Germany was beginning to rebuild herself. However in 1929 the stock markets crashed in America – The Wall Street Crash – and they called back their loans. Germany relied on the loans from America. As a result of this German companies and businesses went bankrupt and 6 million people were left unemployed. The Nazis said they could solve these problems, and create many jobs in the army and building work.
In 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. There were many factors leading to him gaining this position- The Depression, the German public being unhappy with the government, the fear of Communism, Hitler's personality and the organisations of the Nazi party. The Depression was one of the major reasons why Hitler became Chancellor. The Depression had a big effect on Germany, like the USA, businesses collapsed, unemployment rose and banks closed. Despite this, this is what Hitler wanted- the public began to vote for him after he promised better lives for those affected.
In 1924 the crisis was brought to an end by the Dawes Plan, which restored the value of the currency. One result of this was go make the German economy dependent on loans from America. When the American Stock Exchange (Wall Street) crashed in 1929, this left the struggling German economy in chaos. Industries failed and unemployment rose to 6 million. Social unrest followed, as people starved.
By 1933 over 6 million German workers were unemployed. It was not necessarily the unemployed who formed the bedrock of growing Nazi support but those who believed that without political change that they too might well suffer collapse in living standards: the Mittelstand (lower middle class) felt they were threatened with worsening economic conditions. This economic crises was sufficient to persuade a number of Germans to break with their voting habit of the past and vote
The Wall Street Crash in 1929 was important in getting the Nazi’s into power because the crisis was catastrophic in Germany as it caused unemployment to increase to 3 million. Nearly everyone was affected by the unemployment. Since most of the unemployed were men, they could see no way to provide for their families. As the German democratic government was beginning to unravel as they were struggling to control the economy. This made people give up hope on the democracy as it was not working and caused people to resort to extremist groups which made the Nazis seem like they were the solution to the problem.
In the crisis, people wanted someone to blame, and looked to extreme solutions - Hitler offered them both, and Nazi success in the elections grew. The Germans turned to the Nazi’s because they were desperate. To Hitler, this depression was like a gift because for every problem the Nazi Party had come up with an explanation or promise. These included; promise to get rid of the hated Weimar government and replace it with a strong leader-Hitler, a promise to get people back to work on road building and public works. In a time of chaos (the depression) people chose to support Hitler because of his discipline and his promises he inflicted on the German general public.
The new German Republic faced a large number of political, economic and physical problems at the end of World War I. Having lost World War I they had taken a huge beating, taking huge numbers of casualties and their leader, Kaiser Wilhelm, being forced to abdicate. However I believe that the most serious problem they were facing was bankruptcy due to their ruined economy. Before the war, Germany had been very industrial and powerful, having the third most powerful economy in the world, behind Britain and USA. However after the war their economy had been ruined and there was very little money in he system, leaving them almost as a third world country.
When the stock market collapsed on Wall Street in October, 1929, it sent financial markets worldwide into a meltdown this was tragic for the German economy. The German economy was vulnerable because it relied on loans from America and exports to fuel it. German workers were laid off. Along with this, banks failed. Inflation soon followed making it hard for families to purchase expensive necessities with devalued money.
Due to their harsh loss during World War One, Germany and Russia faced economic turmoil. After discovering the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, France forced Germany to not only take full responsibility for World War One but also to pay for all the reparations. Due to the terms of the treaty Germany’s economy fell into shambles. The German economy hit an absolute low when the United States’ dollar was actually worth roughly 4,500,000 German Marks. The Mark was valued so low German people were noted for using it for wallpaper.
Later on President Hoover passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 which raised duty on non-free goods to nearly 60%. This angered foreigners, reversing a promising worldwide trend toward reasonable tariffs and widening the trade gaps. It was designed to assist the farmers, but instead plunged both America and other nations deeper into the depression that already began with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It increased international financial chaos and forced the United States into economic