Resource from RJ Tarr at www.activehistory.co.

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THE CRISIS OF 1923
Introduction:
In 1923 the Weimar Republic arguably came close to collapse. In this activity you will learn more
about the causes of this crisis, the course of events, and the consequences.
Complete each task, and when you have finished delete this introduction and the Task
instructions. This should reduce the sheet to two sides of notes which you can print off and file
away for reference.
CAUSES
Task 1: There are missing words in this section, which are listed at the end of it. Put them into the
correct spaces.
1. Long Term:
War production fell away with the end of hostilities
Men returning from the front demanded jobs which werent there
Allied blockade continued until 1919: Over _______________ people died of starvation and
_____________.
2. Mid Term:
1919: _______________ Treaty deprived Germany of 75% of her iron ore resources and 15% of
her arable land
1921: Reparations sum of _____________ million aggravated inflationary problems as Weimar
governments reeled out bank notes to meet payments
3. Short Term:
Chancellor ____________ favoured ________________ of the Peace Treaty, but he was
exceptional
1921: Allies occupy 3 Rhine ports to enforce the treaties
1922: Chancellor ___________ defaults reparations payments
1923: The French and Belgians occupy the ___________ to seize payment directly in the form
of goods, resources and machinery.

million
Ruhr

Wirth
Influenza

Cuno
fulfilment

6,600
Versailles

COURSE
Task 2: Put these events in the correct order:
With no goods to trade with, the government resorted to printing off even more paper money to
meet its debts
They responded instead with a policy of passive resistance
The value of money fell by the hour
The Germans were in no position to fight the French
In 1918 the dollar had been worth 14 marks
Children played with blocks of banknotes; women used them to fuel their fires; men wallpapered
the houses with them!
This led to runaway inflation
By November 1923 it was worth 4.2 billion marks
Production fell drastically

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CONSEQUENCES: (a) Economic

Task 3: There is one deliberate factual mistake in this section. Spot it and correct it.
Positive:
(a) 1924: The Dawes Plan spread reparations payments over a longer period and gave Germany
a loan of 800 Million Gold Marks, which placed the currency on a stable footing rather than on
paper values. This heralded an era of recovery.
(a) 1929: The Young Plan reduced the final reparations sum to 6600 million.
(b) 1932: The Lausanne Conference cancelled all outstanding reparations payments.
Upper Middle Classes:
The upper-middle classes who were in a position to speculate, were able to make great financial
gains: only when the banks credit began to dry up did the spending spree collapse
Industrialists were able to build new factories at little cost, whilst cheap money meant that
industrial production could be re-organized quickly on a peace-time footing
Landowners could pay off mortgages more easily since their payments were in devaluated
currency and German export prices were lower than those of foreign competitors
The government always a heavy borrower also benefited, for the National debt within
Germany was virtually wiped out.
Negative:
The economy became heavily reliant on American loans for its continued prosperity
Conservative interests (big business, Junker landowners) consolidated their stranglehold over
the German economy
The lower-middle classes: lose savings
Not so fortunate.
Patriotic citizens who had invested in war loans after 1914 saw their value dwindle into
insignificance, and they did not blame the Imperial government which had borrowed the money,
but the Republican regime which had presided over its devaluation.
The same catastrophe befell all those who had fixed interest savings, deposit accounts &
insurance policies.
Working Classes: lose wages
Workers in the factories and the farms also found life very difficult in an inflationary situation.
Cheap money certainly meant work, but prices raced ahead of wages until the mark virtually
ceased to have any value at all.
Therefore, though they were employed, the workers faced a steadily diminishing standard of
living.
Moreover, when the normal machinery of credit began to dry up Industrialists could no longer go
on expanding production and unemployment began to add a new dimension to the bitterness &
insecurity of the working class.

CONSEQUENCES: (b) Political

Task 1: There are missing words in this section, which are listed at the end of it. Put them into the
correct spaces.
Positive:

Resource from RJ Tarr at www.activehistory.co.uk / 3

The ability of the Republican government to withstand conspiratorial assaults increased the
tendency among the monarchist & authoritarian opponents of the regime to make compromises
with it. A year later German Nationalists entered the cabinet.
Negative:
Where?
Rhineland: The Ruhr crisis was seized upon by ___________________ movements in the
Rhineland as an opportunity to establish an independent state, and after _________________
were proclaimed in both ____________ and Koblens.
Bavaria: Hitlers Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, which was easily defeated but also encouraged a
general drift to the Right (see earlier notes for more on the Putsch).
Who?
The Electorate:
1923: crisis shook popular faith in the Republican system, which had never been strong
1924 Reichstag elections: 11 million of the 29 million voters polled against the
_______________ parties.
1925 Presidential elections: ________________ won, reflecting the drift to the Right, for
although the old warrior was highly popular in his own right he was never committed to the
Republic. As ________________ pointed out at the time, the German people merely wanted A
military uniform and plenty of decorations, and Hindenburgs policy of authoritarian Presidential
rule under Article 48 conjured a sense of nostalgia for the ______________ and accelerated the
drift away from __________________ .

Republican Hindenburg Kaiserreich Democracy

Stresmann
Aachen
Separatist
Republics