock | title = Hitler: A Study in Tyranny | year = 1991 | orig-year = 1962 | publisher = Harper Perennial | location = New York; London | isbn = 978-1-56852-036-0 | title-link = Hitler: A Study in Tyranny | page=}}</ref> Hitler ran for the Presidency in 1932, and while he lost to the incumbent Hindenburg in the election, it marked a point during which both Nazi Party and the Communist parties rose in the years following the crash to altogether possess a Reichstag majority following the [[July 1932 German federal election|general election in July 1932]].<ref name="pbs">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/de/de_economic.html Germany β Economic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231133720/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/de/de_economic.html |date=December 31, 2021 }}, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/runs.htm|title=The History Place β Rise of Hitler: Hitler Runs for President|website=www.historyplace.com|access-date=October 23, 2016|archive-date=November 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103215044/http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/runs.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Although the Nazis lost seats in [[November 1932 German federal election|November 1932 election]], they remained the largest party, and Hitler was appointed as Chancellor the following January. The government formation deal was designed to give Hitler's conservative coalition partners many checks on his power, but over the next few months, the Nazis manoeuvred to consolidate a single-party dictatorship.<ref name="Kershaw98">{{cite book |author= Ian Kershaw |title= Hitler, 1889β1936: Hubris |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nV-N10gyoFwC |year=1998 |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn= 978-0-393-32035-0 |page=411}}</ref> [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-11-19-12, Adolf Hitler bei Ortsgruppenfeier der NSDAP Rosenheim.jpg|thumb|[[Adolf Hitler]] speaking in 1935]] Hitler followed an [[autarky]] economic policy, creating a network of client states and economic allies in central Europe and Latin America. By cutting wages and taking control of labor unions, plus public works spending, unemployment fell significantly by 1935. Large-scale military spending played a major role in the recovery.<ref>[[Adam Tooze]], ''The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy'' (2007)</ref> The policies had the effect of driving up the cost of food imports and depleting foreign currency reserves, leading to economic impasse by 1936. Nazi Germany faced a choice of either reversing course or pressing ahead with rearmament and autarky. Hitler chose the latter route, which according to [[Ian Kershaw]] "could only be partially accomplished without territorial expansion" and therefore war.<ref>[[Richard Overy|R. J. Overy]], "Misjudging Hitler" pp. 93β115 from ''The Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered'' edited by Gordon Martel, Routledge: London, 1999 pp. 98β99.</ref><ref>Kershaw, Ian ''To Hell and Back: Europe 1914β1949'', Ch. 5</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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