Kids Play With $$$ After HYPER-INFLATION In Post WW1 GERMANY – a Loaf of Bread Cost $100 MILLION…

This week’s video is on the absolutely wild story of Germany’s struggles during the post WW1 years as, in trying to pay reparations, they ended up devaluing their currency to the point that it was completely WORTHLESS. Kids played with THOUSANDS of marks and it was cheaper just to burn the money instead of buy firewood!!

In order to pay their debts as well as workers, the government simply printed more money. This flood of money led to hyperinflation as the more money was printed, the more prices rose. Prices ran out of control, for example a loaf of bread, which cost 250 marks in January 1923, had risen to 200,000 million marks in November 1923.

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The ramifications and Global effects of World War I which lasted between July 14th 1914 and November 11th 1918 are too massive and extensive to possibly cover in one video at least 17 million people lost their lives including at least 7 million civilians and many more were left severely injured or disabled that

Number could be considered much higher if one accounts for the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918 known as the Spanish Flu which was a direct result of the war the death toll from the epidemic is unknown but could be as high as 50 million there were also some everyday

Customs that derived from the war such as men wearing the wristwatch as opposed to the pocket watch which was completely impractical in war the war also led to the downfall of four monarchies Russia Austria Hungary turkey and the country will be focused on today Germany some of

The biggest effects of the war were economical the sheer costs of world World War I could not compare to any previous war as it was the first to employ planes tanks and submarines the war derailed the economies of many European countries but also set the stage for the United States to become

The world’s industrial power on the other side of the coin Germany was thrown into economical and social disorder and they suffered from one of the worst cases of hyperinflation ever seen today we’ll look into the postwar years of Germany and find out how it got

So bad that it was cheaper to just burn money than to use it to buy firewood if the Japanese insist on continuing resistance their country will suffer the same destruction as Germany Timothy McBay was arrested by local authorities eight climbers Dead before World War I Germany was also known as the German Empire a monarchy that had been ruled by Emperor V II since 1888 during the war the emperor’s power diminished greatly and by 1916 the Empire had effectively become a military dictatorship with vilhelm mostly only participating in award ceremonies and

Honorary duties by 198 as the war was coming to an end the German military Was Defeated and desperate US President woodro Wilson had declared that the war could only end with the complete overthrowing of the monarchy the re Rebellion broke Out Among the German troops which led to a full-fledged

Mutiny calling for the abdication of wilham II despite his attempts to maintain power vilhm was forced into Exile and with the end of the war and the collapse of the monarchy Germany for the first time became a federal republic the Republic that began in Germany after

World War I was known as the German Reich and is historically referred to as the viar Republic instead of an emperor there would be a president elected every 7 years the Republic was split into 18 different states called Lander Each of which had their own government the first

Elections were held in January of 1919 and the Constitution was written up in the town of viar hence the name the viar Republic friedi eert was elected as the first President of Germany although all the details of the Democracy sound promising the country was not in a

Stable situation in the aftermath of the war which caused massive debt along with severe food shortages caused by blockades with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles which ended the war for Germany and many other countries the Republic was forced to reduce its military and pay massive amounts of

Money and reparations it was determined that Germany owed 132 billion marks Germany’s currency at this time were called papier marks but the reparations would only be accepted in gold or foreign currency the German papier Mark had already lost value during the war falling from 4.2 marks to

The dollar to 8.9 by the end of 1919 48 papier marks could buy a dollar and this was only the beginning with the mark continuing to lose value over the next 3 years Germany struggled to meet the reparation payments Government tried to print more and more money to exchange

For foreign currency causing the mark to fall even faster increasing the amount of marks needed to buy the foreign currency by 1921 the value of the Mark had fallen to 330 per dollar this continued and Germany could not make the full payments by 1923 France declared Germany in default French and Belgian

Troops entered reinand Germany’s most productive area and took over the Mining and Manufacturing plants and businesses in order to produce coal and other materials as payment this Zone was demilitarized by the treaty so Germany could not forcibly remove the Invaders and with their recently depleted

Military did not wish to do so at least not by force so the German government made a passive aggressive decision to encourage the workers to go on strike while paying them so they could do so this caused coal production to come to a halt and combined with the printing of

More and more money to help pay off the workers along with their massive debt inflation began to take off at a rate never before seen or imagined as people began to realize what was happening they tried to spend all their money as quickly as possible causing prices to Skyrocket even more exacerbating the

Problem and creating a vicious cycle there were several International reparations conferences held to try to find a solution to the issue but nothing helped the Mark Fell to 7,400 Marks per US dollar and as 1923 continued inflation turned to hyperinflation and Prices rose so fast that people tried to

Take their lunch breaks as early as possible before their money lost even more value then the situation turned absurd as the rate of inflation grew to astronomical levels as high as 3,250 th000 per per month prices for typical products doubled every 2 days for example a loaf of bread that cost

About 160 marks at the end of 1922 would cost a buyer 200 billion marks by late 1923 a good deal on meat might set you back a few billion marks per pound personal savings became absolutely worthless it wasn’t all bad news for everybody as people were able to pay off

Their houses with ease as what they owed an amount that used to be substantial became basically what we would look at in the United States as a few pennies some businessmen and industrialists who had built their riches by borrowing money and purchasing hard Assets thrived in these conditions tinnis earned the

Title of inflation King by amassing controlling interests in over 1,500 businesses by 19 24 creating a massive Empire while his previous debts were easily paid with worthless marks the government had to start printing billion Mark notes and then trillion Mark notes by November of 1923 that trillion Mark note was worth

About $1 us and still falling children began to play with bricks of real money which was now completely worthless a gigantic Vault or wheelbarrow of money might not be enough to buy an apple or a newspaper farmers were not able to sell food for money and people began to loot

The Farms as peace along with Law and Order began to deteriorate rioting started and the German people began to turn against each other many people who lived off pensions could not buy a thing with their now tiny paychecks crime on the street Rose to levels never before seen and the conditions were nearly

Apocalyptic to attempt to keep up with this hyperinflation the government commissioned 130 printing companies to keep churning out more piles of money which just made it all the more worthless one story goes that a distracted man had his suitcase full of money stolen when he realized it was

Gone and went to look for it he found all the money discarded on the ground the thief just wanted the suitcase it got to the point where when people went shopping they brought along their goods and valuables to use as currency instead of the papier mark one Berlin resident

Wrote in a letter to her son conditions have taken a catastrophic turn here this letter cost 15 million marks to send and it’ll be 30 million beginning The Day After Tomorrow something had to be done to end the absurdity and avoid more violence and unrest among the people so the

Government introduced the new ritten mark in late 1923 which was backed by mortgages on agriculture and Industrial land the retin Mark had the same pre-war exchange rate as the previous mark $1 us to 4.2 red marks the people were so desperate that they accepted and trusted

The new currency and the crisis came to an end when France and other countries agreed to a new plan to help Germany stabilize its economy while still keeping the ability to pay their reparations the next year the rtin Mark was replaced by the more permanent Rish Mark however anger bitterness and Trauma

Was now embedded in many German people after years War poverty and unrest which would Aid in the rise of radicalism and new horrific policies in the years to come the people in large part blamed the new Republic the viar Republic for the horrible post-war years when the next

Financial crisis hit in the form of the Great Depression the people of Germany were ripe to be taken advantage of and influenced in a most horrible manner after many years of Wars conflicts changes in leadership and payment plans Germany finally made its last reparation payment for World War I on October 3rd

2010 I hope you enjoyed today’s video on the postor War I years in Germany during a time when they were known as The viar Republic let me know your thoughts Down Below on this absolutely wild era that followed a horrible World War and also set the stage for the upcoming World War

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