The Weimar Republic era was during a difficult time both economically and socially. It was Germanys government during the period after WW (99 to 933) and until the rise of Nazi Germany. Throughout the war, the value of the German currency, the Reichsmark, decreased incredibly. In an attempt to fix this, the government printed more money but this caused the value of the Reichsmark to decrease even more. During this economic crisis, Germany continued to try and pay the reparations as stated by the Treaty of Versailles. Germany requested permission in 922 to halt their payments whilst their economy recovered but the Allies declined their request. Source is an American political cartoon of a man (Germany) being crushed by a giant bag (reparations) demanded by the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was on the verge of collapse by 923 and was unable to continue paying reparations. This led to France and Belgium invading Ruhr, a region in Germany. Both France and Belgium wished to use resources from Ruhr to compensate for the unpaid reparations. This demonstrates how much of a severe impact it left on not only the German people but also its economy.
The Treaty of Versaill
es worked well in the favor of the Allies but not Germany. The treaty quite clearly blamed Germany for the damages and forced them to disarm & become defenseless, make territorial grants, and pay a tremendous amount of $5 billion. Germany reacted very negatively to this. Protests took place outside the German Parliament and on the streets. Some historians referred to it as historys most hated treaty and blamed it for paving the way for the Second World War whereas others disagreed and said that the negotiators did the best they could in the challenging circumstances. Source 2 is the perspective of a Canadian Military Historian, Terry Copp, and his view on the Treaty in his book, No Price Too High. It was stated in his book that, This view of the Great War and the peace settlement was never accepted within Germany and quickly became unfashionable among liberal and leftwing intellectuals in Britain, the United States, and Canada. This history of the origins of the war was revised to argue that Germany had been drawn to the war by her allies. The real causes of the war were said to be rival imperialism, the naval race, the armaments industry, or simply capitalism.