Hyperinflation - C.B.

What caused the hyperinflation in Germany after the First World War?

In 1923 Germany was forced to pay reparations for World War One, this left them therefore in major debt to their enemies. This resulted in there being a shortage of goods supplied to the country. This meant that everyone in Germany had to pay more money to get the goods they needed.

What caused the hyperinflation?

The French had sent troops into the German industrial area of the Ruhr and confiscated raw materials, manufactured goods and industrial machinery. The cause of the hyperinflation was when the German workers refused to work at the factories which would help repay the debt Germany was in. This meant that no money was going into or out of Germany, leaving everyone in the country in a difficult situation.

What were the effects of the hyperinflation?

The banks started off printing money rapidly, millions and millions of marks. They thought that if they did this then they would be able to pay off their debts; the effect of this was that each note decreased in value. As more and more money was printed peoples savings that they had in their bank decreased to nearly nothing. It cost 1 mark in 1919 to by a loaf of bread; by 1922 it cost 200 marks to buy the same loaf of bread; by 1923 it cost 100,000 million marks! It was actually cheaper to burn your money at the time for fuel than to buy coal and wood.

By C.B.

Hyperinflation - E.S.

What is Hyperinflation?

Hyperinflation is when the prices of things go up drastically or out of control. When hyperinflation is happening, this means the value of the currency goes down.

What caused it in Germany after WW1?

After the world war one, Germany had to pay respirations to France, USA and UK. Because of this Germany became in debt and couldn’t pay all of the money they had to. Every German citizen was affected by the debt Germany was in.

What were the effects of the hyperinflation?

Germany had a shortage of goods supplies and money. Because of all the money Germany needed, they ended up printing more and more money. This meant that the value of the money went down.

Money was useless in the times of hyperinflation. People had mounds of money and they could hardly buy even a loaf of bread. Children played with blocks of band notes as building blocks because building blocks were worth more in them times than the actual money.

Women burned the money to get there stoves working because coal was too much and some people burned the bank notes to use as fuel for a car. Workers were paid sometimes 2 times a day. People were paid every day, twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

By E.S.

Hyperinflation in Germany - D.M.

Hyperinflation in Germany -



In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or "out of control", a condition in which prices increase rapidly as a currency loses its value. Definitions used by the media vary from a cumulative inflation rate over three years approaching 100% to "inflation exceeding 50% a month. In informal usage the term is often applied to much lower rates. As a rule of thumb, normal inflation is reported per year, but hyperinflation is often reported for much shorter intervals, often per month.



By late 1923, the Weimar Republic of Germany was issuing two-trillion Mark banknotes and postage stamps with a face value of fifty billion Mark. The highest value banknote issued by the Weimar government's Reichsbank had a face value of 100 trillion Mark. At the height of the inflation one U.S. dollar was worth 4 trillion German marks. One of the firms printing these notes submitted an invoice for the work to the Reichsbank for 32,776,899,763,734,490,417.05Marks.



Such a drop in confidence also caused a crisis in Weimar Germany itself when prices started to rise to match inflation. Very quickly, things got out of control and what is known as hyperinflation set in. Prices went up quicker than people could spend their money. In 1922, a loaf of bread cost 163 marks. By September 1923, this figure had reached 1,500,000 marks and at the peak of hyperinflation, November 1923, a loaf of bread cost 200,000,000,000 marks


By D.M.


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