Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic is the name of the administration which governed Germany from 1919 to 1933 after its defeat in World War I and the stepping down of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The name Weimar Republic is given because the constitution had been drafted in the city of Weimar as the capital, Berlin, was considered too dangerous the period immediately following the end of World War I. The republic experienced many problems.

This government was already disliked by the German people for having signed the humiliating Treaty of Versailles. (In truth Germany had no choice. They were not allowed to give input, and were only told to sign.) The huge reparations required by that Treaty caused an even bigger problem. Germany simply could not pay.

So Germany began printing money, and lots of it. This made it easier for Germany to pay its reparations but resulted in domestic hyper-inflation. The people were outraged at the depreciation of their savings and suffered great hardship. The currency became so debased that people used wheelbarrows to move their money around. The value of the German mark went from 4 to the dollar to over 1 trillion to the dollar. The German people disapproved even more of their own government. The setting was ripe for a new figure to rise who claimed to have the cure for Germany's economic problems and could restore German nationalism, Adolf Hitler.