Was The Weimar Republic A Sick Economy

Essay:
Weimar was 'a sick economy' unable to carry out redistribution of wealth and resources. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
The Weimar Republic was a period in German history which occurred between 1919 and 1933 which was when the government was a democratic republic governed by a constitution. The end of the Weimar Republic occurred when Adolf Hitler took control. Under the Weimar constitution, Germany was divided into 19 different states. Many people had equal rights, because all citizens had the right to vote for members of the Reichstag of for the German Parliament and for their president. The president’s job was to appoint a chancellor. Many historians will agree that the Weimar Republic was a brilliant idea and on
paper because it was considered a true democracy. However, even from the beginning many Germans were unsure of the government and many extremists on the left and right rejected the Weimar Republics authority. This did not give it much effect. Even though the government was a group of numerous political parties, it was despised by all sides which made it hard to enforce authority on them. The Weimar republic bought many great things to Germany, but also caused great problems for Germany. It can be considered a ‘sick economy’ which was unable to carry out redistribution of wealth and resources to a great extent.
During the time of the Weimar republic, unemployment was a huge problem that needed to be fixed. After World War One occurred, Germany had to repay huge debts to many countries. The government had no money and the currency was losing its value. The treaty of Versailles was to blame for Germany’s loss of its territories. These territories had valuable resources that could have helped Germany to repay its debts but because they were taken away it caused great suffering among the nation. Much of Germany’s population was undernourished and it contained many war veterans, orphans, and widows. The Weimar Republic struggled to deal with these crises. Also they were unable to pay the French reparations which were a huge problem they encountered. The French invaded and occupied the Ruhr to assure that repayments of reparations would be completed. They were unable to defend their territory and this showed that they were weak.
The occupation of the Ruhr caused terrible inflation of the currency. The German government encouraged the workers in the Ruhr to strike against the French and they did. However, the strike was costly to the government. They also had to pay reparations to other countries so the government started printing more paper money. This meant that their money had no value what so ever. Also, there were not products being purchased by any people which also contributed to inflation. Due to the value of the German mark people could not afford to live and the standard of living was very low. The French were angered by the strike and killed 100 workers. Many businesses went bankrupt and many peoples saving were wiped out. Hitler did a Munich Putsch and seized power from the Weimar Republic.

New York Stock exchange took place in Germany under Stresemann’s’ rule.
Stresemann had temporarily made strong political and economic nations. But all of Stresemann’s political stability was bought at a price. The price was the subject of Germany to Western financiers and more especially to New York Stock Exchange buisnesses. Germany was humiliated by foreign creditors because it was under constant supervision and this resulted in financial slavery. Another problem that Germany encountered was that its fate depended on American prosperity. Germany’s ability to pay their reparations depended on its acquirement of foreign loans. So if Germany was to stop payment at any point, its international credit would collapse; and with it the whole political system which Stresemann had built up. On the 24th of October (called “Black Thursday”) there was panic selling on the New York stock exchange reacting to the business crisis that was taking place in America. Thus when the stock market collapsed on Wall Street on Tuesday 29 October 1929 (Black Tuesday) it resulted in disastrous effects for many financial markets. The German economy was especially vulnerable because its economy was built of mainly foreign capital which was generally loans from the United States of America and it was very dependent on foreign trade. When the USA asked for its loan repayments from Germany the world market for Germany exports ceased. As production levels fell, many German workers were let go from their jobs. There were approximately two and a half million people unemployed within Germany at this time. Along with this banks were unable to keep up with the money that they were losing and savings accounts were wiped out. Inflation followed which ruined the lives of many Germans and destroyed the
economy.
In conclusion, I agree with the statement to a great extent that Weimar was a ‘sick economy’ unable to carry out redistribution of wealth and resources. This is because unemployment, occupation of the Ruhr, the New York Stock exchange and hyperinflation caused the economy to suffer greatly. Stresemann should have created a long term solution instead of a short term one because depending on other countries was just creating a temporary stable economy not an economy that could produce for its people for the future.